Proceedings W084 - Special Track 18th CIB World Building Congress May 2010 Salford, United Kingdom
CIB W084 - Building Comfortable Environments for All CIB Publication 350
CIB
WORKING
COMMISSION
W084
‐
BUILDING
COMFORTABLE
ENVIRONMENTS
FOR
ALL
PAPERS
AND
POSTGRADUATE
PAPERS
FROM
THE
SPECIAL
TRACK
HELD
AT
THE
CIB
WORLD
BUILDING
CONGRESS
2010,
10‐13
MAY
2010
THE
LOWRY,
SALFORD
QUAYS,
UNITED
KINGDOM
Selected
papers
from
the
Proceedings
of
the
18th
CIB
World
Building
Congress.
Proceedings
edited
by:
Professor
Peter
Barrett,
Professor
Dilanthi
Amaratunga,
Dr.
Richard
Haigh,
Dr.
Kaushal
Keraminiyage
and
Dr.
Chaminda
Pathirage
W084
Special
Track
Papers
(excluding
Postgraduate
Papers)
reviewed
by:
Annalisa
Morini,
Prof.
Marcus
Ormerod,
Rita
Newton
and
Shirley
Confino‐Rehder
CIB
Publication
350
W084
‐
BUILDING
COMFORTABLE
ENVIRONMENTS
FOR
ALL
PAPERS
AND
POSTGRADUATE
PAPERS
FROM
THE
SPECIAL
TRACK
The
objective
of
the
Working
Commission
is
to
support
the
design
of
a
comfortable
built
environment,
inside
and
outside
residential
buildings
by
suggesting
new
measures
and
tools,
including
technical
details,
assistive
technologies,
furniture;
enhancing
the
level
of
comfort,
particularly
wayfinding
support,
orientation
help,
safety
measures;
investigating
examples
of
good
practices
for
different
typologies
of
building
and
external
environments;
and
specific
aspects
of
design
related
to
the
usability
of
buildings
and
external
environments
for
everyone
including
children,
disabled
people
and
older
people.
CONTENTS
Papers
Supporting
the
Elderly
Workers
and
Entrepreneurs:
Conceptualisation
of
Preventive
FM
Dettwiler,
P.
Adaptation
Methods
of
official
Buildings
for
Disabled
People
Nozari,
S.
Metrics
for
Value
Creation
in
a
Sustainable
Knowledge
Society
Lombardi,
P.
Huovila,
P.
Veli‐Pekka,
N.
Performance
Indicators
for
Health,
Comfort
and
Safety
of
the
Indoor
Environment
Desmyter,
J.
Huovila,
P.
Access
for
All
to
Museums
and
Cultural
Facilities:
Outstanding
Programs
and
Initiatives
in
Italy
Biocca,
L.
A
Systematic
Review
on
the
Therapeutic
Lighting
Design
for
the
Elderly
Shikder,
S.
Price,
A.
Mourshed,
M.
Postgraduate
Papers
The
Role
of
Schools
Play
as
Community
Hub
Facilities
in
Contributing
to
a
Sustainable
Community
Mansor,
H.N.
Alexander,
K.
Meeting
User
Needs:
Children
and
Young
People
in
Hospital
Environment
Sfandyarifard,
E.
Sutrisna,
M.
Tzortzopoulos,
P.
Observational
Methods
in
Inquiry:
Observing
Pedestrian
Behaviour
at
Road
Crossings
Faruk,
M.
Ormerod,
M.
Newton,
R.
Maclennan,
H.A.
Designing
a
Research
Study
on
the
Influence
of
the
Household
Model
Environment
in
a
Residential
Unit
for
People
with
Dementia
Morgan‐Brown,
M.
Ormerod,
M.
Newton,
R.
The
Development
of
an
Evaluative
Framework
for
Place
Branding
Ruzinskaite,
J.
Lee,
A.
CIB
Brochure
Disclaimer
1
13
28
39
51
65
80
93
105
115
127
142
144
Supporting the Elderly Workers and Entrepreneurs: Conceptualisation of Preventive FM Dettwiler, P. Zuerich University of Applied Sciences (email:
[email protected])
Abstract What elements are necessary to ensure the quality of the private and working life of the elderly workers and entrepreneurs? The society needs in the coming decades a ubiquitous system that contributes to the well being of elderly people and enables interaction and creative work. The ability to maintain and develop human interaction is a significant issue for elderly people because solitude is a common and severe problem among elderly in Europe of today. This paper argues for extending the working life as a beneficial solution for the individual, and for the society. The purpose of this paper is to outline a system based on relating facilities management (FM) to adjacent disciplines and norms that supports the work life of senior workers and entrepreneurs. The conceptualization of the proposed system is primarily based on literature studies and quantitative studies of entrepreneurship in Sweden. A concept for a system that links FM and Service Management, Knowledge Management (KM) Entrepreneurship and Culture to spatial settings (homes, urban life, semiprivate spaces and workplaces) of elderly people is here proposed to be included in the coming EN standardisation of FM. The role of Knowledge management is seen as a catalyst for the Service management system as a guarantee of applying relevant data for adjustments and optimisation of services and to give continuous feedback to the system. Indeed the outlined system directs the responsibility to the European Norms (which here touches some critique as well) of FM and building legislations that must incorporate the notion of Preventive FM. The concept of Preventive FM has the main fields consisting of: (1) Avoiding Accidents and Illness (2) Maintaining and Enhancing Health and (3) Interaction (Physical and Virtual) and Support of Business Life. The created concept of preventive FM is here not directed to medical issues but rather to the approach of maintaining good health (physical and psychological) and to prevent elderly from accidents and from falling ill. Keywords: elderly entrepreneur, facilities management, knowledge management, service management, preventive FM
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1. Introduction The demographic change will be challenge for the governments in Europe; consisting of (1) reduced working force that are less able to contribute to the welfare system and (2) increased number of persons that traditionally have legal right to touch pensions due to their age, which in Europe differs between about 55 to 67 years of age. Considering the EU funded programs of FP7 and AAL, it seems that the European authorities have predestined ICT as en encompassing remedy to enhance the life quality of elderly workforce. Isolated, ICT is not a sufficient way solve the needs of rendering an independent living for elderly and disabled people. Intermediary and complementary disciplines are necessary to complete the ICT; the multidisciplinary field of Facilities Management (FM) deals with supporting primary activities of organisations and companies through efficiency targets of building, infrastructure and its related services. Since 30 years FM has become a globally established discipline both within industry and academia where particular research methodology has been developed. Closely linked disciplines to FM are Service Management (SEM) and Knowledge management (KM). Service management studies the continuously changing processes of core activities within organisations and companies of how the can enhance service quality, reduce costs, to increase efficiency etc. Knowledge management is established as a part of Facility Management due to its multidisciplinary character that must manage extensive data flows (Dettwiler, 2009). ICT has the operational perspective that incorporates for instance sensors to data collecting and steering units. ICT needs to be linked to larger policies and systems in order to be meaningful to the society. The instrument that governments and institutions can steer this problematic to a favourable position are through the flexibility and adjustment of Standardisation, Norms and Law.
2. Bringing the disciplines together Modern ICT enables linkages in a multidisciplinary world better than ever; relevant data can excerpted from the information flow and stored data from multiple databases.
2.1 The elderly workforce and the ageing organisation The current European situation consists of unemployment as a phenomenon among the younger work force as well as by the elderly that loose their jobs. It is unrealistic to expect that a person around the age of 60 would find a new career as employee. Often persons with good health have capacity to work several years over 70. The only possibility for these person to enjoy a working life is thus to work as independent with an own firm. In the coming decades the society must clarifying the attitude to encourage entrepreneurship among elderly people. By optimising the productive years the society would gain advantages in multiple dimensions according to Börsch-Supan (2009) who highlights the global impact on the demographic change due to ageing of labour force and the connection to the simultaneous global development of product and capital market; an active elderly work force has in fact in world economic dimensions a positive influence on international capital flows. In fact, the entrepreneur must not start up a business at retirement day; rather it would be judicious with a system that aligns the time of the active work life career as a preparation to run a business as
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elderly. Being an entrepreneur can be learned and is a matter of culture, attitude and time to achieve maturity as entrepreneur. As a number of authors in the field, Walker (2009) also supports the approach of active ageing. This approach however needs reinforcement by expertise and the society. It is of significance to coordinate various interests of different stake-holders (Service firms, investors, government, public entities etc.). Walker (ibid) is critical to employment in the classical sense, however a directed way instead more participation would have its appropriateness. This leads to the argument of this paper to promote entrepreneurship among elderly. The cycle of well being is highlighted: (1) Increased participation, (2) Increased ability, confidence and opportunities and (3) Increased personal health and well-being and social networks. It must be remembered that not only the individual is subject to the time factor but also organisations themselves. Aldrich (1999) highlights three components that must be understood to the organisational change; (1) the age effect, (Changes produced by processes inherently associated with duration of existence. For example, the decay of a founder’s enthusiasm for a project), (2) the period effect, (Changes produced by historical events and forces regardless of age), and (3) cohort effect (Changes produced by historical events and forces depending on age). The long life experience from the professional life is thus of great interest in aligning an entrepreneurial career as elderly and thus might be rendered to a competitive advantage compared to the younger workforce. However, the classical element of lower physical and psychological decrement remains. Hansson et al (1997) highlights the medical fact of the elderly worker: Individual differences become prominent with increasing age. Age is associated with diminished cognitive functioning is a reliable predictor of job performance. The challenge and opportunity for management and technology is to reduce this effect. Itoh (1997) has studied the impact of technological change among elderly white collar workforce. The knowledge related to technological change is considered to be a variable compared to previous knowledge. It means with a radical technological change, the old knowledge becomes increasingly obsolete. This is of major importance considering that the old workforce with a considerable extent have difficulties to learn and to adapt new technologies. This circumstance must as well be incorporated in the proposed system and is in fact a matter of Knowledge Management.
2.2 Linking the managerial disciplines together Penrose (1959) has pioneered the resource-based view of firms which has later become an accepted concept of research, and refers to the accumulation of tangible and intangible resources in a growth firms. The resource-based view relates to the competitive advantage that is created through specific capabilities and assets. The accumulation of knowledge unique to the firm matters, and there has been recent progress in the analysis of the knowledge structure found in firms (Laursen et al., 2001). Porter (1990) describes knowledge resources as one of the factors that consists of the competitive advantage of a nation. In a smaller perspective, Nonaka et al (2000) theoretically develop a model that makes the “raison d’être” for a firm being to create knowledge. This idea is in fact very similar to the resource-based view of Penrose. Knowledge is created by various mechanisms between tacit and
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explicit knowledge. By conceptualising knowledge creation becomes its meaning in a spatial context; the notion of “ba” is created. According to Nonaka et al. Ba is an abstraction of “space” and “time” as a common notion. Knowledge is created through a repeated four phase process - explicit and tacit knowledge interchange through the so called SECI process: (1) Socialization, (2) Externalization, (3) Combination and (4) Internalization. When (4) is attained the process continues to (1) and proceeds from the beginning. It is to be expected that the more SECI process a worker has experienced during the career the more knowledge is acquired and thus a competitive advantage is gained compared to the younger generation. In the socialization phase the communication happens between individuals, whereas in the other three-phases exchange of knowledge happens between group and organization. The model thus implies that very small firms with inferior external interaction are inhibited to develop knowledge in those three-phases (Externalization, Combination and Internalization). The ideas of knowledge creation are further developed by Fong (2005) who highlighted five processes in knowledge creation in cross-disciplinary teams from the construction sector. Firstly, the importance of crossing boundaries by various kinds of interaction between team members was regarded as a platform for the other processes. The second process is knowledge sharing which focuses on differences of knowledge that can be transferred rather than similarities in knowledge. The research were further developed by Dettwiler and Fong (2006) who introduced cultural differences based on the research of Hofstede (2001) Thus entrepreneurship in a FM context relates to the culture of the country; the propensity to work in groups or to work individually differs from one country to another. This gives reason to study the dynamics of starting up a firm alone or with colleagues. Aldrich (1999) refers to three types of entrepreneurial knowledge: (1) previous work experience, (2) advice from experts and (3) imitation and copying. Knowledge and international growth is enhanced by fostering social capital and thus facilitating international expansion. The creation of knowledge is related to human individuals that act in physical surroundings around the globe and are dependent on facilities that enable interaction and communication. In addition, knowledge is also location dependent where geographic proximity and social networks today compete with ICT technology (Kalling and Styhre (2003), Sverlinger (2000)). Knowledge and entrepreneurship is an established relationship, which is topics of high interest within incubators. Similarly Interaction is as well a significant topic of among innovators and incubators; where intense collaboration takes place with adjacent firms and institutions in order to develop the business. Dettwiler et al. (2006) highlighted the significance of FM within science parks in order to promote interaction between the tenants and the stakeholders. A FM policy that directs its efforts to support the business life of elderly would as well be focused on the KM and the interaction. With the ICT of today workplaces can also be located in the urban life and as teleworking at homes. Harrison et al. (2004) highlight the blurred boundaries and in fact the pleasure of taking part of working life. Here it is worth mentioning the connection to Service management and the value chain, The value chain of Porter highlighted the services the support of creation a product or service. The chain has however been criticized by writers in Service management (Normann, R (1980), Johnston and Clark (2008) and others) that emphasize simultaneous processes that apparently are neglected by Porter. One alternative of the value chain of Porter was made by Heskett et al. (1998) that included customer loyalty and satisfaction and where attention is given on how services are delivered, both business to
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business and to the end user. Another model of a complex chain model is presented by Johnston and Clark (2008) with its “multi tiered” supply chain. The question arises; where would the elderly entrepreneur have its role in the value chain? A Service Management system supported by KM would secure the life of elderly and maintaining them in an active life with enhanced life quality. Normann (1980) and other authors in the service management area emphasize the competitive advantage by relying to the activities of human resources and by continuously improving multiple service processes. In this context the “core business” is the well-being and security of elderly work force. The design of the Service management system has a complex character and is dependent of efficiency in knowledge transfer and indeed a functioning ICT support. The ICT development of today renders it possible to link together the complexities of various disciplines in a efficient manner. However it can be discussed whether the connection will ever exceed the boundaries of back office competences. Professional skills will be required to correctly interpret the data and to manage the accuracy and relevance of the quality of data and the feedback system. The proposed system would in the long run be profitable for the society even if the initial phase public investment or possibly constructions of PPPs would be a necessity. In addition, the system would promote generic technologies and emergence of new firms. The profession of facilities managers would gain in importance. Municipalities will however always have its role in securing infrastructure and a basic service and health care system. The goal of applying the mentioned managerial disciples is certainly to enhance the life quality; here the value of interaction has its significance because loneliness is a significant problem in Europe. The elderly people will in the future interact either virtually or physically. In fact, finding an appropriate balance between the two types of interaction forms is a challenge for the future. Transfer between different spatial settings requires an ICT support. Despite the technological development it must be emphasized the limitation of ICT where the professional role of Facilities managers will have its completing role.
2.3 Norm, standard and laws as support for elderly workforce Facilities Management (FM) is a discipline since three decades that has its realms in several other disciplines like Business Economy, Service Management, Space Planning, Resource Planning, Sustainability, ICT, Sociology and other fields. FM has multiple definitions (Tai and Ooi, 2001); the general understanding is however that core businesses (activities) should be supported (or enhanced) by a skilful supporting function; the so-called Facilities (sometimes written in singular: facility, but with the same notion) Management. A European Norm (drafts prEN 15221-1 to 6 as far, August 2009) aims currently to capture the main fields of FM and render FM an international acceptable standard, it remains to be seen if the complexities if the multidisciplinary character of FM will attain reason. Several managerial processes are described with figures indicating arrows from one item to another without any argument why they should be applied in that manner, e.g. the FM model that separates space with people on an invented “tactical” level. It is to be put to question if the norm will ever be applicable by practitioners and scientists without any intermediary means due to the complexity of the current norm-drafts per se. The draft of the norm must be regarded as a compilation of models on essay level because assumptions are not grounded (not even on the draft level). The level of the norm has apparently, to a
5
considerable extent, excluded scientific evidence and kept it on a managerial level. The question is if the CEN-Norm committee has entered an impossible task trying to standardise “management”; the levels of details are extremely uneven where the risk is imminent of a never ending continuation of enumerating FM related topics. The intrinsic problem is to find a general standard for a multitude of unique and very different cases, that each a very complex. There might be more factors that separate the cases than unite them. Therefore it would be appropriate to eliminate one of the multiple parameters; FM varies considerably according to the industrial sector. FM deals often to workplaces in offices which is a common issue across the sectors. The notion of “office” becomes indistinct in field of laboratories, receptions, spaces for elaborating e.g. architectural models. Regarding FM through an industrial sector perspective would therefore render a more pragmatic and less general view on FM. The endeavours of the CEN-Norm committee can however be applied if the not included knowledge in the norm are rendered accessible. The currents drafts of the norm demonstrate weaknesses on the management of data, information and knowledge; there is not so far any indication of how various mentioned disciplines and processes should be interconnected. Use of data collection, data bank about the physical surroundings work tasks (1) mapping buildings (2) dwellings, urban life, semiprivate spaces and workplaces)
3. Data input, the Swedish survey The concept of Entrepreneurship is strongly related to the concept of “growth firms”. Growth firms are often listed according to stipulated criteria and render a symbol for a “successful” firm. By that reason the argument is extended to observation of a Swedish survey in the field. The primary data material of this survey is assembled from an existing database, the Gaselle list, provided by Soliditet, owned by Bonniers Affärsinformation. The main criterion for a Swedish firm to be listed is that it has reported a minimum rate of turnover growth during the preceding four years. Incidentally, the number of firms that fulfil the criteria of the Gaselle list has decreased over the last five years. The present survey is based on the Gaselle list of 2003 containing 967 listed firms. The database includes annual company turnover, number of employees and changes (measured in % during four-year period) in employee numbers and turnover. 10 variables are used for analysis in this paper. After a second reminder, the responses were 387 (40%). 58 firms (10%) of the non respondents (580 firms) were randomly selected for additional telephone interviews during February and March 2005. Almost all, 57 (98.3% of the non-respondents sample), answered orally five control questions selected from the original questionnaire. T-test and Wilcoxon signed t-test indicate that generalization of the whole population is reasonable.
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Table 1: Correlation table regarding FM and location variables correlated the Age of the firm and whether the CEO and the founder is the same person.
Age of the firm
CEO 98-03 also founder
Age of the firm
1
,447**
CEO 98-03 also founder
,447**
1
Outsourced core business
-,008
-,009
Sold company
,087
,059
Temporary staff in offices
-,020
,065
Office in city core
-,163**
-,016
Office in suburb
,061
,086
Office in rural area
,098
,044
Office in co park
-,054
-,012
Office relocation moves
-,107*
-,026
Rented office space
-,183**
,033
Predicted office needs
,024
-,068
Experiences into alterations
,071
,072
Founder make office design
-,178**
-,411**
Support distance work 0
-,051
,034
Support teamwork
-,025
-,016
Support individual work
,048
,026
Individual workspaces
,025
,065
Informal meetings
-,028
-,025
New work and design
-,004
-,004
Propensity to Hierarchies
,022
-,034
Long search for provider
-,084
-,049
Contracts flexible preferred
,149
,068
Oral agreements preferred
,064
-,061
Turnover
,174
,247
Earnings before interests & taxes
,145
,230
Change employee last 4 years
-,067
,016
**Correlation (Pearson) is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *Correlation (Pearson) is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
The survey relating to the age of the firms and the very strong correlation that the founder in fact works active in the firm (correlation 0.447**). Apparent correlations are found: (1) Office located in city core, (2) Office
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relocation moves, (3) Rented office space was preferred compared to owning space and (4)Founder having strong influence on office design. Some trends was furthermore to be observed: Financial issues (1) Earnings before interests and taxes 02, and (2) and the Turnover 2002. The propensity to close flexible contracts tends also to have some weak relation; in fact leasehold tends to be preferred above ownership which argue for special designed business parks for elderly. It can be seen that there is age reluctance to the other strong FM variables. By segmenting those variables to ages it was observed that the correlations occurred among the strata of young and service oriented firms. Elderly CEOs must consequently obtain a strong support of FM in their firms. This is of relevant knowledge when designing entrepreneurial concept for elderly workers. Table 1 indicates that location issues have higher significance than filling any FM qualities. Furthermore that the notion of the elderly entrepreneur is generally rather individualistic oriented than group work oriented; which in fact must be seen in a cultural context which also is concluded by Hofstede (1990). The individualistic preference might then reinforce solitude and prevent the social interaction. This gives a challenge to the proposed system.
4. Concluding remarks A Knowledge Management approach would have its place within a system that links together spaces and services that are used by elderly entrepreneurs which has the goal to secure stays and movements between spaces of homes, workplace and public spaces and in the latter to access various events. The service management system has input directly from a concept of preventive facilities management and knowledge management system (and indirectly from Cultural prerequisites and Standards, Norms and Legislation, (Figure 1)). Some examples of process affecting spaces of the elderly entrepreneur: Homes Services and installations that enables security and accessibility in the building structures taking the individual needs into account (Prevention of accidents) Remote control of electric/electronic equipment like lightening lamps or regulating heat or air conditioning (Prevention of accidents). Remote control for access of service staff for delivering or collecting goods. Building structures must be adjusted to fit this need (Comfort). Semi-private Leisure access knowledge like lifts and ramps,(Prevention of accidents) Connection to Health care systems (Maintain health and preventing Illness) Access to colleagues to visit clubs or gyms, conjoint to a business park (Life Quality through interaction)
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Public Space Access to appropriate transport infrastructure (Prevention of accidents and Life Quality) Enabling eating out, Shopping more easy through service concept (Prevention of accidents and Life Quality). Workplace Ergonomic issues individual adjusted (Maintain health and preventing Illness) ICT equipment enabling interaction, accessibility and mobility of the elderly user, valid for all spaces in fact (Individually adjusted to the facilities). (All these public topics must naturally be supported by supported by standards, norms and legislation) An invisible hand that caters for a tailor made security of the individual combined with access to health care enable security in terms of avoidance of (1) accidents, (2) maintained good health and (3) enabling interaction (avoidance of solitude). These three elements are the prerequisite for maintaining elderly people in working life. The system should only cover the practical issues but also have the purpose of ameliorating the interaction between individual throughout the life. A knowledge management system without connecting to norms and legislation would be void of sense; the physical and psychological topics of the individual must be taken into account. In Sweden the Building norms take mainly physical needs (like acoustics etc.) fire and child security into account but not needs for elderly workers. Legal requirement of one topic in one European country can sometimes only be a recommendation in another. For example air exchange is legally regulated in Sweden for both homes and workplaces whereas Switzerland has only recommendations in this field, whereby there are large number of workplaces without any ventilation at all. The instrument that governments and institutions can steer this problematic to a favourable position are through the flexibility and adjustment of Standardisation, Norms and Law. In the future, the norms must as well be adjusted to the needs for the elderly workers. The concept of Universal design (Preiser, 2000) ought to encompass not only disabled people but the gradually deteriorating individuals that must be supported in the daily life. Here it is suggested that the concept Preventive FM should be integrated with the fields: (1) Avoiding Accidents and Illness (2) Maintaining and Enhancing Health and (3) Interaction (Physical and Virtual) and Support of Business Life. In these circumstances it is of relevance also to be able to influence the standardisation of FM, Infrastructure and Buildings.
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Quality of Everyday Life of Elderly Entrepreneurs Support of Interaction Private and Professionally
Homes (workspace) Semiprivate
Public space
Work place
Service Management (Processes) Front office (Business to Consumer (The elderly entrepreneur)) Back office (Business to Business, Public and Private)
Culture and Entrepreneurship Attitudes of Entrepreneurship
Knowledge Management Continuous Feedback
EN Standard, Legislation Concept: Preventive Facilities Management 1. Avoiding Accidents and Illness 2. Maintaining and Enhancing Health 3. Interaction (Physical and Virtual) and Support of Business Life.
Strategic FM, Planning for Future Tactic FM, Organisation of Resources Operational FM, daily needs
Figure 1: A model for a System encompassing Preventive FM to Service and Knowledge Management systems.
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Ageing, Opportunities and Challenges for the European Union, Assistive Technology Research Series, Vol. 23., pp. 7-34. Dettwiler P (2009) Editorial: Facilities Management and Knowledge Management, Facilities, Vol. 27 No. 7/8, pp 256-257. Dettwiler P and Fong P S W (2006) Learning from Sweden: Transfer of Facilities Management Related Variables of Growth Firms to China, CIB W70, Proceedings Trondheim international symposium, Changing User Demands on Buildings, Needs for lifecycle planning and management, 12-14 June 2006, pp. 611-620. Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Dettwiler P, Lindelöf P and Löfsten H (2006) Utility of location: A comparative survey between small new technology-based firms located on and off Science Parks - Implications for facilities management, Technovation, 26 (4) pp. 506-517. Fong P S W (2005) Co-creation of knowledge by multidisciplinary project teams, In Management of Knowledge in Project Environments, (Eds.) Love P E D, Fong P S W and Irani Z, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Hansson R O, DeKoekkoek P D, Wynell M N and Patterson DV (1997) The older worker and transition to retirement, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 51, pp. 202-233. Harrison A, Wheeler P and Whitehead C (2004) The Distributed Workplace, Spon Press, London. Heskett J L Sasser W E Jr and Schlesinger L A (1997) The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction and Value, The Free Press, New York. Hofstede G H (2001) Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions,and organizations across nations, 2nd ed. Sage publications, London. Itoh K (1997) Adaptation to change in the work environment for senior white collar employees, In Work after 45? Proceedings from a scientific conference held in Stockholm 22-25 September 1996, Vol. 1., pp. 186-193. Johnston R and Clark G (2008) Service Operations Management, Improving Service Delivery, Pearson Education Ltd, Essex. Kalling T and Styhre A (2003) Knowledge Sharing in Organizations, Liber AB, Malmö. Laursen K Mahnke K and Vejrup-Hansen P (2001) Firm growth from a knowledge structure perspective, Paper prepared for LINK Conference Copenhagen, Dept. of Industrial Economics and Strategy, Copenhagen Business School, 7th-8th August 2001.
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Nonaka I and Takeuchi H (1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Nonaka I, Toyama R and Nagata A (2000) A Firm as a Knowledge-creating Entity: A New Perspective on the Theory of the Firm, Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 9, No. 1. pp. 1-20. Normann R (1980) Service management, ledning och strategi i tjänsteproduktion, Liber Ekonomi, Malmö Penrose E T (1959) The growth of the firm. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Preiser W, Rabinowitz Reinhold, New York.
H Z and White E T (1988) Post-occupancy evaluation, Van Nostrand
Puddy J R, Price I and Smith L (2001) FM policies and standards as a knowledge management system, Facilities, Vol. 19, No. 13/14, pp. 504-514. Sverlinger P O M (2000) Managing Knowledge in Professional Service Organizations, Technical Consultants Serving the Construction Industry, Doctoral thesis, Department of Service Management, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg. Tay L and Ooi J T L (2001) Facilities management: a “Jack of all trades”?, Facilities, Vol. 19, No. 10, pp. 357-362. Walker (2009) Active Ageing in Europe: Policy Discourses and Initiatives, Cabrera, M and Malanowski, N (Eds.) In Information and Communication Technologies for Active Ageing, Opportunities and Challenges for the European Union, Assistive Technology Research Series, Vol. 23., pp.35-48. prEN 15221-1 to 6 (2009), CEN, Comité Européen de Normalisation, CEN/TC348.
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Adaptation Methods of Official Buildings for Disabled People Nozari, S. Scientific Board in Building and Housing Research Center (BHRC) (email;
[email protected])
Abstract People with physical and movement disabilities must be able to fulfil their own requirements through barrier-free access to official buildings. Adaptation of official buildings and upgrading of accessibility situations is now considered as the most important priority in building improvement projects. The official buildings must be gradually adapted according to the requirements of disabled people. Adaptation is defined as removing the existing physical, architectural and traffic barriers in the spaces and also to improve the environment in a way that all people can move freely and safely in the environment. The present paper is carried out the results of a research project "Adaptation Methods of Official Buildings for People with Physical and Movement Disabilities". The project is accomplished in Building and Housing Research Center (BHRC), which is based on field surveys, literature studies, and participant observation. The basic approach is to search for the building obstacles that cause barriers for disabled people. In another words, due to expectations from existing official buildings, the problems and shortages facing visitors are identified. Some official buildings which are visited by many people every day are selected for field studies. This part of project was done by asking the disabled to fill up questionnaires about their accessibility problems. The main objective of this paper is adaptation and organization of the present situation of official buildings for all, specially disabled people. Consequently, these groups of people would be able to obtain a reasonable rate of social independence. Keywords: disabled, official buildings, adaptation, accessibility.
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1. Introduction Based on the estimation done by United Nations, more than 10 percent of the world population is facing some kind of disability. For different reasons such as war, earthquake, accident and sickness, the society is facing ever-increasing number of disabled people. In addition, there are other groups such as elderly, children, mothers carrying prams, pregnant women and also those who get caught by temporary disability states, who lose their free mobility and usual participation in environment because of barriers and access obstacles. A scanning of the conditions in official buildings shows that access and usage of persons with disability in and out of these buildings have not been given much attention. A survey of the barriers access in urban spaces and public buildings helps urban designers and managers to search the reasons of problems, and to exclude these types of obstacles from future projects. On the other hand, studying, investigating and presenting the solutions would provide possibilities for removing the barriers in existing conditions.
2. Adaptation objectives According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) disability is the result of impairment in respect of person with disability and his environment, and when it's occur that physical and social obstacles cause to inaccessibility of disabled people to different social systems. In new definitions of disability and disables, they try to define disability as a limitation apart from human personality not as his identity. According to the issue of human right commission of the united nation in 2003 and exchange of the word (disable) to (people with disability) they emphasis that they are similar to other people of the society and their rights and conditions. The concept of adaptation of the environment has gradually changed in the past few decades as its range has expanded. This concept was initially intended to remove physical barriers from environment and to make "barrier-free design". The concept was further expanded in the 1980s with increasing accessibility in buildings and urban environment by prevalence of "accessible design". In 1990s the issue of "universal design" was presented, which largely expanded the adaptation concept so as to cover everyone's use, irrespective of their abilities or limitations. The basic principles which should be applied in design and adaptation of the buildings and urban spaces so as to increase compliance with the environment as follows: Reach: It should be possible to reach all places and public buildings. Enter: It should be possible to enter all public buildings. Use: It should be possible to make use of all public facilities and environmental arrangements.
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3. Adaptation Laws in Iran In 30th article of fourth law program of Islamic republic Iran it is: «For identify to the city and village face and to improve the environment of them the state should proceed the below acts: To improve the urban and village places for physics and move disables and do these laws in public and governmental building and places up to the end of the fourth program». The Islamic parliament in 2004 approved the complete law about the aid of disables rights to provide the disable rights and suitable condition. To implement the article 2 of the general law of aid of disable rights, implementation procedure of adaptation approved that according to it, all places, pathways and public buildings should be adapted.
3.1 Design Criteria for Disabled People in Iran In the year of 1989 pursuant of some studies in the field of the available and suitable space design for disables in Building and Housing Research Center (BHRC), provide and approved in urbanism and architecture council. The aim of the provide of these laws, to offer the correct technical scales and law necessities to provide the reformation in pass surface and the quality of available in current position and future developments and include desirable urban place design laws and general law of the design of public buildings disabled people. The edition of the second said laws in 1999 was approved in urbanism and architecture council and after that the approval and its attachment was the replace of previous. The review approval provides and codified in ten clauses and its attached selection of laws in two chapters and five clauses. In first chapter, the urbanism standards had been offered for disabled people. Second chapter reserves for architecture design laws for disabled people and represent for public and residential building design.
