ForgetMeNot

“Forget-me-not” – walking routes for people affected by dementia Thesis Project 2016 Emmy Linde - 92 24 83 MA-program in Co-Design emlin@edu.kadk.dk

The Royal D Schools of A

When Alzheimer’s entered my family

My first meeting with dementia was one afternoon back in 2007, when I visited Kajsa, my grandfather’s sister, in her apartment in Stockholm. She served me coffee and asked if I wanted milk with it. When pouring me milk we both realised the milk was way too old. It was the first time that had ever happened to Kajsa when I was around. She worked her whole life in some of the finest restaurants in Stockholm. Food was her life and the milk had never been too old. But things where changing. Life was changing. Kajsa got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2008. And lived with her diagnose until she passed away in 2011. When she moved into a nursing home in 2009 I got a lot of her furniture. Now every time I see my lamp, drawer or dining table I think about her and the life she lived in the busy restaurants of Stockholm. And I am being reminded of the many challenges living with dementia brings about.

In this thesis project I want to explore more of the challenges in the everyday living with dementia. And see if I can gain more knowledge, understanding and possible solutions through Co-Design.

My grandfather’s sister Kajsa

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Table of Content Table of Content p. 5 Background and Motivation p. 6 Dementia p. 9 Demensalliancen and “Demensvenlige Byer” p. 10 Næstved Municipality p. 12 “ForgetMeNot”-walking routes p. 12 Existing activities in Næstved p 14 Physical exercise p. 16 Gardens for recreation and healing p. 16 Dementia and Wayfinding p. 17 Inspiration p. 20 Design Challenge p. 22 Approach p. 25 Documentation p. 28 Timeplan p. 29 Stakeholders p. 30 Outcome p. 32 Learning Goals p. 33 List of Literature p. 34 One of the entrances to “Symfonien”, a nursing home in Næstved

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Background and Motivation

My first Co-Design project was a project during my second year at the Danish Design School (now the Royal Danish Academy of fine Arts, School of Design). It was a project where we collaborated with a big medical company and the Alzheimer Association in Denmark. We were to investigate how the everyday life living with dementia was.

And our stakeholders through the project were people living with Alzheimer’s, their relatives and caretakers. The focus of my group was the difficulties in communicating and we looked at the way pictures could trigger memory and storytelling. When framing the conversation within the context of a game, the interaction between relatives and the person with Alzheimer’s turned into a conversation where no subject was right or wrong. (Binder et al. 2011) This first codesign project has been defining for my work and identity as a designer. Since then many of my projects have been concerned about wanting to make a difference for someone affected by illness. For example my bachelors degree project focused on Hospital Architecture. (Linde, Emmy, 2012) I both wrote a theoretical report and carried out my BA-project at the Children’s Hospital in Lund in 2012. The project at the Children’s Hospital concerned involving hospitalized kids in changing the interior of the main entrance and the atrium of the Hospital. This was done through iterations of workshops, events and by following the everyday at the play therapy department in the hospital. It is well known that our surroundings affect us, but still there are very few environments that are actually designed together with the people using them.

As part of my MA in codesign I returned to work with the everyday life of people living with Alzheimer’s disease. This time, during six weeks in the autumn 2015, the focus was on making video portraits of everyday life affected by the disease. Our group ended up with three videos, two of them focusing on two couples that we met through the dementia coordinator in Hillerød Municipality. They were two very different couples and showed examples of how different life with Alzheimer’s disease can be. The resulting videos 6

can be found on https://vimeo.com/142066837 and https://vimeo. com/142066720. The third video focused on ‘body dialogues’ and was about how music and dance help us remember when the mind forgets. This video can be found on (https://vimeo.com/141874093).

When I first got introduced to Co-Design in the Alzheimer project, six years ago, I felt like finally finding a way of thinking about design that made sense to me. Working closely together with both other professionals and with the user, together finding out where to take the project is incredible inspiring and fruitful. I have learnt to see and develop my own strengths and find other people to help me with the parts I am weaker in. And by constantly working with what the MA program calls ‘real partners and real issues’, I feel that the things I do as a designer actually make a difference and that I can reach far further than just my desk at school.

In my thesis project I want to explore further into the everyday life of people living with dementia and look at how the design of outdoor areas and walking routes in particularly can be made safe and interesting for people with dementia.

