The Happy Design Toolkit, page 23
It is therefore important to provide people with the facilities, equipment and space they need to take part in exercise and sport. This can range from a small yard with a few pieces of outdoor gym equipment to a full-sized football pitch or athletics track. A simple example of the former is EVA Studio's Tapis Rouge in Haiti - a small public space incorporating outdoor cardiovascular equipment.69 The project was funded by the Red Cross in the wake of Haiti's 2010 earthquake to give the community a way to exercise, and it incorporates solar power for night-time lighting. A well provides clean drinking water, which is sold at a low cost, with the money used to fund the maintenance of the project. Interventions like this demonstrate that it is possible to provide place for exercise and play for all, at a minimal cost.
Many companies, such as The Great Outdoor Gym Company, have now started to integrate eco-solutions into outdoor gym equipment, including machines that generate electricity as they ere used. Such Strategies can be powerful ways to encourage and motivate participation while also creating a sense of altruism and helping to alleviate environmental worries.
Team sports offer potentially even larger benefits to mental wellbeing than exercising alone, with studies showing significant positive impacts to those who exercise in a group. One such study of students aged 16 to 24 showed that over a six-month period those who did group physical activity had better mental health than those who exercised alone, also finding that they felt more connected to people around them.70 Being part of a team has also been shown to increase motivation and enjoyment of challenges, meaning that we are more likely to stick to exercise as part of a group.71
After a decline in UK sporting facilities in the early 2000s, numbers are now generally on the increase which is largely assumed to be a result of increased awareness around the benefits of sport and exercise, and perhaps a consequence of the success of the 2012 London Olympics.72 While this-is positive, it is important that new facilities continue to emerge to meet this growing demand, particularly as just 21% of children now play outdoors compared to 71% in 1985.73
Sport England's 'Active Design' guidance highlights the essential role that open spaces play in supporting informal activity, while also setting cut how to create more formal 'sporting hubs'.74 The document recommends co-location of sporting and recreation facilities so that management can be shared and accessibility improved. It is also recommended that such facilities are located at prominent positions within communities to promote their use and allow them to play a role in local social life.
When designing such facilities, we can also bring in lessons from elsewhere in this book to create high-quality places, that are enjoyable to use, This might include elements such as natural materials, a use of colour or art, or places such as a clubhouse or cafe to create opportunities for social interaction before and after participation.
Design tips
1 Provide opportunities for individual and team activities when considering sports or exercise facilities
2 Locate these in a prominent location to maximise exposure and encourage use.
3 Make these visually or socially appealing by integrating other strategies from this toolkit.
CHAPTER 7
Social interaction, community and sense of place
DOI: 10.4324/9781003277897-8
People ignore design that ignores people.'
- FRANK CHIMERO, DESIGNER
Figure 7.0: Marmalade Lane co-housing community space, Cambridge, UK, by Mole Architects with TOWN and Trivselhus
While social behaviour is found among most animal species, in humans it plays a particularly important role. in primates, social network size is positively correlated to prefrontal cortex dimensions, leading some experts to believe that our large brains were less important in terms of raw thinking power, but instead allowed us to thrive due to the formation of bigger and more complex social groups.1
Living in large groups or 'communities' offers any species a number of advantages.2 It makes if easier to spot predators or rival groups and gives you better odds of beating them in a fight. It also gives you a better chance of finding or hunting down food. In a larger community, you also have a greater chance of successfully reproducing and rearing the young.
Humans possess, one trait that is not found in other animals, however, which enhances all these factors manyfold: complex communication. According to Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, the development of nuanced language is one of the key factors, in our domination as: a species.3 As a result, scientists have recently discovered that we have evolved to crave human contact much like we crave food.4
It may come as little surprise therefore that social interaction and community play an important role in our wellbeing. What has surprised experts in recent years is just how much of an impact a lack of interpersonal interaction Can have on our health. Loneliness has been shown to increase the risk of early mortality by 26%, which jumps to 32% for those living alone5 - roughly equating to the effects of obesity or smoking.6 This is because isolation affects both Our bodies and minds, increasing the chances of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke, as well as making people more prone to depression, cognitive decline and dementia.