3.2 History of Adaptation in Iran The survey of the current condition of built places shows that disabled people aren't able to use public available spaces regarding to their objectives.Urban places, public and residential buildings that should available for staffs, users and habitants built without spot of the needs of disables in some position. On the other hand in some occasions it seems that to need of access provide in some places that not only the snags not removes but also makes a new snags to prior snags. Different samples from ramps with high slope, narrow width and slipper surface, long way without handrail that sets a lot at the entry of some buildings and some other occasions explain that with the necessity of remove this disorder, the results offers unusable and undesirable.
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4. Case studies and identity of existing situation In «Adaptation methods of official buildings for people with disabilities» project, case studies with the aim of identify and preference of current condition complete by implement continuous studies and direct respect to the official buildings. In this review the current problems were survey with view, talk to people, and stand in disables position. At the same time to give the users ideas they give questionnaires about the condition of official buildings that need more to provide the access. The basic purpose in these two steps was to control implementation of «Design Criteria for Disabled People».
4.1 Questionnaire studies To give the project needs data, questionnaires were provided in three pages that include multi switch questions in below domains: personal specifications of the answers, reasons of the respect to administration buildings, type of the respect building; problems in each, access and entrance to the building; problems of the moving and doing purposes and duties in the building; and current problems in using facilities and equipments in official building. This questionnaires were run with the assist of the relate councils and organizations. The result of the questionnaire studies comprised and measured about the current problems in three parts of entry and access, activity and moving in official building, and using facilities and equipment.
Lack of car parking Unsuitable length and width slope in pathways Inaccessible rout between parking & entrance Difference level without ramp Unsuitable internal door
Civic administration
Municipality, Police stations
Banks, post offices,
Professional service office
Figure 1: Access and entrance problems in official buildings According to the table 1 and figure 1 most of the problems about the entrance and access of the official buildings cited that, «variation in entry surface and the lack of ramp», «unsuitable internal door» and «unsuitable length and width slope in access pathway».
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Table 1- Access and entrance problems Type of official building
Lack of car parking
Unsuitable slope
Lack of suitable pathways
Difference level in entrance and lack of ramp
Unsuitable entrance opening
Civic administration
%19.2
%30.8
%7.7
%23.1
%19.2
Municipality,
%20
%20
%20
%40
%0
%14.3
%19
%4.8
%33.3
%28.6
Police stations Banks, post offices, professional service office
According to the figure 2 problems of move and activities in internal space of official building includes « unsuitable relation between stories», unsuitable equipment like «the counter and elevator controls» and «the lack of audio alarm and tactile marks in elevators».
Difference level in inertial spaces Unsuitable relative between stories Unsuitable forms of doors and corridors Lack of signs Lack of audio alarm and tactile marking Unsuitable lighting Unsuitable surfaces
Civic administration
Municipality, Police stations
Banks, offices
post
Professional service office
Figure 2: Problems in doing activities and purposes in official buildings According to the figure 3 the problems of the use of possibilities and lateral services in different groups of official buildings it shows that in this part the important problems are «the lack of suitable toilets for disabled people» and «the lack or unusable equipment and facilities like public phone».
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Lack of suitable toilets Lack of suitable facilities and equipments
Civic administration
Municipality, Police stations
Banks, offices
post
Professional service office
Figure 3: Problems to using facilities and equipment in official buildings
4.2 Measuring studies In these studies the access condition of disabled people were measured in these buildings that many people would respect there daily. At the first step of the running studies for select the official buildings first public survey implement according to prior experience and studies and run new observations. The building that have more respects the public problems that most of these buildings are encounter, the variety of the usage, stand in position, different group of respect are the perspective among agent in this study. For assemble of conjunct data, the visit check list codified in this step. In running study with the use of wheelchair they controlled and measured the problems of the disable pass of the snags in personal respect to the official buildings.
4.3 The results of the case studies The results of these studies project, problems and snags in the study of the buildings, divided in three parts of reach and access to the buildings, activity and doing purposes in buildings and the use of facilities and equipment. 4.3.1 Access problems The most important problem to access a wide number of official buildings is the difference between the level of the building and sidewalk, without concerning proper ramp.
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Figure 4: Access and entrance to the building In the case of having ramp, some properties like non-standard slope, not using of handrails, having jagged surfaces in paving of the ramp are not according to standards. Due to having elevator in basement of the official buildings which are specialized to parking application it would be possible for disabled people to reach to different floors of the building, but it is essential to get agreement with officials of the organization 4.3.2 Problems in plying and doing activities in building Most of the problems in buildings are vertical ply .i.e. using of the elevator. Since most of the elevators in the official buildings which were analyzed, have nonstandard size and unsuitable openings with narrow width. Sometimes the height of banks and post counters is more than the standard size and makes it impossible for clients to access to them.
Figure 4: Access to the counter Some of stairs in buildings which were analyzed have had high steps without handrails.Width of the openings in some cases was less than 80 centimeters which prevented to access and use of the areas.
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4.3.3 Problems of using facilities in official buildings The most important issue in using official buildings is the situation of toilets. Insufficient width of the openings and unsuitable size inside area of toilets, lack of nonstandard thresholds in opening of the toilets are some of the problems that have been existed in all of the buildings. In existing stool-type toilets, the doors are locked and it’s not possible for clients to use them. Only certain people can use them who are staffs of that organization .The height of dial in public phones, ATM, control bottoms of the elevators, and post boxes in some cases are not suitable and don’t fit with standards.
5. Adaptation Methods The determinant approach in this research project is to search disabilities in buildings, and in fact recognizing it as a disabled unit. The main objective is thus identification of disabilities in the official buildings. In other words, due to expectations from existing official buildings, the problems facing visitors are identified. To present the methods of adaptation, some tables are offered. The structure of these tables Begins with physical explanation of the different moods for building and main component in adapting.
5.1 Entering and accessing the building The first phase to get into an official building to carry out expected tasks and duties is to have access to it. The measures taken to adapt access path to the building entrance include: adaptation and widening of the passageway and removal or transfer of the barriers, installing the accessible connecting bridges and upgrading the pedestrian crossing on the street. Different states of entering and accessing to the building is affected by the location of a building standing on the same level as the street. In order to resolve the existing problems and remove barriers, it is necessary to adapt the building entrance spaces and make them accessible. This action would be possible by improving the ramps and steps, optimizing flooring of the steps and ramps, installing handrails, replacing the revolving doors with usual or automatic doors, usage of openings with proper width, increasing depth of the space in front of the entrance, installing handles or door knobs on the doors, removing the barriers and door thresholds and improving the flooring of the building entrance. Setting the crowded sections and the much referred departments on the ground floor and installing lifts at the entrance level is also one of the offers.
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Table 2: Check list of problems survey in access to official buildings and offering solutions Access degree
Outstanding Local
Problems
Problems solving approach
1-The building is directly beside of a narrow street
-Lack of a good location for car parking beside of the building
-Car stop location should be provided inside of the building
-Lack of a good location for car parking inside of the building
-The location of the car parking should be considered as near as possible
-Different level between street and entrance floor without any ramp
-With changing structure, entrance ramp should be provided inside of the building
Access, reach and entrance
- The parts with mess clients transfers to ground floor - Litf should be install in entrance
2- There is the space between building and street, but it is occupied with urban equipment
3-movement in beside street of the building is difficult and inaccessible
-Lack of a good location for car parking
-With deletion of the obstacles that exist in frontage, car parking provides -With changing of the urban structure, a location between roadway and building is offered for car
-Different level between street and entrance floor without any ramp
-By using of spaces between building and street, entrance ramp is provided
Inappropriateness of the road
-reach way to the building entrance is motivated due to the existing facilities
- Unsuitable transversal and linear gradient of the road - Insufficient width of the beside road of the building -obstacles of the road - Unsuitable paving - Unsuitable level difference between sidewalk and roadway - Difference between road level and entrance floor
-paving and widening of the road -deletion or movement of the obstacles -installing achievable connecting bridges -improvement of the passing location of the pedestrian in roadway
-there must be access possibility for wheelchair as much as possible -at least an achievable entrance should be provided
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Continue of table 2: Check list of problems survey in access to official buildings and solutions access degree
Outstanding Local
problems
Problems solving approach
4 -Physical properties of entrance components to ground floor is not suitable for people ply
1- Lack of handrails at the extremes of the stair or ramp
-entering area should be accessible
2- Existing unsuitable handrails 3- Narrow size of the landing 4- Entrance ramp with high gradient and low width
Access, reach and entrance
-structure and physical - improvement of ramps and stairs -improvement of stair and ramp paving -installing handrails according to standards
5-slipperiness of the paving of ramp and stair 6- Stairs with high steps low width and depth
5- Physical properties of entrance components in structure level is not suitable for people ply
1- Undistinguished entrance
- Entering area should be motivated and accessible
2-inappropriateness of the kind of gate
-designing clear entrance
3- Low width of the door
-replacing rounding, turning and sliding doors with normal or electronic doors
4- Low depth of the front area of entrance
- Opening with standard width replace with narrow doors
5- inappropriateness of the door handle 6- Heaviness of the door and unsuitable opening 7- Existing of obstacle on the floor 8- High threshold of the gate 9-slipped and inappropriateness of entrance paving
-increasing of frontage depth -using of the lever handle for doors in suitable height -installing handrail on doors -deletion of the obstacles and thresholds -improvement of paving of building entrance
5.2 Activity and doing purposes and duties The solutions offered for adapting the level difference in the internal spaces of official building is to design standard ramps right next to the steps or to install lift entrance on the ground floor for easy access.
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Table3 – check list of problems survey in doing activities and purposes in official buildings and offering solutions access degree
Outstanding Local
problems
Problems solving approach
1-there is entrance platform back of the gate
1-unsuitable size of the entrance platform for ply
- By changing structure of the entrance floor, suitable dimension is provided for entrance
2-insuficient space between two gates
- the direction of the door opening becomes up to standard
3- opening direction of the gates 2- Official affairs and activities are done in a hall around two or three side of which there are counters
Activity and doing purposes and duties
-different levels in a floor without any ramp
-the ramp should be install beside of the stair in the entrance floor with suitable slope and paving
-lack of elevator in a building with stories
-instilling lift in accessible location
-long height of the counter or unsuitable shape of the counter to settle wheelchair
- it would be essential to replace counters with suitable height and blank space for feet with existing counters
-by changing of the building structure, elevator is located
- Some parts of the existing counter change to accessible counters - Slippery and polished paving
-changing of paving by no slippery materials
-unsuitable carpet
-deletion of carpet with long nap
-unsuitable setting of the furniture which makes narrow path
- distance between chairs becomes according to standard
- Lack of signs and guidance
-international signs for disable people should be used in accessible places - guidepost should be installed in building entrance and main place to give information to clients
-unsuitable height of the settling signs
-signs and guideposts should be located in standard height
-using bad and inappropriate colours for people with blindness
-to guide people with blindness should be done by using opposite colours -visual and audio alarming systems should be installed in buildings -electrical and mechanical controls should be accessible and installed in proper height -tactile marking should be installed to alarm obstacle, stair and ramp
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Continue of table3 – check list of problems survey in doing activities and purposes in official buildings and offering solutions access degree
Outstanding Local
3-official rooms are in both sides of the corridor
problems
Problems solving approach
1-existing stair and level difference in corridor
-Ramp is installed beside of the stair in the corridor with suitable slope, width and paving
2-narrow width of the corridor for wheelchair ply
- If possible width of the corridor increases by deletion of the partition walls - Partitions should be used instead of wall by changing structure and replacing open system in office
3-obstacles in the corridor
-movement and deletion of the obstacles in the corridor
4-slippy of the paving
-improvement of the corridor paving
5-long nap of the carpet
-deletion of the unsuitable carpet and improvement of the floor
6-lack of the touch or sound signs 7-lack of the handrail 8-narrow width of the doors 9-heaviness of the doors
Activity and doing purposes and duties
-Installing handrails in proper place - replacing unsuitable doors by standard doors
10-high thresholds
-replacing heavy doors with standard doors
11-unsuitable height of the handles
- deletion of thresholds
12-unsuitable height of the windows 4 -to access the floors, there is only stair
- using of tactile marking and sound alarm in corridors
1-lack of elevator 2- inappropriateness of stairs -insufficient width, depth & height of the steps
- installing handles in standard height - providing sufficient view by installing windows inprpper place - elevator or lift should be provided in proper place -motivating of stairs should be done according to standards -Improvement of paving of stair surfaces and landings by installing handrails and tactile marking
-Lack of handrails and tactile marking 5- to access the floors there is elevator too
1-insufficient width of the elevator 2-unsuitable size of the elevator room 3-unsuitable height of control panel 4-lack of audio alarm 5-slipperiness of the floor 6-insufficient waiting place front of elevator
-the door with narrow width should be replaced with proper door -the room with standard dimension replace to existing room -control panel inside and outside of the elevator should be located on the standard height -audio and brail signs should be used to give information -bottom should be covered by non slippery surface -necessary space in front of the elevator should be made by some changes in corridor or other places
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In adapting the building it is necessary to adapt the height and specifications of the equipment according to criteria, to use international signs in accessible places, to inform clientele by installing guiding signposts at the entrance and at main spaces of the building. For guiding the people, signs with contrasting colours should be posted, audio-visual alarm systems be installed in building, electrical and mechanical controls be accessible and located in a proper height from the ground. Also, tactile marking to warn against steps and ramps should be installed. Table 4- check list of problems survey in using facilities and equipment in official buildings and offering solutions access degree
Outstanding local
problems
Problems solving approach
Toilets exist just for staff
Lack of the proper toilets for disabled people
A proper toilet should be placed for disabled people
There are Different levels between accessible toilets and corridors
Impossibility of disabled people access to toilets
Ramp should be installed beside of the stair
High threshold is located in entrance of the toilets
Impossibility to access to services
Thresholds should be deleted
There is facilities for staff and clients
-Narrow width of the toilets opening
-Doors with suitable width replaced with existing doors
-Unsuitable direction of the opening to inside
-The direction of the openings should be changed to outside
Using facilities and equipment
-Unsuitable size of the toilets -Lack of the handrails
-Unsuitable height of the equipment Facilities and equipment exist for clients
-Unsuitable height of water cooler -Unsuitable place of the equipment -Unsuitable height of public phones
Two services replaced with on usable service fo disabledr people by changing structure
-If possible, the dimension of the toilets should be motivated - Handrails should be installed in proper place -Equipment with standard should be installed in proper place
- Equipment with standard properties should be installed in official buildings - Required equipment should be located in proper and accessible height
-Proper location of the post boxes
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5.3 Using facilities and equipment In providing comfort facilities and utilizing the equipment in official buildings, the first step is to install the proper toilet for disabled people. By replacing one or two of the existing toilets with appropriate ones for disabled people in an accessible place it can be solved the problems. Replacing doors with suitable width with existing ones, changing the direction of openings outward, adapting the dimension of the toilets, installing handrails and providing facilities at a properly accessible height, in accordance with standards, are among the proposed solutions.
6. Conclusions In this paper, after studying the evolution of adaptation in last decades, new definitions of disabilities, objectives and requirements of adaptation, international activities and national regulations in this field are presented. In order to obtain information about the status of accessibility in official buildings, the results of a field work are submitted. The buildings which are visited by many people everyday are selected for field studies. This part was done by filling up questionnaires and surveying existing situations of official buildings in Iran. The most important part of this paper is allocated to the methods and solutions for adaptation of official buildings. In this regard, some tables are presented. The problems in access, doing activities and purposes, and using facilities and equipment in official buildings have been surveyed and applies solutions are recommended.
References Nozari Sh. Rafizadeh N. (2009) "Adaptation Methods of Official Buildings for People with Physical and Movement Disabilities", Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran. Technical Committee (1999) "Design Criteria for Handicapped", 2nd.Editition, Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran. Ghaem G. (1991) "Public Buildings and the Handicapped", Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran. Hanson L. and Others (1983) "Designing with care, A Guide to Adaptation of the Built Environment for Disabled Persons", Swedish International Development Authority, UN, New York, USA. Nozari Sh. Rafizadeh N.(2004) "Design Guidelines for Neighbourhood Open Spaces Used by Elderly", Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran.
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Nozari Sh. & Technical Committee (2006) "Design Principles For Neighborhoods Associated With Physical and Mental Needs of Children and Elderly", Building and Housing Research Center, Tehran, Iran. Technical Committee (2005) "Article of Fourth Law Program of Islamic Republic Iran", Program, Plan and Budget Organization, Tehran, Iran. Technical Committee (2004) "The Complete Law about the Aid of Disables Rights", Social Welfare Organization, Tehran, Iran. Goldsmith S. (2000) "Universal Design: A Manual of Practical Guidance for Architects", Oxford, UK.
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Metrics for Value Creation in a Sustainable Knowledge Society Lombardi, P. Politecnico di Torino (email:
[email protected]) Huovila, P. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (email:
[email protected]) Veli-Pekka, N. Nokia (email:
[email protected])
Abstract This paper highlights the need to create potential value metrics for sustainable neighbourhoods, capable of working simultaneously at a variety of spatial scales for different stakeholders (multi-scalar reciprocity), moving from top-down imposed metrics towards bottom-up formulated ones. Metrics for Value Creation should be constituted using different approaches. One dimension is the built environment, where the present rating schemes focus on environmental impacts in the use of buildings, namely the energy use. Other dimension is the corporate aspect, where triple bottom line reporting emphasizes also environmental and social issues, but the discursive civic square environment risks to be dominated by economic sustainability of the production and growth-oriented business environment. The third dimension is the city itself with its social networks, concerned on the indicators for employment and crime, for example. The fourth dimension aims to measure the quality of life of individual citizens which is not easy to define. At the present, all four approaches are separately used without interoperability between the systems (from Lombardi et al., 2010). Current environmental rating schemes, such as BREEAM, CASBEE, Green Star, HQE, LEED, PromisE etc. are able to structure the processes of setting the objectives, monitoring the process and assessing the state of buildings by some simple indicators. Mostly they focus on resource use and environmental impacts, but cover also some performance parameters, such as indoor environmental quality or aspects of accessibility. However, they are not contributing to the objectives of value creation in a knowledge society. The paper discusses major limitations of current sustainable indicators sets and rating tools. Finally, it describes a new approach towards value metrics for sustainable neighbourhoods, using the LivingLab approach. This is a user-centric multidisciplinary research approach and a user community driven innovation based on real life experiments. The benefits of this approach are highlighted together with some main results.
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1. Introduction In Europe, Knowledge Society has been stated as an objective for achieving sustainable development. Sustainable development indicators have been developed from different points of view. At a city level, Agenda 21 based metrics focus on social aspects, such as employment and crime. Present building rating schemes emphasis environmental aspects, like energy efficiency. Companies that occupy buildings in city neighbourhoods, in their triple bottom line reporting don't really meet city or building level sustainability metrics. In addition, different quality of life indicator systems have been developed at a country and city level with quite different settings. There's a need to create interoperable metrics that can be used at a neighbourhood level where innovations take place. Such a system should assess sustainability of the city, its buildings and infrastructure, corporates that operate there, and it should be linked with citizens that live, work and play in there. Various sustainability indicator projects have been carried out globally by the UN and other international organisations. There has been number of research projects in this domain funded by the EC. In addition, civil society organisations have worked in the field and LivingLab environments have been implemented to study these aspects. One of the challenges is how universal design can be implemented and assessed at a city and at a building level to support sustainability. EC's Information Society Technology Programme funded research roadmaps leading to sustainable Knowledge Society. One of them, Intelcity, envisaged the concept of eAgora to support the improved management of cities to achieve long-term physical, social and economic sustainability. That brings together previously unconnected information sources and makes them digitally available to planners, developers, policy makers and individual citizens. It is based on the active participation of citizens that encourages collaboration between different stakeholders in policy-making processes. Another roadmap, Neskey, stated that new economic feedback system should utilize an elegant core set of measures, indexes, and methods commonly use by business, cities and regions, civil society, and governing bodies where global networks and practice communities collaboratively improve measures and methods. It advised research emphasis on intangible reporting for cities and regions. This paper outlines potential value metrics for sustainable neighbourhoods based in these visions complemented by recent research in this domain funded by the EC. It discusses major limitations of current systems, highlighting the need to create interoperable metrics that can be used at a neighbourhood level where innovations take place. Such a system should assess sustainability of the city, its buildings and infrastructure, corporate that operate there, and it should be linked with citizens that live, work and play in there. The main research questions posed by the paper are: 1. Do existing (built environment) metrics and indicators constrain creative responses to the delivery of Sustainable Urban Development in the EU?
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2. Do existing metrics and indicators inhibit the development of the knowledge economy in the EU? 3. What „knowledge economy‟ tools can we create to enable balanced sustainable solutions? The structure of the paper is as follows. Next session presents a critical overview of metrics, highlighting their main limitations. Session 3 illustrates, progress from recent IST projects in the field and by real experiences using LivingLab approach. Finally Session 4 discusses major results obtained and future research directions.
2. Limitations of current indicators Indicators are presentations of measurements to suit a particular need. They are pieces of information that summarize the characteristics of systems or highlight what is happening in a system (Brandon & Lombardi, 2005). As such, they are indispensable for measuring progress towards achieving set goals and thus constitute a key tool for evaluating the effectiveness of policies and their implementation actions. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) indicators can be described as communication tools that: a) simplify complex issues making them accessible to a wider audience (i.e. non-experts); b) can encourage decision-making by pointing to clear steps in the causal chain where it can be broken; c) inform and empower policymakers and laypeople by creating a means for the measurement of progress in tackling environmental progress (EEA, 2007). It is the capacity of the indicator to reach its target audience that determines its success. Failure to communicate makes the indicator worthless. However, because sustainable development is a multi-stakeholder process, indicators must communicate to a variety of different actors. The modern Sustainable Development Indicator process started at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Recent surveys estimate that there are now over 600 formal or recognized full sustainable development indicator sets in use, many more that have been formally developed, or have been created as a subset of a wider agenda (Horner, 2004; Kazmierczak et al., 2007). Most present indicators have been developed by governments and intergovernmental bodies in response to their needs. This ensures policy relevance, but often fails to capture what is going on at the grass roots of society. A large number of indicators are most frequently used inside assessment tools for buildings, neighbourhoods or cities, at international level, such as BREEAM, CASBEE, Green Star, HQE, LEED, PromisE, etc. Examples of indicators systems, indices and tools which has been developed for measuring the Sustainable Development and Knowledge Society at different spatial level, are provided in Table 1.
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Other indicators have been created by civil society organisations (CSOs) or academics to draw attention to policy issues. Few indicators have been devised by or are designed for the real agents of change – businesses and individuals operating at a decentralized level in all societies. The most effective indicators and feedback loops are those created and managed directly by users for their own purposes. The issue of how to reconcile the centralized approaches needed to produce standard comparable indicators and the decentralized nature of most decision making affecting sustainability has not been sufficiently explored, yet. Benchmarking adds context to indicators, for instance by ranking countries. In Intelcity roadmap (Curwell, 2003), the "sustainable knowledge society" position of different countries was mapped using environmental sustainability indicator (ESI) as one dimension and information society indicator (ISI) as the other dimension. Positioning the countries in such a map showed that geographical clustering did not fully support the original objective that aimed to have four homogenous regions in Europe validating the roadmap. Another IST roadmap: New Partnerships for Sustainable Development in the Knowledge Economy (Neskey, 2003) stated that new economic feedback system should use a core set of measures, indexes, and methods commonly used by businesses, cities and regions, civil society, and governing bodies where global networks and practice communities collaboratively improve measures and methods. The roadmap advised research to focus on intangible reporting for cities and regions and identified city and regional metrics as drivers for corporate and government scorecards linking measures to local and regional quality of life. The Neskey roadmap suggests that in the knowledge society (unlike in our industrial society dominated by big corporations) small business, civil society, government and education are the real drivers of the economy and offer higher leverage (Ahlskog, 2003; Allee, 2009). Table 1: Overview of indicators, indices and rating systems at different spatial scale
Global
National
Regional City
Community
Global Competitiveness Report (World Economy Forum), Transnationality Index (UNCTAD), Globalisation Index (A.T.Kearny), Globalisation Index (World Market Research Centre), Global Warming Potentials (IPCC), … ESI (Environmental Sustainability Index), Sustainable national product (SNP), Human development index (HDI), Sustainable economic welfare index (ISEW), (Daly & Cobb), Emergetical return of investment (Odum), Ecological footprint (Rees), Information Society Index (for KS), WEF (Economic Competitiveness), GIS (Innovation), CPI (corruption perception), HANPP (Human Appropriation of Net Primary Production), Happy Planet Index (HPI), MIPS (Material Input per unit of Service), … WWF Sustainability Checklist, Ecological footprint, … Agenda 21, BRE Sustainability Checklist, CASBEE-City, Community Sustainability Assessment, SPARTACUS, SEEDA Sustainability checklist, SCALDS, CITY Green, Quality of Life model, PLACE3S, Citizen Engagement matrix, Democracy indicators, CASBEE for Urban Development, ECOTECT, DOE 2.2, … Agenda 21, UK Audit Comm Qu-o-L; BREEAM Communities, CASBEE Urban Development,
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LEED for Neighborhood, HQE2R, Safety indicators, ….. Organisation
GRI, G3, UPBEAT, IAM (Intangible Assets Monitor), WBCSD, …
Infrastructure
CEEQUAL
Buildings
SB Tool, CASBEE, LEED, PromisE, SPeAR, EcoCal, BREEAM, HK-BEAM, SBAT, EcoQuantum, HQE, SuBETool, Qualitel, EcoEffect, LiderA, Økoprofil, Legep, Green Star, Sustainable Buildings Climate Index (UNEP); Building Design Advisor, Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide, … ECOPOINTS / ECOProfile, …
Materials
The large number of indicator systems and tools available at present illustrates the important role that assessment methods play in the study of urban sustainability. However, using indicators as a means for measuring or assessing the sustainability of cities and practices intended to improve sustainability is being criticized for several reasons. One of the main concerns is the way in which indicators are developed through often “ad hoc” processes without a structured framework or consensus on what urban sustainability is (Bossel, 1998; Lundin and Morrisson, 2002). A further concern is that detailed indicator systems “are often difficult to operationalize…as precise empirical evidence is not always available or accessible” (Finco and Nijkamp, 2001). According to de Plessis (2009), a further problem with aggregate indicator systems is that they break up the problem of urban sustainability into smaller, simpler sub-problems that can then be reduced to specific ratios, e.g. energy use per square meter, people per hectare, or number of parking spaces per tenant. This reductionist approach was criticized as early as the 1960‟s by Jane Jacobs for attempting to turn a problem of disorganized complexity into “problems of simplicity” that can then be resolved in isolation (Jacobs, 1992). As discussed by Bossel (1998), Brugmann (1999), Meadows (1999) and, recently, by Birkeland (2005), many larger-scale applications of indicator systems, including current indicator-based building assessment systems privilege retrospective analysis over future orientated design; their use encourage measurable and therefore mechanistic approaches at the expense of more innovative systems that defy simplistic measurement; analysis that aggregates measurements obscure total resource flows and systemic interactions and discourage solutions that build on synergies and symbiosis; and data-driven processes come at the expense of mapping systems dynamics (de Plessis, 2009). This view is supported by Schendler and Udall (2005) who, in their review of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, conclude that an indicator based rating system rewards point-mongering but not integrated design or innovation.
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Finally, perhaps most critical, many of the indicators reflect the specific interests of their authors; they are blunt to say the least (Bossel, 1998, Sveiby, 2004; Adams, 2006). Even the much-used statistics relies on assumptions that when we draw our conclusions. In other words, often the decision determines the indicators needed. As such the development of indicators is “a dialectic process that goes hand in hand with the development of policies” (Foxon et al., 1999), and not necessarily the product of an empiricallyderived understanding of what would constitute sustainability in the particular domain in which the indicator is to be used for assessment.
3. Progress from recent development and living labs Literature in the field has highlighted the importance of user involvement is important to indicator design and acceptance (Lombardi and Cooper, 2007; Al Waer & Clements-Croom, 2010; Lombardi et al., 2010). Stakeholders may have local knowledge that can contribute to more effective indicators. Participation also ensures relevance to the decision-making process, political commitment, and ownership of the results. Participatory processes can reveal conflicting social interests, values, and preferences that must be taken into account. One of the sustainability challenges is to successfully create and maintain accessible environments for all. It requires usable access to transport, public spaces and buildings for all kinds of users, such as disabled people, elderly citizens and children e.g. with prams. Another issue is to provide positive stimulation that may support preventive healthcare and ways to enable special groups to manage their everyday life at home and access to needed services. Such indicators can be specific, or applicable to all. Accessibility is included amongst the performance criteria in many existing tools (Lützkendorf et al., 2005) even though its content may not have been defined at sufficient details. Acceptance and use of indicators are a continuing challenge. Indicators that reflect badly on politicians, corporate executives, and senior officials will be rejected or suppressed, and most indicators of sustainable development show negative trends. Careful indicator development processes, outside pressure, and objectivity will be necessary to overcome this obstacle. The potential role that ICT can have in developing new forms of public participation in decision-making is quite clear, as the concept of e-governance itself reveals. But to what extent these new forms of interaction between stakeholders can influence evaluation procedures, and impact the enhancement of policy goals still needs to be object of further discussion (Lombardi et al., 2010). This section aims to explore these issues by introducing the benefits of Living Lab for user involvement in metrics development at the neighbourhood level.
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Professor William Mitchell from MediaLab and School of Architecture and city planning at MIT has defined Living Labs as a research methodology for sensing, prototyping, validating and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real life contexts. The Living Lab approach has been applied in Finland since 2002 in the area of innovative built environments. Later, the focus has been defined in EC's Framework Programmes in the following areas:
1. Bringing laboratory based technology test-beds into real-life user focused environments for validation. This is an ICT top down technology focus towards users and applications research. Current research topics address cloud computing in the hands of crowd developments
2. Developing mobility services for citizens in a lead market environment with early adaptors or in pre-market demonstrations. Focus is in user centric co-design/co-creation process and Public Private Partnerships. One of the first such projects was Intelcities which shared user centric development and testing between different cities (Lahti et al., 2006). In 2009, a high level group of innovative city leaders and LivingLab experts convene to bring research insights for the 7th Framework Programme content as Smart connected city initiative. 3. Collaborative LivingLab Networks are becoming global. There regional public players are driving developments and concurrent models for adoption and attracting private sector for investments and participation (ENoLL and LL-Europe, Innovative city dialogues, DigiEcoCity concept etc.). 4. National and regional networks such as in Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Slovenia, Italy, Catalonia or Flemish Belgium. In Finland, the initiative came from Industry/DIMES to create national beta-testing capability, where new mobility services are validated in 13 innovation locations in a real user centric models called LivingLab Testbeds Open User driven Innovation (LITE-Open), supported by a Technology and Innovation Program. Sustainable forms of networked LivingLabs in Europe are around thematic areas such as ICT for energy efficiency, Ambient Assisted living and eWellness, rich multimedia as co-created citizen shared service ‟cloud in a pocket with local facebook‟, eTourism, eGovernment services for rural environments.
4. Discussion of results and future research directions At present, environmental rating schemes (BREEAM, CASBEE, Green Star, HQE, LEED etc.) are gaining popularity at a building level amongst building owners and users. Such procedures may structure the processes of setting the objectives, monitoring the process and assessing the state of buildings by
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some simple indicators. They are not, however, fully contributing to the objectives of value creation in a knowledge society. This paper has highlighted the need to create potential value metrics for sustainable neighbourhoods, capable of working simultaneously at a variety of spatial scales for different stakeholders (multi-scalar reciprocity), moving from top-down imposed metrics towards bottom-up formulated ones. Metrics for Value Creation should be constituted using different approaches. One dimension is the built environment, where the present rating schemes focus on environmental impacts in the use of buildings, namely the energy use. Other dimension is the corporate aspect, where triple bottom line reporting emphasizes also environmental and social issues, but the discursive civic square environment risks to be dominated by economic sustainability of the production and growth-oriented business environment. The third dimension is the city itself with its social networks, concerned on the indicators for employment and crime, for example. The fourth dimension aims to measure the quality of life of individual citizens which is not easy to define. At the present, all four approaches are separately used without interoperability between the systems (from Lombardi et al., 2010). The paper has finally shown the opportunities to define metrics for value creation using the LivingLab approach. This is a new research paradigm integrating both: a user-centric multidisciplinary research approach and a user community driven innovation based on real life experiments. As explained by the Core Labs (2006), Living Labs represent regional innovation environments focusing on user communities embedded within “real life”. Additionally to the technological aspects, Living Labs allow insight on to the human dimension of technology, which is of paramount importance for a successful societal deployment of new technologies. This approach enables re-usable experiments (i.e. dataset, research protocols and methods, ...), contributing to bring science and innovation closer to the citizen. Next steps will be the development of a „knowledge economy‟ tool, using „value template‟, as a framework for the self-generation of value-based metrics.