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Dementia

Dementia is Latin meaning “out of ones mind”. It is a disease that is gradually weakening your mental abilities and the outcome is fatal.

There are more than 200 different kinds of dementia diseases, the most common being Alzheimer’s disease. (http://www.videnscenterfordemens.dk) There are various symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, challenges planning or solving problems, confusion with time or place, trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships, changes in personality and mood and problems remembering words, both in text or in talking. (http://www.alz.org) According to the Alzheimer Association in Denmark approximately 8000 new people get diagnosed with dementia every year. In total there are between 70.000 and 85.000 people with dementia in Denmark today. It is a growing disease and it is estimated that at present more than 400 000 people are affected by dementia in their family. (www.alzheimer.dk) Even though dementia is one of our most common diseases there is a lot of shame and taboo in relation to being diagnosed and living with the disease. Since the amount of people diagnosed with dementia is increasing there has gradually been a bigger focus in Denmark on how to make the society able to treat and care for the many people diagnosed with dementia. Since many of the people living in nursing homes in Denmark today are diagnosed with dementia the facilities need to be remade or at least thought trough. And the aim of this thesis project contributes to this.

Woman participating in the research project “Six views in a box” (2011)

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Demensalliancen and “Demensvenlige Byer”

Demensalliancen is a collaboration between Ældre Sagen (DaneAge Association), FOA (trade union), PenSam (Pension Association), Alzheimerforeningen (the Danish Alzheimer Association), Dansk Sygeplejeråd (the Danish Nurses’ Organization) and Ergoterapeutforeningen (Danish Association of Occupational Therapists, Ergoterapeutforeningen) in Denmark established in 2014. (www. demensalliancen.dk).

Overall it has three visions and goals for their work. First of all, no one should be alone with dementia in Denmark. Secondly there should be invested in a good and worthy life for people diagnosed with dementia and their relatives and thirdly that Denmark should be a country to look up to in terms of care for people living with dementia and their relatives.

The three visions have then been turned into different goals, where one is to create “Demensvenlige Byer” (dementia friendly cities). This means for example that the city should be not just good in health care but also have a system for keeping the caretakers knowledge on a high level. The dementia friendly city should also include better ways of helping relatives to people affected by dementia. And the city and the living arrangements in public and urban space should be designed in a way that people living with dementia can use it and feel safe doing so (“Aldrig alene med demens.” 2015) In order to start working towards these goals, Demensalliancen invited 6 municipalities to work with them towards being more dementia friendly, one of them being Næstved Municipality, which is the municipality that I will collaborate with.

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Næstved Municipality

When looking at the statistics for Næstved Municipality there are 81.687 citizens in 2016. (www.naestved.dk) The statistics about the amount of citizens living with dementia is slightly older states that 1252 were diagnosed back in 2011. Since then the number have increased and is still increasing. (www.alzheimer.dk) In the plan for creating a dementia friendly city, Næstved Municipality want to make people living with dementia a bigger part of the society. In relation to urban space an important goal is to create safer ways for people with dementia to move around in the city as this will assist them in staying active themselves, but also meeting people from the local area. The way the municipality wants to obtain this is by creating various walking routes that should be both safe and interesting for people living with dementia to use, by themselves or together with relatives. (Demensvenlig aktionsplan, 2015)

intension is to create different walking routes around Næstved. They both want them to be for people with early onset dementia and for people in later stages of dementia. This would be a great challenge to solve however I am not sure if it is possible. Thus part of this project concerns investigating further into this.

My project will be carried out in collaboration with Symfonien, a nursinghome in the nothern areas of Næstved. Symfonien is located in a quite new area of the city, under construction and at the moment there are alot of open fields surrounding the nursinghome.

“ForgetMeNot” - Walking Routes

Næstved Municipality has been inspired by, the so-called, Margurite (Daisy) Route, which is 3000 km of roads in Denmark bringing people to pass by some of the most beautiful scenery and places in the countryside. Daisy flower signs mark the roads, in the Margurite Route. Likewise the municipality has named the concept of walking routes for people living with dementia the ‘forglem-mig-ej’ walking routes (forget-me-not walking routes) inspired by the flower with the same name. Originally the flower got its name since the person wearing the flower was not to be forgotten by their loved ones. When getting dementia there are many worries in line with this meaning.

The relatives worry that their loved one will not remember them and the person with dementia worries they will be forgotten as the ones they were before the disease.

