research
Precarious HOUSING AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS; wellness of street-involved adults; INNOVATIONS IN research methodOLOGIES AND DESIGN ANTHROPOLOGY.
PRECARIOUS HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
homelessness in edmonton
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward , for the City of Edmonton, we sought to understand “wellness” for street involved adults. What does helpful help look like? What can social services learn from people forging their own path through homelessness?
Action: We reframe challenges and generate ‘what could be’, from small tweaks (separate spaces for introverts) to larger changes (different living areas like legal camping or themed housing). The City of Edmonton is using our research in their urban wellness initiative. Get in touch to read our report.
Homelessness in Toronto
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward we set out to understand how Toronto’s street involved adults experience social services. What does a good life mean to them, what are their means for achieving it, and how do they experience support or lack of support from social services along the way?
Action: We co-designed and prototyped a few different supports including UforU - weekly learning sessions with community members passionate about their field, and Curious Conversations - a tool staff can use to engage clients in more aspirational conversations.
rooming houses in toronto’s east end
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward for the Health Commons Solution Lab we spent time in Toronto’s rooming houses. Many residents have little in common with their housemates as residency is on a first come first serve basis. Our research asked: what informs residents’ sense of belonging, agency and aspirations for the future?
Action: We generated 11 ideas across 6 different themes to spark dialogue and debate. What if supports intervened at the level of the neighbourhood or household, not just the individual? What if we build more bridges “in and out” of rooming houses to help people imagine and realise a different future. Get in touch to read our report.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
Indigenous Adults’ experience of ontario’s Criminal Justice system
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward for the Federal Department of Justice, we sought to understand Indigenous adults' experience of Ontario's criminal justice system. Do they experience the court system as just, fair and equitable?
Action: In our analysis we segmented participants into groups of experiences, desires, needs and characteristics to design bespoke solutions. We developed ideas for new interventions, programs, roles and platforms. What if we could restore beauty to the justice journey? Get in touch to read our report.
SOCIAL ISOLATION
older adults in toronto social housing
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward, for the Health Commons Solutions Lab, we spent time getting to know older adults in a Toronto social housing complex. We wanted to understand what informs their sense of belonging, neighbourliness, and vision of the future?
Action: We came up a set of ideas for new kinds of interventions, programs, roles and platforms for staff and residents of the housing complex. What if there were new opportunities for residents to take on roles enabling them to learn and grow? What if there were milestones to life and residents could celebrate accomplishments? Get in touch to read our report.
Isolated seniors in Vancouver
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward for Allies in Aging in Vancouver we sought to understand older adults’ sense of connection, purpose, loss, loneliness. What are their stressors? What do they value? What are their continued aspirations for their future?
Action: We developed a proposal for new programs. What if there were programs that didn’t stigmatise older adults as “seniors” and silo them. What if children were better up-skilled to engage their older family members in different ways? Get in touch to read our report.
NEWCOMER SETTLEMENT
Filipino newcomer settlement in toronto
Research Brief: Working with social service design shop InWithForward in partnership with North York Community House we sought to understand the experiences of Filipino youth recently arrived to reunite with their working mothers. What do they see as opportunities and desires for their future and how does this differ generationally?
Action: We generated ideas for new platforms, programs, services and roles to help youth and their families reunite, settle, and build the kind of life they aspire to, together. What if there were relationship coaches to help children and mothers understand each others drives, desires, tensions and fears? What if mothers could take a paid week off work to reunite with their children upon their arrival? Get in touch to read our report.
URBAN LIVING
youth place making and belonging in new urban centres
Research Brief: This research asked: What is life like for one of Vanuatu's first generations of urbanites - those born and raised in the capital city? Many have not had the opportunity to complete primary schooling and struggle to find employment. As such, they are unable to transition from the category of youth into the category of adult.
Action: The Vanuatu Government's Department of Sport and Youth have used research findings from this project in developing skills training and entrepreneurship programs for at risk youth.
WORKER’S RIGHTS
paid domestic labour in port vila, vanuatu
Research Brief: This research asked: How do paid domestic workers make sense of the conditions of work in private homes? The boundaries between the paid domestic worker and the employer are continually changing, extremely personal, and are founded less on work achievements than on class, race and gender assumptions. How do they understand their working worlds?
Action: The Vanuatu Government’s Department of Women's Affairs used this research to draft the first Labour Act for Vanuatu domestic workers.