References Adams, W.M. (2006) The Future of Sustainability: Rethinking the Environment and Development in the Twenty-First Century. Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29-31 January 2006. www.iucn.org Accessed: 27/05/06. Ahlskog, J. (ed.) (2003) Neskey Final Report, with contributions from Gilbert, S., Sabapathy, J., Huovila, P., Allee, V., & Luyckx, M. Allee, V., & Schwabe, O. (2009) Measuring the Impact of Research Networks in the EU: Value Networks and Intellectual Capital Formation. Online version of Paper for European Conference
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on Intellectual Capital Haarlem, The Netherlands. Retrieved April 28, 2009, from http://www.vernaallee.com/value_networks/AlleeSchwabe-ResearchNetworks.pdf. Al Waer H., Clements-Croom D.J. (2010) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and priority setting in using the multi-attribute approach for assessing sustainable intelligent buildings, Building and Environment, 45,799–807 Al Waer H., Sibley M. and Lewis J. (2008) Different Stakeholder Perceptions of Sustainability Assessment, Architectural Science Review, Volume 51.1, pp 47-58 Bentivegna V, Curwell, S., Deakin, M., Lombardi, P. & Nijkamp, P. (2002) “A Vision and Methodology for Integrated Sustainable Urban Development: Bequest”. Building Research and Information. Vol. 30, No. 2. Pp. 83-94. Birkeland, J. (2005) Building Assessment Systems: Reversing Environmental Impacts. Website discussion paper v.1. [online] URL: http://www.naf.org.au/nafforum/birkeland-2.pdf Accessed: 28/08/08. Bossel, H. (1998) Earth at a Crossroads. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Brandon P., Lombardi P. (2009) Evaluating sustainable development in the built environment. (Special edition), Blackwell-Viley, Oxford (IK) Brugmann, J. (1999) „Is There Method in our Measurement? The Use of Indicators in Local Sustainable Development Planning.‟ In Satterthwaite, D, (ed), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Cities. London: Earthscan. Pp. 394-407. Core Labs (2006) http://www.ami-communities.net/wiki/CORELABS, Living Labs Curwell, S. (ed.) (2003) Intelcity Final Report with contributions from Cooper, I., Paskaleva, K., Hamilton, A., Deakin, M., Vreeker, R., Huovila, P., Lombardi, P., & Ludlow. D. Deakin M., Curwell S., Lombardi P. (2002) Sustainable Urban Development: The Framework and Directory of Assessment Methods. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (Jeapm). Vol. 4. N. 2. Deakin, M., Lombardi, P., Cooper, I. (2009) The Intelcities Community of Practice: The Capacity-Building, Co-Design, Evaluation And Monitoring Of Egov Services, Paper Presented At The Smartcities Conference, Edinburgh Napier University, 2-4th March, 2009. du Plessis C. (2009) An Approach to Studying Urban Sustainability from within an Ecological Worldview, PhD dissertation, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK EEA (2007) European Environment Agency. Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010: proposal for a first set of indicators to monitor progress in Europe (Technical Report, 11). European Environment Agency, Copenhagen, Denmark. Finco, A. and Nijkamp, P. (2001) „Pathways to Urban Sustainability.‟ Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 3, pp. 289-302.
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Foxon, T.J., Leach, M., Butler, D., Dawes, J., Hutchinson, D., Pearson, P. and rose, D. (1999) „Useful Indicators of Urban Sustainability: some methodological issues.‟ Local Environment, 4(2), pp. 137-149). Hametner M. & Steurer R. 2007 Objectives and Indicators of Sustainable Development in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of European Coherence, ESDN Quarterly Report, December http://www.sd-network.eu/?k=quarterly%20reports&report_id=7 Horner R.M.W. 2004 Assessment of Sustainability Tools. Building Research Establishment, Glasgow, pp. 1 - 46. Report number 15961 See: http://download.sue-mot.org/envtooleval.pdf for further details. Accessed 26/07/09 Jacobs, J. (1992) [1961] The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House Inc. Vintage Books. First ed. 1961. Kazmierczak A., Curwell S.R., Turner J.C. , 2007, Assessment methods and tools for regeneration of large urban distressed areas. Proceedings of the International Conference on Whole Life Urban Sustainability and its Assessment, Glasgow. See http://download.suemot.org/Conference-2007/Papers /Kazmierczak. pdf for further details. Accessed 24/07/09. Lahti, P., Kangasoja, J. & Huovila, P. (eds.) (2006) Electronic and Mobile Participation in City Planning and Management. Experiences from INTELCITIES – an Integrated Project of the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union. Cases Helsinki, Tampere, Garðabær/Reykjavik and Frankfurt. City of Helsinki Urban Facts. 2006. ISBN 952-473-646-2. Lombardi P., Cooper I, Paskaleva K, Deakin M. (2009) The challenge of designing user-centric e-services: European dimensions. In: C. Reddick (editor) strategies for local e-government adoption and implementation: comparative studies. Igi Global Books. Lombardi P., Cooper I. (2007) EDomus Vs EAgora: The Italian Case and Implications for the EU 2010 Strategy. In: Cunningham P. & Cunningham M. (Eds.), Expanding the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications, Case Studies. (Vol. 1). Ios Press, Amsterdam. Lombardi P.; Huovila P; Sunikka-Blank M, (2010) The potential of e-participation in sustainable development evaluation ─ evidence from case studies, In: Reddick C.G., Citizens and EGovernment: Evaluating Policy and Management, IGI Global (USA) (in press) Lundin, M. and Morrison, G.M. (2002) „A life cycle assessment based procedure for development of environmental sustainability indicators for urban water systems.‟ Urban Water 4, pp. 145-152. Lützkendorf, T., Speer, T., Szigeti, F., Davis, G., le Roux, P., Kato, A. & Tsunekawa, K. (2005) A comparison of international classifications for performance requirements and building performance categories used in evaluation methods. In Huovila, P. (ed.) Performance Based Building. VTT, RIL, 2005. ISBN 952-5004-66-X. Meadows, D. (1999) „Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development.‟ In Satterthwaite, D, (ed), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Cities. London: Earthscan. Pp. 364393.
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Neskey (NEw partnerships for Sustainable development in the Knowledge EconomY) Roadmap. (2003) Retrieved April 22, 2009 from www.vernaallee.com/value_networks/Neskey_Exec_Summary.pdf Niitamo, V.-P., Kulkki, S., Eriksson, M. & Hribernik, K. A. (2006) State-of-the-art and good practice in the field of living labs, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Concurrent Enterprising: Innovative Products and Services through Collaborative Networks, Milan, Italy, 349-357 Schendler, A. and Udall, R (2005) Leed is Broken…Let‟s Fix It. Aspen, CO: Community Office for Resource Efficiency. Online URL: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/environment/images/LEEDisBroken.pdf Accessed: 27/02/2008. Sveiby Karl-Erik The Intangible http://www.hanken.fi/staff/sveiby/blog/files/CVacadSveiby.pdf.
Assets
Monitor:
Therivel, R. (2004) Sustainable Urban Environment – Metrics, Models and Toolkits: Analysis of sustainability/social tools, Oxford, North Hinksey Lane. Retrieved from http://download.suemot.org/soctooleval.pdf
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Performance Indicators for Health, Comfort and Safety of the Indoor Environment Desmyter, J. Belgian Building Research Institut (email:
[email protected]) Huovila, P. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (email:
[email protected])
Abstract Under the ambitious acronym PERFECTION a new European coordination action has been launched. The project aims, via the development of an interoperable framework for performance indicators, at enabling the application of appropriate building design and technologies to improve the impact of the indoor built environment on health, comfort, feeling of safety, accessibility and positive stimulation. A review of performance indicators currently used in design, construction and use will be undertaken. Areas where new indicators for health and safety (including accessibility and indoor environmental quality) should be developed will be defined. Recommendations for building design and technologies will be formulated in line with European directives on construction products and on energy building performance of buildings, the European environment & health action plan, the European green public procurement policies and the recently launched Lead Market Initiative on Sustainable Construction. A support tool should guide the use of correct indicators for a given context. The project is carried out at an EU scale and the project results will reach every EU country. Next to 11 key partners, a great number of so called network partners representing industry from SMEs to LSEs, academia and research, will actively contribute to the common goal. Keywords: performance indicators, health, comfort, accessibility, safety, positive stimulation
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1. The PERFECTION Objectives In the recent years, several approaches have been developed in the EU as regards the assessment of the indoor environment and building sustainability and the establishment of respective indicators. It is exactly because of the many activities and elaborations in the area of indoor environment and building sustainability that the potential of a co-ordinated activity is maximized. Learning from each other and setting a common agenda and a common roadmap constitute the obvious reasoning for this. The aim of the PERFECTION coordination action is to help enable the application of new building design and technologies that improve the impact of the indoor built environment on health, comfort, feeling of safety and positive stimulation. In order to reach this objective, the project will deliver: a repository of good indoor performance indicators for health, comfort and safety a repository of state of the art environmental technologies that appear to have the potential for an important impact on the indoor performance and sustainability of the built domain an interoperable framework for performance indicators qualifying the indoor environment, allowing the successful life cycle management of sustainable buildings and stimulating the exploitation of appropriate technologies a decision support tool for different user groups applicable to different building types findings from selected pilot cases of the use of the indicators framework and the relevant indoor performance indicators recommendations on policies and the future research agenda: a roadmap including incentives and barriers for the application of building design and technologies to improve the quality of indoor environments knowledge and good practices on performance indicators for health, comfort and safety in the indoor environment. a wide dissemination of findings through an extensive expert network and the organisation of a series of events. Figure 1 presents the PERFECTION framework, its mission statement and expected impacts and the main tasks to be executed in the 36 month project duration. The project started after a long negotiation period on 1 January 2009 and runs until the end of 2011.
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PERFECTION Framework Societal Impacts Industrial Impacts
Improved sustainability of the built environment
Improved health of citizens
Better preconditions for improvement
Improved productivity amongst end users
Increased customer satisfaction in the built environment
Growing market for better buildings
Higher quality of life
New business opportunities for skilled actors
VISION
Optimal indoor environment through good performance indicators used in skillful building design and appropriate technologies
Mission Statement
PERFECTION 1) coordinates activities to improve the quality of the indoor built environment 2) provides good building performance indicators, tools and case studies 3) formulates recommendations for design and technologies, and supports policies
Tasks
Inventory and analysis of building performance indicators
Engaging users, studying tools and learning from cases
Website, newsletters and a publication Identifying incentives Recommendations for and barriers for market design and technologies acceptance and diffusion and support to policies
Expert Member Network Interaction
Workshops and conferences
Figure 1: The PERFECTION framework and its expected impacts
2. The scope of PERFECTION The PERFECTION project focuses on health, comfort, feeling of safety and positive stimulation indicators including accessibility and indoor environmental quality indicators integrated within a sustainable, low-energy built environment. In addition to these, other important indoor performance indicators are contemplated as part of a generic framework, such as adaptability, service life or usability. The following figure 2, which references to the ENV 3.1.5.2 call PERFECTION addresses, illustrates this approach. Performance indicators for health, comfort and safety of the indoor built environment Indicators named in the ENV 3.1.5.2 Call • • • • • •
Health Comfort Feeling of safety Positive stimulation Accessibility Indoor environmental quality
Potential supplementary indoor performance indicators • adaptability / flexibility • service life • usability • life cycle costing • environmental pressure
• Sustainable, low-energy built-environment
Figure 2: Performance indicators covered by PERFECTION In order to start up the discussions and clarify the scope of PERFECTION a draft framework illustrating the different areas the project is covering, was developed. The draft framework, taken up in figure 3, will be gradually elaborated during the running of the project. Currently, 5 main areas of activity were defined, i.e. indoor air quality, comfort, health and indoor environment, accessibility
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and positive stimulation, safety and security. Not all of these areas have been equally covered by scientific literature, standardisation or regulations. The first work package of the project should deliver by 2011 a generic framework for core building performance indicators, as well as an analysis of optimal (existing and missing) performance indicators for the indoor environment. Indoor Air Quality Indoor air pollutants
Classical pollutants
Inorganic Pollutants
Organic Pollutants
Comfort
Health and Indoor Environment Tobacco smoke Radon Man-made vitreous fibres ... Nitrogen oxide Ozone Particulate Matter … Asbestos Lead … Formaldehyde Benzene Toluene Tetrachloroethylene Trichloroethylene Acetylaldehyde Other aldehydes …
Electro-magnetic fields Biotic factors – bioaerosols
Quality of Drinking Water
Guanine Cockroaches, Micro-organisms Mould Mites, rats and mice Microbial contamination Water pollutants
Safety and security Structural stability Flood risks Fire safety
Alarms Evacuation
Fire fighting provisions Lightning Prevention of crime Static Electricity Personal Safety …
Accessibility and positive stimulation
Thermal Comfort Acoustic Comfort Visual Performance Vibrations Access to the facility
Access-for-all, incl. disabled, children, ageing. Positive stimulation in different (school, work, independent living, ...)
environments
Figure 3: Draft framework for indoor environment performance indicators
3. Other PERFECTION objectives 3.1 Use of technologies and designs Creating an indicator framework is merely the first step of the PERFECTION coordination action. An important work package WP2 will focus on the use of indicators and the way they could stimulate the development and the uptake of new designs and technologies (Huovila et al. 2010). In that regard, a PERFECTION user decision support tool will be developed. It should comprise 2 modules: •
an evaluation module of specific technologies, services, etc. against metrics and benchmarks defined in the indicator framework
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•
a promotional module where solutions that are related to the PERFECTION scope and achieve a building enhancement mark above a certain level will be publicised against a defined template.
Figure 4 gives a view on how the PERFECTION Key Indoor Performance Model and website will look like. The website which is of course in development and which will only be fully operational by the middle of 2011 is currently accessible at http://ieq.apintech.com. Products and buildings will be evaluated against a set of predetermined metrics through an online interactive software tool. People interested in using the tool will have to register. If the user of the model chooses in the end to publish results, the products and buildings will be taken up in the showcase part of the portal. The aim is indeed to allow producers to promote products and technologies contributing to an improvement of the indoor environment. Also the promotion of good indoor environment designs will be enabled by the model and tool. In order to give credibility to the PERFECTION KIPI (Key Indoor Performance Indicator) Model and Tool, users will also be able to get a kind of certification for their declared results. As such, 2 categories of showcases will be available: those without a check, and those with a check and associated certificate. In principle products will be evaluated against a pre-selected set of indicators, and not against the generic framework. Products are generally used within indoor environments to improve some specific elements of the indoor environment, such as indoor air quality or thermal comfort. Buildings will be normally evaluated against the generic framework, as the quality of the building is determined by all parameters. An overall view of the indoor environmental quality of the building is therefore a necessity.
Figure 4: Screenshot of the draft PERFECTION key indoor performance model
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As the aim is to create a portal of good indoor environmental practice, a part of the website will be publicly available. As such the showcase part will be open to all interested. The showcase part will be developed through an intensive cooperation with the user community and the case study work within the project. All PERFECTION participants will use the KIPI model and tool to evaluate some case study buildings. It is provided that different categories of buildings will be covered by this exercise, such as hospitals, schools, office buildings and dwellings. In order to have an intensive interaction with the user community and the stakeholders, PERFECTION is establishing a forum for communication. It will be temporarily operated through http://forum.building-21.net/. Through the forum, the PERFECTION network members and the broader user and stakeholder community will be able to interact on the KIPI model, the KIPI Tool and the KIPI case studies. In order to develop this forum, the WP2 members are currently developing a PERFECTION user engagement documentation in which they address questions such as: which users does PERFECTION address? what can PERFECTION provide them with? what use cases does the PERFECTION tool support? how can building stakeholders engage with PERFECTION?
3.2 Policy recommendations PERFECTION also has important policy related objectives. As a matter of fact, PERFECTION hopes to be able by the end of the project: •
To formulate a set of recommendations to the EC and the Member States with regard to incentives and barriers to new designs and technologies. As a matter of fact, the application of new and innovative designs and technologies allowing ameliorating the quality of the indoor environment is often hindered by existing standards and regulations or by the conservatism in the sector. On the other hand, the uptake of such designs and technologies may be accelerated by incentives developed by the authorities such as green procurement or pilots at government associated buildings.
•
To formulate a set of recommendations to the EC, the Member States and Industry with regard to the needs and priorities of the future. Reference is essentially made to the urgent technological needs in the short and medium term. As an example one could for instance name the need for sensors, technologies and designs to make sure the indoor CO2 concentration is always below the threshold values, taking into account the human interaction.
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•
To deliver a Policy Support Paper with regard to the CPD, EPBD, EEHAP, standards and regulations. This paper will certainly deal with the lack of knowledge and the lack of uniformity around Europe.
•
To describe an Indoor Core Performance Indicator Roadmap that describes various development paths towards the desired future state taken cognisance of different time frames, technology maturity and relevant policy action plans (barriers and incentives).
Work in this work package WP3 just started with the first PERFECTION workshop, which took place on the 1st of December 2009 in Krakow, Poland and which was attended by 60 persons. It was the first time the PERFECTION consortium met with the network of experts and stakeholders associated to the PERFECTION project, in short the CES network. This CES network includes 33 members representing nearly all member and associated states and covering industry, academia and authorities. Besides the CES network, the workshop was open to all interested, but it was mainly attended by local organisations from Poland and the neighbouring countries. After introductory speeches, two of them by invited keynote speakers, the discussion was launched by the CES Chairman Oliver Kornadt. With regard to policy, following points were put forward: •
It was stressed that indoor environment research should not only address indoor air quality and comfort, but also should also consider accessibility, feeling of safety, security and positive stimulation. That the EC stimulated this research by starting up a coordination action was welcomed.
•
The quality of the indoor environment, and especially the quality of the indoor air, is generally determined by multiple factors, such as the construction products used, the products and appliances used within the building during the use phase, the human being and its activities, animals, etc. Dealing with one of them without taking into consideration the overall picture, is not really sensible. Thanks to CEN TC 351 a standardisation framework for emissions from construction products is under development, partly because it is feasible to measure and limit concentration and emission levels. The question is however if other factors, which may be more problematic, but difficult to measure or for which knowledge is lacking, are currently dealt with. Some issues were raised during the workshop: for secondary emissions coming from interactions between construction materials and emissions from furniture, perfumes, appliances or ventilation systems the situation is less clear than for construction products.
•
An important point put forward during the discussion is that indoor environment issues are not only relevant for new and energy-efficient buildings, but also for the existing building stock and for cultural heritage. Indeed, finding equilibrium between energy efficiency and indoor environment quality as defined above may be already hard to find in new buildings, but for renovations or restorations it will certainly be difficult as renovating or restoration changes the indoor environment conditions. When focussing on energy efficiency during construction and renovation, other elements relevant for the overall building quality may be forgotten or deteriorated. And in cultural heritage buildings and museums, the indoor
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environment may be of particular importance for protecting the heritage inside the building, such as paintings or sculptures. •
The relation between health and indoor environment quality should be further researched as there is clearly a lack of knowledge in this area. Also in the area of social and psychological sciences, research work is necessary, for instance for distinguishing between positive and negative stimulation drivers.
•
The connection between the outdoor and indoor environment was also debated. As far as the scope of PERFECTION is concerned, outdoor environment falls clearly out of scope. But it is a fact that the outdoor environment, certainly in urban environments, heavily influences the quality of the indoor environment. Examples include pollution from outdoors, communication in the virtual area, electro-magnetic fields.
•
It was recommended that PERFECTION should not only address the policies itself, but should also name the responsibilities for developing them, both on the European and on the regional level. With regard to accessibility for instance, it was illustrated that more can be achieved with a thorough anti-discrimination policy (generally developed within a department of Justice) than with a stringent building permit policy (normally issued by building authorities).
Work in WP3 will continue in the coming months. In this context, 2 more policy-oriented events are scheduled for the end of 2010 and 2011. By the end of 2010 a report on barriers and incentives for the use of indicators, design and technologies should be available.
3.3 PERFECTION dissemination activities As already mentioned before, the project is carried out at an EU scale and the project results will reach practically every EU country. More than 40 experts from over 30 countries were carefully selected to the PERFECTION team to ensure the necessary depth and width. 11 of them belong to the PERFECTION consortium, 33 of them are associated to PERFECTION as members of the CES network (CES = Committee of Experts and Stakeholders). The network consists of experts from various domains named within the ENV.3.1.5.2 call; such as indoor health issues, acoustics, universal design, performance metrics and tools, sustainable design and construction, etc. The CES network will be invited to participate to the workshops organised by PERFECTION and will contribute to the different deliverables of the project, mainly through surveys. As a matter of fact, most of the CES members contributed actively to the first survey which addressed standardisation, regulations and technologies. Within the PERFECTION framework, 6 workshops will be organised. At the time of the CIB 2010 conference 2 of these events took already place: the Krakow (Poland) policy-oriented workshop on 1 December 2009 and the Espoo (Finland) research-oriented one on 4 February 2010. Future events
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will address respectively policy, research, business and EC needs. Except for the last event, which will focus on EC policies in the areas of environment, enterprise, transport and energy, employment, social affairs and equal opportunities and which will be addressed to EC officers, all of these events will be open; more information on the different events can be found at the PERFECTION website http://www.ca-perfection.eu.
4. Building the generic indicator framework Most of the work realised in the first year relates to the first work package (WP1) of the project, in which a generic framework for core building performance indicators for the indoor environment has to be defined. Main activities until now dealt with: •
inventorying standards, regulations, guidelines, research activities and policies in which performance indicators and the indoor built environment are addressed
•
a review of health and comfort related indicators
•
a review of accessibility, safety and positive stimulation related indicators.
The inventory work was based upon an online set of questionnaires (web-based survey) which was distributed to the consortium and the network partners. The aim was to get a compilation of European and Member States standards, regulations, policies, technologies and ongoing research activities. By the end of 2009 more than 300 inputs (figure 5) were available and were analysed by a team consisting of CTU, API, KOR and SiTI.
Survey Standards Regulations Technologies Research Policies Total
Number of obtained inputs 114 95 21 55 28 313
Figure 5: Results of the PERFECTION inventory tasks As far as standards, regulations and research are concerned, the survey clearly provided a sufficient basis for our future work. For the policy and technology area, work clearly remains to be done. The technologies currently covered relate to comfort or health objectives, but to no surprise inputs for safety, positive stimulation and accessibility are missing. The same holds for the policy work: Also in this area health and comfort are well covered, but no attention is given to accessibility, safety and positive stimulation. With regard to policy, this may be associated to the fact that policies are not always well known in all circles. It may well be that local, regional or national authorities apply certain policies with regard to accessibility, safety or positive stimulation, but these policy documents
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are not always published or communicated to all stakeholders. Certainly in the area of accessibility, this might be the case: Stimulating accessibility of the built environment may be a high priority for social-oriented agencies, but these do not always dispose of the proper communication channels to the economic actors who design and build infrastructure and buildings. The review work on indicators has well progressed in the health and comfort area. The group responsible for this review is headed by Marcel Loomans and Paul Steskens from TU Eindhoven. First of all, based upon past work, a.o. in PeBBu, they elaborated together with the consortium members some definitions: •
A core indicator was defined as an essential aspect of a building with respect to a specific topic: It has to be defined by one or a set of performance indicators.
•
Performance indicators describe a property of a product, building component or building that closely reflects or characterises its performance (state or progress towards an objective) in relation to the performance requirement that has been set. The indicator should be a quantitative, qualitative or descriptive parameter that can be readily assessed.
•
A set of indicators is a non-structured list of indicators.
In a second stage they started to review indicators related to health and comfort and prepared an extensive report. The concept of health was defined as in the HOPE-project (Cox, 2005): A building is defined as healthy if it does not cause or aggravate illnesses in the building occupants and if it assures a high level of comfort for the building occupants. A high level of comfort is therefore a minimum, but not sufficient, requirement to arrive at a healthy indoor environment. Comfort needs in itself also a definition: it expresses the status to which a building is able to provide a comfortable indoor environment and relates to the physical, chemical and biological aspects that have a physiological effect on the human body, and possible psychological responses to that (such as comfortable feeling with temperature). In order to make a distinction with positive stimulation aspects, non-common, active adaptation of the indoor environment (for instance use of fragrances) and design related interventions (for instance use of light) are not considered as comfort related. As core indicators for comfort and health 5 categories are currently distinguished: acoustic comfort (with 3 performance indicators), visual comfort (characterized by 7 performance indicators), indoor air quality (defined by 4 performance indicators, each in itself defined by a set of related indicators), quality of drinking water (with 7 performance indicators) and thermal comfort (defined by 5 performance indicators). As far as accessibility, safety and positive stimulation is concerned, the review work is currently on going. The aim is to have a draft report available for the February 2010 workshop in Espoo. Accessibility, safety, security and positive stimulation are considered as core indicators, which have to be defined by performance indicators and associated sets of indicators. For accessibility, following performance indicators have for instance been defined: approach to the building (although strictly not
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indoor related), entrance to the building, movement inside the building, facilities in the building, evacuation strategy and facilities. Following the review work a generic framework has to be defined, which includes other performance aspects such as flexibility, adaptability, service life and usability and which may be used to qualify the indoor environment and its contribution to sustainability. The framework, which should be available by the end of 2010, should serve as a solid basis to structure the making of a Compendium for Health and Comfort and Accessibility and Safety Indicators, to make the analysis for indoor performance indicators still to be developed and to formulate later recommendations for design and technologies (Järnström & al, 2009). An important part of the work will be to review core indicators, performance indicators and sets of indicators and to group or regroup them in order to get a manageable and solid framework. In this regard, different subsets may be defined according to the user of the framework, be it a designer, builder or user for instance. The framework should also allow for limiting the scope of the evaluation: Indeed, with certain evaluations it should be possible to focus during assessments on health or safety for instance. An important prerequisite for the framework is furthermore that it should be usable for different types of buildings, different life cycle stages and different regions of Europe. Figure 6 illustrates in a scheme how this framework may look like. Tasks 1.3 (on comfort and health) and 1.4 (on accessibility, safety and positive stimulation) will form the main input for this framework which will however be broadened by the other above mentioned issues. HEALTH AND COMFORT
SAFETY POSITIVE STIMULATION ACCESSIBILITY
ADAPTABILITY SERVICE LIFE USABILITY
T1.5
T1.5
T1.5
T1.4
T1.4
T1.4
T1.3
T1.3
T1.3
PERFORMANCE (SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY)
HEALTH COMFORT SAFETY POSITIVE STIMULATION ACCESSIBILITY ADAPTABILITY SERVICE LIFE USABILITY ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY?
Figure 6: Schematic view on the draft generic framework
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5. Conclusion The PERFECTION project is up and running since January 2009. In a period of 3 years, this ambitious coordination action will deliver a generic framework for performance indicators qualifying the indoor environment, allowing the successful life cycle management of sustainable, healthy, comfortable, safe and accessible buildings and stimulating the exploitation of appropriate technologies. The framework will be integrated in a web-based tool and used in a series of case studies. The tool will be available for producers, designers and users to evaluate products, technologies and buildings with regard to the indoor environment. By creating a database of showcase products, technologies and buildings the project will stimulate good indoor environmental practices around Europe. In order to communicate with the user community, the PERFECTION consortium is creating a forum for interaction, a web-based evaluation and promotional module and a specific project website (http://www.ca-perfection.eu). A couple of events are also organised in order to inform you about the progress of the project, and to discuss some of the results and research work.
Acknowledgements This paper presents the work and findings of the PERFECTION consortium, which consists of BBRI, VTT, Apintech, CTU, Armines, Bauphysikbüro Kornadt und Partners, ICTAF, SiTI, TU Eindhoven, ASM Ltd and BRE.
References Cox C (2005), “Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient Buildings”, Prenormative and socio-economic research to create healthy and energy-efficient buildings. Final Report, TNO Building and Construction Research, Delft, the Netherlands. Huovila, P., Lupíšek, A., Lefebvre, P.-H., & Steskens, P. (2010), “Indoor Performance and Sustainability”, In: Portugal SB10: Sustainable Building Affordable to all Conference Proceedings, Algarve, Portugal 17-19.3.2010. Järnstrom H., Huovila, P., Lupíšek, A., Botsi, S., Hájek, P., Sakkas, N., Hodková, J., Lefebvre, P.-H., Desmyter, J., Steskens, P. & Loomans. M. (2009), “Indoor Indicators”, Paper presented at the Perfection Workshop, Krakow, December 2009, to be published.
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Access for all to Museums and Cultural Facilities: Outstanding Programs and Initiatives in Italy Biocca, L. CNR ITC (email;
[email protected])
Abstract While the issues of accessibility and usability have been initially involving the main facilities of public interest in the built environment (schools, public offices, housing) as well as transportation (stations, buses, halls, etc.), there is nowadays a growing interest to buildings and facilities related to the leisure activities, mostly performed in cultural buildings like museums, heritage properties and sites, also as a result of an increasing demand of the so-called „minor tourism‟, i.e. much less popular venues than top tourism attractions, but nevertheless offering very good opportunity for highlighting beautiful places and interesting locations that would otherwise remain undisclosed to visitors. This implies larger programs and surveys for assuring the same access and use opportunities to all, regardless of physical limitations, ages and abilities. The paper illustrates and describes in detail the most recent and innovative cases of an optimised use of some cultural facilities by means of tools, technologies and/or any other support/device that can make a visit easier and more enjoyable.
Keywords: accessibility, usability, users, design for all
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1. Introduction The new 3° millennium is bringing a new value to leisure and free time activities as well as more awareness of the importance of cultural venues, which are growing in terms of popularity among visitors of heritage buildings, museums and historical/archaeological sites. This trend has relevantly extended participation to related events of many people groups and on the other side these groups are in demand of more and improved services/facilities in term of access, ticketing, information and usability of heritage properties that were once usually accommodating less user groups than currently. Specific needs from various users are constantly emerging. This paper focuses on the state-of-art of heritage buildings, which are developing measures for attracting people with mobility and sensorial difficulties and/or have installed tools/systems for welcoming visitors with different sensorial demands (Biocca, 2008, 2009).
2. Legislation background on accessibility and heritage The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage established on 2008 the Act for promoting accessibility in the cultural and heritage areas/buildings/properties (MIBAC, 2008). This Act is the outcome from an expert committee consisting of guidelines that allow the largest groups of visitors enjoy heritage implemented with accessibility and usability design solutions, mobility facilitators and systems, aids/tools for sensorial difficulties.
2.1
Crucial factors
In particular, crucial issues and factors that mostly affect accessing heritage and need to be bereft of some commonplaces since long time are here considered (Picchione, 2008): 1. How to overcome differences in level: this factor affects mobility of people who can be other from wheel-chaired, f.i. elderly or people with walking difficulties. For years this was meant as affecting people on wheelchair, but actually their rate is very low. 2. How to overcome long walking distances: for long time under evaluated, this is a crucial issue for those with walking difficulties who cannot cover long distances in a relatively short time. 3. How to provide good accessibility and usability of the single rooms: this factor consists of good design solutions that can accommodate a large range of needs for larger users‟ groups in terms of easy use, safety and comfort not only for people with disabilities. 4. How to integrate and link different specific codes (fire safety, health, etc.) of the construction sector; this is the most crucial issue for integrating solutions through design and construction process among different law requirement levels that are apparently in conflict in some case. However, the accessibility criteria and design requirements seem currently prevailing over the
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traditional priority of heritage protection from modifications. Indeed, any design/installation/refurbishment to improve accessibility must be aesthetically acceptable with the relevance of the heritage and in accordance with the performance-based design approach (i.e. to solve the problem with an effective design rather than with simple size prescription). 5. How to cope with needs of low vision people: this factor has been also under evaluated for years by distinguishing between blind and sighted, but actually there is a group with larger intermediate problems of low vision. 6. How to implement orientation, identification points, signage systems and mapping: all these factors have much to do with sensorial difficulties, which can be said nowadays as the most investigated topics for their pioneering role. In fact, unlike mobility difficulties, there are no defined law requirements at EU level for these issues, but only many attempts that often result into suggestions/recommendations.