At my first meeting with Inge Selch (senior administrator) and Karen Heilmann Lennert (consultant) at Næstved Municipality, I got more detailed information on their thoughts and plans for the project. The 12

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Existing activities in Næstved

In Næstved Municipality they already have a lot of activities for people diagnosed with dementia and their relatives. They have activities both for the people still living at home and for the ones who already moved to a nursing home. They have various activities on a weekly basis focused on walking together. Sometimes they walk in the surrounding area and other times they all go by bus to a nearby lake or forest. Caretakers provide all the walking tours and everyone can participate. Even though it is nice to go for walks in a smaller group, both for the social and for someone looking after you, the caretakers have raised the issue that they don’t have enough time to do this often. Therefor the ideas of the “Forget-Me-Not” walking route have been raised.

Walking alone and being able to feel like you can manage it, is a feeling that the “Forget-Me-Not” Walking route, if working, could have the possibility to provide. If there where a walking route that they could walk by themselves it would be easier for the residents to take a walk themselves, even if the caretakers are busy.

Another aspect that is important to mention is the activity walking provides. When visiting someone at a nursing home you are most likely to end up sitting down with a cup of coffee. And when memory and language is decreasing this is not always the best way of spending time together. When going for a walk we are being together in a totally different way. When walking together silence isn’t a problem as opposed to sitting infront of eachother and we experience something together and can talk about the things we see in our surroundings.

The benefits of being outside, getting fresh air and physical activity is also an important aspects of the walking routes.

The “hill” to the left prevent residents from entering the road on the other side

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Physical exercise

It is well known that physical activity is important for all people.

However one of the symptoms of dementia is also lack of initiative, interest and motivation. (Marquardt (2011)) This can make the person inactive for days if no one helps them to get up and out. The problem in this is that one of the known things that can help on many of the symptoms and keep the patient healthier is physical activity. Since we are not able to cure dementia at this time, everything that can be done to reduce symptoms is a way of increasing quality of life for the person living with dementia. During a project at Videnscenter for Demens they have gathered people in small groups for workout sessions and both the social part as well as the physical workout have been helpful for treating the typical psychological symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, restlessness and changes in the daily rhythm. (www.videnscenterfordemens.dk) The intention for creating this “Forget-Me-Not” walking route is to create something that hopefully can motivate the people affected by dementia to use it and hereby be more active. Another intention with creating a walking route in the public space is that people using the route will meet other people and hopefully interact, one way or the other.

Gardens for recreation and healing

Already when treating people at the first “hospitals” in the monasteries the surroundings, such as landscape, air and sound were considered very important. It was acknowledged that spending time in the open landscape with fresh air and water helped the patients get well sooner. This aspect of being outdoors have since the discovery of the virus and bacteria during the 19th century been neglected. (Verderber (2010)). All focus was put into the medical aspects of treatments, building and creating hospitals for the equipment needed, but not with any focus on the effects of the surroundings.

With new evidence based research this aspect have been brought into light again. When planning for a new hospital today, not only the 16

medical part is taken into consideration but also the “healing” aspect of the surroundings. One of the things proven to be of value for the patients are “healing gardens” that many hospitals today have; for patients and relatives to recreate and relax in (Hartig et al. 2006).

Many nursing homes around the world are also creating “healing gardens” for their patients. Especially patients with dementia are argued to gain a lot from spending time in them. Spending time in nature has a calming effect and can bring back memories for the patients.

Often the “normal” outdoor areas can be too confusing for a person with dementia and they might not feel safe going out, not knowing if they can find their way home again. But when the garden is especially created for their abilities it can provide a safe place for them to walk around by themselves and to remember with their senses (Hartig et al. 2006). Often smell and sounds have a deeper impact on us, than other senses. And when other senses are weakened it is important to adress other senses than what we see.

Dementia and wayfinding

When creating a garden or a walking route for people with dementia it is important to create a place or a path that is easy to “read”. The ability of finding one’s way is something we often take for granted and when this ability is decreasing, for example due to dementia, the ability to read and understand your surroundings is weakened.