The good news is that the importance of this issue has now been recognised and changes fife being made throughout society to combat loneliness. Groups such as the Loneliness Lab have been set up in recent years with the goal of 'tackling loneliness through urban design, placemaking and the built environment'.7
The value of such strategies cannot be overstated. In itsanalysis of the 2016 'World Happiness Report', the What Works Centre for Wellbeing ranked social support' as the most important factor in determining where countries and regions: were placed, suggesting that improvements in community and social aspects of design could make the most significant difference.8 This is reflected in markets, too, with a recent survey finding that over twothirds of people feel the local community is a key factor in choosing where to: live.9
In spite of this knowledge, and the excellent work by groups such as the Loneliness Lab, modern buildings and cities face numerous challenges in trying to promote social interaction and build communities. Firstly, we now spend more time indoors than ever before - around 22 hours a day - which appears to largely be a result of increasing technology use and work commitments.10 The first goal of designers must therefore be to find ways to nudge people outdoors or into environments with increased chances of social interaction.
The second challenge the industry faces is a seemingly endless march towards the elimination of any level of risk of danger in society. A good example of this is how challenging it now is to use some healthy (and sustainable) materials like timber in many building types, for fear they should spontaneously combust - despite the fact that we are far more likely to die or have our quality of life impacted as a result of health issues than from a fire.
This has also resulted in growing separation within places and communities. Strategies such as 'Secured by Design' are now mandatory on many UK planning proposals and effectively give the police power over how many aspects of how a scheme is designed.11 As a result, recommendations are often made for communities to be 'gated off' or for fob systems to be introduced in apartment buildings, which make it challenging for people to even visit their neighbours on the floor above. There is a genuine danger, therefore, that this intense focus, on safety is coming at a cost to social interaction and community, which, given the health impacts associated with these issues, may be causing more problems than they are solving.
It is not simply that loneliness is bad for us - doing things for other people has been shown to improve' mental health and even promote physiological changes in the brain linked with happiness.12 Designers must therefore seek to create places which find a balance between safety and sociability, encouraging people to expand their network of friends and engage with community life on a regular basis.
Cluster homes
We create our buildings and then they create us. Likewise, we construct our circle of friends and our communities and then they construct us.'
- FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, ARCHITECT
Figure 7.1: 3 Generation House, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, by BETA Office for Architecture and the City
Potential mental wellbeing benefits
► Social opportunities
► Connections to family
► Greater adaptability
► Identity / self-worth
► Greater equity
Potential issues and considerations
► Privacy
► Autonomy reduction
It is easy to think of the current western model of living in individual households as the natural or normal way for people to live. In reality, it has been a relatively recent development. Many mammal species from baboons to elephants live in packs, and historically humans were no different, taking advantage of the abundant benefits of living in a large group. It was. not until as late as the thirteenth century in Britain that young couples were expected to move out and establish their own household, and in many examples (particularly the landed gentry), extended families would still live in one large house together. While this may seem strange, in many parts of the world today this is nothing out of the ordinary.13
In theory, there are many benefits to the traditional 'community' model, of living, provided good levels of privacy can be achieved when desirable. Such models can be highly effective in combating loneliness, as it is far less likely that any member of the household will be left alone for extended periods of time. Residents also enjoy a greatly expanded Support network, which research has shown is an important factor in good mental health, particularly for key groups such as the elderly, the unwell and students.14 Shared space also means shared amenities, which can be of much higher quality when the costs are distributed amongst a larger group.
At its extreme, this model takes the form of living in a commune, but there are also strategies that we can use to align community living or working more closely to our modern lives. A good example of this it student co-housing, which can take a number of forms, some more successful than others. In Happy City, Charles Montgomery compares the responses of students who live in a 'corridor block' (double bedrooms along a single long corridor with one shared bathroom and lounge) versus those who lived in clustered 'suites' (two or three bedrooms gathered around a lounge with a small bathroom).15 The students in the corridor design felt far more stressed as the corridor was exposing and gave little choice about who they bumped into, and friendships were far more likely in the 'cluster design.
The important factors in this experiment were all psychological concepts - control, exposure and privacy and are lessons we can take beyond the model of student housing or similar typologies such as co-living. The Dutch Practice, BETA, has designed what it calls the '3 generation house', which as the name suggests provides accommodation for children, their parents and their grandparents.16 To ensure retention of privacy and control, however, the house has been split into five floors, with only the middle floor as a designated shared space. This also makes the home highly adaptable if any part of the family decides it need more or less space
The benefits of such a way of living are clear, and while some may baulk at the idea of anything other than the standard nuclear family model, built examples like these demonstrate that it can be achieved successfully and easily. With the challenges of an ageing population ahead of us, it may be that we need to rethink our approach to living in groups or clusters - the key is that we do it well and offer housing that respects the importance of control and privacy while maximising the benefits of community.
Design tips
1 When designing shared housing, privacy and autonomy are of paramount importance. Consider ways to design these in, to help residents achieve a balance of community and independence.
2 Circulation and semi-shared spaces are key to these issues - avoid designing areas such as long corridors where people have little control over who they bump into, as this can result in a feeling of exposure.
