wouldn’t
it be
great if...

Author: John Thackara
Managing Editor, Dott: Claire Capaldi
Editor, Wardour: Alex Perchard
Art Director, Wardour: Barney Pickard
Additional material: Emer McCourt
Published in 2007 by Dott 07, Design Council, 34 Bow Street, London WC2E 7DL
For orders and enquiries, email claire.capaldi@dott07.com
Visit our website at www.dott07.com
Edited and designed by Wardour, Walmar House, 296 Regent Street,
London W1B 3AW.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Belmont Press, Sheaf Close, Lodge Farm
Industrial Estate, Harlestone Road, Northampton NN5 7UZ.
This book is printed on 100% recycled paper and the cover is manufactured
from sustainable forestry.
Copyright and disclaimer
All Rights Reserved. This publication may not be used or referred to in any
advertising or other publicity material, nor may this publication be reproduced
in whole or in part without the previous written consent of Dott 07.
The information in this publication has been published in good faith on the
basis of information submitted to Dott 07 and every effort has been made
to ensure its accuracy. Dott 07 can accept no responsibility for any error or
misinterpretation. All liability for loss, disappointment, negligence or damage
caused by reliance on the information contained in this publication is hereby
excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Copyright © Designs of the time 2007 (trading as Dott 07)
ISBN: 978-1-904335-15-3
Dott 07, The Robert Stephenson Centre, Sussex Street,
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne NE1 3PD

Contents / 3
...we could live sustainably
– by design?
5. Better lives with 28. Picture House: how 60. OurNewSchool: Other projects
less stuff? to experience history the building’s design 88. Design Event 07:
in new ways is only the start there’s still a role for
Vital Signs 30. Welcomes: what makes
the designers of things
8. Sustainability: how
far is it from here,
you feel welcome – Health 92. Pecha Kucha:
or unwelcome? 64. Can design make chit-chatty creativity
to there?
a difference to
34. Mapping the
our health?
9. Our Planet Tonight: Necklace: introducing Who’s who
‘weather forecast’ for a new kind of park 66. Alzheimer100: better 96. Meet the people
climate change lives with dementia, behind the projects
38. New Work: on the
by design?
move and on our own
12. Thinglink: your 100. References
70. DaSH: how to make
phone tells you the
eco-history of what
Energy sexual health services
42. Carbon-based more accessible
you buy
capitalism: can
74. Our Cyborg Future:
we design its
14. Town Crying: story- me, or machine?
replacement?
telling as design input
44. Low Carb Lane:
16. Landscape/Portrait: could we pay less
Food
76. Food: the ultimate
do postcodes define for warmer homes?
design challenge
who you are?
48. North East Energy
77. Urban farming:
Futures: what
an easy approach
Movement alternative energy
to sustainable food
18. Transport: can it ever might look like
be sustainable? 84. Urban Space Station:
20. Move Me: no car…
Schools & a rooftop greenhouse
no problem!
Schooling that breathes
52. School students: could 86. Tyne Salmon Trail:
24. Tourism: must it they take the lead?
improving access
always kill the toured?
54. Eco Design Challenge:
how big is your
school’s eco footprint?

Dott 07 / Introduction
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Better lives with less stuff?
Dott 07 (Designs of the time 2007), The focus of the initiative was region’s transition to one planet living.
a year of community projects, events on grassroots community projects, The Dott 07 Festival was divided
and exhibitions based in North East but there were also projects involving into the following zones, which are
England, explored what life in a more than 70 schools, plus exhibitions reflected in this manual:
sustainable region could be like – and events in museums, galleries and
and how design can help us get there. rural sites. All events explored how •MOVEMENT
A national initiative of the Design design can improve our lives in •ENERGY
Council with the regional development meaningful ways. •SCHOOLS
agency One NorthEast, Dott 07 is Throughout the Dott year, •HEALTH
the first in a 10-year programme enthusiastic citizens met with •FOOD
of biennial events developed by the designers, policy makers and subject
Design Council that will take place experts at monthly Explorers’ Clubs. An additional section at the start
across the UK. The projects were small The year culminated in a free 12-day of the manual, titled Vital Signs,
but important real-life examples of Dott 07 Festival in Baltic Square introduces a series of Dott 07 projects
sustainable living, which will evolve on the banks of the River Tyne. It that explored how we measure
and multiply in the years ahead. brought together the results of the sustainability. Finally, pages 88 to 95
Several projects were delivered projects and enabled all those involved give details of other project work that
in partnership with Culture10, based to share their experiences and plan has been running alongside Dott 07
at NewcastleGateshead Initiative. what to do next. Outstanding throughout the past year.
Culture10 manages North East achievements were celebrated with
England’s world-class festival and Creative Community Awards. Opposite: at Dott’s monthly Explorer’s Club,
events programme. Above all, the festival was an a wide mix of people from the region met in
The projects aim to improve opportunity for many more people speed meetings, heard from one planet living
experts and did rapid-fire design exercises.
five aspects of daily life: movement, to find out how to participate in similar The ideas that emerged were fed instantly
energy, school, health and food. projects – and thereby accelerate the back into Dott projects on the ground

Dott 07 / Introduction
A new industrial revolution filled ‘self-service’ economy is reduced
social contact between people in their
When North East-born George
everyday lives.
Stephenson designed his steam
Consumer society no longer makes
locomotive Rocket in 1829, he
us happy, if it ever did.
helped set in motion an industrial
revolution that transformed everyday
life for millions of people around
What’s this got
the world. Since then, designers
and industry have filled the world to do with design?
with an amazing array of products Eighty per cent of the environmental
and buildings, transport and impact of today’s products, services
communication networks. and infrastructures is determined at
Many of these innovations had the design stage. Design decisions Dott 07 Programme Director John Thackara
leads an Explorer Club event
unexpected consequences – not all of shape the processes behind the
them good ones. The parlous condition products we use, the materials and
of the planet – our only home – is a energy required to make them, the more no longer holds true. The same
good example. The industrial revolution ways we operate them and what paradox applies to public services.
gave us miraculous products, but we happens to them when we no Our expectations have grown and
produced them in wasteful and longer need them. our spending has increased – but we
polluting ways – and still do. The UK economy has doubled are frustrated that not all our demands
The benefits of new technology once in size since the 1970s; British are being met.
seemed obvious: better, faster, smarter design and creativity have played
(and usually cheaper) products. But an important role in that success. But
pointless gadgets and over-complicated our satisfaction with life has not kept
devices no longer excite us. And one pace with economic growth. The idea
of the consequences of a technology- that to be better off we must consume
“North East England has already proven its commitment to using design
to create a more dynamic regional economy. Leading the way with a series
of bold and innovative initiatives in business, technology and education, the
region’s plans for long-term investment and thriving cultural programmes
make it the ideal choice to host the very first national design promotion
– the very first Dott in 2007”.
David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council
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How you can build on Why the North East? What happens
what Dott has started The dream of Dott 07 is that after Dott 07?
Dott 07 explored ways in which the whole North East region will The Dott biennial will move from
we can carry out familiar, daily-life become a kind of design school in region to region all over the UK
activities in new ways. It is a step which a wide variety of people – over the next eight years.
towards a ‘less stuff, more people’ not just professionals – meet, share Dott 07 in North East England has
world in which new services will ideas, discuss and learn from each been a one-year-only event, but the
help us share the load of everyday other’s experiences. idea has been to get things moving
activities: washing clothes, looking Dott 07 was not about telling on several different fronts.
after children, communal kitchens people in the North East how to live. At the end of each project in this
and gardens, communal workshops On the contrary: its purpose was to manual, a ‘What next?’ section tells you
for maintenance activities, tool and enable local people – interacting with what plans are afoot for the project
equipment sharing, networks and inspiring and visionary guests from in question. We also suggest books,
clubs for healthcare and prevention. around the world – to develop their websites and organisations that you
Many of these services will involve own visions and scenarios. can go to for more information.
using products to carry them out but, In that sense, Dott 07 was in the
as a rule, products play a supporting acorn business. Its most valuable
role as a means to an end, and new legacy will be the people who remain
principles (above all, sustainability in the region, the projects they started
and one planet living) inform the ways and the skills they have acquired to
they are designed, made, used and carry them out.
looked after. The North East will once again
be the birthplace of an industrial
revolution – only this time it will be
sustainable, include a lot of public
sector innovation, and draw on the
traditions of social solidarity that
make the region so special.

Vital Signs / Introduction
Vital Signs:
when would
our region be
sustainable?
How will we know when our region is sustainable’ is a cop-out. We need individuals to the bigger picture
‘sustainable’? And how do we get from to know how much things need to of why and how climate change
here, to there? The answers to these change, and by when. is happening.
questions vary wildly. Vague promises Four Dott 07 projects, grouped Two other Dott 07 projects,
to use “as few natural resources together as Vital Signs, approached Landscape/Portrait and Town
as possible”, “reduce waste to a this challenging question in different Crying, gave a face and voice
minimum” or deliver the “greenest ways. Our Planet Tonight, and to citizens who would otherwise
Olympics planned so far” don’t mean Thinglink, helped people to connect be invisible statistics in planning
very much. As a target, ‘increasingly the small actions they might take as and designing.
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Vital Signs / Our Planet Tonight 8/9
Our Planet Tonight: how do we
measure ‘sustainable’? How far
is it from here, to there?
Our Planet Tonight is an information design project to create a weather forecast
equivalent for climate change. It was developed for the Dott 07 Festival in the
style of a Radio One Roadshow. Professional and amateur TV presenters would
take turns telling the story in three-minute segments, supported by an ecological
and well-being ‘dashboard’.
Are we measuring
A selection of indicators used to assess
what matters?
climate change across the UK1
The biggest problem we confronted
• Air temperature in central England • Supply of gas to households
in Vital Signs was the sheer number
• Seasonality of precipitation • Scottish skiing industry
of overlapping and sometimes
• Precipitation gradient across the UK • Number of outdoor fires
contradictory indicators to choose
• Predominance of westerly weather • Incidence of Lyme disease in humans
from. Hundreds of organisations
• Dry and wet soil conditions in • Seasonal pattern of human mortality
churn out a flood of reports, graphs,
southern England • Date of leaf emergence of trees in spring
studies and punditry.
• Frequency of low and high river flows • Health of beech trees in Britain
Some organisations focus on air
in North West and South East Britain • Date of insect appearance and activity
quality and surface water quality.
• Groundwater storage in the chalk • Arrival date of the swallow
Others consider travel, energy use
in South East Britain • Egg-laying dates of birds
or how much we waste. And, for
• Sea level rise • Small bird population changes
some scientists, potato yields or
• The risk of tidal flooding in London • Marine plankton
the egg-laying dates of birds are
• Domestic property insurance claims • Upstream migration of salmon
highly significant.
for damaging weather events • Appearance of ice on Lake Windermere

Vital Signs / Our Planet Tonight
Demand vs. Biocapacity
(number of planet Earths)
1.5
Ecological Footprint
1
0.5
0
03
19 1
19 1
19 6
19 2
19 8
19 3
79
00
19 0
85
94
64
19 7
20 7
6
9
7
8
8
7
7
6
9
20
19
19
19
19
19
Demand World Biocapacity
A C
A: the Earth’s surface temperature in the year 2100, as predicted in C: the capacity of the Earth‘s natural systems to absorb greenhouse
GRAPHICS: A – © Crown copyright 2007, the Met Office; B – Climate Change 2007: The physical Science Basis, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
this powerful visualisation from the Hadley Centre gases – its ‘carrying capacity’ – is fixed. Man-made emissions, on
the other hand, rise with our demand for goods and services
CO2 emissions by sector
(million metric tons of carbon)
800
600
400
200
0
1960 1980 2000
Buildings Transportation Industry
B D
B: levels of C02 on Earth remained steady for 400,000 years – until D: although industry gets a lot of the blame for greenhouse gas
the industrial age and carbon-based capitalism took off emissions, transportation – and especially buildings – do even
more damage
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GRAPHICS: E & G – North East Counting Consumption by Alistair Paul, Aron Welch, John Barrett and Joe Ravetz. Partnered by WWF, SeI Cure and Biffaward. Published by WWF 2006; F – Carbon Trust; H – www.redefiningprogress.org
Total
Potential growth in electricity production
Electricity production (GQH per annum)
5.31 gha/cap to meet increased rates of consumption
Home & energy 1.10 80,000
70,000
Travel 0.93
60,000
Consumables 0.52 50.000
Services 0.32 40,000
30,000
Fixed capital 0.76 20,000
10,000
2001 2011 2021
Government & other 0.40
Projected years
Food 1.28
E G 5.3% per annum 1% per annum No growth
E: North East England’s ecological footprint, as measured by the WWF
Fig 5 The North East’s Ecological Footprint (gha/cap) G: in common with other regions, the North East faces a
sustainability dilemma: if its economy grows, so too does
demand for electricity – and that means more C02 emissions
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
GDP Per Capita GPI Per Capita
F H
F: the Carbon Trust measured the North East’s emissions by area. H: are we measuring what matters? Traditional measures of
As the map shows, city regions like NewcastleGateshead make the economic success focus on the GDP – the production of goods and
biggest contribution to harmful emissions. Of course as big cities services. New measures, such as the Happy Planet Index, show that
clean up their act, the savings can be bigger, too people can live long, happy lives without using more than their fair
share of the Earth’s resources (www.happyplanetindex.org)
What next?
Below is a list of useful websites related to this project:
Best Foot Forward www.bestfootforward.com
Carbon Trust www.carbontrust.co.uk
Met Office, Climate Change www.metoffice.gov.uk/
research/hadleycentre/index.html
One Planet Living www.oneplanetliving.org
Happy Planet Index www.happyplanetindex.org
SEI – York: Regional Sustainability
www.regionalsustainability.org