3. The guidelines suggestions and relevant principles The guide principle that has come along with the accessibility code and strategy for long time, also resulted very successful in most cases of refurbishment or retrofitting, is the performance-based requirement, that allows also designing good solutions - other than prescriptive measures or sizes – in order to solve a certain problem (see Fig. 1) (Vescovo, 2007). This can also lead to non-invasive and aesthetically good solutions, as opposed to installations of slopes/ramps that can make a heritage look not so very attractive to visitors.
Figure 1: Underneath space below the towel bar allows more space to people on wheelchairs: this is a case of performance-based design as opposed to prescriptive sizes (Vescovo, 2004). The last point puts emphasis on characters clarity and readability with adequate lighting and colours levels, usage of direction messages in specific areas of heritage and usage of concise and nonredundant messaging with no missing information. Above all, the relevant new concept here – unlike in the past vision and approach – is that constraints coming from building history and preservation policies cannot now hinder the process of making heritage more accessible: in fact, we can see this result when a lift was installed inside the
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Colosseum some years ago: this has been very useful to the visitors coming from all over the world and does not prejudice the heritage image (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Implementing accessibility to heritage with suitable solutions shall prevail on preservation criteria (Vescovo, 2004).
4. Outstanding case studies of Italian heritage areas Following some successful cases of good applications of the performance-based requirement strategy, which involved relevant archaeological areas in Rome in installing lifts in appropriate areas and cavities to accommodate visitors for a better comfort and visibility of the heritage, a special mention is on another relevant heritage complex in Tivoli, well-known by worldwide tourists, Villa d‟Este of Tivoli, a small town in the outskirts of Rome.
4.1 Villa d’Este, Tivoli, Rome Awarded on 2007 as „the most beautiful green park in Europe‟, it went through a whole re-designing process for improving accessibility and enhances mobility of visitors across its large areas. The complex is an extraordinary historical sample of „Italian formal garden‟ and consists of a big mansion facing onto a large natural landscape decorated with fountains and walking paths. Recently, in order to promote more tourism across smaller towns out of Rome, a plan for making the building more accessible started with the goal of offering visitors more visibility and mobility to the garden: for this purpose a minicar transportation service on demand provides for helping visitors seeing and watching many viewpoints with no need of time consuming and walking long distances. This can be especially useful for old persons or people with walking difficulties. The minicar is electric and similar with those used for golf pitch. It can accommodate 2 to 4 people and can drive them all over the garden after smoothing steps, through re-paving the slopes (see Fig. 3, 4, 5). (Vescovo, 2003)
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Figure 3: Villa d‟Este general plan (Vescovo, 2004)
Figure 4: Villa d‟Este: view of the slope before and after the works (Vescovo, 2004)
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Figure 5: Villa d‟Este: the minicar for tour (Vescovo, 2004) Such solutions fit perfectly the historical and environmental characteristics of this heritage complex, so to be also coherent with the performance-based approach. In fact, the purpose is achieved when more users‟ groups than before can use and see the place more extensively. The mansion underwent through a refurbishment where pathways have been re-designed with a clearer layouts, toilets are made accessible and a lift was installed in a hidden cavity to preserve the mansion image and at the same time ensure an easy going up and down of visitors, who can pick up/drop the minivan for the garden tour (see Fig. 6).
Figure 6: Villa d‟Este: the minicar pick up point (Vescovo, 2004)
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Figure 7: Villa d‟Este: floor plans
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5. CNR ITC and recent research issues Starting from the continuous effort to improve, extend and disseminate the good practices of accessibility and usability of the built environment, our institute has recently carried on the following research topics, partly addressed to an interdisciplinary attempt of linking more building sectors within the Universal Design principles:
5.1
BAS, a case study
CNR ITC was coordinator of BAS (Building Accessible Services), a EU funded project on Design for All, with a focus on good practices of accessibility/usability across the EU in the built environment (CNR ITC, 2006). An accessibility audit model was further developed from the methodology of POLIS, a previous EU research project based on an accessibility metrics evaluation tool (Sakkas et al., 2004). Among the BAS case studies of good practice of different building types and classification, we illustrate a remodelled cultural facility in Rome.
Jazz concert hall and park, Rome, Italy The Jazz House is the result of a large redevelopment plan of a former mansion house. The whole complex has been designated to accommodate facilities for jazz music, a successful genre in the cultural environment of Rome. Emphasis was on redesigning accessible layouts and paths indoor and outdoor (see Fig. 8, 9) (Zetema, 2005). The three buildings now accommodate a concert hall with an information centre, a restaurant and a music-recording studio with visiting singers‟ rooms. The area is in a large green park just beyond the south side of the ancient Roman walls, along a main urban highway, serviced by several transportations.
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Figure 8: Concert hall, ground floor (Zetema, 2005)
Figure 9: Main entrance to the concert hall (Zetema, 2005) The concert hall in its lower area is with three seating rows at the same floor level of the entrance. The general facilities (dressing rooms and toilets) are on the first floor and connect to podium through an accessible elevator for musicians only. The entrance hall is equipped with an accessible toilet and a cafeteria. Smoothly sloped ramps overcome differences in level outside as to walkways, patios and courtyard (see Fig. 10). Outdoor paving is assembled with natural materials and main passages indoor as well as the way from the entrance hall to the concert hall are with no differences in level. Accessible toilets for visitors are nearby and in the basement through an accessible lift. The main staircase in the middle is equipped with an accessible lift, connects all the rooms (Biocca, 2006).
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Figure 10: Ramp access from the park side (Zetema, 2005) Walking across the park is very easy through no-step walkways of ecological materials, well lit and signalled with orienting information system. The park is also furnished with several wooden benches along walkways and around buildings (see Fig. 11).
Figure 11: View of the park (Zetema, 2005)
5.2 Partner of the EU project LivingAll, for promoting a better mobility across the EU of people with disabilities The LIVINGALL project aimed to increase the free movement of people with disabilities as well as a better access to the global European labour market. Moreover, it helps decision makers with tools and methodologies for benchmarking and overcoming obstacles that will support more effective free movement policies for people with disabilities. The survey carried out within this project can be a preparatory work for extending the potentialities of tourism mobility. In fact, this is one of the key-points that can implement heritage sites across the EU and promote new tourist areas among visitors regardless of any ability (CNR ITC, 2008).
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5.3 Development of the former DSS tool from POLIS project. The POLIS audit methodology (BAM, Building Accessibility Metrics) had resulted in a DSS tool suitable for analysing details of accessibility characteristics. This methodology adopts three core concepts as follows: accessibility of building services (related to specific activities, i.e. employment, leisure, mobility, etc.), rather than of elements separately (stairs, elevator, etc.), so that users can effectively reach and use such services instead of simply entering some rooms; paths from/to separate service points (f.i. from/to office room/toilet) or from/to building entrance/service points; this dynamic approach takes more into account effective walking paths to use a service; path elements that can affect accessibility.
The final tool is a software able therefore to evaluate the accessibility level of any building area, basing on many complex factors related to both spatial characteristics (paths, furniture, facilities) and user categories (Biocca et al., 2008). It bases on the requirements from the building code and any architectural barriers that may hinder people with various difficulties as taken in accordance with the ICF (International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health)1. Currently, this DSS is going through further implementation in order to explore other potential benefits, f.i. evaluation of accessibility to cultural areas and sites and it is expected to promote a major awareness of the tourism for all.
Potential utilizations and beneficiaries of the new DSS The process of upgrading and extending the DSS is still in progress and, depending on the budgetary resources, will be able to produce fruitful opportunities that we can resume in short as follows for the new uses: testing and checking of usability and evacuation safety for larger users‟ groups in public buildings, both through design stage and in construction, management and maintenance; construction of a scientific evacuation model, based on multi-characteristics of larger users‟ groups and a valid evacuation strategy selected from experience, literature, available fire safety codes and experts‟ advice;
1
Established by WHO in 2001, it is an international standard for measuring health and disabilities as resulting from the interactions between each person‟s abilities and the external factors (environment, context, etc.).
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proposal of accessibility and safety certification label for building open to the public as regards to the disabilities categories from the ICF model.
and for the new beneficiaries: decision makers for checking refurbishments, retrofit, maintenance and safety of public buildings; users and consumers both through prior check/test and usability of buildings for a wide range of needs; professionals/freelances working in the building sector and needing further upgrade education; researchers for implementing the future activities, developments and applications together with third parties, of for fundraising/funding opportunities, or offering educational courses.
6. Conclusions Experiences illustrated so far show a new emerging need of accessing and using areas of the built environment that have been long time usually restricted to the so-called „basic facilities‟ for everyday lifetime and, instead, now they must necessarily extend to building spaces that incorporates also cultural and leisure activities for aiming to a more spread personal knowledge and awareness of the emotional factor in enjoying remarkable landmarks. This can definitely be a great potential chance for boosting art and heritage experience among all users.
References BIOCCA L (2008) “Design for all in heritage and leisure for largest groups of users”, Proceedings of the CIB W084 “Building Comfortable and Liveable Environments for All” Meeting, 15- 16 May 2008, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. BIOCCA L (2009) “Leisure for all in parks, naturalistic facilities and open spaces”, Proceedings of CIB W084, International Conference „Accessibility and Safety for All‟, 7-8 May 2009, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. BIOCCA L, MORINI A and MORUZZI L (2008), Multi-purpose research center, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy, BUILDING AND URBAN SPACE ACCESSIBILITY, POLIS: Decision support tools and policy initiatives in support of universal design of buildings, HIS BRE Press, pp. 51-64. BIOCCA L (2006) “The Jazz House in Rome, Italy”, 5° BAS Conference “Accessibility and Tourism”, 1st Regional Workshop (SE Europe, Mediterranean), 29 September 2006, Hersonissos, Greece.
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CNR ITC Coordinator (2006) BUILDING ACCESSIBLE SERVICES, Evaluating accessibility & highlighting good practice, A showcase of of Building and Urban Space Accessibility in the EU, Project supported by the EU – DG Employment and Social Affairs 2004-2006. CNR ITC et al. (2008) D2.3 Compilation and Classification of Technical Measures, LivingAll project Deliverable. MIBAC - Ministero per i Beni e Attività Culturali (2008) “Linee guida per il superamento delle barriere architettoniche nei luoghi di interesse culturale”, marzo. Texts by: Roberto Cecchi, Pio Baldi, Fabrizio Vescovo, Lucia Baracco, Andrea Pane, Maria Agostiano, Elisabetta Virdia, Gangemi Editore. PICCHIONE M (2008) “Eliminazione delle barriere architettoniche nei luoghi d‟interesse culturale”, L‟architetto italiano, anno V 26-27: giugno-settembre. SAKKAS N, PEREZ J and AMBROSE I (2004) “Elaborating metrics for the accessibility of building”, Journal of Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. VESCOVO F (2007) “Progetto „Casa Agevole‟. Unità abitativa sperimentale”, Progettare per tutti senza barriere, XV edizione corso di formazione post-lauream, october. VESCOVO F. (2003) Villa d‟Este è di tutti, (available online http://www.progettarepertutti.org/formazione/villadeste_ditutti.pdf - accessed on 02/04/2010) ZETEMA (2005), “Casa del Jazz – Intervento di recupero di Villa Osio, Roma” (blueprints, report and pictures/photos of the design program).
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A Systematic Review on the Therapeutic Lighting Design for the Elderly Shikder, S. Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University (email:
[email protected]) Price, A. Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University (email:
[email protected]) Mourshed, M. Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University (email:
[email protected])
Abstract Research suggests that specialized lighting design is essential to cater for the elderly users of a building because of the physiological changes in the eye with increased age. Recent studies have established that lighting in a space impacts on users‘ physical performance as well as on the mental state. In particular, light therapies have been found to be successful in treating several mood disorders in the elderly. Nevertheless, information relating to the therapeutic performance of lighting is scattered and comparatively less studied in built environment research. This review aims to identify the criteria for the therapeutic lighting design for the elderly and to discuss its applicability on contemporary design practices. Methodologies adopted for this study include a systematic review of literature to synthesize recent research findings and an evaluation of lighting guides published by the regulatory bodies and professional institutions to identify current practice. The review identified that there are substantial amount of evidence exists, which can be incorporated during elderly lighting design to increase the therapeutic performance of the space. Apart from enabling the users to navigate safely and perform routine tasks, the therapeutic performance of lighting is significant to enhance elderly wellbeing. Depression, delirium, sleep disorder and disorder in the circadian system are common mood disorders among the elderly, which are evidently influenced by the lighting environment. Advancements in lighting technology, in particular in low energy Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting have led to new approaches to meet detail photometric parameters to construct the desired therapeutic environment. Our understanding of the photobiological effects of lighting has enhanced, however the evidence is not well integrated with design guidelines. The research reported here has made an attempt to bridge this gap by developing a comprehensive knowledge base of the therapeutic lighting design for the elderly. Keywords: elderly, lighting, therapeutic design
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1. Introduction Visual ability declines with increased age due to physiological changes in human body. Decreased visual acuity causes difficulties in different cognitive activities related to vision, however, visual perception of an elderly person depends on the individual‘s specific circumstances. Reduced contrast sensitivity with depth perception, glare sensitivity, light-dark adaptation and low vision are all primary visual predicaments among elderly (Lord 2006, Boyce 2003, CIE 1997). These create different visual and lighting requirements for older adults compared to younger people. Apart from these, lighting is also significant for Vitamin D synthesis for human wellbeing. Along with the physical requirements our understanding of the photo-biological effects has enhanced over the recent years. Direct relationship of lighting has been established in reducing different mood and circadian system disorders among the elderly. These theories can enhance the existing lighting design practice by incorporating therapeutic performance into integrated lighting system. Advancements in lighting technology, in particular in low energy Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting, have extended the opportunity to control photometric parameters to create therapeutic lighting environments. However information regarding therapeutic lighting is scattered and still not discussed in details in guides. To get the full potentials of the generated evidence into practice there is necessity to collate the evidences and investigate their applicability. Another question is that, what are the particular design parameters to consider in designing therapeutic lighting? As lighting design involves specific illumination and luminance objectives to meet, there is a need to understand the full configuration of therapeutic lighting to incorporate into integrated lighting system. This paper identified key design modifiers of lighting and the visual environment for the elderly, considering the physical and psychological aspects based on existing evidence and their suitability for application. The paper also highlighted the issues require further attention in future lighting guides.
2. Methods The study was conducted by methodical literature search within electronic and manual resources. Four electronic databases were searched which were containing numerous journals and abstract indices of health, medicine and the built environment. Table 1 shows the searched databases and initial hits. Advanced search were conducted within these databases by the keywords as described in Table 2. Keywords were separated in four word groups and the groups were combined by ―And‖ during the search process.
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Table 1: Electronic databases searched and initial hits Electronic databases searched
Number of initial hits
Refined for abstract review
Pubmed
296
121
Sciencedirect
593
183
Web of science
545
131
Ovid MEDLINE
61
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Apart from the published journal articles and books, lighting guides from the following 4 organizations were evaluated. They were, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE); Commission International de Eclairage or International Commission on Illumination (CIE); British Standards (BS); and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). Table 2: Searched keywords and associated groups. Groups
Keywords
People
Elderly OR Senior OR Age* OR Older OR Aging
Environment
Light* OR Colour OR Color OR Visual OR Vision OR chromat*
Disease
Impair* OR mood OR disorder OR depression OR Mental OR Circadian OR Sleep OR Disorder OR Behaviour OR Behavior
State/Action
Fall OR Falls OR (Way and Finding) OR Navigation OR Psycholog* OR Balance
Before starting the systematic search a preliminary study was conducted to gather an overview of the topic covering different visual disease of the elderly, physical demands of light and lighting for adequate visual performance, and impact of lighting in mood disorder treatments. Based on the preliminary study search keywords were identified to proceed for systematic search focused on therapeutic design of elderly lighting. Core topic identified from initial study which were believed to be related with lighting, and health and safety of elderly are, Falls, Circadian system or sleep disorder, Seasonal and non-seasonal affective disorder, and Restless or agitated behaviour. Analysing these topics keywords (Table 2) were identified used to describe the common typologies in academic journals/articles. Again search process was divided into two major steps. First search stage was the combination of keywords from People, Environemnt and Disease groups; and second search stage was constructed by People and State/Action keyword groups. After gathering the initial hits the selection of articles were screened within the search engine by applying several inclusion and exclusion criteria. The elaborate list of this criteria for each database is not presented here. The key inclusion criteria to limit initial hits were, Subject type: Humans (Male, Female); Language: English; Journals from core clinical areas, nursing journals, vision research and applied ergonomics journals, gerontology and geriatrics archives, psychology and ageing journals, experimental medicine journals, behavioural sciences, etc. Within these selected articles, further screening were conducted by reviewing of abstracts and finally 74 articles were selected to review thoroughly.
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3. Findings from the study The review identified two major domains of elderly lighting are based on physical and psychophysical impact of lighting. Physical needs are primarily required due to the changes in the visual system in increased age. This domain of elderly lighting is comparatively more studied and discussed elaborately in published books and guides, whereas information regarding the impact of lighting on psychophysical aspects are scattered and discussions in guides are with less details. In this study psychological impacts are discussed in details, also physical lighting design parameters those are associated with elderly health and safety (e.g. falls, way finding) also addressed. A summary of the domains of elderly lighting are described in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Domains of lighting for the elderly
3.1 Physical impact of lighting Ageing brings about physiological changes to the human body, which also affects optical system. With increasing age, the following normal age-related changes occur in the eye (Weale 1963; Boyce 1973), gradual decrease in accommodation; increased absorption of light in the ocular media; increased scatter of light in the ocular media; and decrease in pupil diameter. In addition to these changes, older people are affected by pathological transformations in visual system which causes Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), Cataract and Glaucoma. People who suffer from diabetes and hypertension also suffer with Retinopathy (Boyece 2003, Sturnieks 2008). Suffering with one or more of these disease generally cause reduced contrast sensitivity, poor night vision, slowed lightdark adaptation, visual acuity, reduced depth perception and visual field loss, and lead to difficulties in vision related cognition activities (Boyce 2003; CIE 1997, Sturnieks 2008). Object identification and change detection are the two primary difficulties in vision related cognitive activities among the elderly, which are caused by reduced contrast sensitivity, reduced depth perception and visual field loss (Lord 2006; Nevitt et al. 1989). These disabilities lead to reduced obstacle avoidance ability and balance disorder and cause falls. Studies suggest that lighting can play
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significant role in reducing falls (Strunkies 2008; Boyece 2003; Lord 2006; Kooijman et al. 2005). Abdelhafiz and Austin (2003) stated poor lighting or inadequate floor finishes as the two main causes of falls; visual impairment is also believed to be associated with accidental falls causing hip fractures. And increasing the visual ability of elderly will contribute in reducing falls and in turn will save medical and care expenses. Luminance contrast is particularly important for older people to identify spatial objects. It allows one to identify the edge of objects, where reduced edge-contrast can lead to predispose oneself over obstacles (Lord 2006). Increasing the illumination level and luminous contrast will increase the visual performance for elderly and enhance navigation through spaces (Rea 1986; Rea and Oullette 1991; Boyce 2003b; Kuyk et al. 1996). Static luminance is preferred by the elderly when identifying objects (Blake et al. 2008, Akita et al. 2004). Other aspects like change detection and visual search also can impact on navigation ability for the elderly within the built environment. Older adults take longer to detect changes than younger adults (Veiel et al. 2006), particularly they take longer time in final fixation of targets (Ho et al. 2001). Decreased adaptation time is identified as one of the key reason for declined visual search and change detection time, however other than physical aspects psychological behaviour also can be responsible for final fixation of targets. Change detection also requires additional memory to only visual search (Veiel et al. 2006). Maltz and Shinar (1999) noted that older adults are more likely to investigate an area repeatedly and took longer time for fixation in identifying any object due to their cautiousness and a tendency to recheck their decision. Psychological or mental condition tend to have an effect on behaviour within the built environment as well; however, interaction with built environment can be guided by their daily practice. Such as visual environments in their dwelling can be expected to be more static and habituated by daily practice, whereas visual environment of public or other places might have a deeper involvement with their psychological behaviour as well as physical ability. Visual search and change detection certainly can play a role in navigation and way-finding for the elderly. The above findings indicate that rapidly changing elements can affect their reaction ability and in some cases may cause confusion in effective decision making.
3.2 Psychophysical impact of lighting Apart from the physical needs recent studies developed evidence base on the impact of lighting on mood disorders and psychological behaviours among the elderly. The review identified the major areas, where direct relationship between light and psychological behaviours are established. These finding are focussed on depression, circadian rhythm and restless behaviour among patient with dementia. A summary of these findings are discussed in Table 3 in a structured format and a general discussion has been conducted in next sections.
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Table 3: Significant findings of light therapies in mood disorder and circadian system treatments in last ten year period. Author
Type of disease
Type of therapy
Methodology
Light output
Length of treatment
Result
Lieverse et al. (2008, 2009)
Nonseasonal major depression for elderly
Bright light in elderly subjects
Light box with high intensity blue and dim red light
Bright light: 10,000 lux at 40 cm distance;
One hour each day for three weeks, participants were taking breakfast or do some reading
BLT reduces non-seasonal depression among the elderly. Additional lighting can be installed in the homes to treat depressed patients.
Hoof et al. (2009)
Behaviour with circadian rhythmicity and nocturnal restlessness for adults with dementia
Blue and yellowis h high intensity light
A room with ceiling mounted luminaires with 6500K and 2700K which provide 1800 lux over table surface
1800 lux over table surface
Not fixed
High intensity bluish light significantly improves restless behaviour and circadian rhythm disorder
Terman and Terman (2005)
SAD for all age groups
Bright light
Light Box
10000 lux
30 mins
Most effective for SAD treatment
Terman and Terman (1997)
SAD and sleep awake for age groups
Dawn simulati on
Gradually increases light levels from .001 lux to ~300 lux for 90 mins or over, before actual sunrise during winter
0.001 - ~ 300 lux
90 mins or over
Effective for morning awake and remove morning drowsiness
Figueiro (2002, 2005)
Sleep disorder for patients with Alzheimer
Exposin g to blue LED
Blue LED table top luminaires along with regular ceiling fluorescent lamp luminaires
30 lux at the cornea from blue or red LED, ambient light around 300 lux on table
2 hours, between 6:00 pm-10 pm for 10 days or, 2 hours, 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Blue light exposure significantly improved sleep disorder
Dim red light: less than 50 lux
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Gasio et al. (2002)
Sleep disorder for elderly
Dawndusk simulation (DDS)
DDS system with white light, system configured for two dates/latitude . They were, 10th April at 38ºN and 1st of July at 29ºN
Minimum light 0.001 lux and maximum light ~210 lux at 30 cm distance from the diffuser
Dusk lasted for 44 mins and dawn 34 mins for 38ºN. For 29ºN dusk and dawn both lasted for 30 mins.
Circadian timing system remains functionally responsive and induced a small advance in circadian rest in low intensity DDS light. DDS light therapy can contribute to improve sleep quality by increasing 'zeitgeber' strength.
Kobayashi et al. (2001)
Sleep disorder for elderly with and without dementia
Bright light in light therapy room
Bright light exposed in light therapy room
~8,000 lux at eye position
For one hour during lunchtime from 11:3012:30
Difficulty in falling asleep and drowsiness in morning declined during light exposure in eight patients among ten. The score of drowsiness decreased in afternoon during post light exposure. Clinical ratings of sleepwakefulness improved for eight patients.
3.2.1 Depression and lighting Though the extent is not accurately known, nursing home residents suffer a widespread depression (Abrams et al. 1992). Biderrman et al. (2008) implied that this suffering is usually neglected and can affect the quality of life. Winter depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) are very common among the elderly in nursing homes. The English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA) measured mental health state by widely used T-12 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) among elderly in 2002; 20% of men and 28% of women were classified as depressed according to this study (Soule et al. 2005). Different treatments demonstrate successful use of light therapies in reducing these disorders. Bright light therapy (BLT), light box method, whole-room method, head mounted units and dawn-dusk simulation (DDS) are major methodical ways to reduce mood disorder related to light treatments
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(Terman 1997). General recommendations suggest adequate light levels by both daylight and artificial lights encourage in reducing depressions. 3.2.2 Seasonal and non-seasonal affective disorder For SAD, Treatments of 10000 lux for 30 minutes were found most effective, with remission rate of 75%. Another earlier study showed that comparatively lower 2500 lux for two hours have similar success in remission rates (Terman and Terman 2005). Morning treatments were found to be more effective than midday or evening treatments, however, these studies were not particularly focussed on elderly subjects, but general treatments of depression are expected to be considerable for elderly. The American Psychiatric Association Committee on Research in Psychiatric treatments concluded that bright light and dawn simulation treatments (for non-seasonal depression and SAD) are effective as most antidepressant pharmacotherapy trials (Golden et al. 2005). A recent study by Liverse et al. (2009) identified the success of light therapy (High intensity blue) among the patients with dementia and concluded that lighting system of patients‘ home can be modified to serve as antidepressants or as stand-alone treatment for the depressed elderly patients. Light therapy treatments are generally mild and not completely without side effects. Headaches, eye strain, nausea, jumpiness/jitterness etc. are a few side effects observed to be related to the treatments. Except these, the tendency to commit suicide has been found among a few patients after or during light therapies. These entails that a more cautious approach is taken for the implementation of light therapies (Terman and Terman 2005). Additionally, another problem of light therapy is the daily time commitment for patients. 3.2.3 Circadian system and sleep disorder Dawn simulation was found successful in stimulating circadian system and reduce depression (Golden 2005). It simulates sunrise during winter earlier than actual sunrise by gradually increasing for 90 minutes or over from 0.001 lux (starlight) to around 300 lux (―sunrise under tree cover‖) while the patient sleeps (Terman and Terman, 2005). Several studies suggest dawn simulation significantly increase awakening performance and reduce drowsiness (Avery et al. 2002, 2004; Golden 2005). Also Kohsaka et al. (2000) identified elderly exposed to bright light for short duration in morning have better wake up and sleep cycle. Terman and Terman (2005) stated that the performance of dawn simulation depended on the appearance of diffuse and broad-field illumination which reaches patient in different postures. Such efficiency is not present in all commercially available devices with small directional light distribution. Few other studies also showed success in managing circadian rhythmicity. Particularly recent studies demonstrate that exposure to high intensity blue light for a specific time of day increases sleep-wake cycle for older patients. A study by Hoof et al. (2009) among demented elderly, provided exposure to blue light (6500 K CCT) with 1800 lux over table surface installed in dining and visitors area for three weeks time period alternatively with a yellowish light (2700 K CCT) for two weeks. The study measured restless behaviour and circadian rhythmicity among users and concluded that a highintensity blue light can contribute in managing restless behaviour and improving circadian
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rhythmicity among demented older adults. However, Forbes et al. (2009) suggested that the evidence those established relation between lighting and behaviour among patients with dementia are still inconclusive and further research is required. Studies by Figueiro (2002, 2005) demonstrated, that the use of low intensity blue LEDs for two hours at evening improved sleep efficiency for older people. The patient group sampled for the test were elderly suffered with Azheimer‘s Disease and the result showed significant improvement in sleep disorder for most of the patients. This study was based on the knowledge that circadian system is sensitive to short-wave length radiation (Brainard et al. 2001). Followed by these findings Figueiro (2008) described a 24 hour lighting system for elderly where exposition to blue LEDs are suggested. For circadian system it is found that narrowband blue light is highly successful. Considering these aspects, a 24-hour lighting system has been designed by Figueiro to provide: high circadian stimulation during the day and low circadian stimulation at night; good visual conditions during waking hours; and nightlights that are safe and minimise sleep disruption. Daylight is given high importance for correct circadian stimulation, and the lighting scheme suggested that ―ratio of daytime to nighttime light exposures may be as important as the absolute light levels for circadian entrainment (Figueiro 2008) .‖ It is also suggested that future lighting systems should consider proper design of light/dark pattern that can improve sleep efficiency for the elderly. The author also suggested that progressive architects can follow these early findings when designing physical spaces for the elderly. These results show an improvement in recent studies on the impact of light in managing sleep disorder and circadian rhythms. It can be expected in future these findings will be implemented in lighting design for elderly to achieve better circadian rhythm management and sleep-wake cycle.
3.3 Lighting guides and recommendations Lighting regulations are available in different regions and countries. In North America, the Illuminating Engineering Society (IESNA) publishes lighting regulations. European Standard EN 12464-1 binds standard agencies of 20 European countries including British Standards (BSI) in the United Kingdom. In UK Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) publishes lighting design guidelines, which again complies with International Commission on Illumination (CIE) guides. Specific lighting regulation for the elderly and low vision are found from CIE Low Vision (1997) and IESNA Lighting and the Visual Environment for Senior Living (1998). CIBSE and British Standards (BSI 2002) does not provide any separate lighting guide for elderly or low vision. A review on these guides identified that, lighting regulations are generally covered by illumination levels in ‗lux‘ with suggestions of distribution guidelines. Luminance distribution guidelines are specified in descriptions rather than in photometric units. Although discussion on the necessity of natural and bright light is highlighted, specific recommendations are not covered about the amount of daylight an individual required with therapeutic performance of lighting. A brief review on guidance published by these institutions (CIBSE, CIE and IESNA) on two primary lighting design modifiers, illumination level and luminance distribution are discussed below.
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Illumination level is well described in guides. IESNA (1998) and CIE Low vision (1997) prescribed lighting recommendations for separate spaces like bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, entrance etc. Individual task lighting is given in preference for low vision people for better visual performance. Guidance on luminance distribution is found in qualitative descriptions rather than quantitative measuring units. Among the guides IESNA (1998) describes the derivation of contrast sensitivity of objects through contrast formula considering veiling luminance. This type of mathematical derivations of contrast can be useful in a systematic evaluation of a designed space. However, the guides lack in defining the luminance environment parameters precisely. Luminance and contrast threshold for individuals suffering specific disease are not discussed. CIBSE Lighting Guide 2 (2008) is a specific guide for hospital and healthcare environments, which provides recommendations on maximum luminance of surfaces and light sources from viewing angles for vertical and ceiling surfaces (maximum 1500 cd/m2 for vertical walls). A set of recommendations similar to these might be useful for elderly lighting recommendations but not presented on existing elderly and low vision guides. High contrast is also suggested to ensure readability of signs and bulletin boards; however a suggestion in quantifiable units to define optimal high contrast for specific group of people like elderly or low vision is not discussed in details.
4. Discussion 4.1 Design parameters for therapeutic lighting Illumination level, spatial distribution of illuminance and luminance, and colour contrasts are established lighting design considerations for the elderly. The impacts of these parameters vary for specific treatments and demand customisation to suit the circumstances. Although the evidence exists in the healing of mood disorders, circadian disorder and restless behaviour, these are not well established in lighting design practice. Bright light therapy and dawn simulation in reducing depression and circadian disorder (Terman & Terman 2005), and blue LED therapy (Figueira 2008) in treating circadian disorder are proven methodologies. Generally mood disorder treatments through lighting are configured by illumination level (lux), chromaticity of light (Correlated Colour Temperature), duration and time of the day. For therapeutic lighting design time and duration are new parameters that added up with physical lighting parameters. A summary of light therapies are given in Table 4.