(Marquardt (2011)) The spatial disorientation among people living with dementia is one of the main reasons for institutionalization and when planning and building nursing homes there is a lot to gain from designing it to help the orientation among the residents. People living with dementia have also got less capacity to regulate factors of their environment, so there is an importance of a design that meets their specific needs. (Marquardt (2011)) The architecture can play an important role in this. By using the architecture to create environments that are easy to navigate in. (Mar17

quardt et al (2009)) The use of location points to navigate from, for example a kitchen, or an easy read long wall to follow to the common area. Many of the things that we think is helpful such as decorating with homely furniture have actually been proven not to make a big difference. The usage of signs and pictograms has also been tried out and sometimes with great success. For example using personal pictures and notes on your door helped the residents to find their way home. (Marquardt (2011)) Those are all examples of how to make the indoor environment easy and safe for people living with dementia, but during this project I want to explore if those aspects somehow can be translated into a concept for the outdoor area. There is some research done on the aspect of outdoor environments for people living with dementia, for example “Outdoor Environments for People with Dementia” by Susan Rodied and Benyamin Schwarz. It is about ways to create gardens and outdoor areas safe and interesting for people with dementia and also of the therapeutic value of them. But not much is written on ways of creating safe walking routes. And SBi (Statens Byggeforsknings Institut) have also provided a guide for how to make inclusive outdoor environments for people living with dementia (SBi (2015)).

Main entrance - “Symfonien”

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Inspiration

As a part of my research I want to investigate how existing gardens for rehabilitation and healing are designed and how they work. The following three are just a few of the ones I find inspiring and want to visit.

In Hørsholm, outside of Copenhagen, “Octovia Helseskov” (Health Forest) was created in 2014. When designing this part of the forest, the area was divided into different “rooms” to evoke different experiences. All experiences based on peoples wishes for a good and recreational experience in the nature. “Octovia Helseskov” is meant to be a place for research, developing and demonstrating the importance of the nature as an aspect of recreation and “healing”. This forest is not specifically for people with dementia, but by looking at the different aspects of a good nature experience it can hopefully help in creating the same for people with dementia. (Octovia Helseskoven Konceptmodel)

Octovia Helseskov

Søndersøhave is a nursing home in Gentofte, providing care for people living with dementia. This nursing home has their own “sansehave” (garden for the senses/healing garden).

The garden was created in 2008 and have two different zones. One is a walking part and the other is for resting, providing the possibility in choosing the preferred area to be in for the residents. (Jørgensen, Marie Leer, 2011)

Photo: gentofte.dk

Søndersøhave

Alnarp Rehab Garden

Photo: Leif Tuxen

Photo: Jenny Svennås-Gillner

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At SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) outside of Malmö, they have a rehabgarden that is also a teaching garden where ways of working with a therapeutically (rehab) garden are practiced and tested among the different students at the school. (http://www.slu.se) This garden is what they call a Living Lab, a research facility that is lived out in the everyday work of the school. They work both with environmental psychology, landscape architecture, physiotherapy and ergo therapy.

Design Challenge

Symfonien is a relatively new nursinghome with modern architecture and small gardens. The small gardens are surrounded by tall fencing, which due to Sonja is because the designers at the time meant that this was the only way to keep the residents safe. It is a very effective way to keep track of the residents, if someone goes outside you know they will not be able to leave the area. But it is not in line with the wish I hear from Inge, Karen and Sonja. Namely the fact that they want their residents to feel free and be able to walk by themselves.

So what is a walking route? Is it only the contructed and wellplanned roads that someone decided is a great walk? Or is it as much a walking route when you can see that people created their own path right across a field, to use the closes way possible to the busstop? One can see walking as mainly the activity we participate in when transporting ourselves from A to B but walking is also an activity that show others and ourselves that we have time. If not in a hurry, we walk.

If enjoying a sunday in the sun, we walk. Walking is an activity that takes time. And when asking a friend to go for a walk with you this is what you actually ask for - time together.

What is then a good walking route or a nice walk? What does it contain? Is it for instance that there are benches that invite you to sit down and provide you with a nice view of a lake? Or is it the that you walk together with someone or enjoying some time alone? A nice walk is probably different to all of us. Pehaps even depending on the situation (eg. where it takes place, if we are alone, who we are together with) I might prefer a walk in a forest, since I was raised close by one and someone else might find the forest scary, since growing up in a more open landscape.

If wanting to create outdoor environment or walking routes without fences, how can one make them safe? The idea of using digital technology have been raised, using e.g. GPS or apps to help users to find their way. Since I am a spatial designer I will not look further into technology as such, but focus more on how our physical sur22

Tall fencing around outdoor area

roundings can provide a safe and inspiring space for people living with dementia to use and enjoy. I also want to look further into how this physical environment can adress our different senses. Since we remember with our whole body this can be a way of creating safety and motivate people to use the space.

