Kieron Gurner,
User-centred design is a product development process that puts the end-user at the heart of the project. This means gaining an understanding of who they are — their wants, their problems and their perspectives — and then creating solutions tailored to those needs. When products are designed from their target user’s eyes, they are more likely to be embraced.
Jo Morrison,
People with physical and mental differences face a host of barriers that reduce their quality of life by limiting their participation in social, political, cultural and economic life. It can be difficult to move around familiar neighbourhoods let alone strange places. For example, those with mobility impairments often can’t fully enjoy public spaces due to uneven surfaces, visually-impaired people can’t access everyday wayfinding information, and people with less visible disabilities often find crowded place to be a sensory minefield. This is the situation, and it is unacceptable.
Jo Reid,
More and more technical developers in the aerospace industry are now taking an Agile approach to project management, given its capability to deliver early and frequent iterations.
Richard Hull,
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) held its fifth Stations Summit this month (10th October) at Grand Station, Wolverhampton. This year’s conference revolved around the development of stations as transport interchanges within thriving communities. Our Executive Chairman, Richard Hull, attended; he gives us his key takeaways.
Jo Morrison,
Today, over a billion children are growing up in cities. By 2030, UN-HABITAT estimates that 60% of the world’s urban population will be under the age of 18. Cities today, however, rarely provide ideal living conditions for young people. This is a huge problem when we stop to consider how this demographic will dominate the urban population within the next decade.
Jo Morrison,
The UK high street is in the midst of a deepening crisis. Store closures officially overtook store openings in 2015 and the trend continues today. The first half of 2019 alone saw some 3,000 stores shutting down. The UK is not alone, as failing high streets can be seen across Europe and the US.
Kieron Gurner,
Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050, the UN predicts this number will go up to 68%, adding 2.5 billion more people to urban areas. While urbanisation brings with it a host of benefits, it does put a strain on a city’s transportation and mobility systems resulting in traffic congestion, inadequate public transport and unsafe roads. These are huge challenges that many urban areas today just don’t have the resources to properly address.
App Insights Mobile Technology
Jo Morrison,
Sustainability is recognised as a vital issue for people, businesses and governments, globally. To secure the planet for all of our futures, digital technology can provide support and solutions to some of the challenges we face; ranging from city-scale infrastructure to apps that help individuals find greener ways of living and sharing within…
Jo Morrison,
On every continent digital technologies are being used successfully to support people to play a proactive role in shaping their environment and public life. All kinds of tools, from simple digital surveys to bespoke augmented reality systems, are now enabling citizens to share their ideas and be heard by decision-makers. This engagement benefits not just the citizens but also those responsible for developing and managing public spaces, for they can better identify and implement projects that the public actually want – and value.
Jo Morrison,
Children and young people are often seen as passive inheritors of our heritage. Their portrayal in the popular media regularly suggests apathy and disinterest, just look at the photos that went viral of schoolchildren on their phones in the presence of a Rembrandt masterpiece (although it’s clear, some portrayals are certainly not accurate). However, as the Heritage Fund’s Sarah Lanchin says, “children and young people enjoy heritage and can become strong advocates for the future”.
Jo Morrison,
Layered Realities, Night Walk for Edinburgh, Brutalist Tapestry, Symbiosia… all recent intriguing projects that involve the artistic exploration of our public spaces through the use of digital technologies and searching storytelling. Whether developing data-driven systems, utilising image and audio AR or pushing the boundaries of 5G infrastructure, arts, culture and technology are inseparable.
This article highlights a range of ways in which artists are employing technologies to foster a sense of place in beautiful, playful and engaging ways.
Jo Morrison,
Last week there was an outcry when it was revealed that a facial recognition system was in operation in the public spaces of Kings Cross, London. The developers behind the deployment, Argent, were clearly out of step with pretty much everyone else – including the Mayor of London, Saddiq Khan,…