Intellect (UK) Design and Living Well: RE: Research, Volume 4

Just as the term design has been going through change, growth and expansion of meaning, and interpretation in practice and education – the same can be said for design research. The traditional boundaries of design are dissolving and connections are being established with other fields at an exponential rate. Based on the proceedings from the IASDR 2017 Conference, Re:Research is an edited collection that showcases a curated selection of 83 papers – just over half of the works presented at the conference. With topics ranging from the introduction of design in the primary education sector to designing information for Artificial Intelligence systems, this book collection demonstrates the diverse perspectives of design and design research. Divided into seven thematic volumes, this collection maps out where the field of design research is now. Using Frameworks to Cross Interdisciplinary Boundaries: Addressing Wellness • Traci Rose Rider Increasing interest is seen at the intersection of architecture and health. The built environment has become associated with a number of negative health outcomes including obesity, cancers and diabetes. Engaging design students in these inquiries surrounding health is integral in preparing them for future practice. This paper reviews the conceptual development and tested implementation of an interdisciplinary course focusing on the well-being and overall health of the occupant, using primary and secondary framework structures in the vein of Groat and Wang’s logical argumentation. The reviewed course engages interdisciplinary teams composed of students from the School of Architecture, the College of Engineering and the College of Natural Resources, with private practice. The course puts forth an effort to break out of the conventional pedagogical structure found in architectural education, primarily the studio and large lecture spaces. The course has been specifically designed to: (1) establish a framework for common content relating to health in the built environment across disciplinary boundaries; (2) build meaningful partnerships between interdisciplinary student groups; and (3) establish a common vocabulary between architectural education and aligned disciplines regarding health and the built environment. The course structure, activities and assessments are reviewed, proposing a solid framework for including integrated design and themes of health in architectural education. Qualities of Public Health: Toward an Analysis of Aesthetic Features of Public Policies • Sébastien Proulx, Philippe Gauthier, Yaprak Hamarat Design is gaining popularity as a way to address complex social problems in various fields of practices. Strangely, public health which, by nature, is concerned by such kinds of problems, remains foreign to this way of thinking. Building on the increasing popularity of design in policy-making, we stress that public health could also benefit from this conceptual yet pragmatic framework. To open a critical perspective about the potential of design for public health, we examine four design projects that address social determinants of health and whose outcomes promote healthy living habits. Finally, we argue that the interest of design for public health lies on its concern for the users’ aesthetic experience emerging of its encounter with the touchpoints that embody health policies. This contribution ought to act as a stepping stone to open a debate about design as offering a critical perspective for the practice and study of public health. Participatory Design for Behavior Change: An Integrative Approach to Healthcare Quality Improvement • Fernando Carvalho, Gyuchan Thomas Jun, Val Mitchell Behavior insights have been extensively applied to public policy and service design. The potential for an expanded use of behavior change to healthcare quality improvement has been underlined in the England’s National Health Service Five-Year Forward View report, in which staff behavior is connected to the quality of care delivered to patients and better clinical practice. Improving the quality of healthcare service delivery involves adopting improvement cycles that are conducted by multiple agents through systematic processes of change and evaluation. Despite the recognition that some of the recurring challenges to improve healthcare services are behavioral in essence, there is insufficient evidence about how behavioral insights can be successfully applied to quality improvement in healthcare. Simultaneously, the discussion on how to better engage participants in intervention design, and how to better enable participation are not seen as fundamental components of behavior change frameworks. This paper presents an integrative approach, stemming from comprehensive literature review and an ongoing case study, in which participatory design is used as the conduit to activate stakeholder engagement in the application of a behavior change framework, aiming to improve the processes of diagnos