Summary of the impact

Praised in the International Design for All Foundation Awards 2013 as "rigorous, empathic and very thoughtful", Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I'DGO) has changed both policy and practice relating to the design of outdoor environments. Focusing on meeting the needs of older people and disabled people, the consortium's practical guidance has been utilised locally, nationally and internationally by bodies ranging from the UK Department for Transport to the World Health Organization. Through media such as the British Science Festival and the BBC, the researchers have promoted the need for age-friendly design to the public, including older stakeholders. Their findings have impacted upon industry in a cross-cutting way, underpinning the training of professionals, from occupational therapists to urban designers and have changed people's lives for the better, supporting older people and disabled people to go out more through developing user led approaches to shaping outdoor environments.

Underpinning research

The key researchers and positions they held at the institution at the time of the research are as follows: Professor Marcus Ormerod (from 2003), Rita Newton (from 2003), SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre, School of the Built Environment. The impact of Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I'DGO) is underpinned by the following research:

• Context: The I'DGO Research Consortium has a continuing overall aim to identify the most effective ways of ensuring that the outdoor environment is designed inclusively and with sensitivity to the needs of disabled people and older people, and those who support them, to improve their quality of life. The aim of I'DGO's research is to influence built environment policy and practice to enable older people to live independently for longer, by remaining physically and socially active. The research collaborators have ensured that the outputs are useful and useable for the range of people and groups for whom this work is important. Guidance has been published in a range of formats and media, including attractive and accessible printed booklets as well as web-based publications targeted to suit the needs of different expert, academic, professional and lay audiences.
• 2003: I'DGO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors: Funded under the fourth round of the EPSRC's Extending Quality of Life initiative (EQUAL), Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors (I'DGO) was established to explore if, and in what way, the ability to get out in one's local neighbourhood impacts on older people's health, wellbeing and quality of life and to identify the barriers to achieving this day-to-day. The University of Salford's SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre led the detailed street design element of the study, which surveyed 200 older people's experiences of pedestrian access to their local neighbourhood and their preferences for how it should function, and audited 200 residential neighbourhoods to look for barriers and benefits to getting around as a pedestrian. The research found that where older people lived in an environment that made it easy and enjoyable for them to go outdoors, they were more likely to be physically active, twice as likely to achieve the recommended levels of healthy walking and demonstrated greater satisfaction with life. Guidance arising from the evidence, The Design of Streets with Older People in Mind, was published by the SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre at the University of Salford in 2008.
• 2006: I'DGO TOO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors 2): Funded under the fifth round of EQUAL, I'DGO TOO examined the age-friendliness of the latest policy and 'best practice' in the planning and design of outdoor spaces. In particular, the Salford team looked at tactile paving and road crossings, undertaking both 'real world' and laboratory-based research into their impact on older pedestrians. The research found that inconsistency of application can make older people uncertain about enabling features and that providers' adherence to guidelines might improve this outcome, as might public awareness raising as to what should be used where. Evidence from the study underpins the SURFACE guidance on tactile paving, launched at the British Science Festival in September 2012.

References to the research

Key outputs

Key grants

6. 2003: Inclusive Design for getting outdoors (IDGO) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (GR/S29102/01), £149,571.00. Investigators: M Ormerod (50%), R Newton (50%).

7. 2006: Inclusive design for getting outdoors — Phase 2 (I'DGO TOO) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/D079861/1), £482,841.00. Principal Investigator: M Ormerod (25%). Co-Investigators: L Kenney (25%), C Nester (15%), D Howard (10%), R Newton (25%).

Details of the impact

After nine years and two phases of research, the I'DGO consortium presented its findings in April 2012 in Europe House, London, in celebration of the European Year for Active Ageing. Chaired by Baroness Greengross, who praised the "phenomenally exciting research on how we can bloom as people from we are very young to very old", the event included an online Q&A. During the debate, one Twitter follower commented "At last! Finally pedestrians! Somebody has noticed us and those who are trapped by unfriendly environments!" SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre at the University of Salford has made a particular contribution to the I'DGO evidence base on the everyday pedestrian experience of urban streets and to the subsequent impact of this research on environmental `walkability'.