Vital Signs / Thinglink
Thinglink: what are the true
environmental costs of that
product – or banana?
Every product that enters our lives has a hidden history – an invisible
‘rucksack’ containing huge quantities of wasted or lost materials used
in its production, transport, use and disposal.
Every thing has a story are better, but not by much. The amount of waste
A great deal of nature has to be moved These are not rumours. The
during the production of a computer. material flows of our industrial society,
matter generated
Many of its components require the its ‘metabolism’, have been measured in the manufacture
use of high-grade minerals that can be with growing accuracy in recent times. of a single laptop
obtained only through major mining ‘Every thing has a story. We help
operations and energy-intensive people to link to it,’ says Finnish computer is close to
transformation processes. As Amory designer and system developer Ulla- 4,000 times its weight
Lovins, Paul Hawken and Hunter Maaria Mutanen. Mutanen created
Lovins – the authors of Natural Thinglink to be an open online
on your lap3
Capitalism – explain, industry uses database for anyone, from artists to
billions of pounds of material in order designers, collectors and trendspotters, Thinglink provides
to manufacture the products we take to add and publish portfolios with
for granted, and to construct the roads their favourite things. a way to ‘read’ the
and buildings and infrastructures For a presentation at the Dott size of a product’s
needed to deliver them. Festival, Mutanen’s Thinglink team
Added up over a year, the amount of explored how their basic concept could
ecological rucksack
matter and energy wasted, or caused to be combined with mobile phones so by scanning it with
be wasted, by the average North that you or I would be able to scan a mobile phone
American consumer is roughly a products and read their environmental
million pounds in weight2. Europeans credentials before purchase.
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12 / 13
Where do the numbers
it would enable people to make
come from? a meaningful comparison between
Some companies and government the environmental performance of
departments are guilty of competing products and services.
‘greenwashing’. Greenwashing New rules to regulate ‘offsetting’
occurs when companies (or are also in the pipeline. The UK
governments) spend more money government has plans to launch
or time on advertising their green a new offsetting code.
credentials than on investing in Carbon offsetting is the act of
environmentally sound practices. mitigating (‘offsetting’) greenhouse
This is where the Publicly gas emissions. A well-known example
Available Specification, or PAS, is the planting of trees to compensate
comes in. Think of a PAS as a for the greenhouse gas emissions
Above: Thinglink proposes a way of
product’s ecological passport. from personal air travel. Other offset downloading the ecological data relating
The Carbon Trust and the UK’s methods are now in use: renewable to any product using your mobile phone
Environment Ministry, Defra, have energy and energy conservation
joined with the British Standards offsets have gained popularity.
Institution (BSI) to develop a As governments and international What next?
standard method for measuring the institutions respond to political To keep track of developments
embodied greenhouse gas emissions pressure and impose order on in the design of ways to read the
in all products and services. environmental reporting systems, history of products on our mobile
phones, check these websites:
If every product or service were designers such as Ulla-Maaria
Thinglink http://thinglink.org
required to display a PAS that we Mutanen can make data widely
Publicly Available Specification
could read with our mobile phones, accessible in creative ways. (PAS) www.defra.gov.uk/news/
2007/070530a.htm
Near Field Communication
(NFC) http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Near_Field_
Communication
Tool for Sustainable
Greenwashing is when a company (or government) Consumption (MIPS)
www.cleanproduction.org/
spends more money or time on advertising its green Steps.Products.Life.MIPS.php
credentials than on investing in environmentally
sound practices

Vital Signs / Town Crying
Town Crying: how can
we be heard?
Wouldn’t it be great if... a series of public performances started conversations
about people’s design aspirations for the places in which they live?
of the eclectic nature of local life
by combining hearsay, first-person
accounts, factual narrative and
fictional construct. The audiences
were a combination of people who
followed the performances to each
new destination and those who
came across them by chance.
This project formed part of North
East England’s world-class festival
and events programme.
Left: the Alnwick town crier in action
Opposite: the proclamations told stories of
places, events and communities compiled
during a period of research in the area
About town criers How did Dott’s Town
Crying project work? What next?
The Town Crying project drew on the
A book containing reproductions of
tradition of town criers announcing Working with Alnwick’s award-
the scripts and full-colour photos of
local news, events and other matters winning town crier John Stevens,
performances was distributed free to
of commercial and legal interest. The performance art group Lone Twin
all visitors to the Dott 07 Festival.
practice became popular in medieval were commissioned by Forma to
Below is a list of useful websites
England and was used here until the create a series of proclamations
related to this project:
late 18th century. Its original form to be ‘cried’ across North East
Lone Twin www.lonetwin.com
can be traced back to ancient Greece. England. The texts told stories of
Alnwick Town Crier
Today, town crying is used mainly places, events and communities,
www.alnwicktowncrier.com
as a heritage event though criers compiled during a period of
Forma www.forma.org.uk
are often hired for private functions. research in the area, which included
Town Crying
To this day it is a criminal offence to discussions with local inhabitants,
www.dott07.com/go/vitalsigns
interrupt, heckle or otherwise trouble workers and passers-by.
a working town crier. Each proclamation gave a sense
PHOTO: Ginny Reed
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Vital Signs / Landscape/Portrait
Landscape/Portrait: do the
statistics used by planners
represent real people?
Wouldn’t it be great if... the faces and voices of citizens influenced design
and regeneration projects – not just abstract data?
Does your postcode define who you community, where they could create
are? Statistical models of communities and upload their own video portraits. What next?
based on postcode areas are often used This online community was then Landscape/Portrait was produced
in the design and planning of public exhibited at the Dott 07 Festival, for Dott 07 by Forma as a
services and regeneration projects. where visitors could use a laptop and collaboration between artist Kevin
Landscape/Portrait confronts people webcam to create their own portraits Carter, Media 19, and the
living in the North East with their live on site. University of Teesside.
demographic ‘stereotype’ based on these The website presents participants Dott 07 Festival visitors were
statistics and asks them ‘Is this you?’. with a fictional character who asks a invited to view and respond to
series of questions about where they their own personal video portraits.
live, who they are, their health, hobbies, In this process, which is ongoing,
How did it work? happiness, work and aspirations for the project evaluates demographic
In Landscape/Portrait, Forma themselves and their neighbourhood. data by comparing them to the
commissioned media artist Kevin The interview is recorded live via a lives of citizens and communities
Carter, working with Media 19, to webcam, then automatically uploaded across the region.
present three communities across to the website. To generate your own profile
the region with demographic The site maps each portrait and join the debate from home,
stereotypes about their own area. geographically and allows visitors you will need a broadband internet
People from within these to search for portraits by postcode, connection and a webcam.
communities then worked with Kevin username or questions answered. Below is a list of useful websites
and Media 19 to create a series of video Visitors to the site are encouraged related to this project:
self-portraits. These were presented as to leave comments under the profiles Landscape/Portrait
part of a outdoor campaign and to open up discussion and debate. www.landscape-portrait.com
uploaded to a purpose-built website, Landscape/Portrait invites citizens www.dott07.com/go/landscape
alongside the official statistical data and to think about who they are, how they Co Lab Projects
stereotypes currently held by market are and how they would like their www.co-lab.org/commissions
research agencies about each location. communities to be. Forma www.forma.org.uk
The campaign aimed to entice This project formed part of North Media 19 www.media19.co.uk
people to contribute to the online East England’s world-class festival
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Above: Landscape/Portrait presented people with a series of demographic ‘stereotypes’, and asked them ‘Is this you?’
PHOTOS: Karin Coetzee

Movement / Introduction
Movement:
can transport
and tourism be
sustainable?
The movement of people and goods around the world consumes vast amounts
of matter, energy, space and time. Could transport intensity be separated from
economic progress – and, if so, how?
People are badly What price transportation?
informed about
Boat 1
existing public
Train (France) 3
transport services: Train (UK) 22.9
we overestimate by Bus 25
70% the potential
BAR CHART: ADEME & INRETS / manicore.com
Car, extra-urban 60
length of a journey Plane, long haul 60
by public transport Car, urban 100
– and underestimate Plane, short haul 100
Greenhouse gas emisssions per passenger per km,
the length of a car for different means of transportation (in grams carbon
journey by 26%4 equivalent).
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Movement / Move Me 18 / 19
Move Me: could we get
where we need to go
without new cars and roads?
Wouldn’t it be great if... we could go where we need to go using transport
options that already exist but are under-used? No car? No problem!
How we move in Scremerston Transport accounts
The Move Me project centred smarter ways – for example, the for 20% of the
on Scremerston First School in planning of integrated journeys, average school’s
Northumberland. Three miles from vehicle sharing, or better use
Berwick, this small school is a daily of community vehicles such as carbon footprint5
hub for 42 children and 34 families. minibuses. Ultimately, the project
It also has 11 members of staff, team aimed to design a reliable and
including full- and part-time teachers, sustainable transport service that
Newcastle was rated
cleaning, catering and janitorial staff, would help this particular rural the noisiest urban
and is led by an enthusiastic head
teacher, Helen Harrison, who was
community and also provide a
model that would work elsewhere.
area in England,
keen for the school to be fully The project was linked to a wider with traffic noise
involved in the project. initiative called RAMP (Rural Access measured at 80.4
The school’s many and varied and Mobility Project), which looked
transport needs made it an excellent at a similar set of issues in the field of decibels6. That’s like
test case for Dott 07. The project healthcare access. Move Me was an a loud alarm clock
looked at the school community’s excellent opportunity to apply some
mobility needs and explored how of the findings from RAMP to a new
constantly ringing
they could be better served by group of users. in a person’s ear
combining existing services in
‘I’d like to go to an after-school club, but it’s too
far away for Dad to pick me up afterwards’

Movement / Move Me
How does Move Me work?
and filled them in with the help
The Move Me project team began of their parents.
by gathering insights from the Feedback from the activity packs
Scremerston community. David included the following revelations:
Townson and Richard Telford from • Most pupils are driven to school
live|work, the design and innovation either because the bus doesn’t go to
company producing Move Me, their area or they live too far away.
developed travel activity packs for • 72% of parents thought the school
the pupils of Scremerston First should encourage less use of cars A
School to help build a picture of for school journeys.
how and why they travelled the • 57% of parents never take the
way they did. children of other families to school.
The packs included seven short • 69% of parents who never take
tasks, including ‘Me and my family children from other families to
– tell us about you and who you live school would consider it.
with’, ‘I like to go... – tell us about Major problem areas included:
places you enjoy going to outside of infrequency of buses; the limited
school time’ and ‘Interview a parent service of the current school bus run;
– ask a parent questions all about the expense of taxis; unfair fares; and
travel’. Pupils took the packs home confusing public transport timetables. B
The questions also unearthed a
variety of individual problems with
getting to and from schools, after-
school clubs, Sure Start classes, dental
appointments and the town facilities at
Berwick, such as clinics and shops.
Having gathered the information,
the live|work team started to develop
solutions that would not involve
putting any new vehicles on the C
road. In April, they met with the Above: during Move Me, live|work
community to discuss their ideas developed and trialled a series of low-cost,
and highlight their own solutions. paper-based templates including ‘lift
exchange’ cards (see above) for community
Above: pupils at Scremerston school Two early solutions were service providers – from midwives to football
provided insights into local transport options developed from the initial research: coaches – to improve access to their services
ILLUSTRATION: live|work
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20 / 21
• Improve existing bus services. the Northumberland Car Share site work with children on completing
Arriva, a local bus provider, worked (www.northumberlandcarshare.com) the design activity they had started in
with live|work and the community and ultimately lead to increased January when they filled in their travel
to improve its service by introducing use of this currently under-used packs. The results were shared with
a new user-friendly, colour-coded community resource. the children, who were encouraged
bus timetable. The Move Me team took its lift- to design posters illustrating the
• Create a toolkit for service share toolkit to community class advantages of sharing lifts, riding their
providers: the kit consists of a number leaders over the summer and it is bikes to school and taking the bus.
of simple paper-based tools that aim currently being trialled with over
to help providers increase the number 2000 people through working with
of people accessing their service by Scremerston First School, Sure Start
making it easier to get there. Berwick Borough (who provide
Providers are able to set up a support to parents and children) and Below: live|work developed this interactive
lift-sharing scheme that encourages Berwick Community Centre (who transport map for the Dott 07 Festival.
people to offer and request lifts to run adult education classes). It is designed to illustrate the potential
environmental and financial savings that
their venue. It is hoped that this The team also visited Scremerston people could achieve by sharing lifts with
‘offline’ scheme will complement First School over the summer to other people

