Design for Wellbeing: Innovative Research Methods for Understanding Older People S Everyday

DESIGN FOR WELLBEING: INNOVATIVE RESEARCH METHODS FOR UNDERSTANDING OLDER PEOPLE’S EVERYDAY MOBILITY

One-day seminar, Tuesday 21 April 2015, 9.30-5pm

Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus, John Henry Brookes Building, OX3 0BP

Event Aims

● To share practice and knowledge of innovative methods being used to enhance understanding of mobility in later life and the implications for wellbeing and design.

● To connect researchers engaged in researching ageing and mobility in the built environment and implications for wellbeing and design.

● To explore ways of building networks and disseminating outcomes from research activities, for example, in the mobilities domain.

PROGRAMME

09.30 Arrivals and coffee: Jon Snow Room John Henry Brookes Building

10.00 Welcome to Brookes - Georgia Butina-Watson, Head of the Department of Planning, OBU

10.05 Welcome to the day and introductions – Tim Jones, Senior Research Fellow & Principal Investigator, cycle BOOM, OBU

10.10 Keynote speaker – Charles Musselwhite, Associate Professor, Centre For Innovative Ageing,

Swansea University: Understanding mobility and wellbeing in older age

10.30 Introduction to the LLHW projects: cycle BOOM Tim Jones

10.45 MyPLACE Helen Jarvis, Reader in Social Geography, Newcastle University

11.00 BESiDE Vicki Hanson, Professor of Inclusive Technologies, University of Dundee

11.15 Co-Motion Rose Gilroy, Professor of Ageing, Policy & Planning, Newcastle University

11.30 Street mobility and network accessibility Jennifer Mindell, Reader in Public Health, UCL

11.45 Mobility, Mood and Place Catherine Tisch, Sara Tilley and Katherine Brookfield, Edinburgh University

12.00 DWELL Sarah Wigglesworth, Professor of Architecture, University of Sheffield

12.15 Discussion 12.45 Lunch/networking: The Lounge

14.00 Workshops (4 breakout groups): Urban Design Studio, Floor 2, Abercrombie

Measuring wellbeing – workshop one

Measuring wellbeing – workshop two

Participatory approaches to mobility and design – workshop one

Participatory approaches to mobility and design – workshop two

15.30 Plenary

16.30 Summary: Lessons learned. Next steps for networking/dissemination.

17.00 Close

MEASURING WELL-BEING – WORKSHOP ONE

Lead discussant Karen Croucher

The Co-Motion research led by York University explores how people aged 55 (+) in three localities (York, Leeds and Hexham) who have experienced a recent life transition negotiate their mobility through the built and social environment with implications for their well-being. In this longitudinal qualitative study we ask the participants the 4 ONS wellbeing questions (Dolan et al, 2011) at three monthly intervals, and explore their reasons for giving particular scores, as well as have broader discussion about well-being and happiness . In addition, as part of another Co-Motion work package, we have asked key stakeholders for their organisational definitions of “well-being” As the project progresses, we have identified a number of questions regarding the shared understandings of well-being for older people, whether “well-being” is substantively different at different points in the life course, and what, if anything, standard measures of “well-being” are telling us.

MEASURING WELLBEING - WORKSHOP TWO

Lead discussant Jennifer Mindell

Jennifer will define briefly the three dimensions of wellbeing that have been used in the literature and describe why and how they measured wellbeing in their pilot (WEMWEBS) and why they changed to SWEMWEBS for their survey in the first two case studies.

Jennifer will then ask participants:

 What measures are they aware of?

 What have they used?

 What are the advantages and disadvantages of these?

 Is it ‘horses for courses’ or should we all use the same metric?

PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO MOBILITY AND DESIGN - WORKSHOP ONE

Lead discussant Sarah Wigglesworth A discussion about why participatory design is important, and is essential to express specific, experiential characteristics of place that put in place the generalised theories underpinning planning and human behaviour (such as mobility). Questions might include:

• why is specificity important?

• is it possible to design for specific groups while also making long-lasting propositions for the future?

• how does designing for a specific group relate to overarching issues such as planning?

•how do we design to accommodate different ideas of mobility?

• by what mechanism might these issues be embedded in design (though codes, guidance, empathy...)?

PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES TO MOBILITY AND DESIGN - WORKSHOP TWO

Lead discussant Helen Jarvis

What do we mean by participation? Given that most primary data collection requires interaction with others and as such most can be described as ‘participatory’ to some degree, is the question less about methods than about culture and context (e.g. trust and accountability) and deeper participant involvement. How are we to be honest and inclusive in the ‘why, who and how much’ of citizen participation when, for expedience, participatory research often recruits from a delegated panel?