3 Explore a range of family models and design homes that can flex as the needs of their inhabitants might change.
(Semi-) open-plan living and working areas
How anyone imagined that open plan offices would be more efficient is beyond me.'
- PETER GRAINGER, AUTHOR
Figure 7.2: The Italian Building co-living, London, UK, by Mason & Fifth
Potential mental wellbeing benefits
► Social opportunities
► Connections to family
► Increased autonomy
► Learning opportunities
► Increased productivity
Potential issues and considerations
► Comfort issues
► Privacy
► Autonomy reduction
► Productivity reduction
On the surface, open-plan spaces seem like an easy win - we get an increased sense of space and light, places become more adaptable and perhaps most importantly these spaces seem likely to encourage sociability, it is not surprising, therefore, that many estate agents will tell you that 'going open plan' can add value to your home.17
Like most things, the situation is slightly more complex in reality, particularly when we look at the places in which people work. As noted in Chapter 2, noise is one of the biggest workplace distractions and is an issue exacerbated by open-plan layouts. These distractions can have a significant impact on our productivity and happiness in the workplace, with one University of California study finding that a typical office worker gets only 11 minutes between each interruption, and for each distraction it takes around 25 minutes to return to full concentration on the original task - unless of course we get distracted again.18
We have also seen that labelling open-plan workspaces as 'more sociable' is a misnomer, as in reality they can often decrease face-to-face interaction, with people feeling overexposed in a large open space where everybody can hear what you say.19 This highlights the other big flaw in the open-plan approach: an almost total lack of privacy.
As a result of these factors, the workplace design industry is now seeing a shift towards flexible work spaces, where people have a choice between working in busier openplan areas or quieter spaces such as booths or pods. It is important to remember that some people are naturally more extroverted than others, and as Clare Bailey, Director of Savills Commercial Research team explains: 'Some people need noise and chatter to work, and some people need quiet.'20 It is important that the design of workspaces accommodates both - in what we could perhaps call 'semi open plan'.
In the home these issues are less of a problem generally. We tend to require less privacy around our family and friends than strangers, and we as rule we don’t need quite as high concentration levels at home as we do at work, meaning distractions are slightly less of an issue.
As a result, as well as private residences opening up their ground floors, large open-plan communal spaces are becoming very popular in co-living, build-to-rent and student housing. A good example of this is Mason & Fifth's Italian Building co-living scheme on the adjacent page which combines cooking, dining, working and living areas into a social hub. Even in this space, however, an occasional need to subdivide spaces was recognised, which the interior designers addressed through the introduction of curtains which could be drawn between spaces to create an extra level of privacy.
Fundamentally, the thinking and intent behind open-plan spaces ate honourable: to create more social spaces that promote collaboration or better relationships with those around us. In reality, however, this is tricky to achieve and takes a little more nuance than simply removing dividing walls to create one large space. Taking a more subtle 'semi open-plan' approach can be more successful, particularly when combined with other features in this book such as Flexible Separating Devices (see Chapter 3), Sound Masking Systems (see Chapter 2) or Social Furniture (later in this chapter).
Design tips
1 When contemplating an open-plan design, consider the potential problems as well as the advantages. These may include issues such as sound, privacy or smells.
2 Explore strategies to address these issues through design, rather than through operations or management solutions post-completion.
3 Often some level of separation or partition can be helpful. These may be low level or moveable (see Flexible Separating Devices [Chapter 3] for design ideas on this approach).
4 Ideally, some level of choice and flexibility will be provided in both work and living spaces, giving people greater control over where they spend their time.
Indoor community spaces and spaces for making
Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.'
- HELEN KELLER, AUTHOR AND DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATE
Figure 7.3: Storey's Field Centre, Cambridge, UK, by MUMA Architects
Potential mental wellbeing benefits
► Social opportunities
► Psychological response
► Identity / self-worth
► Greater equity
Potential issues and considerations
► Operational cost
► Maintenance
► Space requirements
Throughout history, societies have had community spaces at the heart of their settlements, from the Viking longhouse to the Anglo-Saxon great hall. In today's society these take a number of forms, be they civic buildings, religious spaces like churches or mosques or looser community spaces such as village halls or day centres.
One thing is certain: such spaces add value to a community, although as one report explained, this value 'may not always be obvious to outsider or policymakers'.21 As such, providing community spaces is not top of every developer's priority list, despite evidence, suggesting that, in fact, these could be some of the most important parts of any new scheme. Unfortunately, these are often seen as spaces that, are 'given away' for a relatively low value - but again this raises the question of what 'value' means and whether it's appropriate to think of it simply as a number in a spreadsheet.