Movement / Move Me
A C
B D
A: Margaret and Peter, Scremerston First C. Fiona Hall, Berwick Community Centre
School – Margaret and her son Peter are – Berwick Community Centre is trialling
using My Timetable: handy cards to record Lift Exchange, a way for its 1,800 students
the times for transport that they need for the to post offers and requests for transport to
journeys they make and from classes
B. Carolynn Reavley, Sure Start midwife D. Helen Harrison, Scremerston First School
– Sure Start are also trialling Lift Exchange, – Scremerston First School are using every
in which midwives collect travel information element of the Service Provider Toolkit to
and match parents offering and requesting provide parents with information about local
PHOTOS: live|work
lifts to its venues services and the support to access them
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Helen Harrison want to move school, but may have
Head teacher, Scremerston to because of the expense. And we
First School in Northumberland didn’t see one boy in pre-school for
two weeks because his father’s car
What would a better transport broke down and he couldn’t get him
system mean for the school? here any other way.’
‘Small schools in Northumberland
are a hub for the villages, not just What changes would
for the children but for everyone you like to see?
who lives here. Improved access and ‘I would want to see the children
easier transport could ultimately have broader and richer cultural
What difference would it make
increase numbers at the school and experiences through being able to
to the life of the village?
increase the viability of our small, access places such as the theatre,
‘Better transport to the village
but highly rated, school. We have sports centre, drama groups and
would probably increase the number
lost children due to the poor places of interest such as Holy Island.
of people living here. People are
transport links. ‘Generally, I would like to see
understandably put off because
‘Currently, we have one them getting more education outside
there’s no shop or pub.
particularly gifted child who lives of the school. Being from a village
‘More people would mean more
outside the catchment area. The and growing up here shouldn’t
children at the school, but would
family doesn’t have a car and aren’t mean that you can’t experience
also mean a more vibrant life here
very well off, so they need to take a other things.’
for everybody.’
taxi to get to the school. They don’t
What next?
‘Move Me’ project outcomes include Other useful websites include: www.goloco.org/index
a toolkit for transport providers live|work www.livework.co.uk NewMobility177Ideasfor
who wish to improve access to their Northumberland CarShare SustainableTransportation
services. The toolkit includes ‘Lift www.northumberlandcarshare.com www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/wt_
Exchange’ cards, ‘Activity Templates’ Sustrans,UKsustainabletransport index.htm
for notice boards, and personalised charity www.sustrans.org.uk SustainableTransportation
‘My Timetable’ forms. LiftShare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The lessons of Move Me, whch was Car sharing schemes for communities sustainable_transportation
led by live|work, will also feed into www.liftshare.org TimePollutionessaybyJohn
the Rural Access and Mobility Project Carshareservices Whitelegg www.worldcarfree.net/
(RAMP) which fosters sustainable www.streetcar.co.uk resources/freesources/polluti.htm
approaches to rural transport in the www.whizzgo.co.uk
North East. GoLoco
For more information, go to Service on Facebook that helps
www.dott07.com/go/moveme people share rides between friends,
or email Laura Lomax on laura@ neighbours, and colleagues and share
livework.co.uk trip costs online)

Movement / Sustainable Tourism
Sustainable tourism: must
tourism damage the toured?
Wouldn’t it be great if... we had more examples of sustainable tourism on which to build?
In carbon footprint Radical ideas,
and implemented there. They worked
terms, one holiday real locations with local partners to document the
This international design camp, led by features of value in the area.
in New Zealand is Steve Messam, brought together teams Tasks included:
equivalent to 60 of young designers, senior students, • Describing how visitors might
short visits to the visual artists, architects and young experience this feature in new ways
professionals to develop sustainable • Creating an opportunity map of
North East7. But tourism ideas for (and with) specific places, or services, to be designed
60 more holidays North East locations and communities. • Creating artefacts and/or a
Participants came from eight storyboard of a proposed new
in Newcastle will different countries and spanned many service or situation
not be sustainable disciplines. Their projects looked at • Describing the business or enterprise
if they require everything from urban camping to the model that would make their
structures that are likely to emerge proposal truly sustainable.
investment in heavy with the advent of geothermal energy, Throughout the 10-day camp, the
new infrastructure and the decoration of landscape using teams worked with co-ordinators and
the tools and patterns of agriculture. the local community to tackle the
and/or promote The teams were allocated to four design challenges. Various experts from
wasteful behaviour locations across the North East of around the world acted as mentors to
England and asked to investigate how the teams through a series of day and
by the visitor
BAR CHART: Manicore ILLUSTRATION: Design Camp – Urban Camping team
sustainable tourism might be developed evening sessions.
Your holiday travel footprint
1 month
Bicycle trip (travel by train)
3 weeks
Sailing (boat owned)
2 weeks
Sailing (rented boat) 1 week
Winter sports
Hotel in Morocco (travel by plane)
Summer holidays in a rented modern house
Summer holidays in a rented flat
Summer holidays in an old family house
Summer holidays in a caravan
Camping
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
kg carbon equivalent
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24 / 25
Urban camping
Exploring the concept of urban the North’s October weather. Tents – were to welcome people to the
camping and ‘camp&ride’ schemes would sit on platforms of varied campsite and act as security, Quaylink
as a model for sustainable urban heights within the cocoon. buses were to bring people from
tourism, the first group worked on The area would be electricity-free Central Station to Ouseburn and the
an urban camping brief. Their aim and would have a communal cooking local business Recyke Y’ Bike was to
was to transform a disused space in and eating area to encourage sharing provide recycled red Dott 07 bikes
NewcastleGateshead into sustainable and conversation, as well as a more for visitors to explore the city.
accommodation for visitors to the relaxed beanbag seating area.
Dott 07 Festival in October. The team The group looked beyond the
envisaged a huge tent space based in physical to design with the entire
Above: how a disused city space might
an archway beneath Byker Bridge, experience in mind: a local man be transformed into a contemporary,
which would protect the visitor from and his dog – ‘Bob and the Dog’ ecologically-friendly campsite

Movement / Sustainable Tourism
Left: the Allendale Industrial Heritage
team proposed recreating a spectacular
water wheel on an old smelt mill as a
night-time light installation
shone from inside the structures
to represent their original height.
Landlines – Designing
the agricultural landscape
How could minor changes to farming
procedures change the face of the
landscape? This was the question
the Landlines team asked themselves
while working with farmers to explore
how existing resources might be used
to change the view from the windows
of Mainline trains travelling through
centrepieces of the light installations the North East. The aim of the
Allendale Industrial
were all features of Allendale’s lead project was also to underline the
Heritage mining heritage and community, roles of farmers as producers and
The second design camp group including a long-demolished aqueduct, custodians of the landscape.
worked with the rural community a spectacular water wheel on the old The Landlines project will be
and industrial heritage of the North smelt mill, and the Blackett level, a ongoing over the next 18 months
Pennines on a project entitled long, straight, underground tunnel. (see what next?, right).
‘Revealing the Invisible’. The concept Audiences were particularly taken
involved staging night-time outdoor with the team’s interpretation of two
light installations, highlighting industrial largely ruined round stone chimneys, Below: a montage of rapeseed in
Northumberland (where the Landlines
structures that have become ruined which were ‘virtually’ recreated using project was based) and wild flowers in
or have disappeared completely. The strong beams of bright, blue light the Indres, France
PHOTOS: Night wheel – Allendale team; Landlines – Steve Messam
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What next?
Everyone can become a more
sustainable tourist. The key is to
make use of local resources in
ways that provide benefit to the
community without damaging the
local environment. In a sustainable
region, we will make better use of
the people and heritage that are
already here.
Below is a list of useful websites
related to this project:
Landlines www.foldgallery.co.uk
Tyne Salmon Trail
www.xsitearchitecture.co.uk
Seat 61 – gets you anywhere in
the world without flying
www.seat61.com
For more information, go to
www.dott07.com/go/designcamp
these huge structures, thereby creating
Wind Power in
a reason for tourists and local residents
the Landscape alike to visit the site. The rotation of
The final project explored the concept each turbine would turn a huge ‘skirt’
of power generation as visual spectacle of material suspended around its
and tourist attraction. It asked: can trunk. Visitors could gather beneath the
wind power have a positive effect on the whirling installation – named Perpetua
landscape and tourism? Are wind farms – and use the space to meet others,
examples of contemporary beauty or hold events or watch the world go by.
monstrosities obstructing the view?
ILLUSTRATION: Wind turbine – Team Wind
Above: the wind power team envisaged a
The group developed an unusual whirling installation designed to exploit the
way of communicating the power of visual attributes of wind farms

Movement / Picture House
Picture House: how can we make
more of our cultural heritage?
Wouldn’t it be great if... we were able to experience historic houses in fresh ways?
Picture House Who took part in
So you think you know what an Picture House for Dott?
English country house feels like? United Visual Artists (UVA):
Well, think again. Film directors, Hereafter
artists and designers transformed UVA is a company of artists,
Belsay Hall in Northumberland recorders and designers who usually
with a series of cutting-edge art work within the music industry and
and new media installations. with bands such as Massive Attack.
In a sustainable region, we can For Belsay, UVA created a ‘history
make better use of the people and mirror’. The installation reflected both
heritage that are already there. the images of visitors present and
Three Dott projects in Picture those who had previously visited.
House provoked us to look at The result was a constantly changing
familiar situations in fresh ways. and mysterious visual display.
English Heritage curator
Judith King and Dott 07, together Adam Somlai-Fischer and
with Juha Huuskonen, invited Bengt Sjölén: The Gardens
experimental film directors, artists Bengt Sjölén (Sweden) and Adam
and designers to transform Belsay Somlai-Fischer (Hungary) created A
Hall in Northumberland through The Gardens at Picture House to draw A: UVA’s Hereafter
a series of art and new media work attention to the spectacular array of
in Belsay’s vast empty rooms, spare colours in Belsay’s formal gardens.
castle and Grade I-listed gardens. The installation was made from 200
PHOTOS: A, B & D – Andy Taylor
Acknowledgement
Picture House, Film, Art and Design at Belsay, was presented by English Heritage as part of its contemporary art
programme in the North East, which is funded by Northern Rock Foundation and Arts Council England, North East.
The Picture House exhibition was also funded by Design Council England, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Heritage
Lottery Fund, Northumberland Strategic Partnership and One NorthEast, and formed part of the North East
England World Class Festival and Events Programme and Dott 07.
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28 / 29
B C
B: The Gardens/Aleph – a kinetic reflection Golan Levin:
display system Ghost Pole Propagator
C: Belsay Hall, Northumberland
D: Levin’s Ghost Pole Propagator Celebrated new-media artist
Golan Levin created Ghost Pole
Citroën ZX electric mirrors controlled Propagator, an interactive software
by cameras and computers. Each artwork that was installed in a
mirror reflected a fragment of the deserted castle in Belsay Hall’s
whole in a matrix of reds, greens and grounds. The artwork captures
purples. The result blurred the and replays the ‘skeletons’ of
distinctions between architecture, passers-by in its environment.
people and media. The effect was a dynamic show
Somlai-Fischer and Sjölén called in which animated, but abstract,
the ‘kinetic reflection display’ system figures replicated the gestures of D
in their installation Aleph. The name visitors’ movements and their gait,
PHOTOS: C – designed by The Roundhouse, photography by John Donoghue
Aleph refers to a fictional point of while re-processing the images in What next?
singularity created by Argentine more abstract ways. Below is a list of useful websites
author Jorge Luis Borges. The relating to this project:
artists explained that a point in space Picture House
contains all other points. The idea is www.picturehousebelsay.co.uk
Golan Levin www.flong.com
that anyone who gazes into it can see
Adam Somlai-Fischer and Bengt
everything in the universe from every
Sjölén www.aether.hu/aleph
angle simultaneously, without United Visual Artists (UVA)
distortion, overlapping or confusion. www.uva.co.uk
Pixelache (festival for electronic
art and subcultures)
www.pixelache.ac
For more information, go to
www.dott07.com/go/
picturehouse