Sonja also told me about the fact that nursing homes often are placed in beautiful locations, close to water and fields, to give the residents a beautiful view from the house. But in reality the residents would rather like to be a part of the busy everyday life, being able to e.g. see kids playing or someone walking their dog. Therefor there is also a wish from Sonja to design this walking route so that you will pass the everyday life activities and be able to meet the other citizens in the neighbourhood.

What are the challenges and potentials in designing a walking route for people with dementia?

How can one use design in order to help people with dementia find their way? And to create a safe walking route for people with dementia to use?

What should the walking route contain to be both inspiring and motivating for people with dementia to use?

How can one involve people with dementia, relatives and professional caretakers in codesigning a walking route?

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Approach

In “Rehearsing the Future� a design-anthropological innovation model for co-designing is presented. Overall there are three strategies; exploratory inquiry, sustained participation and generative prototyping. (Halse et al. 2010) Exploratory inquiry meaning a codesign project is research without a hypothesis to be tested. Entering the project with a concern in understanding the purpose and intent of the project. All the way through the project the exploration is done together with the participants. Which takes us to the second strategy; sustained participation. In a co-design project it is important to establish and sustain participation all through the project. And to keep your stakeholders motivated and engaged in the dialogue about the project. The third strategy is generative prototyping. Prototyping is an active part of any design project, but in a co-design project the prototyping is less about evaluating and more generative and participatory. Thus prototyping in codesigning are for exploring and generating more ideas, more than testing and evaluating if the prototype is working.

Throughout the project I will be working with an exploratory focus.

I want to explore what and how walking is for the participants and raise questions and ideas on how one could develope a walking route for and together with them. What are the challenges in walking, concerning safety and motivation and how can one adresse them?

This project is initiated by NĂŚstved Municipality and will be carried out in collaboration with them. Especially I will collaborate with the nursing home Symfonien. Thus the aim is keeping a sustained participation with selected staff, residents with dementia and their relatives. It might not be the same people who participate in all events, due to e.g. the condition of the person on that specific day, but since the project is concerning the surrounding of Symfonien I see it as a sustained participation if the participants are living or using the buildings and not if they have been to every event or workshop. My plan is also to collaborate with people affected by dementia, but still living at home, in the neighbourhood. I want to work closely for 25

instance with 2 couples, where one in each couple are diagnosed with dementia. Together with them I will take a closer look at what everyday life with dementia is and how this affects the activities that you participate in.

what makes a good walk and what makes the existing routes not useable. I need to find ways of seeing the familiar in a new way, to go for a walk with the participants and see what walking means to them.

(Halse et al. 2010)

I want to work with prototyping in scale, working with the exploration of the surroundings as a part of a whole. I want to see it as setting a stage, in the same way as Kronqvist et al (2013) did in the project “Cardboard Hospital”. By using real size prototypes for the participants to engage with they moved from saying to doing. They used abstract shapes to be used as chairs, lamps, beds and so on. The approach of using abstract objects to use your imagination is something wellknown in Co-Design and Participatory Design, the issue when working with people affected by dementia is that they might have problems with abstract thinking and thefore I might have to do exactly the opposite of what Kronqvist et al (2013) is saying, namely using real existing furniture and objects, to create this stage. By doing so it will make it clearer and more visible for the participants what we are exploring together, knowing that a chair is for sitting and so on.

My plan is to recruit for instance two couples that I can work more closely together with after the initial fieldwork and visits. Together I want us to look closer into their everyday, both ups and downs, focusing especially on physical activity.

My project will start by mapping out what is existing already, both activities in Næstved and research on healing gardens and gardens for people with dementia. There is alot of research done on the aspects of architecture and interior and this is also something I will look further into. How can I use this in this particular project, concerning the outdoor environment. What is also important for me is to map out how people have worked with codesign with people affected by dementia before. This will be imporant knowledge for me to collect and build upon in my project.

