Methods Lab 2009-2010
10-11 November 2009, Royal College of Art
Team 3
Locality, mobility and energy vouchers for 'MSers'
The team worked with Gus, who has MS, and was diagnosed a few years ago in his late 20s. He lives as independently as possible. The team started with looking at the ten steps of sustainable lifestyle introduced by 10:10 campaign.
Gus stated that if a task was difficult to do in the early stages he lost motivation to finish the task. He introduced his idea of Energy Vouchers, and how the limit needs to vary each day. The team discusse mobility electric scooters. Gus thinks that they are not aimed at people of his age because of their style and usage. He said that he wouldn't use one because of these reasons.
Based on discussions with Gus, the team was divided into three and discussed:
- Energy Vouchers - how could Gus's concept be translated into a strategy for everybody? They conducted desk research into the issues of mobility and the idea of Energy Vouchers, but then got involved in trying to define how to calculate a carbon footprint. They developed a scheme of how to encourage children to become involved where they can earn vouchers for activities such as gardening, walking to school etc.
- Locality - can sustainability in the community be enabled and an example be made of localising a global problem? This group went to Kensington to speak to people about local services and sustainability.
- Mobility - to address the stigma attached to an electric scooter - could it become an individual mode of transport for anybody? The third group went into the park to hire a scooter and conduct some research. What they discovered was that people were more willing to be approached when the team were using the scooters. They found it was a good way to engage people and ask their opinions. A new form of personal transportation device was proposed for travelling short distances.