Movement / Welcomes
What makes you feel welcome
– or unwelcome?
Wouldn’t it be great if... unwelcoming experiences could be redesigned?
‘ heWelcomesprojectis
T How to be welcoming (drawn, photographed or filmed),
aboutwaystochange A sign at Heathrow’s Terminal 4 written statements and short films.
greets visitors with the words: Welcomes already created range
howweworktogether, ‘Welcome to Great Britain’. from large-scale set-piece events to
howwelivetogether, Expectant visitors go through the one-minute dances, from edible gifts
howourcommunities doors and enter... a grotty gift shop. to short films. Each one is designed
Can the North East do better? to celebrate the unique spirit of a city,
lookandfeel’ How might we improve the town or region and reflect the range
Stella Hall, Creative Director, terminals, ports, places, situations of cultures now present in the region.
culture10 and experiences that greet visitors
when they arrive?
The Welcomes project helps How did Welcomes work?
communities collect thoughts, ideas Two Welcomes projects were specially
and experiences on what makes commissioned for Dott 07. In Tees
people feel welcome – or not. They Valley, individuals and communities
then explore design ideas of ways to were brought together by independent
make a place more welcoming. Small media company Media 19 to make
groups present their ideas as images images, films and audio/written
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30 / 31
A B
material. A selection focused on Cattermole and Adam Johnson A: ‘This is Leo’s nightclub. It’s what people see
Stockton and Middlesbrough was all contributed to discussions about when they come to Redcar beaches. It’s a
horrible, square, unwelcoming 1960s building
presented at an exhibition at the the welcome they receive from
stuck in the middle of something so beautiful.
Transporter Bridge. An eclectic mix supporters both home and away. They should knock this down and turn it into
of these short films, photographs, In Stockton, the Sure Start team a nice little café.’ – Ann Whitham, Tees Valley
animation clips and written texts was at Port Clarence Community Centre Housing, Housing Association Panel
later displayed at the Dott 07 Festival. worked with mums and young children B: ‘This is the industry near where I live.
A lot of people think this is horrible and find
Stella Hall, Creative Director, to develop the design for a new park
it unwelcoming. But it makes me feel at
culture10, who leads the Welcomes in the heart of their community. home because I have grown up with it. It
project, said the idea is that ‘voices Belinda Williams of Media 19, gives the area character and, if it all went,
will be heard – not just listened to – who helped the group use digital I don’t know what Middlesbrough would be
by the people who make changes’. imaging, said: ‘The mums here feel about.’ – Anthony Cornwall, Football First
Another Welcomes group comprised isolated because they have to leave
players and management from their community for most things. Clarence a more welcoming place.’
Middlesbrough Football Club. They want a park and we want The Berwick on Tweed Welcomes,
Manager Gareth Southgate and to empower them to get funding. The Changing Face, celebrates
first team players Jonathan Woodgate, The Welcomes project has raised Berwick’s young people. It’s an
Jason Euell, Brad Jones, Lee awareness of what could make Port alternative to images of its past and
PHOTOS: Welcomes Project / lMedia 19

B
A
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Movement / Welcomes
D
C
PHOTOS: Welcomes Project / Media 19

32 / 33
A: ‘Most people think the chimneys are ugly heritage that normally greet visitors This project formed part of
but we love them. They represent our heritage.
to this picturesque town. North East England’s world-class
Industry is what we have grown up with. It
is what we are.’ – Jim and Val Scollen, Tees More than 200 young people festival and events programme.
Valley Housing, Housing Association Panel aged between 14 and 18 helped
B: ‘This is the main field behind the
create a large-scale outdoor projection
Clarences. It was my playground when
I grew up and now it’s my little oasis. I would at the crossing of the town’s three
like to see proper paths so the community famous bridges that, with the River
can benefit from its beauty.’ – Jayne Hall,
Tweed, mark the boundary between
Clarences Community Centre
C: ‘I do martial arts so I can defend myself England and Scotland.
in situations where I might feel unwelcome. A dramatic series of morphing
When I’m older, being a Black Belt will give
portraits and text, suspended under
me confidence.’ – Charlie Hope-Smith,
Newtown Community Resource Centre the central arch of the Royal Tweed
D: ‘To me, the environment or design of a Bridge, created a double mirror image
place doesn’t make the welcome, it’s the
of Berwick’s collective ‘face’ through
people that make the welcome. I always
make myself as welcoming as possible.’ – its reflection in the river below.
Jeff Reynolds, Hemlington Community Café
What next?
The Welcomes project was the first At present, plans to extend the Welcomes event at Berwick or the
of its kind. People in the North Welcomes project to Stockton and Transporter Bridge, please contact
East were invited to explore what Middlesbrough include a celebration culture10@ngi.org.uk
was welcoming or not about their of the Transporter Bridge at its If you would like to find out more
region and to submit their ideas for centenary in 2011 and others will about this project or to register your
public display. The best ideas were be developed across the North East. interest in the methodology used,
showcased at the Dott 07 Festival, For more information about this please contact Belinda Williams at
where visitors could also take part project, visit: belinda@media19.co.uk
by presenting their Welcomes ideas www.dott07.com/go/welcome
up until the end of the event. www.media19.co.uk
But the team is determined that the For opportunities to volunteer at
ideas generated have a life beyond any of the proposed events, visit:
the past year’s events and directly www.visitnewcastlegateshead.
improve the life of the region and the com/culture10
lives of the community groups that If you would like to enquire
have taken part. about usage of the films from the

Movement / Mapping the Necklace
Mapping the Necklace:
could we build parks without
roads and railings?
Wouldn’t it be great if… a park could be created without
turning earth or pouring concrete?
Many tourist destinations are filled with
How did Mapping
interesting features that visitors, or even
residents, never hear about. But what the Necklace work?
about destinations that are parks that It all began with a public movement
don’t, as such, exist? Can you roam a to recapture their countryside by
park that can’t be seen? Can you map the people of Durham city and its
something – a trail, a place, a sense surrounding villages – and their
– that is short-lived? Necklace Park has since become
The Dott 07 Mapping the Necklace written into Durham Master Plan. Yet A
team explored new ways of mapping surprisingly little mapping information
transient experiences and hidden places existed about the Necklace Park area,
in the Durham Necklace Park – an so the Dott 07 Mapping Team, led by
‘ephemeral park’ that spans 12 miles senior producer Susan Williamson,
of stunning River Wear-linked pathways. encouraged people to explore this
Developing new recording ‘ephemeral’ park’s possibilities as a
CREDIT: A – Cornerstone Strategies 2007; B – Caroline Kerslake; C – Cipriano Martinez
techniques, they helped bring the venue for creative work and other
Necklace Park’s many opportunities activities and create a new network
to life – not by bulldozing land or of North Eastern ‘mappers’.
erecting buildings, but by personal Twenty-five mapping teams were
mapping with the lightest of touch. formed and their activities covered a B
A:  esignCampSnowWhiteMap
D
B: PlayMappers
C: ChaosMappingintheDurham
NecklacePark
C
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MAP: The Chambers / Cornerstone Strategies 2005 34 / 35
NecklaceParkwasbornwhen
thepeopleofDurhamsetout
torecapturetheircountryside.
The12-mile(20km)stretch
ofriverisfilledwithallkinds
oftreasures–fromwildgarlic
toabandonedcoalmines.
Butmanyofthesefeatures
werehardtofind,inaccessible,
orsimplynotknownabout.

Movement / Mapping the Necklace
A C
CREDIT: Cornerstone Strategies 2007
B D
A: ShelterMapping C: ReadersoftheLostArt–graphicnovelistsdoingsiteresearch
B: MappingBelmontViaduct D: Disorienteeringteamplanmappingpacks
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36 / 37
wide range of interests. Below is
a selection of their work: What next?
• Bird Box Boys – award-winning You too can start mapping now! At city as a key way to improve the
architects DMSR returned to its simplest, mapping is recording Durham experience for residents
Durham to map the Belmont Viaduct. your presence in a place, which is and visitors alike.
They worked with a local school, exactly what Mapping the Necklace If you would like to find out more
asking how maps could help make the was all about. In Durham, some about this project, please contact
viaduct more accessible to the public mappers have formed community Claire Lancaster or Becky Dodds
• Audio Mapping – Durham’s Society action groups. on +44 191 3833041 or visit
for the Blind and Partially Sighted Mapping tools are available on www.durhamnecklacepark.
mapped the park as an audio the Mapping the Necklace website, org.uk or www.dott07.com
soundtrack, using ambient sounds where you can get involved in the
and verbal cues as markers Necklace Park and ‘meet’ other Other recommended websites:
• Readers of the Lost Art – a group of people like yourself. www.mapping-the-necklace.
comic-book enthusiasts created stories In the long term, the Necklace org.uk
based on historical information about Park is written into the Durham www.durhamvision.org.uk
the park and made their own comic Vision until 2020. It’s seen by the www.cornerstonestrategies.co.uk
• Access – two wheelchair users tested
the park’s accessibility and mapped
their findings then text it or email it to a friend – that Some examples of Mapping
• Disorienteering – this team explored would be an example of mapping. We the Necklace:
the idea that every spot has a different map our lives every day. • Recording a journey by you, by
significance for each visitor: one ‘Mapping is about the interaction others, by your ancestors, by wildlife
person’s ordinary playground swing between people and a place and being • Recording a trail you want others
is the site of another’s first kiss. The able to share that. People are unfamiliar to follow – from wild garlic to
team asked residents to reflect on with [the concept of] mapping and abandoned mines
aspects of their lives in the park, then maps, but we do it quite naturally. • Recording a performance or a sport
helped them map the unexpected For example, we have a mental map that uses the park as a venue
interpretations of everyday places. of the supermarket where we might • Recording sounds, sights and stories
skip certain aisles.’ – Becky Dodds, that evoke the Necklace Park
Mapping the Necklace team • Recording journeys of reality and
What is mapping? guidance, fantasy and speculation
‘Mapping’ is simply recording your This project formed part of North
presence in a place. It can be done with East England’s world-class festival
a picture, a pen and paper, a video events programme.
or anything you can get your hands
on. For example, if you took a photo
of yourself on your mobile phone,
or wrote a poem about how you feel,

Movement / New work
A B
New Work: how do you
want to work?
Wouldn’t it be great if... working people helped each other out more
with the practical hassles that wear us down?
is about practical design steps to
88% of people What this has got to improve the day-to-day experience
in the North East do with movement? of people who are self-employed or
work for, or as, a Remember all those books and have a micro-business. Many people
reports about ‘the future of work’? who work from home complain that
business with four Well, the future seems to have they often feel isolated, and would
people or less8 arrived. A report from Orange called like to exchange skills and services
The way to work9 states that 55% with each other on a local basis. They
of the UK workforce does not have also need help accessing the 300 or
Lack of social a job in the traditional sense of the more government assistance schemes.
interaction is as word. And a lot of our working lives Helping working people meet each
is spent moving around. other on a local basis has emerged as
much of a challenge Dott 07’s New Work project another key feature.
as lack of work
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38 / 39
C D
How did New Work work? The workshops revealed six top This ever-expanding group of
Many designers are already involved issues of concern for those running micro-businesses continues to
in the creation of hardware for work: a micro-business: meet online and in person, and
desks, lights, chairs and so on. But • Both finding the right staff and an increasing number of services
with numbers of self-employed keeping them continue to be delivered to them
people set to rocket nationwide, • Selling products and services as well as to any other interested
our next challenge is to redesign • Delegating responsibility to others micro-businesses.
the how, where and when of work. • Keeping up standards when
With this in mind, New Work asked expanding A&B: Challenge: the different skills we need
the question ‘How do you design • Accessing finance and investment ‘I have a sales role, an investment role,
your life?’ and looked at the specific • Managing time effectively a toned-down coding role… hell, I even
change the toilet roll’ Ross, Rozmic
problems facing this rapidly increasing Service design idea: share the right
section of the workforce. Ideas from their discussions were person – a skilled person is shared by
Project management company developed into services to respond two or more businesses
Enabling Concepts chose six diverse to each of the problems identified. C&D: Challenge: social isolation
small business owners at different Enabling Concepts then guided the ‘My work is my passion and I’d love
stages of growth to take part in a case- businesses in how they might deliver to share my enthusiasm with others’
Ben, Whiptail Cycles
study programme. With the help of those services collaboratively. Service design idea: working back at school
service designers live|work, they met The case-study group went on to – micro-business runs an in-school workshop.
regularly and identified what they each create an online forum open to the The students learn about your business,
and you get to interact with young people
needed to facilitate being the boss of a public to pilot the new services with in the local community
successful micro-business. each other and their growing network.