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Table 4: Summary of light therapies in illumination level, light spectrum, duration and time of day (Figuera 2008; Terman & Terman 2005). Therapy
Disease
Light level (lux)
Chromaticity
Duration
Time of day
Authors
Blue LED
Sleep disorder
30
Blue
2 hours
evening
Figueiro (2002, 2005)
Bright light
SAD
2500
4000 K
2 hours
morning
Terman & Terman (2005)
Bright light
SAD
10000
4000 K
30 mins
morning
Terman & Terman (2005)
Dawn simulation
SAD and sleep awake
0.01-300
--
90 mins or over
morning
Terman & Terman (1997)
4.2 Revision of lighting guides Noell-Waggoner (2006) emphasized on the lack of lighting regulations or standards for nursing homes. Existing recommendations consider required illuminance levels but the effect of photo biological needs are not considered. Studies found that community living dwellers are exposed to higher levels of bright light (necessary for vitamin D synthesis) compared to the residents living in nursing homes. As a result, nursing home residents experience more falls, hip fractures and sleep problems. Significant evidence is available on the impact of light on circadian rhythm and mood disorder treatments. In the case of depression, different methods already showed success and developed evidence base. Incorporation of these suggestions into built environment has the potential to create a better therapeutic lighting environment for the elderly. The integration of lighting systems with seasonal and environmental response can help in reducing winter or seasonal depression, though methodological research is expected in implementing these findings into lighting system design. Incorporating lighting system for winter depression particularly can be important for high latitude countries where diurnal length is short enough to stimulate disorder. Collaboration among physicians and designers can find a desired solution in designing lighting environment considering these newer theories. Specific guidelines are required to strengthen the knowledge of therapeutic aspects of lighting and its application in real practice. Review also identified the importance of luminance contrast in lighting design for the elderly. Luminance environment can be critical as contrast or luminance threshold varies widely depending on individual‘s visual ability and acuity. Such as, an individual suffering from Cataract tend to be more sensitive with higher luminance where increased illuminance level can have adverse effects in visual performance if the distribution is not optimal and surface produce high luminance due to reflections. Similarly different age related diseases demands specific lighting and visual environment to reduce vision related difficulties. A range of luminance and contrast ratio threshold for specific low vision people is desired for quantitative evaluation to define environmental luminance contrast for the disease specific individual.
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Contrast and luminance threshold also increase with adaptability and knowingness of activity or space, however for patients with dementia or other disrupted psychologically diseased elderly, contrast threshold might vary widely as they forget the environment or activity. The guides also lack in discussing recent use of LED technology incorporating vertical light sources. Detail luminance distribution design guidelines to optimise vertical lighting design is desired to ensure safety and reduce unexpected discomfort and disability glare from vertical light sources.
5. Conclusions The review has covered different aspects of elderly lighting from physical and therapeutic aspects. The aim of this review was to identify key design modifiers of lighting and visual environment for the elderly and evaluate their current state of application. The review discussed various lighting design modifiers and highlighted significant parameters in photometric terms to enhance the therapeutic design. Importance of lighting in ensuring safety, navigation and task performance is well established. Along with this the review identified that, recent studies demonstrate ample evidence on therapeutic performance of lighting. However, implementation of these theories into built environment design is not well established. This review also discussed existing lighting regulations and its limitations. To realise the full potential of lighting design in enhancing therapeutic aspects, guidance in quantitative terms is necessary. Therefore, a revision of lighting regulations is suggested. There is a growing support for evidence-based design in the built environment, in particular in the therapeutic and healing aspects. With regard to therapeutic and healing aspects of elderly lighting, a substantial knowledge base is required to guide design decision-making. Through the state-of-the-art review, this study has developed an evidence base to support therapeutic design of elderly lighting.
References Abdelhafiz, A. H., Austin, C. A. (2003) Visual factors should be assessed in older people presenting with falls or hip fracture. Age and Ageing, 32, 26–30. Abrams, R. C., Teresi, J. A., Butin, D. N. (1992) Depression in nursing home residents, Clinic in geriatric medicine, 8, 309-322. Akita, J., Ito, K, Gyobu, I., Kimura, K., Mihara, A., Mizuno, R., Nakakoji, J., Yanagihara, K. (2004) Dynamic Lighting Sign System for Way-Finding by People with Low Vision. Computers Helping People with Special Needs. p. 628. Avery, D. H., Kouri, M. E., Monaghan, K., Bolte, M. A., Hellekson, C., Eder, D. (2002) Is dawn simulation effective in ameliorating the difficulty awakening in seasonal affective disorder associated with hypersomnia? J. Affect. Disord., 69, 231-236. Avery, . H, Bolte, M. A., Eder, D. (2004) Difficulty awakening as a symptom of winter depression, Soc. Light. Treatment. Biol. Rhythms Abst. 6, 21.
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Biderman, A., Cwikel, J., Fried, A. V., Galinsky, D. (2002) Depression and falls among community dwelling elderly people: a search for common risk factors. Journal of Epidemiol Community Health, 56, 631-636. Blake, R., Rizzo, M., McEvoy, S. (2008) Aging and Perception of Visual Form From Temporal Structure. Psychology and Aging, 23(1), 181-189. Boyce, P. R. (2003) Human Factors in Lighting, 2nd ed., New York: Taylor and Francis Inc. Boyce, P.R., Akashi, Y., Hunter, C.M., and Bullough, J.D. (2003b) The impact of spectral power distribution on the performance of an achromatic visual task. Light. Res. Technol., 35. Brainard, G. C., Hanifin, J. P., Greeson, J. M., Byrne, B., Glickman, G., Gerner, E., Rollag, M. D. (2001) Action spectrum for melatonin regulation in humans: evidence for a novel circadian photoreceptor. J. Neurosci., 21, 6405–6412. CIBSE (2008) Lighting Guide 2: Hospitals and health care buildings, London. CIE (1997) Low Vision: Lighting needs for the partially sighted. Technical report 123. Vienna. Figueiro, M. G., Rea, M. S., Eggleston, G. (2002) Effects of light exposure on behaviour patterns of Alzheimer‘s disease patients: A pilot study. 5th LRO Res. Symposium, Orlando, FL. Figueiro, M. G., Rea, M. S. (2005) LEDs: Improving the sleep quality of older adults, Proceedings of the CIE Midterm Meeting and International Lighting Congress, Leon, Spain, May 18–21. Figueiro, M. G. (2008) A proposed 24 h lighting scheme for older adults, Lighting Research and Technology, 40, 153-160. Forbes, D., Culum, I., Lischka, A.R., Morgan, D.G.; Peacock, S., Forbes, J.; Forbes, S. (2009) Light therapy for managing cognitive, sleep, functional, behavioural, or psychiatric disturbances in dementia, Cochrane Database Of Systematic Reviews (Online), 4. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=19821317&site=ehost-live (accessed Dec. 2009) Gasio, P. F., Krauchi, K., Cajochen, C., Someren, E. V., Amrhein, I., Pache, M., Savaskan, E., WirzJustice, A. (2003) Dawn-dusk simulation light therapy of disturbed circadian rest-activity cycles in demented elderly, Experimental Gerontology, 38, 207-216. Golden, R. N., Gaynes, N. B., Ekstrom, R. D., Hamer, R. M., Jacobsen, F. M., Suppes, T., Wisner, K. L., Nemeroff, C. B. (2005) The Efficacy of Light Therapy in the Treatment of Mood Disorders: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Evidence. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 656-662.
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Ho, G., Scialfa, C. T., Caird, J. K., & Graw, T. (2001) Visual search for traffic signs: The effects of clutter, luminance, and aging. Human Factors, 43, 194–207. Hoof, J. V., Schoutens, A. M. C. (2009a) High colour temperature lighting for institutionalised older people with dementia, Building and Environment, 44(9), 1959-69. Hoof, J. V, Aarts, M. P., Rense, C. G., Schoutens (2009b) Ambient bright light in dementia: Effects on behaviour and circadian rhythmicity. Building and Environment, 44(1), 146-55. IESNA (1987) IES Lighting Handbook. New York, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. IESNA (1998) Lighting and the Visual Environment for Senior Living, New York: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. Kobayshi, R., Fukuda, N., Kohsaka, M., Sasamoto, Y., Sakakibara, S., Koyama, E., Nakamura, F., Koyama, T. (2001) Effects of bright light therapy at lunchtime on sleep of patients in a geriatric hospital I, Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 55, 287-289. Kooijman, A. C., Cornelissen, F. W. (2005) Better Lighting to Reduce Falls and Fracture? A Comment on de Boer et al. (2004): Different Aspects of Visual Impairment as Risk Factors for Falls and Fractures in Older Men and Women. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 20(11), 2061. Kuyk, T., Elliot, J.L., Biehl, J., Fuhr, P.S. (1996) Environmental variables and mobility performance in adults with low vision. Journal of the American Optometric Association, 67, 403-409. Liverse, R., Nielen, M. M. A., Veltman, D. J., Uitdehaag, B. M. J., Someren, E. J. W., Smit, J. H., Hoogendijk, W. J. G. (2008) Bright light in elderly subjects with non-seasonal major depressive disorder: a double blind randomised clinical trial using early morning bright blue light comparing dim red light treatment. Trials Journal, 9(48). Lord, S. R. (2006) Visual risk factors for falls in older people. Age and Ageing, 35(S2), ii42–ii45 Maltz, M., & Shinar, D. (1999). Eye movements of younger and older Drivers. Human Factors, 41, 15–25. Nevitt, M. C., Cummings, S. R., Kidd, S., Black, D. (1989) Risk factors for recurrent nonsyncopal falls: A prospective study. JAMA, 261, 2663-2668. Noell-Waggoner (2006) Lighting In Nursing Homes – The Unmet Need. Proceedings of the 2nd CIE Expert Symposium Lighting and Health, International Commission on Illumination Publication, CIE 031.
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Rea, M. S. (1986) Toward a model of visual performance: foundations and data. J. Illumin. Engin. Soc., 15, 41-58. Rea, M. S., Ouellette, M. J. (1991) ―Relative visual performance: a basis for application‖. Light. Res. Technol., 23, 135-44. Soul, A., Babb, P., Evandrou, M., Balchin, S., Zealey, L. (2005) Focus on Older People, Office for National Statistics. Sturnieks, D. L., George R,. St, Lord, S. R. (2008) Balance disorders in the elderly. Clinical Neurophysiology, 38, pp.467—47 Terman, M., Terman, J. S. (1999) Bright light therapy: side effects and benefits across the symptom spectrum, J. Clin. Psychiatry, 60, 799-808. Terman, M., Terman, J. S. (2005) Light Therapy for Seasonal and Nonseasonal Depression: Efficacy, Protocol, Safety, and Side Effects, CNS Spectr., 10(5), 647-663. Terman, M. (1997) Light on sleep. In: Schwartz WJ, ed. Sleep Science: Integrating Basic Research and Clinical Practice. Basel, Switzerland: Karger, 229-249. Veiel, L. L., Storandt, M., Abrams, A. R. (2006) Visual Search for Change in Older Adults. Psychology and Aging, 21(4), 754-762.
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The Role of Schools Play as Community Hub Facilities in Contributing to a Sustainable Community Mansor, H.N. The University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Alexander, K. The University of Salford (email:
[email protected])
Abstract The last decade has seen a shift of focus in every neighbourhood policy from physical renewal and economic development to tackling social and community-related matters concentrated in deprived neighbourhoods. People in local communities who live in deprived neighbourhoods are greatly disadvantaged in respect to both their social cohesion at present time and to their transition towards a sustainable community in future. Governments together with their partnership alliances have laid down commitments from strategic policies to monitoring aspects, in order to bring together from community facilities resources that will contribute to a sustainable community, such as social cohesion. This paper explores how the role of schools in providing community facilities can help the government to better understand the process in promoting social cohesion. The idea is to explore present school concepts, roles and efforts that have been undertaken in order to enhance the values of the social cohesion process; namely, personal development, diversion and social interaction/social networks within the relationships between its teaching staff, pupils, parents and the wider community. However, it is also important for every local community to understand how their school can extend its role in providing social cohesion benefits and how they feel about being part of something that benefits them all. Outside the walls of the school itself, this paper explains how building community-school connections with families and the wider community are important as equal as an educational resource. An in-depth review of most of the literature on Sustainable Community issues with school roles raised the perception of where the advantages and gaps are, contrasted the views of particular authors, and also raised questions. By showing a school‟s role as community hub and its significant relationships in creating a Sustainable Community environment with social cohesion agendas, this paper strongly recommends undertaking further thinking on local communities‟ experiences of perceiving the school as a community hub and of its role in adding value towards creating Sustainable Communities. Keywords: school, social cohesion, community hub
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1. Introduction In the last decade, most parts of the United Kingdom has experienced much focus on every neighbourhood urban regeneration policies from physical renewal and economic development to tackling social and community-related matters like social exclusion. The focus was mainly on those people who live in deprived neighbourhoods and who are greatly disadvantaged in respect of their social cohesion at this present time. Since the Sustainable Community concept has been introduced widely into the UK, many things related with social development have been introduced, mainly from using buildings as community resources to opening up lots of opportunities for people to share their thoughts among others, understand their ways of life and the needs for their own future. Through the agendas of social cohesion, governments have prepared new policies and targeted strategies in order to solve as much as they could of most communities‟ issues and conflicts arising from deprived and problematic community areas. Social cohesion can be defined in many ways, given dimensions by economics, social and environmental factors that are required by the sustainable community concept (Vergolini, 2007). According to Cantle (2006), the term „community cohesion‟ is regularly used in the UK as a term for a community: To which people are proud to say they belong; Where people from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds and with different incomes live side-by-side in peace and safety; Which is not disfigured by racism or other forms of prejudice, and where people treat each other with courtesy and respect; Where people support each other when they are in need, and where conflicts can be resolved rather than festering or growing; Where people receive, and feel they receive, fair treatment from organizations providing services, facilities and employment opportunities; people are able to contribute to decisions which affect their lives, and to participate fully in the economic, social and cultural life of the community (Cantle, 2006) Understanding what cohesion means to a community assists a government in promoting social cohesion. However, with new policies and targeted strategies being delivered by an increasingly diverse range of providers, with correspondingly diverse opportunities for user and community involvement, Blake et al. (2008) identified that “there has been less focus upon the implications of engaging service users and communities effectively when communities are themselves diverse, with differing needs and priorities”. This could create challenges in promoting the social cohesion agendas. (Blake, Diamond et al., 2008). It appears that some of the initiatives that the government has taken so far have given many new opportunities for the future of all the people in the community.; opportunities such as having decent work, decent places to live, better schools for children, common infrastructure, quality in health and well-being and lastly freedom for community building. However, there is a need for people who involves with government commitment to serve its communities, to understand the importance of linking those opportunities that promotes social engagement processes with people experiences and perceptions (McShane, 2008). These perceptions need to heard. Government, through local authorities, has been planning and managing strategies to let the
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communities to engage with the process. However, there appears to be less interest from the community. This may be the reasons why there are still signs of negative sentiment issues continuing such as social exclusion, segregated communities, „fear of difference‟, unequal life chances, poverty and disaffection in communities, a lack of leadership, renunciation of community politics, lacking a sense of belonging and lastly, poverty and unfriendliness. This paper explores how schools can play a role by being community facilities in order to help the government in getting community participations by promoting social cohesion not only from inside schools walls but more concerning people from outside its boundaries. Schools, either in urban or rural catchment areas, have recently been expected by the government to play their part in discovering the advantages of community elements through its pupils, parents and the wider community. Schools apparently have criteria that can be incorporated to optimize learning opportunities for the whole population, and most schools have started to begin social interaction projects which have resulted in bringing benefits in promoting social cohesion not only by activities within the school walls but further out beyond the normal school boundaries. This paper highlights the importance of building community-school relationships and why it is benefit for the communities if the right community facilities like local schools can carry the roles and responsibilities to promote it. The importance of understanding the relationships that schools can offer to local communities around one school‟s area has to be taken into consideration when making use of community facilities like schools. However, the process can be much more complex and these potentially give some challenges to the schools as service providers. This paper introduces the concept of community hub facilities as part of a school‟s role to promote social cohesion. Some explanations on social cohesion with related case studies have been put into this paper which considers schools‟ roles as community hub facilities and their impact on a Sustainable Community.
2. Sustainable communities and social cohesion The objectives of Sustainable Community concepts can be achieved as long as its economical, social and environmental dimensions are taken into the right processes of getting out of what most important back to the communities. Social learning and empowerment, social cohesion, social inclusion, social justice and equalities are just some of the outcomes of the whole process to enable the community to gain benefits in their lives (Smith, 2008). Furthermore, it is not practical when working on sustainable community agendas not to understand the connection with the resources that will be needed in order to support their objectives. In much of the literature, many authors suggest that physical resources need to be integrated with other resources, such as politics, economics and humans, social and environmental resources (Smith, 2008). Government together with its partnership alliances has laid down a commitment with strategic policies and monitoring aspects to bring together these resources in order to provide something meaningful back to community. The shift in focus in every neighbourhood urban regeneration policy (from physical renewal and economic development to tackling social and community-related matters concentrated in deprived neighbourhoods, such as unemployment, low income, low skills, poor housing, high crime rates, and poor health – in short, social exclusion) has become a major reason why social cohesion objectives need to be achieved in parallel with other Sustainable Community issues. Relying on numbers of government efforts and
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commitment in overcoming social development issues from major capital resources would not give enough impact on sustainable community agendas in the long run. There must be some approaches which need to be formulated with other significant resources in order to give more positive outcomes, and these have to be recognised. In addition, issues in decision- making on different levels gives the same challenges as approaches trying to make Sustainable Communities more realistic. Decisionmaking in the future will require ways of listening to opposing points of view, and finding ways to accommodate deeply held and differing values. Usual decision- making mechanisms tend to exclude rather than include diverse interests and do not cope well with the complexities that issues of sustainability present (SPIDR, 1993). More than ever, decision-maker has to be understood that how decisions made today affect the quality of life for future generations. People are demanding more meaningful input to decisions that directly affect them or the place where they live. As in the United Kingdom, the role of local communities is becoming increasingly important, and as in much of the rest of the world, there is a move towards more decentralized decision-making. The UK government has continued to bear responsibility for bringing together diverse interests to establish national standards, goals, and priorities. These central roles are necessary because national interests may not always be represented in local decisions, and the effects of community choices are felt beyond one municipality. The government is providing greater flexibility and is expanding the roles played by local counties and communities in implementing policies and programmes to address national goals (DCLG, 2008). Indeed local governments have to play a key role in creating stronger communities from planning and facilitating development, to creating community partnerships or to providing leadership (Mansor and Alexander, 2008). Much of what is needed to create more sustainable communities is within reach if people and their community institutions join forces. Many communities are beginning to be aware of, and to think of, the concept of a Sustainable Community as a framework to structure their living environment in the future. Big institutions in society including federal and local governments, businesses, universities, and national organizations – provide support for local community efforts. Thus in some cases, these institutions need to review the barriers they have (sometimes unintentionally) erected that reduce the ability of communities to pursue a sustainable community. Apart from being one of the most realistic outcomes from sustainable community agendas, social cohesion should be a main focus for government in order to put right and enhance what remains good value in every community. For some their involvement is through political interest, however the true feeling of those people who live in deprived neighbourhoods and are greatly disadvantaged in respect of their social cohesion at the present time making it crucial to the need to instigate the right approaches to overcome the issues. There are challenges and perimeters that need to be considered when tackling community issues in social cohesion. The first one is on when to break down segregated communities‟ issues and the occurrence of „fear of difference‟ among themselves. The second challenge for social cohesion is on the issues of continuing tackling unequal life chances, poverty and disaffection in communities. The third one is the deficiency in numbers in community leaderships, these leaders being necessary in order to facilitate change. The fourth challenge is how to avoid any renunciation of community politics and having separate interests and how to create a sense of belonging has also become one of the biggest challenges in social cohesion (Roski, Perry et al., 1997). Lastly, there is the challenge of how to continue tackling unequal life chances, poverty and unfriendliness among neighbours, not to mentioned issues of race and faith which are often seen as the most frequent sensitive points between
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communities and can cause the most visible sources of tension. Discrimination and prejudice experienced by other groups – including the disabled, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and different age and gender groups can also create additional tension.
3. The role of school in social cohesion In 2007, all schools in the UK were given a new duty to promote social cohesion. Most schools in UK, however, already considered this as a fundamental part of their role. At the same time, local authorities have been working alongside schools in order to promote social cohesion and have also been looking at the opportunities to support schools. Every school is responsible for educating children and young people who will live and work in a country which is diverse in terms of culture, religion and beliefs, ethnicities and social backgrounds. Different schools in different catchment areas will clearly facing different challenges. Social cohesion commitment starts when schools in this context are recognised and can be seen as providing opportunities to create themselves as a hub for community interactions - which embraces the concept of providing a „one stop shop‟ in terms of education, health, childcare and social services for the community (Smith and Mark K., 2008). Schools in the heart of a community can provide a range of services and activities which often go beyond the school day; they should help the needs of children, their families and the wider community. In other words, schools can play a role of providing an open door to let more people come in and to interact with each other more frequently. To show that schools can be provide a contributing role in promoting social cohesion, a study from New Zealand has shown the impact of a school closure on neighbourhood social cohesion (Witten, McCreanor et al., 2001). The findings showed that the impact of school relocation for low income families has more generally reflected on the place of schools in contributing social cohesion and on the broadly defined health of a community. In another research, Hennessy (2006) suggested that when the time has come to renew a community facility and its services, it is ultimately important to enable communities to achieve the outcomes they believe are important to them and potentially to their children (Hennessy and Platt, 2006). Schools, therefore, can be seen as creating an opportunity to ensure that the benefits of the schools can be extended to the local community. In other words, the role of a school will add value by promoting social cohesion beyond just the characteristics of a building. This particular role of schools, however, has its own challenges, especially when implementing the idea of extending services beyond schools into an opportunity which can be expected to offer something back to a community covering all ages (Dryfoos, 1999). In addition, schools can be more than places just for creating a good learning environment for the young people. Centres or hubs can be created and conceived of as doorways to sets of resources that range from the informational (e.g. news of a neighbourhood) to the material (e.g. grounds and building for community use) to the social (e.g. networks and sources of support). Access to such resources and facilities could conceivably have a greater impact on the well-being of poor neighbourhoods because of cost and mobility barriers to other forms of community contact and resources.
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The significance of the contribution that schools can make to social cohesion particularly in a poor neighbourhood derives from their status as one of the sole portals through which all communities and their families with children pass. For example, for the parents of young children, the local school is an amenity/service central to their everyday lives. Schools are well placed to become a focus for community interaction and identity, because of the common needs and life stage experiences of parents with young children and because of the existing social ties between neighbours who are also school parents and their location within the catchment neighbourhoods. They are informal meeting places where friendship networks form, reciprocal exchanges around childcare are negotiated and news of local events can be shared.
4. More school advantages that can promote social cohesion This paper discusses the role of a school as a community resource that brings together community relations, community involvement, community engagement, community partnerships, into something brings about social cohesion. Regardless of how people may describe it, most people in a community deserve well-planned and well-structured programmes in place, to promote and nurture community understanding (Adolescence, 2009). The Education and Inspections Act 2006 introduced “ a duty on all maintained schools in the UK to promote community cohesion and on The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted), the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England, to report on the contributions made in this area” (Ofsted, 2009). Since September 2007, many schools already work in ways that promote community cohesion and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has urged all schools to build on the best of that practice, so that all pupils understand and appreciate others from different backgrounds with a sense of shared values, fulfilling their potential and feeling part of a community, at a local, national and international level. Schools have characteristics that can contribute towards these aims through their teaching and learning, their work to raise standards and ethos, through engagement with the community and extended services (Ofsted, 2009). Schools play a major part in developing cohesive communities, for example in: 1) opening access to education and employment; 2) developing skills to overcome poverty and social inequalities; 3) promoting social and cultural diversity; 4) providing access to ICT; 5) facilitating the integration of new communities; 6) providing premises or facilities for use by a wide range of users, for instance people from various ethnic groups and of different ages. School roles in promoting social cohesion should not limit themselves to one particular dimension but the school may want to consider the initial dimensions first – acting within the locality of the school and move on with engaging the wider community (CIRCLE, 2003). Schools have, therefore, to design their facilities in the sense of recognizing where other strands of the equalities agenda – including gender, sexual orientation, disability and age – are interconnected with the aspiration to promote community cohesion. Schools, on many occasions, should note that their focus should additionally promote community cohesion across different cultures, ethnic, religious or nonreligious and socio-economic groups. Schools could further support the concept that community-wide efforts need to be launched to effect changes in the normative, role model and
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opportunity structures of community social environments in order to curb any social issues such as adolescent alcohol and drug use (Roski, Perry et al., 1997). School roles, besides the need in giving opportunities to build up relationships between its pupils, parents and the wider community towards better future in education and social values in a neighbourhood, in a neighbourhood, there is also a need for school to spread their influence by helping out on social diversity issues from local communities‟ aspects either in rural or urban areas (Miller, 1993). Miller further stated that schools in these cases need to become more sensitive of their role in minimizing the impact of social problems and issues in the areas outside the school vicinity.
5. Building community-school relationships This paper also explores the hypothesis that the role of school as a community hub will add value to the social cohesion process; namely to personal development, diversion and social interaction/social networks. This set of values can only begin with the process and outcomes from the building of community-schools relationships (Hull and Schultz, 2002). A lot of today's best leaders in community development, education, and business are coming to realize that schools themselves cannot bring the benefits of social cohesion to the youth, their parents and to the wider community. This is the stage when schools and communities should work closely with each other to meet their mutual goals. Extended schools, for example, can provide more support for students, families and staff when they are an integral part of the community. On the other hand, agencies can make services more accessible to local communities by linking with schools, and they can connect better with, and have an impact on, hard-to-reach people. Appropriate and effective collaboration and team-working are seen as key factors to community development, learning and family self-sufficiency (Higgins, et al., 2005). School-community relationships should be considered as connections between schools and community resources. The meaning of the relationship may involve use of school or neighbourhood facilities and equipment; sharing resources; collaborative fund raising and grant applications; volunteer assistance; mentoring and training from professionals and others with special expertise; information sharing and dissemination; networking; recognition and public relations; shared responsibility for planning, implementation and evaluation of programmes and services; expanding opportunities for internships, jobs, recreation and building a sense of community (DCLG , 2008). School-community partnerships can interconnect with other resources and strategies to enhance communities‟ values that support all youth, their families and the wider community. The outcome of the partnership could improve schools themselves, strengthen neighbourhoods and lead to a noticeable reduction in young people's problems. However, building such partnerships requires visioning, strategic planning, creative leadership and new multifaceted roles for professionals who work within the schools and communities context (Mitrofanova, 2004). All these are expected to enhance the values of the social cohesion process. In addition, schools themselves create communities – for example, the networks formed by similar or different types of schools, by schools that are part of the specialist schools‟ network, or by schools that work collaboratively in clusters or in other models of partnership (Adolescence, 2009). Many schools operate across all of the above
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dimensions, for example by providing extended services for the local community and forging links with other schools regionally or internationally.
6. Community hub A community hub provides space for community groups and local organizations to get each other and for a range of activities, programmes, services and events to take place which address the social needs of a community (Lock, 2008). A community hub typically involves with community facilities clustered with main buildings, should extend its function to make it as resources broadly available to the community, and should also be in a location where a lot of different services that are available in the community, can come together. While co-location of facilities and services is widely viewed as an important component of a community hub, in order to be successful a hub needs to be more than a cluster of services and buildings. The essence of a community hub is the concentration of activity that occurs and how the mix of those activities, is accessible to, and serves the needs of, a diverse range of community members. In contemporary urban design and community planning, community hub is always being a used term. It also can mean different things in dissimilar contexts and there is no widely accepted definition. Rossiter (2007) suggests in examining the derivation of the term, „community‟ implies something that is publicly owned and designed and used to address the needs of a local population. „Hub‟ implies a central position where things come together (Rossiter, 2007). In short, a community hub can be defined as a conveniently located public place that is recognized and valued in the local community as a gathering place for people and an access point for a wide range of community activities, programs, services and events (Rossiter, 2007). Most community hubs needs a physical space like a room or buildings to support activities that can be accessed freely. It is interesting, when it comes about buildings; the perceptions of buildings are normally structured from part of a portfolio and are evaluated in terms of their asset value. The tools and metrics for considering the use value of buildings are less well understood and developed. However, the value added to the business, and the role of construction in this respect, has been the subject of considerable recent interest in the United Kingdom (Alexander, 2008). This is why community hubs are often defined in construction to be as community facilities rationally used by local communities for leisure and social purposes, including community centres and meeting places, community halls, community learning centres, adventure play centres and leisure centres (SPM, 2007). They always be seen as having the following physical attributes: 1) Physically and socially accessible; 2) Interactive, stimulating, vibrant; 3) A mix of consistency and variety; 4) A living part of the community; 5) Well regarded by the community; 6) Welcoming and inclusive, and; 7) A safe place for all. (Farrell, Tayler et al., 2007). Community hubs, however, should bring a different meaning from different bases and principles. Community facilities that include a good mix of uses will demonstrate the challenges involved in creating a hub taking on board what is required for communities in deprived areas and attempting to create links between existing facilities. While a mix of use is good, the relationship between the facilities must also be strong. Improving the integration of use on the site is one of the best options to be considered because it has the potential of creating a link with different partners including those
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who are considered to be traditionally within the community zone. Improving the integration of use is a need to be confirmed with discussions with key partners like local authorities or other providers. These key partners are also important in order for a community hub to improve a range of community support services and facilities. Community hub is also a place that encourage social gathering and is design to provide spaces for communities to assemble and meet together in both planned and incidental ways. According to Farrell (2007), most of the concepts applied in most places have a policy framework which defines three broad types of community hubs: Community gathering places – sites for smaller neighbourhood based meetings that are also venues for recreation, sports, leisure, social and cultural activities and sites providing community group office space, e.g. community centres, sporting clubs, galleries, theatres, other club rooms, access to community information, adventure playgrounds, community gardens, etc. Council and community service delivery hubs – community locations for provision of Council and other services, e.g. maternal and child healthcare, meals and other social support programmes, child care centres, libraries, kindergartens, referral and support services, etc., Civic hubs – sites for the delivery of civic and governance activities, i.e. town halls, information and administration services, large public meeting spaces, etc. (Farrell et al., 2007). In addition, Rossiter (2007) again recommended that accessibility has a strong element of a community hub and the hub‟s location in relation to activity centers and public transport is another key defining feature. Rossiter (2007) further explained that accessibility has an affordability component and to be truly accessible the activities, programs, services and events conducted from a hub must be affordable to the local community and the key target groups within it
7. Case studies A wide range of case studies has shown the significant impact of relationships between teachers, pupils, parents and the wider community. Table 1.0 summarizes most of the recent case studies referred to by the Department for Children, Schools and Family.
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Table 1.0: Case Studies Project on Social Cohesion http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion. (2008)
and
School.
Source
Case studies
Summary
1
School Linking: Cultural Detectives
Two UK schools with different locations and compositions linked and undertook a 'cultural detectives' project to look at their historical and geographical connections.
2
Ilderton Primary School
The aim of the project was to ensure communications between the elderly people of the housing unit and primary school children, to break down stereotypes and promote dialogue.
3
Making a Difference: Parental support and personalized learning
The project aimed to engage underachieving Foundation Stage 2 children and their parents living in deprived areas, to enable them to participate in learning. The aim was to remove barriers to access and participation.
4
St George's CofE
The aim of this intergeneration project was for children to interview their parents/grandparents to ascertain their origins. A 'Heritage Book' was developed which celebrates the differences and similarities within the school and local community.
5
Forest Community Primary School
The project used family history and movement to promote and celebrate diversity within the school. The community with English as an additional language (EAL) was welcomed and made to feel part of the wider community.
6
8 till Late Mentoring Project
The aim of the project is to build resilience around young people to prevent them from joining gangs and being involved in gun crime.
7
Durham County Council
This project uses theatre, arts and storytelling to promote good relations between different groups and challenge racist behaviour.
8
Seahouses Middle School
The aim is to provide community-based initiatives to ensure that pupils, in all four year groups, and their parents participate in activities which develop their social skills.