After working with together with the couples I will facilitate a few iterations of workshops at Symfonien. Since I will be working with people living with a cognitive dysfunction like dementia, it is important for me to be sure to plan events and workshops in a way that the participants abilities and not their disabilities is showing. And like mentioned before, trying to use other ways of explaining, to help the participants to understand, instead of using abstract or visual thinking. (Branco et al. 2015) Those workshops will have the focus on exploring ways of prototyping this future walking route. By using Kronqvist et al (2013) method of 1:1 prototypes and the idea of using the terminology from setdesign, I want us to together discuss and try out possible walking routes.

When mapping out activities in Næstved I also want to take part in some of the activities, especially the walking tours, to be able to see how they are done at the moment. I then want to explore the topic deeper by looking at the everyday life for the group affected, activities and challenges. If creating a walking route for them, I need to know

There are many different ways of working with prototypes and when working with prototypes in this exploratory and early stage, there isn’t any need of expensive and well-made prototypes. Preece et al.

(2002) are dividing prototypes into low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes. In this division the prototypes I will use will be the low-fidelity ones. Low-fidelity prototypes are easy and fast prototypes made in cardboard or other cheap materials that are easy to modify along the way. It is important for me to have a prototype that can be changed at the workshop, together with the participants and therefore important that the prototypes are not looking too finished. If looking too nice the participants might not feel as comfortable to change or

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Research

- Fieldvisits - Literature - Interviews

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Report Iterations focusing on: - what a good walk is - wayfinding - safety - motivation

Finalizing

During the project I will be documenting by video, photographs and notes that will be shared on a blog (http://forgetmenotdk.tumblr. com). This is a way of documenting but also sharing the process and knowledge with my stakeholders, especially the ones that I don’t meet every day. By sharing both my fieldwork, the workshops and the generative prototyping it will be possible to follow the whole project from beginning to end. This project is as much about sharing the knowledge gained as it is about the design of a walking route and since working with stakeholders that might not be used to using a computer, I will also explore others ways in how to communicate the process and knowledge gained.

Workshops

Documentation

Program

Already in the workshops I want to explore possible futures through “rehearsals” (Halse et al. 2010) together with the participants. By doing so not only explore how to develope the design but also prepare the users on how to use it when finished.

Exam

Timeplan

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 - 17 18 19 20 21 22 23/24

modify it. And if handed a prototype that look almost finished the conversation becomes more and more focused on the final prototype (Brandt, Eva 2007) instead of the exploratory and generative discussion.

Stakeholders

The owners of the project are Næstved Municipality and the contact persons there is Inge Selch and Karen Heilmann Lennert. They are both working with seniors in the municipality and are responsible for the walking route, as a part of the “dementia friendly city” project.

My main stakeholders and base during the project will be the nursing home “Symfonien”. Sonja Müller, the administrator at Symfonien, will be my main contact and she is providing me with the contacts I need to get closer to the residents and the activities at “Symfonien”. It will also be through her contacts that I will get in contact with other citizens diagnosed with dementia and the couples I could collaborate with.

When meeting with Sonja we also talked about the possibility in connecting other parts of the neighbourhood with this walking route, and to use this route as a place where both people from the nursing home but also other citizens can meet. Sonja has been in contact both with the nearby school and the group of scouts meeting on a regular basis close by. There are also a lot of citizens living in the area that could benefit from using the route.

When living in a nursinghome and not getting out much the interaction with other people in society could be benefitting for the residents. Instead of only creating a nice and safe isolated place for people living with dementia it could be nice to create something that bring people together - across ages and cultures in the area.

I can see that there is a great opportunity in bringing more people into the project and that people also are interested in joining. This is something I need to consider when getting further into the project.

It is important to know what the reason for bringing people in is and have a clear vision about how this can be made. What if the walking route will be too general and not actually fitting anyone if opening up the project too much?

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Outcome

There is already some knowledge and experience in the field of healing gardens, gardens for people living with dementia and also on how to co-design together with someone living with dementia. I want to explore this area more and based on the existing knowledge map out how to collaborate with people with dementia and how to design a safe and inspiring walking path.

The outcome will be the knowledge gained throughout the project, both from existing projects and from my own experiences throughout the project. Since this is the first project in NÌstved Municipality on walking routes, I see this project as the first, exemplary project that others can learn from and build upon. The knowledge gained in this project will therefor be shared after the project. At the moment I don’t know if this should be in a book, box, webpage or something different. But one part of the deliverable is the knowledge, both on how to involve people living with dementia into a codesign project, but also on how a walking route can be made interesting and safe for them to use.