Movement / New Work
A B
Who is the happiest of them all?
According to the City & Guilds Happiness Index10, hairdressers are the
happiest workers in Britain: 40% say they are very content in their job (giving
their careers a score of 10 out of 10). Next in the happiness stakes are the clergy
(24%), chefs/cooks (23%), beauticians (22%) and plumbers, mechanics and
builders (all 20%). In contrast, only 5% of lawyers, IT specialists and secretaries/
PAs, 4% of estate agents, 3% of civil servants and 2% of architects say they
are extremely happy at work. Even that score seems doomed to plummet once
architects hear the City & Guilds advice on how to achieve happiness in the
workplace:‘Enrich your working environment with photos and flowers’.
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C D
A&B: Challenge: time pressure
‘I had a few days off a while ago –
but all I did was worry whether the
What next?
business would cope without me’ New Work explored issues that and business advice for the
– Manuela, Lexica Communications challenge people in a wide variety smallest of businesses
Service design idea: ‘Get it done’ game of work situations: time issues; access www.streetnortheast.co.uk
– turn ‘to do’ lists into a game, use objects
to represent tasks, then give the objects to tools and skills; feelings of loneliness Selling small amounts of time
to others. This helps keep track of tasks and social isolation; the need for places www.nationalmarkets.com/index.
and gets them done on time to meet and socialise and share. html
C&D: Challenge: giving presentations Below is a list of useful websites Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools
‘We need to improve the presentation related to this project: www.kk.org/cooltools/index.php
we give to potential customers – but we Fabrium Networks – an online How to stage a speed meeting
don’t have the skills or the time’ – Fiona,
Julie and team, The Wellness Centre forum helping small businesses to http://people.interaction-ivrea.
Service design idea: pimp my presentation exchange services with each other it/j.tester/speedmeeting/
– a social event and workshop at which www.fabriam.net For more information, contact
professionals help each other to improve
their presentation skills and materials Enabling Concepts Nathan Pellow at npellow@
www.enablingconcepts.co.uk enablingconcepts.co.uk or go to
Street North East: Financial www.dott07.com/go/newwork

Energy / Introduction
Energy: a new
approach
Can the North East do for energy what Stephenson’s Rocket did for transportation?
Each day, we all Energy is a fundamental requirement of renewable energy is that it does not
of modern life. We rely on it to provide produce the gases that are associated
contribute to climate heat and light, to cook, communicate, with climate change. And renewable
change through move around and make things. forms of energy will not run out.
Producing the energy required for
energy-dependent these activities means burning fossil
activities such as What is the North East
fuels – oil, coal and gas. This leads
doing for energy?
driving, heating or to an accumulation of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere, a process The North East has important
cooling our homes, that slowly heats up the planet and market-leading expertise in a variety
taking flights, leads to global warming. More and of new and renewable energy
more people, aware of the dangers of solutions. The region’s wind- and
disposing of waste climate change, want to take action. sea-based energy systems are
– and eating Renewable energy technologies developed at Blyth’s Centre for New
are becoming more important at a and Renewable Energy. A variety of
local, national and global level. Most land-based energy systems – hydro,
renewable energy comes from the heat solar, biomass and wind micro-
and light of the sun (wind, solar, wave, generation – are also being developed.
biomass). Other renewable energy Fuel cells are being developed at
comes from the gravitational pull of the Centre for Process Innovation,
the moon (lunar power) and the sun biomass systems at Cockle Farm,
on the oceans (tidal) and from the and next-generation photovoltaics
hot rocks found deep within the earth at Durham University. In the public
(geothermal). The primary advantage domain, a £20million project called
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The Watershed will be a unique
How energy is used in the UK
renewable energy model village
in a former cement works. Electricity production
Other land transport
Refining industries
How Dott 07 helped Water transport
Dott 07’s Low Carb Lane project Oil & gas extraction
(pages 44-47) sought to create Iron & steel
Public administration & defence
user-friendly visualisations of energy
Construction
use (based on a real-life case study)
Wholesale distribution
and make them a starting point from Education
which to develop a practical prototype Health & veterinary services
for sustainable household energy use. Organic chemicals
The North East Energy Futures Retail distribution
images (pages 48-51) depict what new Wood & wood products
and renewable energy technologies Misc. manufacturing & recycling
could look like if they were to be Plastic products
Motor vehicle production
deployed in the North East in the
Fertilisers Mainly final products
coming years. In place of today’s
Agriculture Mainly commercial services
coal-fired power stations, we will see Paper & paperboard Mainly public services
geothermal extraction rigs, biomass Cement, lime & plaster Mainly intermediate products
boilers and lunar energy in the form Hotels, catering, pubs etc Distribution & transport
of micro-hydro installations that Meat processing Delivered fuels, utilities &
harness the power of the tides. Inorganic chemicals agriculture
Gas distribution
Future Currents
BAR CHART: Carbon Trust (www.carbontrust.co.uk)
One third of the UK’s greenhouse tedious to procure, often expensive save energy and reduce the
gas emissions come from residential and hard to maintain. C02 emissions they produce.
households11. Householders could The RED team at the Design Proposals included devices for
reduce this by making their houses Council in London experienced home monitoring and regulatory
more efficient, generating their these frustrations first-hand while schemes to rank and reward
own energy, switching suppliers or living in a terraced house in London. citizens for good energy behaviour.
simply switching off. But power bills Their Future Currents project Find out more at:
are confusing, energy use is invisible proposed new products, services www.designcouncil.info/
and alternative installations are and policies to help householders futurecurrents/

Energy / Low Carb Lane
Low Carb Lane:
how can we pay less The home energy
challenge
for warmer homes? Many of us would like to reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions from our
energy use at home. Other people
Wouldn’t it be great if... energy efficiency was the have different priorities. What we have
in common is the desire to reduce our
easy option? energy bills. How might energy
efficiency be accessible, desirable and
affordable for all – rich or poor, home
owners and renters alike?
How did Low Carb
Lane work?
Dott’s Low Carb Lane team, led by
Ben Reason and Alex Webb Allen,
spent more than a year with the
community at Castle Terrace. We
learned about the social and economic
situation of citizens affected by fuel
poverty. The team then created a way
to visualise energy use using a
television-based ‘home energy
dashboard’, which enables the occupier
to understand where their energy is
used and so control it better. They then
developed a ‘pay-as-you-save’ scheme
called SaverBox, which removes
financial barriers to investing in
energy-efficient home improvements.
During our time in Low Carb Lane,
we learned that there are many issues
surrounding energy efficiency and
a variety of barriers in the way of
change. The residents’ main concern
ILLUSTRATIONS/PHOTO: live|work
was the decline of the street, both
physically and in terms of the
A: live|work’s graphic shows how small
A changes in our homes and behaviour
could more than halve our energy use
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community spirit. These issues far
outweighed climate change and
personal energy consumption.
The street is split 50/50 between
owner-occupiers and tenants of private
rental properties. Many of the
owner-occupiers blame the decline of
the community on the rise in privately
rented properties. Some landlords, they
say, do not invest in their properties
and allow them to fall into disrepair.
This results in a general decline in the
physical appearance of the street as
a whole. Homeowners are then less
inclined to invest in their own
properties, something that is beyond B
the financial means of many residents B: Castle Terrace, the location of Low Carb Lane
to begin with. These issues explain why
there is apathy towards climate change.
The introduction of the energy In Denmark, almost Agency-funded research project called
dashboard was motivated by the WATTCH. This explored the potential
suggestion by some researchers that 60% of heating for ‘smart-metering’ technology
real-time feedback raises awareness needs are met by (currently being rolled out in Sweden
and enables people to budget. and the Netherlands) to provide clear
We also looked at practical changes
district heating12 real-time energy consumption
to the products, appliances and information, in the form of a
interiors we use. We made energy Home energy dashboard screen-based ‘energy dashboard’ to
savings by choosing certain products The Low Carb Lane TV-based home domestic users via their televisions,
over others, from low-cost changes energy dashboard communicates the computers and mobile phones.
(light bulbs, draught excluders, relative savings of all the above and The WATTCH dashboard not only
curtains) to larger investments (such was displayed at the Dott 07 Festival. provided this information to empower
as A-rated white goods and boilers). With energy being an invisible entity, the domestic energy consumer and
We also investigated how insulating the only points of reference for the raise awareness of energy use, it also
homes can significantly reduce energy amount of energy we use are our utility proposed a reward scheme to
consumption and generate large bills. These are often complicated and encourage further efficiency and
savings on energy bills. many people feel they lack control over influence our energy behaviour.
We also looked at off-grid power their energy spend due to a lack of The WATTCH project resulted in a
generation – introducing solar thermal transparent information. fully working prototype that was tested
system, explaining why we chose it, and The Low Carb Lane project was in several households in Sweden. It
giving an objective presentation of all informed by several metering projects used internet-enabled televisions and
the pros and cons of various renewable that live|work has been involved in, the computers and received lots of positive
energy technologies. most recent being a Swedish Energy feedback. The Low Carb Lane project

Energy / Low Carb Lane
has been an ideal platform to continue installed (by qualified installers) at no making energy understandable and
developing the concept, and hopefully up-front cost. Then, each month, the the payment processes transparent.
bring the dashboard to market in the household agrees to pay off the cost of NESCO members receive a fixed
coming years. WATTCH this space! the loft insulation at a rate less than the monthly payment and accurate real-
energy savings generated by the loft time information about their energy
SaverBox insulation. So, the household is paying use, so they can compare their actual
Several people on Castle Terrace said for the insulation without feeling the use with their monthly payment.
that they’d love to cut their energy bills financial pinch and saving energy. While NESCO buys energy in bulk
by 50%, but didn’t have the money for Northumberland WarmZones, for cheaper than the market rate, it
the necessary home improvements. Ashington Credit Union, National does not sell it on to its members at
The SaverBox, exhibited at the Energy Action and the Wansbeck LIFE this rate as cheaper energy would
Dott 07 Festival, was created in Initiative are involved in the SaverBox not encourage energy saving. This
response to these concerns. It is a scheme. live|work hopes to replicate profit goes into a pot, which is used
package of energy-saving measures, the scheme nationwide using the to fund NESCO’s points scheme.
such as loft and cavity-wall insulation, existing structure of credit unions. This rewards individual households
that make your home both cheaper to for saving energy – for example,
run and greener. NESCO ‘Save £10 of energy this month and
The idea is simple: someone either It can be difficult to know how much get £10 of cinema tickets’.
comes round to your house to perform energy you are using and how much The reward scheme could also
an energy audit, or it can be done over it will cost, so live|work has created operate on a community-wide level.
the phone. Suitable SaverBox packages NESCO (North East Energy Service The ‘pot’ would also fund the
are then offered to the household – Co-operative), a proposed not-for- installation of the home energy
SaverBox Loft Insulation, for example. profit energy utility. It puts its dashboard to all members’ homes,
If the household agrees to the offer, members in control of their energy use and could also provide the funding
the loft insulation is provided and and encourages energy efficiency by basis for communities to access
renewable technologies, such as solar
thermal systems, heat pumps and
C wood-chip boiler systems.
Hopefully, helping people to lower
their energy bills and rewarding them
for doing so will prove popular, and
NESCO can be put into practice.
First, however, we will need to test it
in a larger community to see whether
it can really work.
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What next?
Dott’s Low Carb Lane team looked
for ways to make energy loss visible,
and put the information about
power use on a domestic dashboard
viewed on your TV screen.
So far, so good. The next step was
to figure out how such a dashboard
might help us change behaviour
– not just sit there making us feel
anxious. To this end, live|work
proposed NESCO which was
presented in the Dott Festival. They
are now talking to potential partners
about trialling the NESCO scheme
in community of around 100 houses.
The NESCO would act as a local
energy supplier, offer energy at flat
rates to both credit and pre-pay
energy customers, and also offer
reward points for energy saving.
Will all this happen? Within a
year or so, an interactive extension
of the TV dashboard system could
enable members of the NESCO to
network and communicate to them
the potential benefits of energy
saving to both individuals and the
community through the reward
scheme. With that in place, it
would encourage investment in
the physical environment and
foster greater community spirit.
Power to the people!
For the latest news, go to:
www.dott07.com/go/energy or
www.livework.co.uk
D For background information,
visit the Energy North East website:
C: the SaverBox is a package of energy-saving www.energynortheast.net/page/
measures designed to help households cut their whoswho.cfm
energy bills Low Carb Lane was led by
D: NESCO would use an energy dashboard
to show consumers exactly how their energy live|work (full credits and details
consumption compares with their bill – and can be found on pages 96 to 99).
how they could do better

Energy / North East Energy Futures
North East
Energy
Futures
The burning of fossil fuels for energy
generation results in the emission of
harmful gases such as carbon dioxide,
methane and sulphur dioxide. These
gases have been acknowledged by
the world’s leading scientists as key
contributors to global climate change.
In order to combat the effects of
climate change and ensure the stability
of energy supplies, renewable energy
technologies are important at a local,
national and global level.
Renewable energy will not run out.
It comes, mostly, from the heat and
light of the sun (wind, solar, wave,
biomass) though some comes from
the gravitational pull of the moon and
the sun on the oceans (tidal) and from
the hot rocks found deep within the
earth (geothermal). Renewable energy
does not produce the gases associated
with climate change.
But what would these new energy
systems look like once deployed
here in the North East? Dott 07 (in
partnership with Doors of Perception)
commissioned Konstantinos Chalaris
to create these images. They show the
range of new and renewable energy
technologies that could be deployed
in the North East in the future in
actual locations that would suit them,
such as rural, urban and suburban
settings as well as rivers and the sea.
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After visiting this small river in
Northumberland, Konstantinos Chalaris
designed a small scale water mill for energy
production. Enchantingly, it also powers a
musical instrument that emerges from the
water like a water lily. It would produce a
gentle musical tone to alert people to the
presence of the installaton, which would
otherwise remain hidden.