9
Yeading Junior
Yeading Junior School has put together a core team who are keys to raising ethnic minority achievement (EMA) through a matrix of outreach and support services.
Schools provide community cohesion by the working together of teachers, pupils, parents and the wider community; this same community cohesion should be extended to the local community who live in the wider surrounding area.
8. The role of a school in providing community hub facilities In this paper, the role of schools as community hubs can be seen to provide local communities with the opportunities to bring together a dynamic network of associations that bind individuals, families, institutions, and organizations into a web of interconnections and interaction within the diversity of a neighbourhood. There are various places and types of community facilities that can be used as a community hub by local communities in terms of health, education, leisure and social purposes,
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including community centres and meeting places, community halls, community learning centres, adventure play centres and leisure centres (SPM, 2007). Schools, however, as one of community facility resource, need to be considered also as a place which can contribute a similar impact as that of other community facilities and which can also promote social cohesion as on-going process (Adelman and Taylor, 1996). The school‟s role as a community hub which will promote social cohesion, may not allow, in the beginning, each community sufficient ideas to use them as their personal functional unit but should – in time - give opportunities to open more social interaction with each other across differences in ethnics and personal needs. Schools will add value to the relationships within existing social cohesion purposes. Schools, therefore, have a potential role as a community hub and can give an impact on social networking in the wider community from the same neighbourhood (Dryfoos, 1999). The practical challenges will be how a school, as a community hub, will embrace the concept of providing a „one stop shop‟ in terms of health, education, well-being and social services as part of the whole community concept (Smith, 2008) when at the same time, schools need to provide a range of services and activities within and beyond the school day. Importantly, the school‟s role as a community hub must run in parallel with working towards a society in which there is a common vision and a sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people‟s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued; a society in which similar life opportunities are available to all; and a society which is strong and in which positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community.
9. Conclusion and recommendation The government has been focused and taken responsibilities to resolve on social development issues in Sustainable Community agendas in most deprived neighbourhood areas in the country such as social cohesion. Promoting social cohesion could not easily be achieved totally if the actions undertaken are not perceived and accepted by the community. From the findings, this paper has strongly recommended further thinking is required on the critical perceptions by the local community; that the community should see a school‟s role in its wider context and by relationship in creating sustainable communities. It is strongly suggested that there is a need to understand the school‟s role as a community hub in order to assist in promoting sustainable community agendas. There will be different challenges in the future for the management of community facilities. There will be many challenges ahead, and management skills will be needed to work with different kinds of people in communities which can be very demanding. A school is a community resource and how it can be extended to make the most of those resources will depend on the need from the community itself and how they wish to become cohesive.
References Adolescence (2009). "School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools." FindArticles.com. Alexander, K. (2008). “Towards a theoretical framework for usability of buildings” Usability: philosophy and concepts. K. Alexander. Manchester, CIB EuroFM.
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Blake, G., J. Diamond, et al. (2008). "Community engagement and community cohesion." London, Joseph Rountree Foundation. Cantle, T. (2006). "Challenging local communities to change Oldham." Institute of Community Cohesion, University of Coventry. CIRCLE, (2003). “The Civic Mission of Schools”. New York, Carnegie Corporation of New York. DCSF (2008). Case Studies Project on Social Cohesion and School, Department of Children, School and Family. (available online http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/Communitycohesion. [accessed on 12/12/2009] ) DCLG (2008). The Government‟s Response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Department of Communities and Local Government. Dryfoos, J. G. (1999). "The role of the school in children's out-of-school time." The Future of Children 9(2): 117-134. Farrell, A., C. Tayler, et al. (2007). "Community Hubs: Their Capacity to Enhance Social Capital and Service Provision for Families and Young Children." Hennessy, J. and D. G. Platt (2006). "Identifying And Managing The Community Infrastructure Asset Renewal Gap." WCEAM 194: 1. Higgins, S., E. Hall, et al. (2005). "The impact of school environments: A literature review." The Centre for Learning and Teaching, School of Education, Communication and Language Science, University of Newcastle. Accessed online on 10: 04-08. Hull, G and Schultz, K. (2002). “Connecting Schools with Out-of School Worlds”, GSE Publications. Lock, D. (2008). “Lepold Community Hub Concept Design”. Greater Geelong Mansor, H. N. and K. Alexander (2008). “Complaints Management Systems – Tools In Providing Good Quality Local Public Services Towards Sustainable Communities”. BuHu 8th International Postgraduate Research Conference, Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic, Czech Technical University. McShane, I (2008). “Bringing in the Public: Community facilities and Social Value for Social Research”. Australian Research Council. Miller, B. A. (1993). "Rural Distress and Survival: The School and the Importance of "Community". Journal of Research in Rural Education Vol. 9(No.2): 84-103. Mitrofanova, Y. (2004). “Building Community-Schools Relations”. TheNEBLINE. Lancaster County.
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Ofsted (2009). “Inspecting maintained schools‟ duty to promote community cohesion: guidance for inspectors”. Ofsted. Roski, J., C. L. Perry, et al. (1997). "School and community influences on adolescent alcohol and drug use." Health Education Research 12(2): 255. Rossiter, S. (2007). “Feasibility Study of Community Hubs for the Parramatta Local Government Area – Briefing Paper”. Sydney, Parramatta City Council. Smith and Mark K (2008) Sustainable communities and neighbourhoods. Theory, policy and practice. The Encyclopaedia Of Informal Education. SPIDR (1993). Building Consensus for a Sustainable Future. Guiding Principles. P. National, and Territorial Round Tables. Canada, Association for Conflict Resolution. SPM, S. P. M. (2007). Community Facilities and Residential Development. S. P. Environment, Cardiff Council: 18. Sustainable Project Management Vergolini, L. (2007). “Social Cohesion in Europe: How the Different Dimensions of Inequality Affect Social Cohesion?” Department of Sociology and Social Research. Trento, Italy, University of Trento. Witten, K., T. McCreanor, et al. (2001). "The impacts of a school closure on neighbourhood social cohesion: narratives from Invercargill, New Zealand." Health and Place 7(4): 307-317.
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Meeting User’s Needs: Children and Young People in Hospital Environment Sfandyarifard, E. School of the Built Environment, University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Sutrisna, M. School of the Built Environment, University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Tzortzopoulos, P. School of the Built Environment, University of Salford (email:
[email protected])
Abstract Despite the general understanding of the impact of the built environment on children, little attention has been given to the children's hospital- environment from children's perspectives. In this light, the aim of this paper is to investigate the literature on children's perspectives and preferences around the hospital‘s environment. For supporting the development of child-friendly hospital environments the adopted research methodology is a literature review. In order to support the creation of child friendly hospital environments, it‘s important to know what children like or dislike about hospital environment. The result shows that different children have different needs and Design of hospital based on consult with children should be carefully paid attention due to their diverse requirements such as age, gender and culture. This is a part of an ongoing PhD research project, which aims to develop a framework to improve practices in designing children‘s hospital in the UK based on children‘s perspectives. Keywords: preferences, children‘s hospital, Physical environment, Wellbeing
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1. Introduction Recent years have seen a great amount of attention paid to the built environment and its impact on health care within hospital spaces (e.g. Sundstrom et al., 1996; Lawson, 2001; and Codinhoto et al., 2008). The impact of the built environment on health and recovery from adult's perspective is generally well known and established (Evans and McCoy, 1998). The aim of healthcare services such as in the UK is to improve the physical and psychosocial wellbeing of consumers through improvement of healthcare delivery. The so called patient-centred healthcare is a concept which has been discussed and debated for more than 50 years (Bauman 2003). However, the ambiguity of experience of children and young people and their families in healthcare environments is still evident, particularly for children (Alderson, 1993; Bricher, 1999). The responses of children representatives are known generally considered being less reliable On the other hand, it is also been generally considered less appropriate to use surrogate interviewees, i.e. their parents and professionals in this case, to truly understand the matters from children‘s perspective (Stalker, Carpenter, Connors and Phillips, 2004). ―Adults are presumed competent to make health care decisions; children are presumed incompetent without any validation as to whether the child has the knowledge and ability to make the decision‖ (Bricher, 2000, pp. 277). The problem of coping with increasing number of patients with chronic conditions requires the patients to remain devoted to the treatment. Therefore, the patient-centred healthcare was found as a solution to the problem which could address the needs and preferences of the patients while it can be the most cost effective solution to improve the healthcare outcomes (IAPO, 2007). As Laine and Davidoff (1996) defined the patient-centred system as ―closely congruent with and responsive to the patients‘ wants, needs, and preferences.‖ The NHS Plan (2000) specified that it is essential to focus more on the things that really matter to patients to improve the patient's experience of the hospital environment. Douglas and Douglas (2004) indicated that the wellbeing of patients somehow depends on the built healthcare environment. It is important to ensure that patient satisfaction is not only prioritised but also achieved. Therefore, ideally healthcare environments should be designed to reflect patients' perceptions and preferences. Having this in mind, the question arises about the reliability of data provided by children and their competence, which has an impact on any studies or research in this subject.. In the past, researchers have been very cautious about carrying out research solely with child participants (Faux, Walsh and Deatrick, 1988; Miller, 2000). They may even be one of a number of groups and their voice cannot be heard properly by surrounding adults‘ who try to interpret of their experience (Eiser, 2000). The children have been defined as the ‗silent consumers of healthcare‘ Carter (1998) and Ward (1999) has warned about exclusion from consultation of the children with complex needs. (Stalker, Carpenter, Connors and Phillips, 2004). According to Eiser (2000) too often, studies about children with complex needs have relied on parental and professional accounts, rather than persuading the voice of the child. (Stalker, Carpenter, Connors and Phillips, 2004).
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The Platt report in 1959 postulated the differences in Children needs to that of in adults. There are research about children and built environments in different spaces such as home (Sibley, 1995) and school (Kraftl, 2006). However, these research are based on adults‘ reflections on spatial aspects and built environments of childhood (Birch et al, 2007). This view in clinical practice in respect to respect children‘s aspirations is apparent in the lack of participatory research with children in healthcare contexts also. The absence of their voice in research represents a lack of appreciation of providing valuable insights from children own experience. It also reveals a lack of appreciation of the fact that children and young people are not passive recipients in the experience of hospitalisation and in fact, are actively involved in managing and shaping it (Carney et al., 2003; Hutton, 2003, 2005; Moules, 2004). Children who have to attend hospital as a patient for whatever reason can find it stressful (NHS Estates, 2003). Therefore, NHS Estates (2003) intend to make an effort at ensuring the provision of friendly and welcoming healthcare environments particularly in the context of children hospital. In the light of the discussion above, the purpose of this study is to increase our level of appreciation of experience of children and young people of a hospital environment. It is also to identify and discover the prominent characteristics of the physical environment in their experience, and the involvement of these characteristics in children‘s feeling of well-being whilst in hospital. This will enable to create a number of valuable recommendations to be made to those developing supportive hospital environments for children and young people. To sum up, the aim of this research is to develop a framework to improve practices in designing children‘s hospital in the UK. The objectives stimulating this research are: 1. To explore the current practices in designing children‘s hospitals 2. To investigate patients‘ needs and preferences and the extend of using them to optimise the design of children‘s hospital 3. To investigate the impact of built environment in supporting/promoting patients ‗ wellbeing in the context of children‘s hospital 4. To develop better understanding on how these factors can be used to improve the design of children‘s hospital in UK As a part of the ongoing research, this paper intends to explore children's views and preferences of hospital environments from literature. This research will be based on a combined research approach. A theoretical framework will be confirmed from existing literature and will be investigated in different case studies. This paper is divided into three parts. The first part deals with Children‘s Hospital Physical environment. It explains what kind of built environment they prefer to have. The second part presents
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the research method used to conduct the research. The third and last session presents the final considerations and conclusions.
2. Children’s hospital physical environment Following the discussions in the previous section, a more holistic understanding of what constitutes patient‘s experience and feeling of well-being in a paediatric setting for both children and adolescents can be considered necessary and vital. Moreover, there is a need to concentrate on understanding children and young people‘s responses to the physical environments which they were involved and their feeling of well-being. This signifies the fact that, in addition to providing a list of the key environmental characteristics for these age groups, the role these characters may play, how and what purposes patients may use them for, should also be identified. A greater appreciation of children‘s perspectives of how they may use the key characteristics and what for is required, in order to be able to provide them in a hospital environment effectively. A considerable amount of studies have been performed on the physical elements of healthcare environment and the health outcomes (e.g. Sundstrom et al 1996, Lawson 2001). These studies considered isolated elements of the built environment such as lighting, ventilation, colour, and heating as well as the overall design of healthcare buildings. In general, the whole environment is assessed and experienced by five senses: sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell. These senses help people understand and navigate their environment. All the information that is picked up by a child‘s sensory receptors will be converted in to a form that the brain can integrate, interpret, compare and store (NHS Estates, 2003). Understanding the true dimensions and limitations of the senses will potentially enable the designer to create a truly responsive environment that may assist in healing (NHS Estates, 2003). Even more, environment factors have been informed from the literature study and are discussed as follows: Key aspects of the physical environment are often grouped in three categories: the ambient environment, architectural features and interior design features (Harris et al., 2002).
2.1 Ambient Environment
The possible satisfaction or dissatisfaction for patients may have a direct link to ambient environmental features such as lighting, noise levels, air quality and odours, and temperature. (Fottler et al., 2000; Harris et al., 2002). Stress can be caused as a result of uncontrollable or unpredictable extreme environmental conditions (Evans and Cohen, 1987). Some design features such as individual thermostats, dimmer switches that
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allow patients to have more control over the ambient environment minimize these sources of stress and also enhance satisfaction for the hospital environment.
2.2 Architectural Feature According to Harris et al., (2002) architectural features have been defined as relatively permanent aspects of the hospital environment which includes the plan or layout of the hospital, the size and shape of rooms, and the placement of windows number and kinds of facilities and amenities, and having access to views, nature and outdoor areas.
2.3 Interior design feature According to Harris et al, (2002), interior design features are defined as less permanent aspects of the hospital environment, such as furnishings, nonmedical equipment (e.g., televisions, telephones), colours, finishes, artwork, and the layout of furnishings in hospital rooms. Both type and layout of furniture and equipment can influence patient experiences as it was noted by Shumaker and Reizenstein (1982; see also Carpman and Grant, 1993; Fottler et al., 2000; Zimring et al., 1987). However, there has been very little research concentrating on the interior design features of hospitals (Harris et al, 2002).
3. Research method 3.1 Research design 3.1.1 Case study Case study is defined by Yin (1994) as ―an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used‖ (Yin, 1994, pp. 23). Moreover, according to Creswell, (1998), a case study is defined as an investigation of a ―bounded system‖ or a case (or multiple cases) over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information rich in context. The system is bounded by time and place, and it is the case being studied—a program, an event, an activity, or individuals (Creswell, 1998, pp.61). In regards to this study, a single hospital environment can be considered bounded by several factors such as: place, time, organisational, physical and social characteristics. These unique characteristics along with unique children‘s experience of this environment will turn this bounded system to a unique and distinct case and hence the case studies as an appropriate choice for the research design.
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Thus, in order to understand this experience it has been considered necessary to study the children‘s experience within the context of the hospital environment and an inclusive comprehension can only be obtained if attention is given to both. According to Yin (1994) some of applications for a case study model have been expressed, as: exploratory, explanatory and descriptive. With regard to the current study two relevant applications are used to describe a real-life situation, and to explore a situation in which more is revealed about the nature of this situation and the relationships within the context.
3.2 Data collection methods 3.2.1 Literature review According to Hart (1998, pp.13) the literature review is ‗‘the selection of available documents (both published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express certain views on the nature of the topic and how it is to be investigated, and the effective evaluation of these documents in relation to the research being proposed‘‘. Moreover Blaxter et al. (2006) defined the purpose of the literature review as to address the research and to create the context and insights into previous work (Ridley, 2008). According to Burns (1997, pp.27-29) of the literature review has number of advantages such as: providing researchers the knowledge required to narrow the focus of their research topic, specifying the research problem in detail, identifying gaps in existing research knowledge, learning how to express certain views on the nature of the topic, identifying of neglected issues in previous researches, getting a rich source of secondary evidence on which to outline and finally creating a summary of research evidence. In order to investigate the impact of built environment in supporting/promoting patients ‗wellbeing in the context of children‘s hospital the literature review has been carried out.
3.2.2 In-depth interview In-depth interviews try ―to understand the world from the subject's‘ points of views, to unfold the meaning of peoples‘ experiences, to uncover their lived world,‖ (Kvale, 1996). The main objectives of the technique are to draw out the experiences and perspectives regarding to the participants and also providing the opportunity that the participants would be able to point out their own personal feelings and ideas with regards to specific subjects. ―The phenomenographic approaches share in common is a focus on exploring how human beings make sense of experience and transform experience into consciousness... - This requires methodologically, carefully, and thoroughly capturing and describing ' how people experience some phenomenon -how they perceive it, describe it, feel about it, judge it, remember it, make sense of it,
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and talk about it with others. To gather such data, one must undertake in-depth interviews with people who have directly experienced the phenomenon of interest; that is, they have "lived experience" as opposed to second hand experience‖ (Patton, 2002. p 104) The questions can be asked about the behaviour or experience, opinion or belief, feelings, knowledge, sensory, and background or demographic of the participants and they are designed in the form of open-ended in order to provide a way to encourage them to talk and point out their feelings in their own words.
4. Discussion The inclusive effect and influence of children‘s perception on the design of built environment of the hospital may create a child-friendly environment. However, in order to optimise this effect extra care should be taken in the design procedure of each single element of children‘s hospital. Colour, Light, Noise, Artwork, temperature and Gardens have been considered the important design factors of the hospitals, which should be designed according to its users (see Figure. 1). Literatures suggest that particular aspects of ―responding to user needs‖ are relying on different elements such as: Age dependency issues Culture Room function Time
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Figure 1: Framework: Hospital as a physical space For example, the physical design and construction of the garden has been considered important in order to improve participant‘s satisfaction and support their sense of wellbeing. Drawing upon the results of behavioural observation of young participants, Whitehouse et al (2001) concluded that children between the ages of 2 and 3 years typically noted water, a favourite object or their favourite things to smell. Four and five-year-old children preferred to climb, run, and jump while children of the ages of 6 to 10 years were interested in asking more `things to do', which indicates that they required more structured or dedicated play areas. In addition, to outdoor spaces, hospital noises, ventilation, light and temperature levels are all said to have an impact on the wellbeing of patients. The findings from the literature have shown varying evidence (Pile 1997, Camgöz et al. 2003) about the use of colour in children's hospital. Colour has been found even more effective than the form of design in pre-school children; however this effectiveness fluctuates across form/colour between the ages of 7 to 9 years. From age 9 to adolescence, children focus mostly on form rather than colour (Dyer, 1999). Colour can be seen as an effective tool in health care building, for example, saturated yellow colours can affect Rapid Eye Movement (REM) activity in sleep or green colours can make a child suffering from cancer feel nauseous (Dyer, 1999). To sum up, no definite preference in colour can be assigned for children. The main reasons for that would be psychological or cultural diversity of children and patients in general. This diversity does change from time to time and place to place. As the results of this study indicate, light, natural or artificial, is an important element in children hospital‘s environment, since younger patients are more susceptible to light than adults. In order to improve the moral condition and healing process of patients, sunlit wards can be included in hospitals. However, according to studies performed by Birch et al (2007) one of the wishes of the younger patients was adjustable lighting system in order to be able to control the lighting from their own beds. On the other hand the preferred level of light should also be paid attention to, as some young patients complain about the insufficient or excessive lighting in hospitals. Most of the children feel happier with more light and depressed with a dark room; however the majority of them dislike excessive and unnecessary light and brightness in the room. Careful design of windows and dwarf walls can enormously improve the adjustability of the light (NHS Estates 2003). For example, brille soleil or glass cavity micro blinds can modulate natural lights. The focus here is on adult control over ward lighting. The lights and air circulation devices should be controlled easily and be more accessible by children. (NHS Estate, 2003) A long-term study conducted by Rivlin and Wolfe (1985) in a psychiatric hospital for children and young people, clearly illustrated children‘s sensitivity to the nature of their institutional environment and their need for environmental control. Privacy, confidentiality, control over time management, and activity choice are the needs which were also identified by the study. Environmental perception, empowerment, situational influence, self determination, social support, privacy, and personal control have direct relations hip with children and young people‘s response to hospitalisation, as it has been revealed by recent studies (Hallstrom and Elander, 2003; Ishibashi, 2001; Moules, 2004; Runeson,
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Hallstrom, Elander and Hermeren, 2002; Sharma and Finlay, 2003). Age appropriate activities and spaces; a need for privacy and community; the importance of bright colours, soft furnishings, ageappropriate art work, and the removal of bland décor are the key environmental characteristics which have been identified (Blumberg and Devlin, 2006; Hutton, 2002, 2003; Tivorsak, Britto, Klosterman, Nebrig and Slap, 2004). In order to create hospital environments meeting the children and young needs, the research should be performed with children and young people themselves. The risk of assuming the similar needs and requirements for adults and children and young people was stated by the research carried out by Blumberg and Devlin‘s (2006). It also emphasizes the difference of the needs of children and young people, at least to some extent. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for future practice: The physical environment of hospital should be bright, colourful, tidy, spacious, welcoming, comfortable and quiet (Sharma and Finlay, 2003) Controls, the lights and air circulation devices should be Accessible for children (NHS Estates 2003, Birch et al 2007). Design of different type of interesting physical environments such as spaces of different sizes, places to hide, natural and man-made things is helpful in healing process of patient (Van Andel 1990; Whitehouse et al., 2001). Design of hospital based on consultation with children should be carefully paid attention due to their diverse requirements especially in terms of age and gender (Donovan, Li and Taylor, 1999; Carney et al., 2003; Hutton, 2002, 2003, 2005; Kari,1999; Tivorsak et al., 2004; Blumberg and Devlin, 2006). Access to each department, ward or public facility should be signposted clearly(Dyer, 1999; ―Wayfinding‖ – NHS Estates 1999)
5. Conclusion and future studies This paper addressed the investigation of children‘s preferences in healing environment. In order to strengthen policy, design, and healthcare management for children and young people; the input of children and young people as the users of the healthcare facilities should ideally be implemented and used. In this way, the decisions based on assumptions made by adults about the needs of children and young people in these circumstances can be minimised, that can increase the likelihood of designing supportive hospital environments, from children and young people‘s perspectives. The physical environment could be designed with sensitive lighting, colour, sound attenuation, ventilation and artworks to improve the children‘s patterns‘ wellbeing and healing process. The aim of this paper was to present the findings from the literature on physical environment in relationship to children's perspectives and preferences for a child-friendly hospital. A friendly
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environment could help to distract a hospitalised child from the reality of their illness. For supporting the development of child-friendly hospital environments the adopted research methodology is a literature review. In order to support the creation of child friendly hospital environments, it‘s important to know what children like or dislike about hospital environment. The literature review demonstrated that extra care should be taken in the design procedure of each single element of children‘s hospital. It is now possible to state that air change ventilation, comfortable parent and family accommodation, creative and colour-coded wayfinding initiatives, clever use of timeappropriate interior lighting, diverting art, varied and age-appropriate play facilities and multiple gardens and outdoor recreation spaces are potentially the characters of a child-friendly hospital environment and may have a major effect on the healing process.
References
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Observational Methods in Inquiry: Observing Pedestrian Behaviour at Road Crossings Faruk, M. School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Ormerod, M. School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Newton, R. School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Maclennan, H. School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford (email:
[email protected])
Abstract People‟s behaviour and actions are central to almost every people oriented enquiry. An obvious technique is to observe and record their behaviour to describe, analyze and interpret to aid research findings. Pedestrian behaviour observation was carried out at 48 pedestrian crossing sites in England and Scotland as part of I‟DGO TOO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors), a collaborative research project funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), UK. Both structured and participatory observation techniques were used to understand how old pedestrians and pedestrians with disabilities approach a road crossing and navigate through the crossing; their attitudes towards the inclusive features of pedestrian crossings were also recorded. After establishing theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry an observation protocol was developed for I‟DGO TOO and observations were carried out. This paper briefly presents theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry and observation protocol adapted in the research. It also presents an example of carried out observation and discusses behaviour observed during that observation. Keywords: EPSRC, inclusive design, pedestrian behaviour observation, I‟DGO TOO (inclusive design for getting outdoors), pedestrian crossing
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1. Introduction I‟DGO TOO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors) is a collaborative research project funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), UK. Overall aim of the I‟DGO Consortium is to address the demands, consequences and impacts of new policies and design strategies on older people‟s environment and make specific recommendations to make them inclusive. This would help to improve quality of life of older people in such a way that it will become general practice in the years to come (I‟DGO, 2010). SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre of the University of Salford is currently investigating the use of tactile paving at road crossings and external steps as an indicator of access hazards for vision impaired pedestrians. The research methodology adapted for the project calls for full characterization of the pedestrian environment and access hazards; also any other contextual issues that affect performance of pedestrians (Faruk et. al, 2008a; 2008b). The methodology also requires to ascertain how pedestrians with disabilities and older pedestrians approach and navigate through the built environment; i.e. pedestrian crossings within the scope of this paper. Between January and December 2009 road crossing behaviour of pedestrians with disabilities and older pedestrians were observed at 48 I‟DGO TOO pedestrians crossing sites in England and Scotland. Both structured and participatory observation techniques were used to observe and record pedestrian behaviour as they approached the pedestrian crossings and crossed the roads. Through observations and semi structured interviews, pedestrian attitude towards the inclusive features of pedestrian crossings were also recorded. This paper briefly presents theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry and observation protocol adapted in the research. It also presents an example of carried out observation and discusses behaviour observed during that observation.
2. Observational methods in research People‟s behaviour and actions are central to any people oriented enquiry. An obvious technique is to observe and record subject‟s behaviour to understand, analyse and interpret to aid research findings. Advantage of using observation as a technique is within its directness. It can often be used as a supportive or supplementary technique to compliment information obtained by virtually any other technique; i.e. Interview or questionnaire responses (Robson, 2002).
2.1 Types of observational methods There are different approaches to observational methods in enquiry that a research can undertake. Robson (2002) and Gray (2005) has identified „Participant Observation‟ and „Structured Observation‟ being the two most used observational techniques in qualitative and quantitative research respectively. According to Gray (2005), Saunders et al. (2000) found that participant observation emphasizes the meanings that people give to their actions; whereas structured observation focuses on the frequency of their actions. Structured observation attends only the prespecified relevant aspects for the study. It is easier to achieve high reliability and validity with this
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approach. Informal approaches are less structured in nature and the observer collects information in a method that suits him or her. It can vary from note taking to diary keeping, simplified drawings, photo taking, and also gathering information from informants. This type of information is relatively unstructured and complex, and requires the observer to perform difficult tasks of synthesis, abstraction and organisation of data (Robson, 2002). Robson also suggests a „pick & mix‟ approach – a „hybrid‟ which is both structured and participatory in nature to suit the needs and possibilities of a research.
2.2 Data gathering and recording Burgess (1984, as mentioned in Gray 2005) provided a list of potential data sources during observation based on a research. For any observational data gathering he suggested to identify the Space; Actors; Activities; Objects; Acts; Events; Time; Goals; and Feelings. Bailey (1996, as mentioned in Gray, 2005) suggests that it is not only about how to conduct an observation but what to observe. He suggested the following things to start the observation with when entering an observation field. They are Lighting; Colour; Smell; Sound; Objects; Weather and Temperature. He also emphasized on taking field notes as they are „the backbone of collecting and analyzing field data.‟ Field notes develop out of an analytic process. First the researcher must attempt to take a mental note which can be recalled later to aid the production of written notes. Written notes comprise of observations in the field to produce more comprehensive field notes, of which there are several components (Figure 1) (Ellen, 1984 as mentioned in Gray, 2005). Gray (2005) said, “It is impossible to observe everything that takes place in a situation, so it helps if the researcher is able to partition activities to focus on key areas”. Berg (1995, as mentioned in Gray, 2005) suggests strategies for observational data gathering, they are, “Take in the physical setting by visiting the environment that people will be observed in. Develop relationship with inhabitants Track, observe, eavesdrop and ask questions. Locate sub-groups and „Stars‟.” A researcher can collect data or information „Covertly‟ or „Overtly‟ under the observation types mentioned above (Figure. 2). During overt observation, those being observed are aware of the observation taking place. On the contrary, covert observation is where the subjects are unaware of this. Although some consider covert observation unethical; researchers in favour of it argue that people may change their behaviour during overt observation, thus affecting validity of the results (Gray, 2005).
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Pre-analysis
Experiential data
Forward planning
Video Tapes
Photo s
DATA 2: Primary Analysis
DATA 1: Field Notes
Jotted Notes
Mental Notes
Reflection and recall
Permanently written records
Audio Tapes
Primary Observation
Memory
Figure 1: The data gathering process (Ellen 1984, as mentioned in Gray, 2005)
Overt observation
Announced Participant
Announced Observer
Participant observation
Non-Participant observation Undercover Participant
Undercover Observer
Covert observation
Figure 2: Observation research roles (Gray, 2005)
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2.3 Reliability of observations The same event can be observed, recorded and interpreted by different researchers differently. One way of reducing the unreliability in observation and data collection is to record the event in a way so that the data can be reviewed and re-interpreted when required. It can be achieved by recording of data through exact notation system as it can reduce human error in the recall of events. Experienced researchers rely heavily on comprehensive notes. Because, details that appeared hardly relevant at the time of the observation may prove to be crucial. Triangulation is another way of improving reliability of a study. Triangulation can reduce sources of error by gathering data from multiple sources, or using variety of methods or theoretical approaches (Gray, 2005).
3. I’DGO TOO observation After establishing theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry the I‟DGO TOO observation study has been designed. Aim of this part of the study was to collect mainly qualitative and some quantitative data that would triangulate with findings from the Tactile Paving Toolkit (Audit of the pedestrian crossings) and Questionnaire Survey results. A series of pilot observations were conducted in Salford to fine tune and finalise the observation protocol. A session of observation was one hour long. The observers then had a rest period, or could undertake some other activity to prevent observation fatigue. The observers had 3 copies of simplified sketch / plan of the overall layout of road crossing and immediate environment. They were equipped with a stopwatch, note paper, a camera and all weather clothes. Because of health and safety reasons observers had to wear high visibility jackets and identification badges.
3.1 Observation protocol The following observation protocol was followed during all the observations with some exceptions at the observers‟ discretion depending on each individual case. Observer to position themselves so that they can observe people coming towards them from the opposite side of the road who are likely to cross near to the crossing, without blocking the crossing point. Where possible 2 observers will be stationed on opposite sides of the road and observe simultaneously pedestrians on both sides. If there is only one observer then after 20 minutes the observer will change to the other side of the road. Using one copy of the sketch/plan spend 20 minutes marking up the routes taken by people crossing the road in that vicinity. Indicate initial person by an arrow showing the route, and then add a tally mark if another person uses the same route. If the person is an older person make a note such that the tallies of older people to younger people can be counted at the end (add an o to the tail of the I tally mark). Note the date, start and end times of the observation period, along with weather conditions and any other pertinent factors, such as traffic levels, temporary works, etc.
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On the second sketch/plan spend 20 minutes making a note of whether people stand on the tactile paving, or if not where are they standing. If they are an older person make a different mark to highlight them. Make a note if the reason people are off the tactile paving is due to the volume of people at the crossing point. For each crossing take the particular features identified from the summary TPT sheet and observe the effect that has on the way people use the crossing. Also include in this anything that another researcher has noticed when handing out questionnaires on a previous date; such as sunlight making it hard to see the signals to cross. This may be incorporated into the first 20 minute period. Capture the walking speeds of older people crossing on the crossing point using the stopwatch. This will be used to compare to the average time from the TPT and allowance given by Highways on controlled crossings. If any visually impaired people, blind people, wheelchair users, mobility impaired people, crutch users cross the crossing attempt to interview the person by asking what they think about that particular crossing point. Use the note paper to record their views and the time/day of the observation. The third blank sketch/plan can be used to note features they comment on, or to help explain the layout.
