In the UK, there are growing concerns regarding the health and wellbeing of our ageing population. Problems of loneliness and isolation are widely documented, and stem from a range of social, economic and environmental factors. Further research is crucial to understanding how these problems can be alleviated in the future.
Design for Wellbeing is a multidisciplinary research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project aims to investigate ‘community severance’; the concept that major transport infrastructure, such as busy roads, can negatively influence elderly people’s physical and psychological wellbeing, by segregating their community and restricting their mobility.
The project will explore this concept in four case study areas; Finchley Road (London), Woodberry Down (London), Southend-on-Sea, and Stratford Road (Birmingham). All sites are characterised by the presence of major main roads.
Our Role
Mapping for Change are responsible for the engagement of communities in each site. We have used our expertise in engagement to ensure the perspective of harder-to-reach elderly people has been included. Inclusive participatory mapping techniques have encouraged elderly residents to document their experiences of the local area, and maps have enabled us to carefully analyse residents’ perceptions of community severance.
We have carried out this engagement through a range of desk research and direct engagement. In each site, Mapping for Change have pursued a variety of qualitative research approaches including structured and semi-structured interviews, street surveys, and workshops.
You can download a final version of the Street Mobility Project Toolkit here. Get PDF.
Related Projects
Kampala NOSES; Network for Odour Sensing Empowerment and Sustainability.
Kampala NOSES is a pilot project that seeks to introduce novel ways with which to monitor and record odour issues across Kampala. All key stakeholders, from policy-makers to public sector administrators, from academics to industries and the community at large are needed to create a longer-term vision of implementing new environmental reporting and governance mechanisms.
Ramp It Up!
‘Ramp It Up’ was a social media campaign aiming to increase awareness about the barriers people with limited mobility face on a daily basis. We called on communities to help their towns and cities become more wheelchair friendly by encouraging shops, restaurants or any building open to the public to use portable wheelchair ramps if more permanent solutions cannot be made.
How to Spend a Million? Northfleet Big Local Trust
In 2012, the Big Lottery Fund in England invested £1 million in 150 neighbourhoods for its Big Local initiative. Northfleet, Kent, was one of the first 50 to be selected. The grant aimed to equip local communities with skills and tools to identify key areas and issues where action was reqiored in their area.