Energy / North East Energy Futures
For Newcastle’s famous Tyne Bridge, Chalaris
proposes wind turbines deployed in the
shape of the arch to become a wind arc.
Depending on wind levels, and on demand,
the arc would move up or down to expose
the three turbines to different degrees of wind
efficiency. When there is no wind (or a large
vessel is passing underneath) the system
withdraws into the bridge structure.
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Schools & Schooling / Introduction
Schools &
schooling: are
we giving today’s
school students
enough leeway
to shape the
world they will
live in?
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to sustainability, introducing the read more about this project on
The school principles of sustainable development, pages 60 to 63.
sustainablity challenge and offering guidance on how to Eco Design Challenge asked
Education lies at the heart of embed these principles into the heart Year 8 students across the North
Dott 07. After all, when it comes of school life13. East two questions: ‘How big is your
to sustainability and design, all of In OurNewSchool, Dott 07 asked: school’s ecological footprint?’ and
us – young and old – need to learn ‘What are the design priorities when a ‘What design steps would make it
new skills. Dott’s objective is to equip school is rebuilt?’ Dott 07 worked for smaller?’ We monitored their progress
the next generation with the insight a year with staff and students in a real over the year, and you can read about
and skills required to achieve one school – Walker Technology College how they fared on pages 54 to 59.
planet living. – to explore the question via a series
Dott projects support One of trials and experiments. During the Below: schools across the region were
challenged and energised by two
NorthEast’s ambition for people to second phase of the project, teachers, questions: ‘how big is your school’s
become expert at finding ways to use parents, students, policymakers and carbon footprint?’ and, ‘how do you
science and technology to improve designers debated the lessons they propose to make it smaller?’ The Eco
Warriors below, created by design firm
everyday life. They are also aligned had learned and considered how to NE6, featured in the communication
with the government’s national reproduce the best experiments on a campaign for Eco Design Challenge
Sustainable Schools programme, larger scale. To find out what happens
supporting schools on their journey next on schooling and sustainability,
ILLUSTRATION: NE6 Design Consultants Ltd

Schools & Schooling / Eco Design Challenge
Eco Design Challenge: how big is
your school’s ecological footprint?
Wouldn’t it be great if... we let students take the lead in reducing the
eco footprint of their school?
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Schools dispose of more than
60,000 tonnes of waste each year
The challenge of
greener schools
Schools aren’t the sorts of places you
immediately equate with low-energy
living. Many of them are old buildings
with costly, outdated and inefficient
heating and cooling systems that break
down at the first hint of sun or snow.
Others have poor levels of insulation,
including creaky doors and draughty,
ill-fitting windows.
And that’s just the buildings.
Vehicles taking students to and from
school contribute a huge amount to
the environmental damage caused
by traffic. Food in schools is often
wasteful, too: many schools spend
a huge amount of money and energy
preparing meals that few students
really eat, the ingredients of which
are grown and shipped in energy-
intensive ways.
No wonder former education
secretary Alan Johnson pledged a
total of £110million over three years
to make schools carbon neutral. But
how can school students make a
difference in this environment, and
bring their imaginations to bear in a
way that will be good for them and the
environment? Dott 07’s ECO Design
Challenge aimed to find out.
Left: graphic representation of high energy
usage of a school

Schools & schooling / Eco Design Challenge
as well as an animated Flash
version of it, which allowed them to
process their data and get a graphic
illustration of their progress, like a
school report.
They measured key resource flows,
such as how much water is used,
how waste is dealt with, how pupils
actually get to school or where their
food comes from. ‘This measurement
phase gave them a feel for how well
their school was performing as a
system,’ explains Devitt.
They went on to use this data
as a basis for a design brief that
would lead to the feature in question
working more effectively. Many
of the students worked with
professional designers to develop
design responses to them. The
results were showcased in a ‘projects
factory’ at the Dott 07 Festival.
How did the Eco Design Senior Producer on the project. We learned that many children
Challenge work? ‘We wanted to take design out of the are already well informed about
The project, which was designed technology workshop and give Year 8 environmental issues. What Dott
to tie in with the UK National students a broader “whole systems” added was an opportunity to try out
Curriculum, encouraged Year 8 perspective on how redesigning design techniques as a way to make
students across the North East of individual components could affect a positive, practical difference.
England to channel their creativity their school as a larger ecology.’ To help the students, Dott invited
into redesigning parts of their Dott posed two questions to a professional designers and architects
schools, with the objective of total of 80 schools: ‘How big is your to spend time in some of the schools
reducing their ecological and carbon school’s ecological footprint?’ and and work with the students. Both
footprints. It encouraged the design ‘What design actions do you propose sides – the students and the designers
of new systems and products that to make it smaller?’ – report that their enthusiasm was
support a sustainable future. Their first step was to identify, fired up and that their exchanges
‘The brief was to try to take using Dott’s calculator, where the sped up the development of ideas.
design cross-curriculum in the problems were in their school. Dott
Above: leading designer Sebastian Conran
context of sustainability,’ says gave the schoolchildren a carbon visited Lord Lawson of Beamish School
industrial designer Nick Devitt, ECO calculator Excel spreadsheet, to work with students on their projects
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‘The surprising thing was the
amount of effort and gusto that
the schools put into it,’ says Devitt.
Eighty-six schools registered to take
part – nearly half of all schools in
the region. Twenty of these were
shortlisted and went on to work
with the designers to develop ideas.
The shortlisted 20 came up with
a fascinating selection of design
briefs, ranging from secret passages
underground to pupils creating
energy while in detention. There
was also a heavy emphasis on issues
of recycling.
One of the great side-effects of the
challenge, according to Devitt, is that
some of the students have gone out
and talked to local businesses in a
kind of reverse education process.
‘They’re little eco-police, little eco-
warriors,’ he says. ‘You’ve got the
adults who think they know it all and
then 13-year-old enthusiastic people Above: Roy Shearer of Zero-waste for the ultimate school was shaped like
Design works with students from
come along in a kind of reverse a sun as a reminder of its design aims.
MacMillan Academy
student placement. But they’ll learn
about how business works too.’ that were shortlisted for Creative Cleaswell Hill School, Choppington
The best solutions were worked Community Awards, which were Food in our lunches can travel
into a ‘design factory’, which formed awarded at the start of the Dott 07 thousands of miles to our plates, so
a central part of the Dott 07 Festival. Festival on Tuesday 16 October. Cleaswell wanted to grow their own,
A series of ECO Design Challenge which would also bring educational
Awards were also presented as part Acklam Grange School, and energy benefits. A small team
of the Creative Community Awards Middlesbrough from Year 10 at Cleaswell, a school
during the first week of the festival. The school’s footprint highlighted for students with learning difficulties,
But the real benefits of the project – a number of issues for the school to worked with their teacher Cathryn Hill
for future school buildings, designers tackle. Students from Year 8 worked on the project.
and the rest of us – could be a great with three designers to develop their Stuart Franklin, an experienced
deal bigger than any prize. ideas, which included solar panels, architect with Jane Darbyshire and
Below is a list of the five schools filtration ponds and more. Their design David Kendall Ltd, and recent design

Schools & Schooling / Eco Design Challenge
graduate Gillian Sanderson helped
the school develop fun ideas for their
Vegigrow garden. They designed a
small garden with raised beds for easy
access, conducted researched about
what would grow and made plans
for community involvement. Local
allotment users have offered to assist
the school with their gardens.
Lord Lawson of Beamish
School, Birtley
The source of eco-concern for
this team was how students and
teachers travel to school. A group of
40 Geography students calculated
A the school’s carbon footprint, and
then Denise Taylor’s Design and
Technology class worked on design
ideas. Michael Atkinson, an architect
from Newcastle firm Purves Ash
LLP, helped the group to develop
their transport ideas. With a brand
new school building on the way, the
students designed a new system of
bike sheds to encourage students to
cycle to school, which they hope will
be implemented for the new school.
St Hild’s Church of England
School, Hartlepool
B C This team concentrated on how to
reduce the water wastage in their
A: students at Lord Lawson of Beamish
School get stuck in to their design projects school. Twenty-three Year 8 students
B&C: a student from MacMillan Academy determined the school’s carbon
takes part in the Eco Design Challenge
footprint and another 24 developed
ideas with teachers Diane Crannage
and Mike Rowe.
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Alex Reeves, an architecture student
from Newcastle University, visited What next?
the school to provide additional Dott’s Eco Design Challenge centres which will gather together
advice. Their solution was a curved, unleashed extraordinary energy and local networks of educational
transparent extension on to the creativity in schools across the region. organisations. The North East’s
school’s roofs to collect rainwater, Students embraced a new vision of coordinator is the Institute for
channelling it onto a water wheel education in which people of all ages Research on Environment and
to generate electricity and then on assume responsibility for creating Sustainability (IRES) at Newcastle
into storage tanks. The extension and enjoying a sustainable future. University. www.ncl.ac.uk/
would enable everyone to see just As we go to press with this environment/research/
how much water and energy was manual, the National Endowment EfSDVision.htm or email Dr Aidan
being saved. for Science Technology and the Arts Doyle: Aidan.Doyle@ncl.ac.uk
(NESTA) and the Design Council
Tanfield School, Stanley are finalising details of an Eco Carbon Control
The students at Tanfield wanted Design Challenge Phase 2 for the The RSA has teamed up with
a place where both they and the five finalists of this year’s challenge. Tesco to distribute its Schools
local community could learn about Email Lesley Morris at the Design Carbon Calculator. The project
the environment and growing and Council: lesley.morris@ will culminate in a nationwide
cooking food, but that would also designcouncil.org.uk three week competition.
help to reduce the school’s carbon www.rsacarbonlimited.org
and ecological footprint. Carbon Detectives’ Kit
Fourteen students worked with The Carbon Detectives’ Kit is an One World Schools
Dr Kev Hilton, a designer from online carbon footprint calculator for Groundwork helps schools move
the Centre for Design Research at schools in England. The project was from bronze and silver EcoSchools
Northumbria University, and with funded by the Department for awards through to Green Flag status.
teachers Stephen Mason and Sue Children, Schools and Families and http://penninelancs.
Smith to develop their design. developed by the Field Studies groundworknw.org.uk
The Tanfield Bubble is an outdoor, Council (FSC) Environmental
glass-enclosed eco-classroom designed Education Unit. Sustainable School
to provide education on sustainable www.carbondetectives.org.uk Self-Evaluation Kit
development, and has already www.teachernet.gov.uk/
received a good deal of local support. NESTA sustainableschools/tools
The Bubble would include areas to www.nesta.org.uk/news
grow fruit and vegetables, kitchen The team behind the project is
classrooms in which to cook them Education for listed on pages 96 to 99. For
and a café in which to sell them, as Sustainable Development more information on Eco Design
well as chickens, beehives, rainwater The United Nations University Challenge, go to: www.dott07.com/
collection – and even a wormery. is setting up a worldwide system of go/ecodesignchallenge