3.2 Example of I’DGO TOO observation at Cheam, Surrey Pedestrian behaviour observation was carried out at I‟DGO TOO Site (Site Reference Number: SC2) on Cheam Broadway at Sutton, Surrey. The observation was carried out in accordance with the established protocol (as mentioned earlier) to gather observational data that would triangulate with findings from the Tactile Paving Toolkit (Audit of the pedestrian crossing) and Questionnaire Survey results conducted earlier. The observation was carried out on a sunny Sunday afternoon of 5 th of April, 2009. A weekend afternoon was selected as more pedestrians representing various age groups and also pedestrians with disability access the village centre on foot (Close to the pedestrian crossing) on weekends compared to weekdays. Two observers went to the site with pre-prepared simplified site drawings in accordance with the written protocol. Specific date, time and weather condition during the observation was recorded. Total number and differences in types of pedestrians, cyclists were recorded in the observation sheet. The routes that the pedestrians followed to cross the road were marked with starting point showing the direction that they went. The location each pedestrian stood on while waiting to cross was also marked. Any unusual behaviour; i.e. crossing the road at red light; any slip or trip; eye contact with the drivers before stepping on the road, etc were also recorded. Walking speeds of pedestrians were also recorded on the field note. The observation sheets and the field note for the pedestrian crossing at Cheam are sown in Figure 3.
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Figure 3: Observation sheet and field notes of I‟DGO TOO pedestrian crossing site at Cheam During the observation, very short but semi structured interviews were also conducted (Figure 4). Older pedestrians and pedestrians with disabilities were identified and were requested to express their views and concerns on different aspects of that particular pedestrian crossing. Local knowledge of the pedestrians picked up during these interviews is invaluable.
3.3 Summary of observation at Cheam, Surrey SC2 is a signalised crossing at a four way junction. There is no guard rail at this crossing. The crossing has a long waiting time. Pedestrian crossing phase gets activated at all the four crossings at the same time. Time given to cross one segment of the four way junction is about right for able bodied pedestrians; but not for those who walk slower than average. Pedestrians who want to cross two segments of the junction are unable to cross within one pedestrian phase. They either have to wait for second pedestrian phase or cross the road diagonally. Most pedestrians are unable to cross the junction diagonally within one pedestrian phase. To avoid long waiting time pedestrians often start early; seek gap between cars; cross against light.
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Pedestrians using the road crossing often start to cross the road against traffic light and use to refuge to cross during a suitable gap.
Figure 4: Semi structured interview with older pedestrians during I‟DGO TOO behaviour observation at Cheam Around 4:00 pm glare from the sunlight was making it difficult for pedestrians to see the traffic light properly from one side of the crossing. 50 percent of the kerb has been dropped on both the sides. There is no tactile paving or marking installed on the kerb. A female pedestrian (Age 45+ Years Approximately) was pushing a buggy and misjudged the dropped kerb section of the crossing and hit the kerb. The pedestrian push button station is almost 1.5m away from the dropped kerb section of the crossing. General tendency of the pedestrians were to stand away from the dropped kerb section of the crossing. Few pedestrians pushed the button then moved toward the centre of the chevrons but stayed away from the dropped kerb section. Bicyclists, pedestrians with buggies used the dropped kerb section of the crossing. Able bodied pedestrians did not care about the dropped kerb section. The audible signal is shorter than the actual crossing phase. A female pedestrian of 65 and a male pedestrian of 75 year thought that it added pressure on pedestrians to cross the road in a hurry that could cause slip or trip. Older pedestrians were very cautious to step on the road compared to younger pedestrians. A female pedestrian of 70 actually waived her hand towards the waiting driver to catch his attention before stepping on the road.
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This observation at SC2 found 120 pedestrians using this crossing in an hour. 9 of them were old pedestrians; 17 cyclists; 10 buggies and toddlers. 39 pedestrians crossed against the traffic light of which 2 were old pedestrians. 21 pedestrians crossed the road away from the crossing of which 1 was an old pedestrian. 14 pedestrians used half of the designated crossing then moved away from it walking the direction towards their destination. None of them was old pedestrian. Walking speed of pedestrians have been recorded with their approximate age, height, weight and other attributes (if any); i.e. any attribute that can affect walking speed of a pedestrian.
4. Conclusion After establishing theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry an observation protocol was developed for I‟DGO TOO and pedestrian behaviour observations were carried out at 48 I‟DGO TOO pedestrian crossing sites. This paper has very briefly presented theoretical background of observational methods in inquiry and observation protocol adapted in the research. Aim of this part of the study was to collect mainly qualitative and some quantitative data that would triangulate with findings from the Tactile Paving Toolkit (Audit of the pedestrian crossings) and Questionnaire Survey results to inform the research. An example of pedestrian behaviour observation from I‟DGO TOO have been presented within the scope of this paper to show how data collection (observation) was guided by the established observation protocol which was developed based on the theoretical background of observational method as a research tool. Data collected so far is currently being analysed and results will be published soon.
References Berg B L (1995) Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, Needman Heights, Massachusetts, Allyn & Bacon. Burgess R G (1984) In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research, London, Rutledge. Ellen R F (1984) Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Conduct, London, Academic Press. Faruk M, Ormerod M, Newton R, and MacLennan H (2008a) “Site Selection Criteria for I‟DGO TOO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors)”, Proceedings of CIB W70 International Conference in Facilities Management, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, June 16-18, 2008. Faruk M, Ormerod M, Newton R, MacLennan H, and Abbas Y M (2008b) “Tactile paving a necessary Intervention, but does it suit everyone?”, Proceedings of The Ergonomics and Human Factors Annual Conference, The Ergonomics Society, University of Nottingham, UK, April 1-3, 2008. Gray D E (2005) Doing Research in the Real World, London, Sage Publications.
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I‟DGO (2010) www.idgo.ac.uk visited on 01.01.2010 Robson C (2002) Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner Researchers, Oxford, Blackwell Publishers. Saunders M, Lewis P, and Thornhill A (2000) Research Methods for Business Students, 2nd Edition, London, Prentice-Hall
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Designing a Research Study on the Influence of the Household Model Environment in a Residential Unit for People with Dementia Morgan-Brown, M. SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre, University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Ormerod, M. SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre, University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Newton, R. SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre, University of Salford (email:
[email protected])
Abstract There is a growing awareness that the physical environment has an important impact on the functioning and quality of life of persons with dementia living in nursing homes. One of the most important themes in recent years is the provision of smaller residential care environments which are more like „home‟. The „household model of care‟ emphasizes the privacy of a front door to individual small group units of less than 20 residents, a home-like interior design and furnishings, and an integrated communal kitchen or „country kitchen‟ where meals are prepared for each household. These units provide a group home, where staff and residents have the opportunity to undertake familiar household duties and tasks together. The purpose of this paper is to report on the research design of an ongoing study which will investigate the impact the physical environment has on occupation and social engagement. The central component of this comparative case study is the pre and post evaluations of two nursing homes undergoing structural renovation to conform to household standards in Ireland. The research employs a multi-method evaluation, to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data, in order to describe and determine the impact the household model renovations will have on the residents, staff and visitors. There are three ways in which this research design of the built environment is distinctive. The success or failure of the renovations is determined by the built environment‟s impact on the levels of occupation and social engagement of the residents, staff and visitors. The research uses recurring snapshot mapping of all interactions in the living area environment to obtain quantitative comparative data, using the specifically devised Assessment Tool for Occupation and Social Engagement (ATOSE). The research observations, interviews and surveys endeavour to use the same residents, visitors and staff pre and post renovation. Keywords: case study, dementia, household model, occupation, social engagement
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Designing a research study on the influence of the household model environment in a residential unit for people with dementia 1. Introduction The purpose of this research project is to evaluate the endeavours of two nursing homes in Ireland, which are radically renovating their living room space by adding an integrated communal kitchen. The aim of this initiative is to improve the quality of life for residents by improving the social interactions of staff and residents, by improving participation in daily occupations, and, by making a more welcoming environment for the relatives and visitors.
1.1 Demographic Context Kinsella and He, (2009) postulate that rapidly expanding numbers of very old people represent a social phenomenon without historical precedent. They predict the world‟s population aged 80 and over to increase 233% between 2008 and 2040, and the population aged 65 and over to increase 160%. With increasing age comes increasing risk of dementia, with its attendant memory, emotional, social, occupational and functional impairments. In 2001, 24 million people in the world had dementia. This number is expected to double every 20 years up to 81 million people in 2040 due to the anticipated increase in life expectancy (Ferri et al, 2005). Sabat (2009) comments on dementia being the largest single contributor to years lived with disability, even in the developing countries, and calls for interventions to reduce excess disability and to increase quality of life in order to stem the „tidal wave of social problems on the horizon‟. According to the survey by Matthews and Dening (2002) 62% of all individuals in nursing homes in the UK had dementia. Comas-Herrera et al, (2003) predict the numbers of people with cognitive impairment in institutional care in the UK to increase by 63% between 1998 and 2031. The expected number of people with dementia in Ireland is expected to almost double, from 31,000 to more than 52,000 individuals, from the years 1996 to 2026 (O‟Shea, 2000).
1.2 Historical Context: Nursing Home Design In Europe and elsewhere, nursing homes developed several centuries ago from two sources. One lineage was from the hospital. The other lineage was from the community welfare „poor‟ homes. Both antecedents were institutional. Hospitals institutionalized the treatment of disease, with values of disease, recovery, rest, infection, and medical or surgical interventions to passive patients. The poor homes were large institutions where individuals or families had to go to receive food and lodging, handed out by charitable or religious institutions or the state. This was an institutionalized charitable provision, and the recipients were expected to be subservient and grateful. Historically, the attitude of both these institutionalized approaches was patronizing. Staff expected to be beneficent. Gratitude was expected and demanded and dissent was actively discouraged.
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Buildings and environments were designed to facilitate these models of care. Hospital wards had beds in straight lines with only a curtain between beds. The nurses‟ station stood in an authoritative position in order to survey all persons under their care. Ward rounds enabled the doctors and other professionals to march up and down the ward. In the welfare poor houses, people were crammed into overcrowded rooms. Food was ladled out in communal rooms as a sign of authority, with gratitude and subservience expected. Activities and communications were monitored and families separated, relationships damaged. Visitors were discouraged by the intimidating environment, lack of privacy, and social disgrace. Contact inevitably deteriorated. Many traditional nursing home design features can be traced back to these patronizing and institutional attitudes. Overcrowded multi-occupancy rooms are devoid of privacy. Hallways are long and wide to facilitate the medication, breakfast and linen trolleys. Each resident is woken, dressed and fed on a rota basis. Nursing administration is centralized with a prominent nursing station meant to give the nursing staff a commanding presence. Residents are expected to be contained in large impersonal rooms, where they spend most of the day idly staring into space. Activity sessions are organized in staff led patronizing groups, having little in common with a person‟s previous interests and lifestyle. Residents are „herded‟ by the staff into the dining rooms and then back again to the void and empty sitting room.
1.3 Household Model Principles “At the core of the small house movement is the unwavering belief that the problems in nursing homes are generated by the flawed institutional focus and the mindset of paternalism that accompanies the institution” (Rabig, 2009, p. 11). The solution proposed by the small house movement is to develop home like „households‟. Here, staff are trained to facilitate resident choice, self-determination and responsibility. Putting the emphasis on the needs of the care home residents, rather than on the needs of the organization and staff, has influenced design and architecture of the buildings used to care for them. By this is meant that the sizes, shapes and relationships of the rooms are designed to be more familiar, more like a friendly home environment to which a positive feeling of attachment can develop into an experience of being „at home‟. There is also an attempt to shape the environment so that staff and resident relationships are altered and changed from the patronizing and controlling professional, which can be symbolized by the powerful nursing station, to open plan environments where professional duties are carried out as part of day to day living in the main living areas of a home. Non-hierarchal „group living‟ relationships are seen to be supported by open plan unstructured environments.
1.4 Overview: Household Model Research The Commonwealth Fund (Doty et al, 2008), in their survey of over 1400 nursing homes in the US, found the benefits of moving from a traditional style of nursing home care to a „culture change‟ style nursing home care are: better staff retention; higher occupancy rates; better competitive position; and
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improved operational costs. “This is the first major national survey to measure practices specifically associated with culture change and provides a valuable baseline to measure the effectiveness of ongoing efforts within the nursing home industry” (p. 19). Although the Fund researchers found that the concept of „cultural change‟ was familiar to most nursing home providers, few traditional nursing homes had imminent plans to incorporate aspects of the model or to make relevant alterations to their physical environments. While authors such as Calkins (1988), Brawley (2006), and Shields and Norton (2006) provide professionally generated nursing home design recommendations, there is little empirical research based templates for what a household model nursing home should look like, the size it should be, or its constituent parts. There is a deficit of peer reviewed research articles which evaluate the benefits of the household model (O‟Malley and Croucher, 2005). The few preliminary research papers have been ambivalent. Positive benefits have been identified in the following areas: anxiety, depression, aggression, agitation, mobility, personal care skills, socialization and quality of life (Annerstedt et al. 1993, Funaki et al, 2005, te Boekhorst et al, 2009, Zeisel, 2003). However, some increases in problem behaviours (agitation, aggression, irritability and lack of vitality) are also reported in the studies by Annerstedt and by Funaki.
2. Research methods and design This research project will evaluate the endeavours of two nursing homes to radically renovate their physical environments with the intention of improving the quality of life for their residents, and make the working life of the staff more fulfilling, thus improving their relationships with the residents they look after. The integrated communal kitchen will provide an occupational space for including residents in daily occupational tasks. Furthermore, the integrated kitchen is projected to create an open welcoming environment for the relatives and visitors to the unit and to improve their social engagement with the residents and staff. A unique vantage point of this research approach is its marriage of observational indicators and descriptive data. It measures these indicators in a relatively constant milieu, being limited to the living room areas of the same two nursing homes under investigation. This enables comparison, as much as is possible, of like with like, in respect of management, staff, residents and relatives. The design of the research itself is a comparison of a pre- and post renovation using: direct observation of residents, staff, and visitors in the main sitting area; attitude surveys of staff and relatives; interviews with staff and relatives; overview perceptions of senior management. At the current stage of this research, the pre-renovation observations, surveys, and interviews have been completed. The second wave of observations, surveys, and interviews will be undertaken at least four months post renovation in order to give a „bedding in‟ period for residents, staff and visitors.
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Literature Review
Pilot
Prototype Agreed
PRErenovation Assessment POSTrenovation
Analysis
Environment Behavior (EB) Observational Studies
Household / Small House Models of Care
Observation Protocol pilot over 3 months
Attitude Survey piloted and revised
Observation Assessment Tool (ATOSE)
Attitude Survey: staff and visitors
N.H.One: Observation, Attitude Surveys, Interviews
N.H. Two: Observation, Attitude Surveys, Interviews
N.H. One: Observation, Attitude Surveys, Interviews
N.H.Two: Observation, Attitude Surveys, Interviews
PRE-renovation N.H. One vs POSTrenovation N.H. One
PRE-renovation N.H.Two vs POSTrenovation N.H.Two
Quality of Life: occupation and social engagement
Interview Questions: staff, visitors and managers
Both PRErenovation N.H.s vs both POSTrenovation N.H.s
2.1 Ethical approval and consent Approval for the study was formally agreed by the University of Salford on 28 September 2007 and by the Healthcare Research Advisory Committee of the Dublin North East Region Health Authority of 23 October 2007. This research adheres to the principles of process consent for people with dementia as contained within the document by Cantley et al (2005). All written and recorded information concerning residents, staff or visitors is coded and kept confidentially.
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2.2 Research aim It seems reasonable to suppose that an integrated communal kitchen facility will provide opportunities for undertaking already familiar tasks (making tea, setting the table, folding laundry). However, residents with dementia are only likely to undertake domestic tasks under the initiation of the staff (or their relatives or other visitors to the unit). Therefore any evaluative research must take their input into account when measuring the effectiveness of the environmental adaptation. The aim of this research, then, is to evaluate if the opportunities presented by the renovated environment are taken up by the staff and relatives and if this produces a measurable increase in occupation and social engagement for the residents. The results will indicate if the time, effort and expense of the renovations have been worthwhile. This observational data will be put into context and given explanation and meaning using the results of the interviews and the attitude surveys.
2.3 Environmental changes The researcher will investigate the environmental changes for each nursing home. Photographs will be used to illustrate the changes, as well as architectural drawings. The manager owners will be invited to give their view concerning the success or failure of the enterprise, their view of the renovation process itself, and their account of how each design solution was shaped. The manager owners will have an essential, wider and more executive perspective. Their viewpoint gives contextual data: renovation costs, altered staffing levels and rotas, morale, recruitment, bed occupancy, health and safety, and licensing standards. They will be asked to reflect on the positives and negatives of the renovations and the conversion to the household model. It is anticipated that these overview interviews will be insightful and will provide a global perspective against which all other data can be cross referenced and compared. Both nursing homes are adopting the household model. However, each sitting room is a different size and shape. Both design solutions incorporate an integrated communal „country kitchen‟ at the heart of the living areas. Each of the two design solutions will be different. The staff, management and organization of the nursing homes are different. All available data will be processed – insights concerning the built environment renovations, management viewpoint, staff and relative views, and the direct observations – to form a picture of the success or failure of each case pre and post renovation, individually and as a combined case. It is anticipated that conclusions will be drawn and recommendations can be made which will provide insight and assistance for others undertaking a similar sort of conversion process.
2.4 Outcome evaluation: Occupation and engagement Human beings find meaning in life through occupation and social engagement, at home, at work and at play. People with dementia continue to have the same needs, although these may be somewhat altered. They want to express themselves, make relationships, communicate, feel pleasure and
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involvement, and have a sense of connection and belonging, and a sense of self-identity (VernooijDassen, 2007). Staff and relatives are distressed when they see residents without occupation, staring into empty space for hour after hour. Calkins (2003, p. 78) states that a full activity schedule „is considered one of the critical hallmarks of a good dementia program‟. However, people with dementia are dependent on others to initiate and sustain occupation and social engagement (Hasselkus, 1998). Occupation and social engagement are quality-of-life outcome measures which can be observed quantitatively and objectively. These observations will give a series of snap-shot measurements of what it means to live in the nursing home at this point in time. A comparison will be made pre and post-renovation, to determine the effect of the environmental change on occupation and social engagement in these living areas.
2.5 Observation “Direct qualitative observation of people using environments was the original method of choice in studying environment and behavior, and is the bread and butter of every designer during the planning process and in the post-occupancy evaluation stage” (Lawton, 2001) The Assessment Tool for Occupation and Social Engagement (ATOSE) was devised to record the occupation and social engagement of residents, staff and visitors in the main living room. The assessment domains were influenced by previous observational studies (Baltes and Wahl, 1992, Bowie and Mountain, 1993, Norbergh et al, 2001, Stabell et al, 2004, Ward et al, 1992). However, this research project differs from all the above studies in that it records the occupation of all room occupants in every snapshot unit of time, in order to give a complete mapping of the living room environment. An occupational therapist participated in a three month pilot study, defining and refining the domains of the ATOSE until a high level of inter-rater reliability (over 90% agreement) was achieved. A written protocol was devised to enable future consistency in observation procedure and behaviour categorization. The minimum unit of time between observations was determined through trial and error to be five minutes. In the protocol, every person in the assessment area is marked into an appropriate category box on the ATOSE sheet. A new sheet is used for the subsequent five minute whole room mapping. All the markers on each sheet will then be entered into the statistical package SPSS 17, allowing the two homes to be statistically compared pre and post renovation, both individually and in combination. The copious amount of observational data of Van Haitsma et al (1997) led them to believe that future observational research should use a focused, rather than an all-encompassing, mode of inquiry. They recommend targeting (a) time of day and activity times, (b) specific locations, and (c) limited numbers of behaviours. In this study, these recommendations have been adopted. (a) This research is constructed to record the behaviours in the two hour slots between meals (morning and afternoon sessions), and between the last meal and bedtime for the evening sessions. (b) This study excludes environments defined by care activity (bedrooms, bathrooms, toilets) and focuses on the communal
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living room. (c) The observation snapshots are limited to occupation and social engagement behaviours. The interviews and attitude surveys also concentrate on exploring these behaviours.
2.6 Interviews The interviews are semi-structured. The questions used by the researcher are geared towards understanding the outcome measures of occupation and social engagement within the main sitting room area. The interview data will be analysed using the NVivo 8 qualitative analysis program, starting with initial open concepts and then collating and refining these concepts to create categories and then highly refined themes. The interviews with the relatives and staff will provide insight into the day-to-day social and occupational engagement of the staff and relatives with the residents (and with each other). They will be able to evaluate whether or not occupation and social engagement is better or worse since the renovations. They will be able to use their experiences of both the pre and post-renovation environments to compare and to reflect on what aspects of the old and new environments enhance, and which inhibit, occupation and social engagement. The researcher will compare the interview themes elicited from the staff groups of both homes to those elicited from the visitor group with regard to their original thoughts around occupation and social engagement in the nursing home, both pre and post-renovation. These themes will be explored and compared to the results of the direct observations and the attitude surveys. The researcher will seek to build an in-depth picture concerning what aspects of the built environment enhance, or detract from, the quantity and quality of occupation and social engagement.
2.7 Attitude survey Each of the staff and visitors who consented to be interviewed was also requested to complete an attitude survey. They will be requested to repeat the survey post renovation. The attitude survey explores the attitude of staff and relatives concerning occupation and social engagement and their relationship to the nursing home built environment. Questions were devised to test these views, using a five point Likert scale (strongly agree…...strongly disagree). These were submitted for comments and alteration to a panel of 12 therapists and nurses, for comments and amendments for clarity, purpose, and perceived effectiveness. Questions were altered or discarded as appropriate. The results of these attitude surveys will be analyzed using the SPSS 17 statistical package. The data from each question will be fed into the program, with a comparison of each nursing home before and after renovation. They will also be analyzed as a combined case, with the results of both nursing homes added together and compared before and after the renovation. It is anticipated that there will be ceiling and floor effects with a proportion of the questions. With the statistical modelling of the SPSS package, it will be possible to identify questions exhibiting one of
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these qualities. They will be combined with other similar questions or will be dropped from the analysis.
3. Expected contribution to knowledge Since the numbers of people with dementia is increasing and institutional long-term care is more and more organized in small-scale and homelike facilities, more research into the effectiveness of the small scale living environments is needed (Verbeek et al, 2009). The two nursing homes investigated in this research are both intending to modify their sitting room environments by incorporating an integrated communal „country kitchen‟ facility. Calkins (2003, p. 175) states that “the increasingly common therapeutic or “country” kitchens, have virtually no research exploring their impact on meals, socialization, or behaviours.” This research will help to clarify if, and how, the household model is able to independently influence social engagement and meaningful occupation within the nursing home. Torrington (2006) states empirical findings of the impact of design decisions are relatively rare. She states that design professionals are reluctant to undertake post-occupancy evaluations for the following reasons: there is no remuneration, a private organisation will want to keep aspects of its work confidential, negative evaluations have implications for public criticism and professional insurance. Feedback is critical concerning how the built environment affects those with dementia living in nursing home care. The environment has an impact on staff, residents and visitors. This is important considering the costs- financial, personal and emotional - that being admitted to a nursing home entails. This research will add to the debate concerning which types of physical environments enhance care and quality-of-life for those with dementia, as well as those involved in their care and support. The research analysis of the built environment will benefit from being seen through the eyes of a heath care professional and from being analysed according to functional, practical and real-life quality-of-life measurements. Most current research of nursing homes focuses on nursing or medical care or on problem behaviours, such as agitation or aggression. The majority of other research seeks to evaluate the whole of the nursing home environments, as represented by bedrooms, toilets, hallways, and so on, where problem behaviour is more likely to occur. This research is distinctive in that it does not evaluate any nursing care issues, but rests firmly on time use: occupation and social engagement. It seeks to measure observable and quantitative outcomes in a precise way, and uses descriptive qualitative measures to provide context and meaning for these observations.
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Observation or other quantitative measures are rarely used, in this intensive way, across a total of 24 observation days. This means that the central core of this research is quantifiable, objective and observable.
4. Summary This research intends to contribute to the debate about whether or not household model nursing homes utilizing the features of an integrated communal kitchen are likely to improve the quality of life for residents with dementia. The research will explore the effect of the environmental change on the behaviour of residents, staff and visitors. The prime use of these sitting or living room areas is for occupation and social engagement. Therefore, these are the measurements which have been selected. The research will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures in a case study format in order to bring depth to the analysis of effective outcomes. The conclusions will provide an informed opinion on the utility of renovating and creating environments to facilitate the adoption of the Household Model of Care.
Acknowledgments The authors thank the Managements of the Moorehall Lodge, Ardee, Co. Louth and Castleross Nursing & Convalescent Centre, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. Their commitment to exploring the possibility of improving quality of life for their residents and undertaking the relevant renovations and culture change were the genesis of this research project. It is directly through their facilitation and support that the investigations detailed in this paper are able to be carried out. The authors also wish to acknowledge the openness of the Residents to the research, and the continuing commitment of the Staff and Visitors to the observation stages and the gift of their time and thoughts in the interview processes.
References Annerstedt, L, Gustafson, L, Nilsson, K (1993) Medical outcome of psychosocial intervention in demented patients: one-year clinical follow-up after relocation into group living units. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 8: 833-841 Baltes, MM and Wahl, HW (1992) The dependency-support script in institutions: Generalization to community settings. Psychology and Aging 7 (3): 409-418 Bowie, P and Mountain, G (1993) Using direct observation to record the behavior of long-stay patients with dementia. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 8: 857-864 Brawley, EC (2006) Design Innovations for Aging and Alzheimer’s: Creating Caring Environments Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Calkins, MP (1988) Design for Dementia: Planning Environments for the Elderly and the Confused. Owings Mills, Maryland: National Health Publishing Calkins, MP (2003) Powell Lawton‟s contributions to long-term care settings. Journal of Housing for the Elderly 17 (1/2): 67-84 Cantley, C, Woodhouse, J, Smith, M (2005) Listen to us: Involving people with dementia in planning and developing services. Newcastle upon Tyne: Dementia North and Northumbria University Comas-Herrera, A, Wittenberg, R, Pickard, L, Knapp, M and MRC-CFAS. (2003) Cognitive impairment in older people: its implications for future demand for services and costs. Personal Social Services Research Unit Discussion Paper 1728/2 Executive Summary accessed at www.PSSRU.ac.uk October 9, 2009 Doty, MM, Koren, MJ, Sturla, EL (2008) Culture change in nursing homes: How far have we come? Findings from the Commonwealth Fund 2007 National Survey of Nursing Homes. Commonwealth Fund pub. 1131 accessed at www.commonwealthfund.org. November 6, 2009 Ferri, CP, Prince, M, Brayne, C, Brodaty, H, Fratiglioni, L, Ganguli, M, Hall, K, Hasegawa, K, Hendrie, H, Huang, Y, Jorm, A, Mathers, C, Menezes, PR, Rimmer, E, Scazufca, M (2005) Global prevalence of dementia: a Delphi consensus study. The Lancet 366 (9503): 2112-2117 Funaki, Y, Kaneko, F, Okamura, H (2005) Study of factors associated with changes in quality of life of demented elderly persons in group homes. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy 12: 4-9 Hasselkus, BR (1998) Occupation and well-being in dementia: The experience of day-care staff. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 56 (6): 640-649 Kinsella, K, and He, W (2009) An Aging World: 2008. U.S. Census Bureau, International Population Reports. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office Lawton, MP (2001) The physical environment of the person with Alzheimer‟s disease. Aging and Mental Health 5 (Supplement 1): S56-S64 Matthews, F and Dening, T (2002) Prevalence of dementia in residential care. The Lancet 360: 225226 Norberg, KG, Asplund, K, Rassmussen, BH, Nordahl, G, Sandman, PO (2001) How patients with dementia spend their time in a psycho-geriatric unit. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences 15: 215-221 O‟Malley, L and Croucher, K (2005) Housing and dementia care – a scoping review of the literature. Health and Social Care in the Community 13 (6): 570-577 O‟Shea, E (2000) The costs of caring for people with dementia and related cognitive impairments: Report no. 60. Dublin: National Council on Ageing and Older People Rabig, J (2009) Home again: Small houses for individuals with cognitive impairment. Journal of Gerontological Nursing 35 (8): 10-15
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Sabat, SR (2009) Dementia in developing countries: a tidal wave on the horizon. Lancet 374: 18051806 Shields, S and Norton, L (2006) In Pursuit of the Sunbeam USA: Action Pact Press Stabell, A, Eide, H, Solheim, GA, Solberg, KN, Rustoen, T (2004) dependence and independence. Journal of Clinical Nursing 13: 677-686
Nursing home residents‟
Te Boekhorst, S, Depla, MFIA, de Lange, J, Pot, AM, Eefsting, JA (2009) The effects of group living homes on older people with dementia: a comparison with traditional nursing home care. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 24: 970-978 Torrington, J (2006) What has architecture go to do with dementia care? Explorations of the relationship between quality of life and building design in two EQUAL projects. Quality in Ageing 7 (1): 34-48 Van Haitsma, K, Lawton, MP, Kleban, MH, Klapper, J, Corn, J (1997) Methodological aspects of the study of streams of behavior in elders with dementing illness. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders 11 (4): 228-238 Verbeek, H, van Rossum, E, Zwakhalen, SMG, Ambergen, T, Kempen, GIJM, Hamers, JPH (2009) The effects of small-scale, homelike facilities for older people with dementia on residents, family caregivers and staff: design of a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study. (available online http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2318/9/3) [accessed on 10/12/2009]) Vernooij-Dassen, M (2007) Meaningful activities for people with dementia. Aging & Mental Health 11 (4): 359-360 Ward, T, Murphy, E, Procter, A, Weinman, J (1992) An observational study of two long-stay psychogeriatric wards. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 7: 211-217 Zeisel, J, Silverstein, NM, Hyde, J, Levkoff, S, Lawton, MP, Holmes, W (2003) Environmental correlates to behavioral health outcomes in Alzheimer‟s Special Care Units. The Gerontologist 43 (5): 697-711
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The Development of an Evaluative Framework for Place Branding Ruzinskaite, J. Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment, University of Salford (email:
[email protected]) Lee, A. Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment, University of Salford (email:
[email protected])
Abstract Today, cities, regions and even countries across the entire world develop strategies for the development of their competitive advantage against others but very often their success is being judged by public or media so it has become important to measure the effectiveness of such activities. The primary aim of this study is to justify the need for the place branding evaluation as well as describe the development of the tool for this task. Despite the existing literature, there is a lack of a coherent model to evaluate place brands and sparse guidance on how to create one, therefore the success or failure of a brand is generally left open to interpretation. Branding models presented in academic papers to date are development and descriptive models. Furthermore, it is not clear what to measure (which variables) when analysing branding; the existing models for place branding do not provide such suggestions and authors describing branding examples do not propose any methodologies on how to evaluate success of branding initiatives. They are currently based on open criticism, thus there is a need for an evaluative framework. Similar fields like place marketing, destination branding, corporate, services and product branding were reviewed along with destination case studies. Based on this review, a framework for evaluation of place branding in the context of city was formulated. It is suggested to be implemented as soon as a new brand for a place is created or it can be possibly used as a consultation tool when preparing to design a new brand. Successful branding of places is dependent on several inter-related components, which are discussed. The paper highlights key issues in place branding and provides a platform for future research. Keywords: place branding, evaluation of place branding, success of branding
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1. Introduction Each place, be it a country, region, city-region, town or district, performs many different domestic and foreign objectives: these include investment attraction, international competition, attractive internal services, etc. According to Moilanen and Rainisto (2009) there are more than 300 cities in the world and more than 500 regions and 100,000 various communities in Europe aiming to stand out from competitors and developing appropriate self-promotion strategies. “Each place needs its own solutions to be successful” (Rainisto, 2003). One such tool is place branding. “An improved “brand” perception, reinforced by visual evidence of improvements within the city” (Trueman et al., 2004) (pp317), can increase its overall attractiveness as well as performance in relation to other cities. In terms of place, branding helps to differentiate and promote the place as well as compete with other places (Bennett and Savani, 2003), enhance civic pride if used effectively (Williams, 1994). Very often post-industrial cities use branding to re-launch themselves. Williams (1994) claims that “cities have lost their sense of industrial identity” and are “taking lessons from the growing success of national branding”. Bennett and Savani (2003) cite West (1997) that “almost every” major postindustrial town or city in Britain (e. g., Manchester, Leeds or Newcastle), “…has attempted to reinvent or reposition itself by adopting marketing techniques lifted straight from the brand manager’s handbook” (pp71). Place branding as a new phenomenon has its associated problems and areas for development. One of them is the growing need for the evaluation of branding initiatives for places including cities. It has become important to measure and justify the effectiveness of such activities. There is currently a lack of a coherent model on how to evaluate brands as well as sparse guidance on how to create an evaluative framework for place brand; it is not clear what to measure. The purpose of this study is to describe the development of an evaluative framework for place branding in the context of city branding. This publication aims to provide technicality of brand development and evaluation. It starts by exploring the need for an evaluative framework, and continues by describing the development of a framework for evaluation of place branding. The framework model is finally presented.