The second outcome will be a proposal for a walking route based on the workshops done through the project. The focus on this walking route will be how the physical surroundings can create a safe and motivating route for people with dementia to use. This will be done by creating different zones with experiences such as a place to sit and rest, a place to meet, explore ther surroundings and so on. There will also be a focus on how this walking route can be explored with all of your senses and how to explore it together with family, friends or neighbours. Hopefully this walking route can be an inspiration to others on how to create walking routes for people living with dementia.

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Learning Goals

The learning goals for a Co-Design thesis project are for the student to show extensive knowledge of co-design theories and methods in relation to the topic of my thesis. I should show ability to work independently and have the identity and tools needed for a co-designer.

The co-design project is about real partners and real issues and therefore I should also be able to handle my stakeholders and partners. To do so I have to present skills in project management and be able to present my project and research both to other designers but also to stakeholders with other backgrounds. (Undervisningsplan for kandidatuddannelsen i design 2015 – 2016) On top of the general Co-Design Learning Goals I would like to add my own. In this project I would like to connect my background in Spatial Design clearer with co-design and I want to practice my co-design skills in a project on a bigger, spatial scale. I also want to experiment and prototype together with my stakeholders in 1:1, using the set-design as a metaphore and to rehears the use of the walking route, to explore the way that the participants use it and adjust it along the way. I would also like to focus on practising the way I illustrate my ideas, both by exploring different ways of sketching my ideas but also in how to co-create and make the ideas visible to participants along the way.

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Literature/Articles

Binder, Thomas (ed) & Brandt, Eva (ed), (2011) “Designresearch: Six views in a box. Dialouges on everyday life with Alzheimer’s”, Copenhagen: The Danish Design School Press Branco, Rita Maldonado, Quental, Joana and Ribeiro, Óscar (2015)“I’m always well when we are together: Observation of institutional activities with people with dementia and its implications for a co-design research project” Design 4 Health 2015, European Conference

Marquardt, Gesine (2011) “Wayfinding for People With Dementia: The Role of Architectural Design” Health Environments Research & Design Journal Marquardt, Gesine & Schmieg, Peter (2009) “Dementia-Friendly Architecture: Environments That Facilitate Wayfinding in Nursing Homes” American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & Other Dementias Næstved Kommune, 2015. “Demensvenlig Aktionsplan”

Brandt, Eva. (2007) “How Tangible Mock-Ups Support Design Collaboration” Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2007

Preece J, Rogers Y and Sharp H (2002) “Interaction Design – beyond human-computer interaction.” John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Demensalliancen, 2015. “Aldrig alene med demens”

Rodiek, Susan & Schwartz, Benyamin (2007) “Outdoor environments for people with dementia”, Routledge Member of the Taylor and Francis Group

Halse, Clark, Brandt, Binder. (2010)”Rehearsing the future”, Copenhagen: The Danish Design School Press Hartig ,Terry & Marcus, Clare Cooper (2006) “Healing Gardens – places for nature in healthcare” Uppsala: Institute for Housing and Urban Research Heslet, Lars & Dirckinck-Holmfeld Kim (2007) ”Sansernes Hospital”, Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag Institut for Geovidenskab, 2014, “Octovia Helseskoven Konceptmodel” Københavns Universitet Jørgensen, Marie Leer (2011) “The use of a sensory garden at a nursing home for elderly with dementia” Alnarp: SLU Kronqvist, Juha, Erving, Heini & Leinonen, Teemu (2013) “Cardboard Hospital - prototyping patient-centric environments and services” Copenhagen-Malmö: Nordic Design Research Conference 2013 Linde, Emmy (2012) “Barnsjukhuset: att skapa en miljö för barn, med hjälp av barn”, BA-project, Copenhagen, The Danish Design School

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Statens Byggeforsknings Institut (2015)SBI-anvisning 259: “Plejeboliger for personer med demens – indledende spørgsmål”, Copenhagen: SBi Verderber, Stephen (2010) ”Innovations in Hospital Architecture”, New York: Routledge

Web

www.alz.org www.alzheimer.dk www.demensalliancen.dk www.naestved.dk www.slu.se www.videnscenterfordemens.dk (http://www.videnscenterfordemens.dk/forskning/forskningsnyheder/2015/05/fysisk-traening-mindsker-symptomer-ved-alzheimer/)

Video

https://vimeo.com/142066837 https://vimeo.com/142066720 https://vimeo.com/141874093

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