Schools & Schooling / OurNewSchool
OurNewSchool: how could
schools be better designed?
Wouldn’t it be great if... the whole community decided
how its new school would be designed?
The future of school design
Having proclaimed the vital importance
of education to the nation’s future,
the government is putting its money
where its mouth is. Over the next 15
years, 3,500 schools will be rebuilt or
refurbished in a £70billion programme
called Building Schools for the Future
(BSF). It is a fantastic opportunity to
put the latest thinking on education
into practice on a massive scale.
A lot of attention is being paid to the
criteria that will determine how all these
schools will be designed. Head teachers
and communities, and the architects
and designers they work with, will be
nominally free to do things their way.
But their design space will be heavily
circumscribed by public procurement
procedures that determine how all this
public money may be spent. If they
were left unchanged, procurement
policies would force local authorities to
go with the lowest-cost proposals for
slightly better versions of the types of
school that were there before.
There are positive signs that a
broader definition of value for money,
PHOTOS: Phyllis Christoper GRAPHIC: Engine
which concentrates on more than just
cost, will inform the BSF process.
Powerful government agencies
including the Audit Commission
have stated that outputs – such as the
impact of new school projects on the
local economy – are as important as
inputs, such as the money spent
on them.
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What we did: the OurNewSchool project
brought together information and views
from everyone involved in the life of Walker
Technology College

Schools & Schooling / OurNewSchool
A C
because not all pupils have pens, then
How OurNewSchool a system is needed that ensures every
worked pupil has a pen’. The main topic to
What are the design priorities when emerge from their discussions was
a school is rebuilt? This was the vocational learning. It was agreed that
question posed by designers from co- the benefits to the school in having
design team Engine, led by Joe Heapy, their own co-designed vocational
when they created an in-school design learning zone would be numerous.
laboratory at Walker Technology For example, it would reduce time
College in Newcastle, one of the first B wasted travelling to outside vocational
schools in England to receive money learning facilities and provide more
A: inside Walker Technology College
from the government’s BSF project. B: Joe Heapy from Engine works with
choice and better opportunities for
Their aim was to enable all members students and teachers at Walker pupils. Engine and the students
of the community to explore options C: student council members James considered how this vocational
Oliphant and Amber Milligen with Walker
for the school’s development and teacher Claire Goodwill. Claire recently
learning zone might be best provided
they learned a great deal about how a retrained to teach hair and beauty at for Year 7 up to Year 14 in a way that
school can make itself ‘design ready’. Walker’s vocational block would be sustainable, adaptable, and
PHOTOS: A, C & E – Phyllis Christoper; B & D – Engine
The team began by embarking on a could potentially serve the wider
discovery phase, working with pupils might use it better. Engine worked community. They then organised small
and finding out everything about their with the teachers and students to workshops with the BSF team, Walker
experiences of the school day. They identify a series of issues that needed head teacher Steve Gater, deputy head
went on to hold workshops on the addressing. One example was: ‘If we Mike Collier and Kath Davidson,
subject of time and how the school waste time at the beginning of a lesson head of personalised learning.
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D E
New ways to learn What next? Partnership, the organisation that will
Nearly 40 years ago, Ivan Illich Details are still being looked at for be working with them to develop their
proposed that we should de-school the proposed vocational learning new school.
society14. His idea was that we block and the design of the learning The OurNewSchool project at
should use existing technologies journey for students through school. Walker Technology College is a
and spaces – the telephone, local The team is considering questions prototype for a way of working that
radio, town hall meetings – to such as: what subjects will Walker aims to support schools in designing
create learning webs through which keep on site? Who will use the together. The plan is to see if the
learners could connect with their vocational learning block? How prototype can be transformed into
peers and with new contexts in will the block help to build links a larger project, creating a design
which to learn. with local employers? How will it community of schools and developing
Three decades later, Tom Bentley serve the wider community? new skills.
of Demos made a similar point in Engine is putting together a design If you’d like to know more or would
Learning Beyond the Classroom15: brief in the form of a brochure that like to help, go to:
‘We should think of learning as will be used by the school to help www.ournewschool.org or
an ecology of people and groups, them present designs developed www.enginegroup.co.uk
projects, tools and infrastructures. through the project. The brochure The team behind OurNewSchool is
We need to reconceptualise will include drawings, photographs listed on pages 96 to 99.
education as a living system whose and illustrated scenarios to bring For more information go to:
intelligence is distributed and the school’s ideas to life for parents, www.dott07.com/go/ournewschool
shared among all its participants.’ partners and the Local Education
D: Engine worked with students and
teachers to find out everything about
their school day
E: lunchtime at Walker

Health / Introduction
Health: can
design make
a difference?
One planet living is not just about looking after the natural world. It also means improving
the ways we organise social support for each other on issues such as health.
Health and care industries are growing Counting the uncountable A strong support system lowers the
because people don’t look after family Our starting point in Dott was that likelihood of many illnesses, decreases
members as much as they once did. care is a time and communication the length of recovery time, and
The world’s poorest nations spend issue, not a technology or drugs reduces the probability of mortality
200 times less money per person on issue. The costs of technology from serious diseases.
health (an average of $11) than (including drugs and hospitals) can Wireless first-aid alarms and
wealthier nations such as Britain or the be counted, and are. The value of distress-call systems are useful and
US, which averages $5,000 a head16. health professionals, and the time reassuring. But, by far the most
The pity of it is that spending larger spent by people being off work ill, beneficial care for people of all ages,
sums of money does not appear to also has a financial cost. But the not just elders, is social contact and
buy better health – or, at least, not a time spent by caregivers looking mutual support.
longer life. The biggest spenders on after loved ones tends not to be
healthcare, North Americans, die earlier counted, let alone acknowledged,
than Japanese or Spaniards, who spend as an economic activity plus in the
far less17. Medicine is now a $2trillion nation’s balance sheet.
industry but much of the world’s It makes no sense to ignore this
population dies of the same diseases care economy. Study after study tells
that killed people 1,000 years ago: us that a sense of social support is
malaria, tuberculosis and malnutrition. a buffer against stress and illness.
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Alzheimer100: Better Lives
With Dementia
Wouldn’t it be great if… practical steps were taken to improve daily life for people
with dementia and their carers?
Informal caregivers How Alzheimer100 worked Case study 1 – Bill
– family, friends and Dott 07 asked service design firm
thinkpublic, led by Deborah Szebeko,
Bill, 56, was an engineer for the whole
of his working life. He lives with
neighbours – spend to work with Alzheimer’s Society his wife, Susan, in the city. His two
80 hours a week branches throughout the North East children live a 15-minute drive away.
to investigate the everyday problems His story: ‘My life’s changed a lot
providing care18 experienced by Alzheimer’s patients over the past couple of years. Being
and carers, and service providers. diagnosed with Alzheimer’s means
thinkpublic helped people record I have to rely on my family much
Dementia already their experiences; they used film, more. I’m lucky that I have a good
affects 750,000 diaries, interviewed one another, group of friends – at first it was a
people in the UK. made prototypes, and drew. From bit strange, but they’re beginning
these activities emerged a long list of to understand that I’m still me.
The number will be common challenges faced by people ‘One of the hardest things for me was
approaching two during their journeys through dementia. losing my job. Things that I was doing
every day I just couldn’t remember.
million by 2050, with The key challenges This meant we lost an income and
three or four times identified were: went on disability allowance, but
as many people • Social isolation, both of people
with dementia and their carers
what amazed me most was how
much I missed my workmates.
affected indirectly19 • Lack of public awareness and the ‘I’ve more time to enjoy my hobbies,
stigma attached to the subject and I’ve also been introduced to other
• Difficulty in navigating the wide groups in similar situations to me by
array of support services that exist my GP. The fun and humour of the
• Tendency of carers and services group get me through the tough days.
to be over-protective of people with ‘I couldn’t have got through this
dementia without Susan. Sometimes we argue
• The long hours worked by carers and get frustrated, but we both support
on their own and without support. each other and that gets us through.’

Health / Alzheimer100: Better Lives With Dementia
Case study 2 – Betty
Betty is 80 and lives alone – her
children live a long way away. She
is a retired schoolteacher and her
husband Alan passed away 10 years
ago. Betty was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s two years later and is
now in the later stages of the disease.
Her story: ‘I felt very isolated when
I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My
family wasn’t around me and I wasn’t
referred for support by the doctor. For
a few years I felt very lonely – I had
nothing to do and no one to see. All
I thought about was the past, which
made me feel content. I started to look
for my old home and my neighbour
says I spent hours searching.
‘I now attend a day club where I
have lunch and have made new friends.
I always feel safe there, even though I
can’t remember everyone’s name. It’s
good to talk to people: I talk about my
old life, my family, where I was brought
up. My neighbour says that I don’t
wander as much any more.’
Case study 3 – Margaret
Before Margaret, now 72, married
her husband Howard, she worked at
her village bank. She then had three
children and gave up work to look after
them and the family home. Margaret’s
children have since grown up and left
the area and she has been diagnosed
with vascular dementia.
Her story: ‘I went to see a
consultant who diagnosed that I had
a “memory problem”. A memory
problem? Everybody my age starts
to have a bad memory!
‘Howard keeps saying that I’m
forgetting things, but I don’t know
what the fuss is about. He says that
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66 / 67
we need to tell the children, but what’s
to tell them? We can look after ourselves.
‘I used to host afternoon tea for the
Women’s Institute every week, but
I’m too busy at the moment. Howard
says that I should be seeing people
more – he keeps talking about a day
club that I should go to. Day club?
I’m not old enough for that yet!’
Case study 4 – Johnny
Johnny is a 73-year-old former sailor
whose one son lives abroad. Shortly
after Johnny was diagnosed with
dementia, his wife Mary died.
His story: ‘I miss Mary so much.
I didn’t realise how much I relied
on her. I’m so confused now. I can’t
even remember when I have a doctor’s
appointment, let alone get there.
‘Luckily, I now have someone to
remind me about appointments and a
volunteer who accompanies me. They
also attach notes to household objects
to remind me about engagements and
to prompt me to take my medication.
‘I have also been introduced to a
volunteer service that sends people
to visit and check that I am well.’
Left: when someone first discovers that they
ILLUSTRATION: thinkpublic/Matt Johnstone
or a loved one may have a problem with
dementia, a key challenge is the complexity
of support services and information available.
Citizens and professionals jointly considered
this challenge in a co-design workshop during
Alzheimer100. Their conclusion: it would
be great if there was a Dementia Adviser
in each area, supported by a kind of
concierge service in the background to
guide people through the early stages.

Health / Alzheimer100
A
A: Dott hosted several co-design days at which person to help guide people through visits, bill-paying, hospital visits,
people listened to each other’s stories and the early stages of dementia. home repairs, walking clubs, support
voted (in this case using balloons) on which
challenges were most important to them groups and self-help courses. For
B: one of the creative workshops organised the Dott 07 Festival, Dott teamed
by Equal Arts Proposal 2: up with TimeBank to demonstrate
TimeBank for volunteers how a service for a different group
One way to reduce individual of people works – in this case,
Proposal 1:
caregiver stress is to spread care refugees and their mentors.
Dementia Adviser between more than one person. The service, called Time Together
Concierge Service One theme to emerge from (www.timetogether.org.uk) featured
One of the key challenges faced by Alzheimer100 was that friends and mentors and mentees from the
people when they first discover they family often want to help but don’t North of England Refugee Service
or a loved one may have dementia know how. With ‘time banks’, mutual in Newcastle and Sunderland.
is the sheer complexity of support volunteers help each other to remain Time Together works as a three-
services and information available. independent. Volunteers earn and tier system whose staff use the ‘Time
PHOTOS: Thinkpublic, Equal Arts
A co-design workshop led by pay ‘time credits’ through the scheme Together Tool Kit’. As a poster at
thinkpublic concluded that it would for giving and receiving non-medical the Dott 07 Festival boldly asked:
be advantageous if there was a key services such as shopping, friendly ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had a
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What next?
The Dott 07 team was inspired
during the Alzheimer100 project by
how much people with dementia,
and their carers, do to support each
other. That said, the project revealed
new opportunities to improve
peoples’ lives in practical ways. Our
project partners (below) will develop
these ideas, presented at the Dott 07
festival, in the coming months.
B Alzheimer’s Society
The UK’s leading care and research
charity for people with dementia,
Time Together for carers?’ Volunteer Proposal 4:
their families and carers.
researchers from the Alzheimer’s Wandering Path www.alzheimers.org.uk
Society solicited feedback from (Equal Arts, Years Ahead
visitors on how such a service should
Shadon House) The North East regional forum
work if one were set up for volunteers
on ageing.
to share some of the load of carers of Steel picket fencing and grey
www.yearsahead.org.uk
people with dementia. concrete are bad for morale and do
Time Bank
little to stimulate the imagination.
A national charity that inspires and
And yet many of the institutions
Proposal 3: connects people to volunteer in their
for carers or people with dementia
Dementia Café are just this depressing. Equal Arts,
communities.
www.timebank.org.uk
Another co-design workshop a foundation that enables older
thinkpublic
discussed the stigma attached to the people to be involved in arts across
London-based design firm
subject of dementia, and how difficult the North East, plans to create a
specialising in user-focused design.
it is for people with dementia or their series of ‘wandering paths’ through
http://thinkpublic.com/
carers to talk openly about the subject. the grounds of Shadon House,
Dementia Cafe
Dementia needs to be spoken about a dementia resource centre in
A site where those involved with
openly in the community, and people Gateshead. Safe wandering can be of
dementia can share experiences.
with dementia need to be able to meet huge benefit to people with dementia
www.dementiacafe.com/
other people in a social space where – but too often, they encounter locked
news.php
they can talk and have fun. It turned doors or are told to sit down. Artists
Equal Arts
out that the prototype of an answer to and horticulturists are beginning to
information@equalarts.org.uk
this need already exists in the form of develop plans with the involvement
www.equalarts.org.uk
the Dementia Café set up and run by of older residents, care staff, families
For further information on
volunteers in North East England. and the wider community.
Alzheimer100 see:
www.dott07.com/go/
alzheimer100

