Category Archives: Knowledge Exchange

Making websites dementia-friendly. Join the discussion!

The second phase of our work on Memory-Friendly Neighbourhoods wraps up in January 2017 with an event at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute.

In this phase of Memory-Friendly Neighbourhoods (MFN), we’ve been focusing on the ‘virtual neighbourhood’, looking at how people living with dementia use and navigate online environments.

The programme is based on our own experiences of setting up the MFN website and the lack of guidance we have found on internet accessibility for people living with dementia.

We’ve been using a survey, together with a ‘town hall meeting’ approach, to engaging participants; from people who commission, design, build and maintain websites, to people whose lives are affected by dementia.

Please join us at our final meeting where we’ll be discussing what we’ve found out and co-designing outputs from the project, including ideas for next steps and recommendations for policy and practice.

The event takes place at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute, a short walk from Queen Street Station in central Glasgow, on Tuesday 17th January 2017.

The meeting will last from 10am until noon and you are welcome to stay for lunch afterwards.

Places are FREE but limited, so please book through Eventbrite.

Memory-Friendly Neighbourhoods is a knowledge exchange programme with the University of Stirling exploring how local communities can support people with dementia. It is funded by the Scottish Universities Insight Institute and partnered by Age Scotland, East Dunbartonshire Council, and Life Changes Trust.

Is it Nice Outside? Dementia and the natural environment

Here at OPENspace, we’re delighted to see the publication of the latest Natural England report, Is it nice outside? New research into dementia and the natural environment.

The result of a collaborative project with Dementia Adventure, the Mental Health Foundation and Innovations in Dementia, the report reflects the views of 54 people living with dementia and over 170 carers.

Image of older people walking outdoors

Having explored older people’s attitudes towards getting out and about in a number of recent projects (including Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors), we see many of the same thoughts and needs articulated by people with dementia in the report, including…

  • their drive to be physically and socially active outdoors;
  • the importance, to them, of informal walking outside;
  • their appreciation and need for a quality environment – one with accessible signage, walkways on even ground, and facilities such as toilets, cafes and places to sit and relax.

We are pleased to see that the report bears out the popularity of city parks and public gardens and that “several people with dementia talked passionately about the role their local park played in providing them with somewhere to go, and as somewhere to enjoy watching other people taking part in activities”.

OPENspace and Natural England

As a member of the Outdoors for All Strategic Research Group, Catharine Ward Thompson commented on the new report prior to publication.

OPENspace and Natural England have worked together many times over the years, most recently on a project looking at the importance of ‘wild adventure space’ for young people.

The launch of Is it Nice Outside? comes in the same week that we announce funding for the second phase of Memory-Friendly Neighbourhoods, our knowledge exchange programme with dementia researchers at the University of Stirling.

Funded by the Scottish Universities Insights Institute, this project explores how local communities can support people with dementia, meeting the urgent need for insights to guide the development of environments for ageing-in-place and lifelong social inclusion.

Download the report, Is it nice outside? New research into dementia and the natural environment, from the Natural England website

Find out more about Memory-Friendly Neighbourhoods

Find out more about Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors

Catharine Ward Thompson appointed Honorary Professor at the University of Exeter Medical School

Our Director, Catharine Ward Thompson, has been appointed an Honorary Professor at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH).

Launched in May 2011, and led by Professor Lora Fleming, the Centre is part of the University of Exeter Medical School.

ECEHH research falls into two major areas: emerging threats to health and wellbeing posed by the environment; and the health and wellbeing benefits the natural environment can provide.

Catharine’s three-year appointment marks a strengthening of links between OPENspace and ECEHH which builds on previous knowledge exchange activities, such as the Blue Mind Summit, Sara Warber’s study visit to Edinburgh, and the two-day meeting Fostering Sustainable Environments for Improving Future Health and Wellbeing.

Visit the European Centre for Environment and Human Health website

Catharine at a conference dinner

Catharine in Macedonia for WHO Task Force meeting

Greetings from Skopje in Macedonia where Catharine is presenting evidence on urban green spaces and health to the World Health Organization European Environment and Health Task Force (EHTF).

The Task Force is the leading international body for implementation and monitoring of the European Environment and Health Process, and we welcome the emphasis it is placing on the relationship between the quality of our urban outdoor spaces and people’s health and wellbeing.

We are delighted to have been invited to talk about our research to the group, framing the issue in the wider context of topics such as land use, urban planning, urban adaptation to climate change and demographic changes.

We are also pleased that the presentation is being followed by a discussion on the formulation of policy goals and political commitments in this area.

Keep an eye oLogo of the World Health Organization European Environment and Health Processn the EHTF website for outcomes from the meeting and details of the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in 2017.

 

OPENspace at EUROCITIES 2015

We’re at the EUROCITIES 2015 conference in Copenhagen / Malmo, where Catharine Ward Thompson is bringing a focus on the pedestrian environment to a roundtable on urban mobility.

It’s a pleasure to be in such esteemed company. Sitting to Catharine’s right (in the blue scarf) is Hella Dunger-Loeper, Permanent secretary and State of Berlin Delegate to the Federation and former Permanent Secretary for Building and Housing at Berlin’s Senate Department for Urban Development…Catharine Ward Thompson speaking at the Eurocities conference

… and in this photograph, taken after the roundtable, she is pictured with panellist Klaus Bondam, Director of the Danish Cyclists’ Federation and former Chair of the EUROCITIES Mobility Forum…

Photo of Catharine Ward Thompson at Eurocities

Máire Cox also attends the conference to promote OPENspace research to policymakers within 130 of Europe’s largest cities.

And finally… we’re delighted to share the news that the City of Edinburgh won a EUROCITIES award at the conference for community participation in making the city more attractive and sustainable.

Logo for EUROCITIES 2015

More about EUROCITIES 2015, the focus of which was ‘sustainable growth and quality of life’

Habitats for Happy Ageing

It’s 20th March, the UN International Day of Happiness, and what better way to mark it than with the first of our Habitats for Happy Ageing events.

Photo of audience members at the Habitats for Happy Ageing event

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to this free event at the Reid Concert Hall, including our two guest speakers, Neil Thin (University of Edinburgh) and Val Bissland (University of Strathclyde).

As well as bite-sized talks by these two amazing experts in happiness and place, we were delighted to share insights from our current research project, Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP).

Photo of a student talking to guests at Habitats for Happy Ageing

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

Guests had the chance to talk to the students involved in our co-design research, to try on the EEG headset used in our ‘environment and affect’ study (and see how it articulates brainwaves on a computer) and to take a short, paper-based mood test.

They could also browse a range of visual material, including models, maps of Edinburgh over time, and captioned images from our photography competition.

Photo of participants at Habitats for Happy Ageing

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

The ‘science festival’ format worked well with our audience, of which most were aged 65 or over. We received really useful feedback, including on the sorts of positive ways in which people might use what they had heard us talk about or discussed with us. 91% of those who attended rated the event as enjoyable and useful.

Here’s a little video providing a taster of what went on…

Screengrab from the trailer for Habitats for Happy Ageing

Selecting this image will take you to the video on vimeo

> Find out more about Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP) on this website

> Find out more about Habitats for Happy Ageing on the MMP website

> Read an article about the event – with reader’s photographs – on the STV Edinburgh website

> Read an article about the event on the Living It Up Scotland website