2. The need for an evaluative framework Over recent years, businesses as well as cities have recognised the importance of intangible assets in addition to their functional features. In other words, understanding what products (services) mean to customers is as important as what they can do for them. According to literature, the most common measurement for the branding of companies is financial value. However, Haigh (2007) states that investors account for only under 25% of a business as tangible assets, while intangible assets represent 75%. The metrics for place branding are more complex because of the intangible variables. The vast number and changing nature of variables in branding makes this task even more difficult. One event, such as riots (e. g., the Oldham riots in North Manchester in 2001) can dramatically change people’s perceptions over night. Furthermore, according to Balakrishnan (2009) “a destination
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brand name is an intangible asset with unique attributes and must be protected and managed strategically to maximize value” (pp622). More too, places are constantly evolving and are looking for innovative ways to express themselves and inform the world, with branding being one of them. In both cases, corporate and place branding evaluation should inform its developers whether it is successful enough which then would help to decide on future strategies. Haigh (2007) describes the branding process as the transformation of essentially functional assets into relationship assets by providing the basis for a psychological connection between the brand and the customer. Relationship between the brand and the customer is the core in place branding and is the topic of this thesis. Furthermore, Rainisto (2004) claims “in order for the branding in place marketing to succeed, branding must be the responsibility of the top management and involve all the levels and stakeholders of a place” (pp218). Today, cities, regions and even countries across the entire world develop strategies for the development of their competitive advantage against others but very often their success is being judged by public or media. Currently, the success or failure of a brand is generally left open to much interpretation. For example, in Danish city Randers the anti-branding logo was produced as the outcome of misunderstanding between citizens and Municipality about brand values and personality (Jensen, 2005). In contrast to Randers, New Zealand and New York seem to have long-lasting and very strong brands that are known worldwide. Manchester has changed radically throughout the decades and has developed so many different branding initiatives but still does not have clear image and in particular is a complex case. At the same time New York or Coca-Cola, for example, have enjoyed successful, long-lasting and well-known brands with only minor changes throughout years, whilst Manchester has still not found its base yet. The question is: why? What determines/ influences the success of such initiatives? It is a difficult question to answer because each place is unique with its own vision and complex of constantly changing branding variables. More too, places are constantly evolving themselves. Evaluation should inform brand developers whether the branding initiative is successful enough to be implemented, however there are no clear methodologies on how to do this. There is a growing body of literature on place branding (Hankinson, 2001, 2004; Rainisto, 2003; Trueman et al., 2004; Moilanen and Rainisto, 2009; etc.). However, empirical research and critical discussion is needed to support the place branding approach. Despite the existing literature, there is sparse guidance on how to create an evaluative tool for place branding, therefore the success or failure of a brand is generally left open to interpretation. There are some branding models presented in academic papers (for example, see de Chernatony and McWilliam, 1989; Cai, 2002; Hanskinson, 2004; Trueman et al., 2004; Virgo and de Chernatony, 2005; Tasci and Kozak, 2006), however, these are development and descriptive models, and there is generally no one comprehensive and universally accepted model. They do add value to the existing knowledge base, as each of them, provide a unique perspective on branding but the question that remains is: is there a comprehensive way to measure the success of place brand? The existing models do not provide any suggestions on what to measure. Thus, a need for a new framework emerges – a framework which would address this issue. Thus, there is a lack of a coherent model to evaluate brands – thus, this is the focus of this study. Branding initiatives are currently based on open criticism and do not relate back to their original objectives. Furthermore, authors describing branding examples (Cai, 2002; Trueman et al., 2004; Jensen, 2005; Hospers, 2006; Kavaratzis and Ashworth, 2007; Florek and Insch, 2008; Greenberg, 2008; Chan,
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2008) do not propose clear methodologies on how to evaluate success of branding initiatives; they do not evaluate if brands have achieved their aims. Hence there is a need for evaluative framework. The literature review highlighted the lack of social capital in the existing branding models which is probably the most important factor in branding. Merrilees et al. (2008) state that city branding is targeted at the residents of the city (and potential residents) as well as businesses to inform them that it is a place to live and invest. “People are a key driver of services and destination marketing and brand perception” (Balakrishnan, 2008) (pp83). Despite the fact that Hankinson (2004) and Haigh (2007) recognised this issue and analysed brands from the relationship between the brand and the customer point of view, Merrilees et al. (2007) argued that residents’ perspectives have been overlooked in literature. For example, in the Manchester case, Mancunians were not involved in the development of the latest branding campaign for Manchester despite AGMA (n. D.) claims that people are at the heart of the vision. This occurrence raises all sorts of questions, such as: do people really matter, what is their role in branding, can they influence/ contribute to the success of place brand, how success can be measured, etc. The brand evaluation framework could be used by clients/ designers to evaluate the success of the newly designed brand idea and will help to address the plethora of rhetorical questions raised. I believe that this study would help the Council and other bodies involved in decision making related to the branding of the city to develop more targeted campaigns.
3. The development of the framework The brand evaluation framework (Figure 1) is proposed to measure the success of place brand. It has three constituent components: vision, brand elements in the literature (in the context of the city) and people’s perceptions. The brand evaluation framework adopts a similar structure to Andy Neely’s performance prism (Neely and Adams, 2002) which represents five perspectives on performance and guides which metrics to measure in business performance. Similarly as the performance prism, the brand evaluation framework demonstrates the complexity of brand elements and is designed to help understanding what could be measured. It also incorporates the idea of the feedback after the brand is developed in de Chernatony’s (2001) model “Process for building and sustaining brands” (pp34) and Balakrishnan’s (2008) figure “Key components for destination branding” (pp67). This is important in order to sustain brands which is the aim of any place practicing such activities. The framework could be implemented as soon as new brand for a place is created or it can be used as a consultation tool when preparing to design a new brand. It can be used by anyone involved with the new branding initiative but it is primarily targeted as a tool for the brand client/ designer. It is anticipated that the brand evaluation framework will assist the client/ designer in assessing whether the newly created brand is successful; whether it is recognised and relevant. By auditing the new brand using this model, the client/ designer can better appreciate its strengths and weaknesses. From this analysis they can start to consider how this brand can better protect its market position and realise
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the appropriateness of created strategies. It should help to establish whether people performing different roles in the place (e. g., living or visiting) have the same understanding of newly created brand for it. The brand evaluation framework is valuable for its ability to take views of various groups of customers in terms of age, gender, their status in the city, etc, and to help these users, whom will have very little or varied knowledge on what to measure in assessing brands.
4. The framework elements The framework to evaluate place branding for cities (Figure 1) consists mainly of four elements: brand, vision, brand components and people’s perceptions. Place brand is the subject of this research, the starting point of which is vision because each place needs to know where it is going and what aims has. Place brand consists of a number of different variables and various authors suggest using a combination of them. As a brand name, as stated by Tasci and Kozak (2006), emerges from the level of satisfaction, past visits and word-of-mouth recommendations (this is especially important for tourist destinations), people’s perceptions need to be observed as well as they might provide useful insights into brand development. The framework elements are explained and described in detail in the sections below.
4.1 Brand Brand is the key component in the proposed framework. Any place, be it city, region or country aspiring to be successful within today's environment must have a clear picture of what it wants to achieve and how it wants to be perceived, which is reflected in place brand. This should be done in a unique and memorable way in order to leave good impression because the main aims of branding are to increase attractiveness and inform the world, for example, the branding initiative for Aalborg was criticised for being too generic, with broad values and no future actions (Jensen, 2005) while “Medicon Valley” for the Oresund region associates with “Silicon Valley” for knowledge region in the US (Hospers, 2006). According to De Chernatony (2001), brand essence or its core can be derived from brand promise using the brand pyramid: personality traits (on top of the pyramid), emotional rewards and values, benefits and attributes (at the bottom of the pyramid). Brand creates the identity for the city. It can be expressed in various formats, such as logo, slogan, strategy document, and other graphics but has to differentiate, create memorable experience, enhance emotional connection and positively influence consumer (Blain et al., 2005). The key stakeholders and target markets should be able to recognise this brand. For this reason, brand evaluation framework has been created. It is aimed at gaining people’s perceptions on the brand which will provide then brand developer with an insight whether people can recognise and accept it. The framework should be used when a new brand has been developed (or perhaps prior to it as a consultation measure), whether in draft form or final version. Each brand needs to have a vision which is the subject of the next section.
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4.2 Vision Vision is a key parameter in brand. Vision for the place is fundamental in the branding process and competitive environment. Each place must clearly know which direction it is going to. Balakrishnan (2009) argues that a vision is starting point of designing a branding strategy. A vision dictates the strategy for a city and is the starting point in city development as well as the marketing process. Without a coherent vision, it is impossible to develop a brand for the place as well as define its aims and strategies. It can be described as a long-term goal which translates into the brand promise (Balakrishnan, 2008). A vision for a city describes its aspirations and is very often aimed to be attractive depending on the target market. The “vision must embrace existing culture and work to balance any negative effects” Balakrishnan (2009) (pp621). A strong vision incorporates history and geographic areas and makes it more accessible by building infrastructure (Balakrishnan, 2008), for example, the branding of the Oresund region was praised for building upon unique regional assets and symbolised by visible objects such as the Oresund bridge (Hospers, 2006). According to (Balakrishnan, 2008), the vision must balance all stakeholder needs “to make the destination branding strategy a success” (pp76) (for example, idea of Bradford as “city of culture” was not supported by local businesses (Trueman et al., 2004)). Balakrishnan (2008) argues that people need to own the vision because they are the key drivers of the place brand, but this seems to be a challenge for many places. Furthermore, when developing a vision, Balakrishnan (2009) suggests that governing bodies should consider what relationships they want to develop with customers (internal and external) and what products /services they want to offer, identify key target customers (for example, Kavaratzis and Ashworth (2007) criticised “I Amsterdam” for not reflecting all the selected target groups as well as not expressing the core values). Relationship with customers was also mentioned in de Chernatony’s and Segal-Horn’s (2003) model as well as in Muzellec’s and Lambkin’s (2009) model proving to be important part of the branding process. Jensen (2005) suggests describing clearly consumers of city brand and receivers of the branding message to avoid “antibranding” campaigns as happened in the city of Randers. Virgo and de Chernatony (2005) argue that the brand values of brand steerers must be incorporated and acted on in a co-ordinated manner in order to succeed. In case of product branding, de Chernatony (2001) suggests auditing corporation, distributors, customers, competitors and microenvironment in order to create more powerful strategies. The same idea should obviously be applied to place branding. Sometimes a vision can also prompt ideas for the brand of city (logo, slogan, symbol). Destination limitations must be considered in the vision (Balakrishnan, 2008) as well as practical problems and critical issues as suggested by Jensen (2005). Hankinson (2004) suggested that the core brand may be the vision and it represents “a place’s identity, the blueprint for developing and communicating the place brand” (Hankinson, 2004) (pp115). De Chernatony (2001) describes three components of brand vision which obviously can be adopted to place vision as well: envisioned future (assumptions for the future), brand purpose (considers how the place is going to be better because of the brand), brand values (drive people’s behaviour). Every brand also has its objectives. De Chernatony (2001) divides them into long-term and short-term. Balakrishnan (2009) summarised the literature on vision in table 1:
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Table 1: Vision in the Literature (Balakrishnan, 2009) Component
Sub-categories
Author
Vision
Vision, mission, heritage and
Balakrishnan, 2008; Rangan et al., 2006; Wong et al., 2006; Aaker, 2004; Trueman
culture, people and values,
et al., 2004; Davis, 2002; Javalgi and White, 2002; Balmer, 2001; de Chernatony, 1999;
philosophy
de Chernatony and Riley, 1998 Country of Balakrishnan, 2008; Eraqi, 2006; Rangan
origin/reputation/
et al., 2006; Trueman et al., 2004; Thakor and
credibility of brand (destination) name, tourism quality
Lavack, 2003; Beverland, 2001; de Chernatony, 1999; Herbig and Milewicz, 1997
The table above lists sub-categories of vision which gives a sketch of what could be included in it. Obviously this list could be used as a guide when developing a vision for a place. These elements put in context could be incorporated in any vision. After examining various destination case studies and academic articles, Balakrishnan (2009) outlined six key drivers which motivate vision: economic, services, transit hub, retail, trade, tourism. These drivers outline the character of a vision. They can be inter-related and can be used as a guide when choosing the trend of the vision. In other words, a vision of any place can look at these drivers for its branding strategy. Virgo and de Chernatony (2005) and Balakrishnan (2008) recognised the importance of vision in the branding process and analysed it in detail providing practical examples of Birmingham and Dubai. Virgo and de Chernatony (2005) proposed using the Delphi process to create a single brand vision which enables to define future for the city, brand purpose and values. It was tested on Birmingham; the vision for Birmingham was defined as well as some gaps and areas for improvement discovered, for example, the gap between the poor image and the reality of an economically sound, forward looking and positive city needs to eliminated, value to employment in the city added (Virgo and de Chernatony, 2005). Dubai has a strong vision but needs to integrate and balance the pace of progress of all components of its vision.
4.3 Brand components It is difficult to evaluate place brand because of the number of different variables associated. There are more variables that are not only the symbol, logo and slogan for creating the place brand. All of them, according to Gnoth (2002), contribute to the determination and shape of the identity.
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Furthermore, it is not clear what to measure. People’s opinions differ on how important each element is. A thorough review of the literature can provide guidance. Brand components found in literature and in the context of the tested city will only be suggestive and will serve as a guideline for the interviewer and the interviewees in the survey. A list of elements can also be used by brand client/ designer as a guideline what can be incorporated in vision and brand itself. In the literature review, the broader spectrum of brand elements (term used by Ashworth and Voogd, 1990) or attributes (term used by Hankinson, 2004; Merrilees et. al., 2007) and general brand strategies were analysed and should be considered when defining place brand. Various authors suggest using combinations of attributes when creating brands, for example, Balakrishnan (2008; 2009) suggests choosing a combination of brand components for attracting customers, the components that would help customers make a decision to visit and create loyalty. Trueman et al. (2007) proposes using an integrated “warts and all” approach because local communities, the built environment, heritage and infrastructure – all form the image of the city. According to Hankinson (2001) any place brand should be designed to reflect the physical or tangible experiences of the location (visual triggers like symbol, logo, slogan, name) as well as the intangible and value-based attributes (place image). Kotler et al. (1999) describe four marketing factors for the place: attractions, infrastructure, people and image and quality of life which comprise, in essence, the brand of the place. Based on literature reviews, Balakrishnan (2009) groups brand components into tangible and intangible attributes as well as functional and symbolic. According to Hankinson (2005), it is important to understand these associations as they influence the brand strategy. For example, the new brand for New York represented the real and symbolic transformation as well as the restructuring of political and economic relations (Chan, 2008). Hankinson (2005) distinguishes two more categories: experiential associations and brand attitudes. Caldwell and Freire (2004) suggest that cities should concentrate on branding their functional aspects because they are perceived from a functional point of view, so the researcher felt that distinguishing functional attributes in the brand evaluation framework adds more clarity and best suits the task. The list of elements from literature could be grouped as in Figure 1.
4.4 People’s perceptions People’s perceptions are of no less importance. They reflect their personal satisfaction perspective on brand performance; notably for example, citizens of Randers created an “anti-branding” logo in their protest against the new branding campaign. People’s opinion is important because they are “a key driver of services and destination marketing and brand perception” (Balakrishnan, 2008). As discussed, “I love New York” was described as a successful campaign because local talent was used to design the logo. De Chernatony and Segal-Horn (2003) in their model for successful service brands suggest communicating brand’s promise together with service vision and customer expectations internally to staff through training and other organisational processes because this contributes to the success of the brand. Brodie (2009) analyses brands in the context of customers’, stakeholders’, organisational and employees’ perceptions. Uggla (2006) explains that corporate, partner (internal and external) and institutional associations contribute to brand image. Trueman et al. (2004) tried to apply
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the AC2ID test of corporate identity management to city brand in an attempt to compare official city strategies and stakeholders’ perceptions by using 5 dynamic identities: actual identity, communicated identity, conceived identity, ideal identity and desired identity, where conceived identity refers to perceptions of the company held by stakeholders. In contrast, the existing place branding models do not observe people’s perceptions and attitudes; they do not suggest that local people may influence the brand. Only the most recently developed place branding models have included the peoples’ factor, for example, Merrilees’ et al. (2007) and Balakrishnan (2009). These authors realised that people need to recognize the brand of the place where they live or work, so can support and possibly inform the world about it. Admittedly, the general public is not necessarily aware of official vision. Furthermore, it is important to identify the issues, be it crime or deprivation, and deal with them respectively in this way securing consistent development of the city. This would give a chance to rethink or amend the brand. In brand evaluation framework, the “people’s perceptions” section gives an insight into people’s opinions and attitudes towards the brand identity and strategy for the city which might be different from the desired. Merrilees et. al. (2007) highlighted this issue by focusing on city brand attitudes of residents in a structural model for city branding. They state that a city has to be attractive to its local residents in the first instance in order to be attractive to external visitors and argue that there is a need to develop a comprehensive approach to understanding the attitudes of residents to their own city brand. Similarly Balakrishnan (2008) argues that branding must start with people of the destination which together with positive associations and experience strengthen the brand image. “People (through the social capital construct), not structures, that make the biggest difference” (Merrilees et al., 2007). According to Balakrishnan (2009), destinations must start focusing on people besides the service experience and all customer touch points because they help deliver the experience. Trueman et al. (2007) suggests using a stakeholder perspective to identify and differentiate city from its competitors while Hankinson (2004) looking at place branding as a relationship with consumers and other stakeholders. Balakrishnan (2008) describes stakeholders as internal (people/ citizens, business/ governing bodies, etc.) and external. Jensen (2005) uses term brand consumers: city inhabitants, commuters, city users, business people or tourists. In this study, a stakeholder perspective has been chosen to be used representing various groups of people: who live and work in the city, visit and have never visited; people from different age, sexual and ethnic groups. These groups of people are important because they represent the masses of the city. As mentioned in previous sections, branding should start with residents in order to be attractive to visitors. People, who have never visited the city, will also provide some interesting and valuable insights which should be considered.
5. The place brand evaluation framework model The place brand evaluation framework model is illustrated in Figure 1, a prism with three vertical facets, each of them comprising of a number of variables and the middle facet being the core of this framework. The level of detail each facet depicted helped to provide clarity what can be measured and how. The researcher felt that this method of modelling the framework best suited the task. Further, it
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added more detail and clarification of how to design place brand evaluation measures and addressed the lack of guidance in the literature. In theory, those cities (i. e. their brand developers) aspiring to be successful in the long term in today’s world must have a clear picture of their stakeholders and customers. This should be reflected in the vision and strategies in order to deliver value as well as gain success (Figure 1). As suggested by de Chernatony (2001), brand vision could incorporate future, purpose and values as well as elements from literature as in Figure 1. The brand must be designed to leave a clear and unique image in the target customer’s mind but it should not dictate the measures (brand elements) as people might see other issues as well. Measures should only help to establish if the target will be reached as set out in vision. For this reason it is suggested to look at the broader list of brand elements in the literature. The elements from the literature send client/ designer or people messages suggesting what they should consider and what can be measured. The elements’ list is only suggestive and may assist when describing people’s perceptions which will be then compared to vision elements. If the vision and the brand itself are consistent with people’s perceptions, it means that brand initiative can be communicated and implemented, otherwise it would give an opportunity to analyse why it is not working. The consistency also reflects the degree of success and recognition which are necessary in any branding campaign. However, it is not clear how to measure success. In the context of place branding, each place has to decide itself what effectiveness of branding initiative means for them. In this research, success means if people can recognise and accept the newly created brand. It is up to client/ designer to decide what quantitative value they will regard as success. The satisfied stakeholders can contribute to the brand by being loyal (for example, return visits), supporting and recommending the brand, informing the world about it, etc. They also expect that brand would ensure certain values which drive people’s behaviour, such as stability (for example, economic), safety (physical and social), quality (of life, services), would acknowledge their presence and contribution, and guarantee values (Randall, 1997).
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Vision
Brand
People’s perceptions
Brand elements
Vision
Brand elements
People’s perceptions
For example:
Future Purpose Values
-
Vision Mission Heritage and culture People and values Philosophy Country of origin/
reputation/credibility of brand (destination) name - Quality
Drivers motivating vision: - Economic - Services - Transit hub - Retail - Trade - Tourism
-
-
-
Visual triggers: Symbol - Slogan Logo - Name Potential functional attributes: Urban residential services Social services and relations (interpersonal relationships) Museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls and other cultural services Leisure and sports activities and facilities Conference and exhibition facilities Natural environment, public spaces and recreational services Hotels, restaurants, night clubs and entertainment Architecture and quality of the built environment Transport infrastructure and access Hygiene facilities (car parks, toilets, baby-changing facilities, street cleaning, etc.) Vibrancy (business vibrancy including growth of jobs) Potential symbolic attributes: Place symbolisms, souvenirs and h di ft
- Vibrant - Cultural - Youthful - Etc. Potential experiential attributes: - How the city make residents/ visitors fell (relaxed, excited, fascinated,etc.) - Descriptors of the built environment (historic, modern, green, spacious, etc.) - Descriptors related to security and safety - Quality of life - The physical characteristics of air - Sound, smell and taste - Colours - Relationships/ interactions Other: - Benefits - Values - Personality - Users - Patents T d k
Figure 1: Place brand evaluation framework model
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6. Case study It is proposed to use single case approach to examine the applicability of the evaluative framework as well as test its effectiveness through applying it to Manchester due to the complexity of issues in one case. Multiple data collection methods will be used in order to ensure construct validity. Semistructured interviews will be invoked to describe the vision for the city. They will also help to understand the purpose of the existing Manchester branding initiative. A self-administered survey will be used to gather people’s opinions and perceptions on the city of Manchester’s branding initiative. Data will be triangulated in order to achieve reliability.
7. Conclusions This study aims to evaluate the success of new branding initiative for place in the context of city. It has been identified the growing need for measurement of place branding initiatives and highlighted that there is a lack on guidance how to evaluate place brand. This study combined all the findings thus far in this research to develop a framework that helps to assess the effectiveness of a new brand for the city. The framework methodology consists of four elements: brand, vision, brand elements (in the literature) and people’s perceptions. The proposed brand evaluation framework should help to answer some of the rhetorical questions raised. The brand evaluation framework acts as a guide for anybody concerned about place branding but is primarily targeted at place brand clients and possibly the designers to evaluate the success of the newly designed brand idea or could be used as a consultation measure before designing a new brand. This framework was designed as comprehensive and adaptable to any place, allowing greater levels of detail if needed. It analyses people’s perceptions and can further help cities in developing/ improving their branding initiatives. The framework could obviously be applied to a number of other places in order to thoroughly test its workability and efficiency in the field. It is anticipated the framework will help designing more targeted campaigns. The next stage in this research is to apply the developed framework to Manchester and to test its applicability by using multiple sources of evidence.
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International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction CIB’s mission is to serve its members through encouraging and facilitating international cooperation and information exchange in building and construction research and innovation. CIB is engaged in the scientific, technical, economic and social domains related to building and construction, supporting improvements in the building process and the performance of the built environment. CIB Membership offers: • international networking between academia, R&D organisations and industry • participation in local and international CIB conferences, symposia and seminars • CIB special publications and conference proceedings • R&D collaboration Membership: CIB currently numbers over 400 members originating in some 70 countries, with very different backgrounds: major public or semi-public organisations, research institutes, universities and technical schools, documentation centres, firms, contractors, etc. CIB members include most of the major national laboratories and leading universities around the world in building and construction. Working Commissions and Task Groups: CIB Members participate in over 50 Working Commissions and Task Groups, undertaking collaborative R&D activities organised around: • construction materials and technologies • indoor environment • design of buildings and of the built environment • organisation, management and economics • legal and procurement practices Networking: The CIB provides a platform for academia, R&D organisations and industry to network together, as well as a network to decision makers, government institution and other building and construction institutions and organisations. The CIB network is respected for its thought-leadership, information and knowledge. CIB has formal and informal relationships with, amongst others: the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP); the European Commission; the European Network of Building Research Institutes (ENBRI); the International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Energy Agency (IEA); International Associations of Civil Engineering, including ECCS, fib, IABSE, IASS and RILEM. Conferences, Symposia and Seminars: CIB conferences and co-sponsored conferences cover a wide range of areas of interest to its Members, and attract more than 5000 participants worldwide per year. Leading conference series include: • International Symposium on Water Supply and Drainage for Buildings (W062) • Organisation and Management of Construction (W065) • Durability of Building Materials and Components (W080, RILEM & ISO) • Quality and Safety on Construction Sites (W099) • Construction in Developing Countries (W107) • Sustainable Buildings regional and global triennial conference series (CIB, iiSBE & UNEP) • Revaluing Construction • International Construction Client’s Forum
CIB Commissions (August 2010) TG58 Clients and Construction Innovation TG59 People in Construction TG62 Built Environment Complexity TG63 Disasters and the Built Environment TG64 Leadership in Construction TG65 Small Firms in Construction TG66 Energy and the Built Environment TG67 Statutory Adjudication in Construction TG68 Construction Mediation TG69 Green Buildings and the Law TG71 Research and Innovation Transfer TG72 Public Private Partnership TG73 R&D Programs in Construction TG74 New Production and Business Models in Construction TG75 Engineering Studies on Traditional Constructions TG76 Recognising Innovation in Construction TG77 Health and the Built Environment TG78 Informality and Emergence in Construction TG79 Building Regulations and Control in the Face of Climate Change TG80 Legal and Regulatory Aspects of BIM TG81 Global Construction Data W014 Fire W018 Timber Structures W023 Wall Structures W040 Heat and Moisture Transfer in Buildings W051 Acoustics W055 Construction Industry Economics W056 Sandwich Panels W062 Water Supply and Drainage W065 Organisation and Management of Construction W069 Housing Sociology W070 Facilities Management and Maintenance W077 Indoor Climate W078 Information Technology for Construction W080 Prediction of Service Life of Building Materials and Components W083 Roofing Materials and Systems W084 Building Comfortable Environments for All W086 Building Pathology W089 Building Research and Education W092 Procurement Systems W096 Architectural Management W098 Intelligent & Responsive Buildings W099 Safety and Health on Construction Sites W101 Spatial Planning and infrastructure Development W102 Information and Knowledge Management in Building W104 Open Building Implementation W107 Construction in Developing Countries W108 Climate Change and the Built Environment W110 Informal Settlements and Affordable Housing W111 Usability of Workplaces W112 Culture in Construction W113 Law and Dispute Resolution W114 Earthquake Engineering and Buildings W115 Construction Materials Stewardship W116 Smart and Sustainable Built Environments W117 Performance Measurement in Construction
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International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction Publications: The CIB produces a wide range of special publications, conference proceedings, etc., most of which are available to CIB Members via the CIB home pages. The CIB network also provides access to the publications of its more than 400 Members.
CIB Annual Membership Fee 2010 – 2013 Membership will be automatically renewed each calendar year in January, unless cancelled in writing 3 months before the year end Fee Category FM1 Fee level FM2 Fee level FM3 Fee level AM1 Fee level AM2 Fee level IM Fee level All amounts in EURO
2010
2011
2012
2013
11837 12015 12195 12378 7892 8010 8131 8252 2715 2756 2797 2839 1364 1384 1405 1426 1133 1246 1371 1426 271 275 279 283
The lowest Fee Category an organisation can be in depends on the organisation’s profile: Recent CIB publications include: • Guide and Bibliography to Service Life and Durability Research for Buildings and Components (CIB 295) • Performance Based Methods for Service Life Prediction (CIB 294) • Performance Criteria of Buildings for Health and Comfort (CIB 292) • Performance Based Building 1st International State-of-the Art Report (CIB 291) • Proceedings of the CIB-CTBUH Conference on Tall Buildings: Strategies for Performance in the Aftermath of the World Trade Centre (CIB 290) • Condition Assessment of Roofs (CIB 289) • Proceedings from the 3rd International Postgraduate Research Conference in the Built and Human Environment • Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Performance-Based Codes and Fire Safety Design Methods • Proceedings of the 29th International Symposium on Water Supply and Drainage for Buildings • Agenda 21 for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries R&D Collaboration: The CIB provides an active platform for international collaborative R&D between academia, R&D organisations and industry. Publications arising from recent collaborative R&D activities include: • Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction • Agenda 21 for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries • The Construction Sector System Approach: An International Framework (CIB 293) • Red Man, Green Man: A Review of the Use of Performance Indicators for Urban Sustainability (CIB 286a) • Benchmarking of Labour-Intensive Construction Activities: Lean Construction and Fundamental Principles of Working Management (CIB 276) • Guide and Bibliography to Service Life and Durability Research for Buildings and Components (CIB 295) • Performance-Based Building Regulatory Systems (CIB 299) • Design for Deconstruction and Materials Reuse (CIB 272) • Value Through Design (CIB 280)
FM1 FM2 FM3 AM1 AM2 IM
Full Member Fee Category 1 | Multi disciplinary building research institutes of national standing having a broad field of research Full Member Fee Category 2 | Medium size research Institutes; Public agencies with major research inter- est; Companies with major research interest Full Member Fee Category 3 | Information centres of national standing; Organisations normally in Category 4 or 5 which prefer to be a Full Member Associate Member Fee Category 4 | Sectoral research & documentation institutes; Institutes for standardisation; Companies, consultants, contractors etc.; Professional associations Associate Member Fee Category 5 | Departments, fac- ulties, schools or colleges of universities or technical Institutes of higher education (Universities as a whole can not be Member) Individual Member Fee Category 6 | Individuals having an interest in the activities of CIB (not representing an organisation)
Fee Reduction: A reduction is offered to all fee levels in the magnitude of 50% for Members in countries with a GNIpc less than USD 1000 and a reduction to all fee levels in the magnitude of 25% for Members in countries with a GNIpc between USD 1000 – 7000, as defined by the Worldbank. (see http://siteresources.worldbank. org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GNIPC.pdf) Reward for Prompt Payment: All above indicated fee amounts will be increased by 10%. Members will subsequently be rewarded a 10% reduction in case of actual payment received within 3 months after the invoice date. For more information contact CIB General Secretariat: e-mail:
[email protected] PO Box 1837, 3000 BV Rotterdam, The Netherlands Phone +31-10-4110240; Fax +31-10-4334372 Http://www.cibworld.nl
Themes: The main thrust of CIB activities takes place through a network of around 50 Working Commissions and Task Groups, organised around four CIB Priority Themes: • Sustainable Construction • Clients and Users • Revaluing Construction • Integrated Design and Delivery Solutions PAGE 2
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CIB General Secretariat post box 1837 3000 BV Rotterdam The Netherlands E-mail:
[email protected] www.cibworld.nl
CIB Publication 350