• In its guidance on Lifetime Neighbourhoods (2011), the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) describes `walkability' as lying at "the heart of lifetime neighbourhoods... with crucial implications for individual access to services and facilities, sociability, health and well-being". Referring to I'DGO as a "very significant source of research and guidance", the publication pays particular attention, in the section on Creating Walkable Environments, to the SURFACE-led work on different features of the street environment.
• The guidance it cites in this section is, together with I'DGO guidance on open space, one of only two such sources referenced in the World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities: A Guide (2007). This has also been used by the Department for Transport (DfT), including extensively in Local Transport Note: Shared Space (LTN1/11), leading to an on-going collaboration between SURFACE and the DfT to embed evidence into national guidance, as confirmed by Gereint Killa of the Traffic Division in a recent letter (Nov 2012): "We hope that I'DGO will be contributing to the development of planned revisions to two key pieces of Departmental street design guidance, namely guidance on the use of tactile paving surfaces, and Inclusive Mobility — a guide to best practice on access to pedestrian and transport infrastructure."
• I'DGO is promoted in the Age UK publication, Pride of Place (2011), which sets out how councillors can improve neighbourhoods for older people. Other impact in the local government sector ranges from Ormerod participating in an invited Local Government Association / UK Research Councils workshop in October 2010, to train planning officers in Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils (as part of a joint Planning Skills Programme) and contributing to Manchester City Council's action plan on Age-inclusive Design and the Built Environment (taken forward by its Valuing Older People team).
• In August 2011, SURFACE was invited to present its work on street features to a meeting of the pan-European SaMERU (Safer Mobility for Elderly Road Users) programme, led by Southend on Sea Borough Council and also involving Lancashire County Council and the local councils of Modena (Italy) and Burgos (Spain). Southend on Sea Borough Council Team Leader, Cheryl Hindle, said: "I hope you will be pleased to hear that we have arranged to implement one aspect of your results already — you mentioned that walking times on signage were seen to be a real advantage, we are investing in new directional signage in our town centre and seafront so we have arranged for all the signs and information boards giving walking time to each destination".
• The linkages with SaMERU were made at Traffex 2011, an annual international showcase for the highways engineering industry at which SURFACE researcher, Newton, presented I'DGO as part of a programme of free CPD-certified seminars. Similar training has been provided for a range of industry stakeholders, from architects (Ecobuild 2013, London) to occupational therapists (AOTI Conference 2010, Dublin). In 2010, at the invitation of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT), I'DGO provided inclusive design awareness training to over 500 professionals in six British cities as part of the national and regional roll-out of Manual for Streets 2: Wider Application of the Principles. The CIHT has since approached I'DGO to review its guide to the design and management of urban road networks, Transport in the Urban Environment.
• I'DGO has worked collaboratively with older people, providing them with the evidence to create their own impact. SURFACE has particularly close connections with the Kilburn Older Voices Exchange (KOVE) in London, which describes the research as having "greatly benefited KOVE's community projects; it has helped develop our knowledge and how we campaign and practice at a community level". Events for older delegates have been co-hosted with Age Scotland, as part of the latter's Walk in our Shoes; Act on our Issues campaign, and Living Streets, including at the World Congress on Active Ageing (Glasgow, 2012). SURFACE participation in the British Science Festival 2011 led to interviews with Newton on BBC Radio Manchester and Scotland and to a 10 minute, walkalong, three-way interview with Science Correspondent, Matt McGrath, focusing on the real world challenges encountered by older Bradford resident, Mavis Crosley, for an audio feature on the main BBC website.
• On the strength of its overall impact, I'DGO is featured as a case study in Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Ageing, published by the British Society of Gerontology, the Academy of Social Sciences and AgeUK and launched by Baroness Greengross in Westminster in July 2010. Seven elected members of parliament have publically supported I'DGO's work, including Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid Cymru) who has said: "With its emphasis on practical solutions and easy `wins' in the local environment, I'DGO makes clear the links between making our neighbourhoods easier to get around and increasing older people's chances of ageing well". I'DGO was a runner up in the not-for-profit category of the International Design for all Foundation Awards 2013. SURFACE has been proactive in achieving a number of international impacts from the research, including advising the Japanese Government on its FutureCity initiative and the Chinese Housing Ministry on current trends and innovations in UK research into accessibility.
• I'DGO was a finalist in the Design for All Foundation Awards 2013.

Sources to corroborate the impact

Stakeholder corroboration

1. A factual statement from a Senior Street Design Engineer at the Department for Transport (DfT) has been included to corroborate engagement with, and impact on, DfT.
2. A factual statement from a Team Leader in the Parking, Traffic Management and Road Safety Team at Southend-on-Sea Borough Council has been included to corroborate engagement with, and impact on, the Council and on the wider SaMERU project team.
3. A factual statement from the Chairman of the Events Sub-Committee for the CIHT North Western Branch has been included to corroborate the value of the inclusive design awareness training at the roll out of Manual for Streets 2.
4. A factual statement from the Co-ordinator of the Kilburn Older Voices Exchange (KOVE) Co-ordinator has been included to corroborate engagement with, and impact on, KOVE and its campaigns.
5. A factual statement from a Risk Assurance Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, tasked by the Cabinet Office of Japan to develop its FutureCity initiative, has been included to corroborate engagement with, and impact on, the Japanese government.

Published corroboration

6. Lifetime Neighbourhoods (ISBN: 978-1-4098-2973-7), DCLG, 2011. Pages 48-50, 54, 68.
7. Local Transport Note 1/11 (ISBN: ISBN 9780115532092) DfT, 2011. Pages 47, 52.
8. Pride of Place, Age UK, 2011. Page 12.
9. Guidance on the Transport Advice Portal, a joint venture involving the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT).
10. Rita Netwon's audio walkalong interview with Matt McGrath and Mavis Crosley, Street clutter enhances problems for elderly, can be accessed on the Health pages of the BBC website.
11. Making the Case for the Social Sciences: Ageing, AoSS, Age UK, BSG, 2010. Pages 22-23.