Trends Affecting Healthcare
The Transformation of Healthcare
End-to-End Experiences
The Value of Placemaking in Healthcare
CHANGING CONNECTIONS
How the Built Environment Can Impact Human Behavior.
The Value of Placemaking in Healthcare.
Placemaking?
As the name implies, placemaking is literally about how we make places in the broadest sense—the human interactions and connections that are fostered, the activities that occur, the feeling that's evoked, the symbolism that outwardly reflects a set of values or aspirations.
Drive economic development
What does Placemaking strive to do at its core?
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Foster a sense of belonging
Understand and respond to the needs of the community members
Emphasize the human scale
Reflect the unique assets of each particular community
Create meaningful, memorable spaces that draw people in
Build social capital through community partnerships and networks of individual connections
STRATEGIES FOR APPLYING PLACEMAKING IN HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE
How might we think differently about placemaking principles in order to make the greatest impact?
Don't go it alone.
Think beyond silos and acknowledge the overlaps—and combined power—among civic, retail, health and wellness organizations to achieve bigger goals and more impactful outcomes.
Make the invisible, visible.
Patients share the most intimate details of their lives; if health systems and civic organizations also shared what makes them tick, then trust, shared values and openness are engendered.
Capitalize on moments.
Focus on building opportunities for social interactions and collaboration in order to enable greater support.
Constantly evolve.
The physical, cultural and social identities within communities are now vast and varied, and should be reflected in a changing, flexible environment.
Design for creative collisions.
Placemaking is successful only when it's genuine to the community and addresses the social determinants of health.
Understand the context and culture of the community.
Montreal Seesaws
This innovative, interactive and playful public space installation is made up of 30 seesaws at Place des Festivals in Montreal. The seesaws —which vary in size and are fitted with LED lights and speakers—produce musical and light patterns depending on the speed and angle of each board. Speakers—produce musical and light patterns depending on the speed and angle of each board.
Serendipidity
Happens Here
Improving health and wellness is a multi-layered and complex problem in need of creative solutions.
My 16th Street
Mall in downtown Denver. The prototyped concepts explore ways to create a greater sense of place and community ownership in shared public spaces.
The Denver Prototyping Festival invites local designers, artists and makers from all walks of life to submit proposals for engaging, interactive outdoor art along the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. The prototyped concepts explore ways to create a greater sense of place and community ownership in shared public spaces.
Piano Stairs
them into an oversized piano keyboard. Stepping on each stair tread creates a musical note, making the journey up and down fun and beneficial to health at the same time.
To encourage people to take the stairs more often, Volkswagen applied what it calls "fun theory" to the stairs leading out of the Odenplan subway in Stockholm, Sweden, transforming them into an oversized piano keyboard. Stepping on each stair tread creates a musical note, making the journey up and down fun and beneficial to health at the same time.
Belgium's Living Street Project
For the past few years, residents and city officials of Ghent, Belgium have been invited to participate in a unique collaborative urban design experiment: to imagine how they might use streets if there were no cars or fast traffic, and then to see those dreams brought to life, at least for a short time.
A coalition of non-profit, city and civic organizations recently converted an abandoned railway on Chicago's northwest side to a 2.7-mile trail for bikers, runners, walkers and families to enjoy. With unparalleled views of the city, and fast, easy access to downtown, The Bloomingdale Trail, the centerpiece of the larger 606 trails and parks system, brings much needed open space to several urban residential neighborhoods.
Zombies, Run! and The Walk Apps
Zombies, Run!, a wildly popular smartphone fitness game (boasting over 1 million players), sends participants (survivors of a zombie apocalypse) on exciting fictional "missions" to reach the remaining human outposts. Along the way, players gather supplies, rescue other survivors and, most importantly, outrun the fast-approaching zombies.
VegFest
VegFest, held in cities from coast-to-coast and around the world, aims to celebrate the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based life style through vegan food offerings, educational speakers and entertainment. A wide variety of vegan cookbooks and clothing items are also available for purchase at the events.
Musical Swings
a number of melodies are created when the swings move in unison. The installation encourages people to work together to discover new possibilities.
An installation of 21 musical swings beckons visitors to play at Le Quartier des Spectacles in Montreal. When in motion, a different musical note emanates from each swing and a number of melodies are created when the swings move in unison. The installation encourages people to work together to discover new possibilities.
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Health Design at HDR
We've worked on hundreds of healthcare facilities in rural, suburban and urban settings. Our portfolio includes outpatient clinics, small community hospitals, large public safety net facilities, academic medical centers and, most recently, community designs with health and wellness values at their cores.