Health / Design and Sexual Health (DaSH)
DaSH: how can sexual health
services be made easier to access?
Wouldn’t it be great if... people who needed to use sexual health services did?
The UK has worryingly high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and the highest
teenage pregnancy rate in Europe, and the North East commonly tops national
figures. While Gateshead has had considerable success in bringing down teenage
pregnancy rates – 22% in the past five years20, due largely to taking the services out
of their conventional settings and encouraging more young men to use them – local
people still have to travel out of the town to get tested for STIs. The government has
therefore given the health services money to create a local service.
Britain has the How did DaSH work? and soft issues to the district’s PCT.
This project was carried out by
dubious honour DaSH was a collaboration between Design Options, part of the technical
of coming second Dott 07 and Gateshead Primary Care assistance arm of Marie Stopes
Trust (PCT), who worked together International, working together
highest in the on design actions that would make with Gateshead’s Sexual Health
developed world sexual health screening and treatment Promotions team, with support from
services easier to access and use. The the Centre for Design Research
league table for project aimed to develop a system at Northumbria University.
rates of teenage where people would be seen by a local The Department for Health’s
pregnancy21 service within 48 hours of contact, National Strategy for Sexual Health
and where the treatment path is clearly and HIV suggests that users find that
explained and suits the user’s needs. the services offering contraception
The team, led by Dr Louise and the diagnosis and treatment
Hulton of Design Options, began by are disjointed, and they are in
conducting research to understand locations which are difficult to use
the daily lives of the people that or make the user feel stigmatised.
policy-makers hope will use the Sexual health workers in Gateshead
service. They then explored ways that already take their contraception
new facilities, communications and services out to the user – for
procedures could improve the use example, workers will meet young
and experience of the service. Their men and women at places where
final task was to deliver a service they usually gather, at school,
design blueprint covering these hard leisure centres or in their homes.
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What next?
DaSH, led by Design Options
together with Gateshead PCT and
the Centre for Design Research,
Northumbria University,
used the latest service design
techniques to develop a sexual
health service blueprint for the
town. The project’s founding
principle was that a person’s
experience of using such a service
should be central to its design.
The project team’s design
recommendations resulted
in a blueprint for a service in
which people are seen within
48 hours of first contact, the
treatment pathway is clear and
it meets the needs, preferences
Above: wouldn’t it be great if sexual Options team spoke to around 40 and circumstances of all users.
health clinics were placed in everyday professionals and more than 1,000
situations? Clinic areas at the back of high A reorganisation of the local
street fashion stores, for example, might Gateshead citizens, with a particular health authorities means that
encourage people to look after their sexual focus on young people, gay and implementing the DaSH-designed
health as part of their normal lifestyle bisexual men, and other groups who service is still in the pipeline, but the
find it harder to use health services. blueprints can be downloaded from:
But once screening or treatment Interviews and discussions took place www.dott07.com/go
for a sexually transmitted infection to ensure the final outcome met with dashconclusion
is needed, Newcastle or South their expectations and preferences. This user-centred approach for
Shields are currently the nearest Each group looked at the ideas that developing sexual health services
places where facilities are available. the design team developed and has been picked up by five other
This is often a long way to travel for explained what they would want their health authorities, so the project’s
those without personal transport, experience of the service to be like.
ILLUSTRATION: Design Options with Louise Marshall (Illustrator)
legacy continues. For more
limited time or income, so it’s easy Taking the information gathered at information, visit:
for people to fall through the net. these sessions, the designers looked at www.designoptions.org.uk
The team’s objective was to create a how their ideas would work in reality The project team is listed on pages
local service better suiting Gateshead by working alongside the people who 96 to 99. For more about DaSH,
residents so they are treated easier would be putting them into practice. visit: www.dott07.com/go/dash
and quicker. The benefits of early This is the first time sexual health
diagnosis and treatment obviously service design has been tackled in
include better health for the user, as this way and it’s hoped the project and internationally. Unfriendly-
well as a decreased risk of sexually will provide a good example of how by-design sexual health clinics
transmitted infections being spread. to redevelop and advance other can be unwelcoming, deterring
To design this service, the Design health services, both nationally those who really need them.

Health / Design and Sexual Health (DaSH)
Heworth Ryton Bens
Citizen Citi
Right: designing a user-centred health Gateshead
Citizen
Citizen
Gateshead
service, as DaSH set out to do, is not a Birtley
Citizen
Citizen
simple matter. As this chart shows, DaSH Bensham
Citizen
involved contact between an extraordinary Low Fell
Citizen
variety of people, groups and organisations. Heworth
Citizen
The designers in DaSH spent a huge amount Ryton
Citizen Gateshead
of time making initial contact with people MESMAC Citizen Consultant
Microbiologist
Whickham
and gaining their trust, before they even Citizen
Hookergate
started on co-design activities School
Sixth Formers
Gateshead Newcastle
Citizen MESMAC
GP Young Gay /
Whickham Bisexual
Health men’s Group
Centre Director of
Nursing,
Gateshead Community
Citizen and Primary Care,
GatesheadPCT
Children’s Rights
Team Member GANOT
Teenage
Pregnancy
Co-ordinator Pel
Youth
Gateshead Wo
Citizen
Ric ttm astle CFD
Pa wc T
Ne PC
Pam
ha an Yo R Dott 07 P she
Gwendolyn Douglas
rd
Brandon Gateshead Benedict
Design Options PCT Singleton
Design Options Gates
Rob ng Devitt Gateodds
Sheron Citi
u
Robson
ert
Gateshead
DaSH
PCT
Nick
Menta
Jenna Angela Mike Mark Nurse
Singleton Star Smart Oddy Offend
D a
CT ad No Rho vril
Design Options Gateshead Design options Gateshead
Lis
PCT PCT
SH h Ea s
Sue
r t de
A st
Shilling
A
Gateshead Gates
PCT Citi
Lindsay Louise
Heather Hulton
Hillyard McAdam
Design Options Gateshead Design Options
Gateshead
PCT
Citizen G
Tea
Needle Med
Exchange Prac
Refugee and Worker
Asylum Seekers Service
Team Leader Manager Open
GVOC
Consultation
Gateshead Public Health Gateshead
Citizen Specialist Civic
Sunderland PCT Center
Director of
Public Health
Gateshead
PCT Mother and
Toddler Group
Design Team Gateshead
Citizen
Leam Lane Sure
Start Centre
Ryton Head of
User Group Workshops Citizen
Team Leader
Public Health
Operations
NEAC Gateshead Gateshead
Gateshead Citizen PCT
Citizen
Blaydon
Citizen
Co-Design Team Felling
ILLUSTRATION: Design Options
Citizen
Whickham
Citizen
Chopwell
Citizen Ryton
Citizen Gateshead
Key Informants Citizen Gateshead
Citizen Birtley Whick
Citizen Citi
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72 / 73
sham Gateshead
izen Citizen Low Fell
Citizen Low Fell
Citizen Blaydon
Citizen Birtley
Citizen Gateshead
Birtley Citizen
Citizen Gateshead Gateshead
Citizen Heworth Citizen
Citizen
Heworth
Citizen Gateshead
Citizen
Chopwell
Citizen Birtley
Whickham Citizen
Citizen
Pharmacist,
Raygales,
Whickham Head of Sexual Gateshead Gateshead
Health Services Citizen Citizen
Gateshead
PCT
Heworth Gateshead
Gateshead Citizen
Citizen Citizen
Assistant Connexions
Director Gateshead Heworth
Advisor Citizen
of Nursing Citizen Bensham
Gateshead Citizen
PCT
Blaydon
Citizen
Highfield Whickham
Community Citizen
Centre, Youth Gateshead
Worker Citizen
STAG
Gateshead
Gay / Bisexual
Shaadiq
law
Men’s Group
S PA
Centre Gateshead Gateshead
bin D of Hea
orker
F
Chlamydia Gateshead Citizen Citizen
Screening
a epart lth
Co-ordinator Citizen Peteer
Cart ment WRED
r
Blaydon Bensham
Citizen Citizen
shead Gateshead
Jennie
izen Citizen
inhall
Gateshead
Citizen
Bensham Young
People at
Department overnmen
‘Visible’
Dennison G Graney
Catherine
Youth Offending
of Health NoOffice t C Ston le
BME Student
Group Team
al Health Felling Support Gateshead Gateshead Gateshead
e,Youth Worker Citizen Citizen Citizen
ding team Gateshead
College
Gateshead
rth Ea
Citizen
A nne
Gateshead
s
shead
t Sexua tre fo
izen Citizen Felling Gateshead
Citizen Citizen
Res l Hea r
en e
ear lth
Nic
Gateshead
ch
Young Women’s Gateshead
o
Outreach Citizen
Project Body Whickham
GP, Positive Gateshead Citizen
ams N.E Worker Citizen
dical
ctise
Gateshead
Team Leader Citizen
NECA
Gateshead
Citizen
Felling
Gateshead Citizen
Citizen
Felling
Newcastle Health Citizen
Promotion for Gateshead
Health Sex Workers, Citizen
Protection Worker
Agency Worker
Gateshead
Gateshead
Youth
Council
Citizen
Gateshead
Citizen
Gateshead
Citizen Advisory Group
Manager
Youth and Felling
Community Citizen Low Fell
Learning Manager Citizen
Community
Health Team
Worker
Gateshead
Citizen
Steering Group
Low Fell
Gateshead Citizen
Citizen
Chopwell Chopwell
Citizen Citizen
Ryton
Citizen
Gateshead
Citizen
Gateshead Citizens Street Interviews
Gateshead
Birtley Citizen
Citizen Chopwell
Citizen
Blaydon
Citizen
kham Felling
Birtley
Citizen
Chopwell
Citizen One to One ‘Real Story’ Interviews
izen Citizen
PCT: Primary Care Trust
SHA: Strategic Health Authority

Health / Our Cyborg Future?
Our Cyborg Future?
Where am I? How am I? Who am I?
Plug-in care How did Our Cyborg
From cyborgs and high-tech clothing Future work?
to mind-reading computers: is this Is this the way we want to live? A
really the future we want? Designers Dott 07 team pondered this as part
are creating a world in which every of Our Cyborg Future. A programme A
object, every building and every body of discussions and workshops across
is connected to a network. These the North East culminated in an
changes blur the difference between exhibition between 10 August and
natural and artificial, mind and body, 27 October 2007 at the Victorian
you and the world. Great Hall in Newcastle’s Discovery
We did not set out to design such Museum – the main science museum
an outcome. It’s just happening – or for the North East of England. The
it will, if we let it. The penetration of exhibition was followed up by three
technology onto and into our bodies special Cyborg debates during the
is happening without discussion of Dott 07 Festival.
its consequences. This project formed part of
But it’s not a plot. There’s no North East England’s world-class B
Dr Frankenstein out there. This festival and events programme.
A: a Japanese-led research team has
exhibition, curated by Andrew Caleya
announced the creation of a robot that can
Chetty with Sabine Seymour for carry human beings and is ‘aimed at helping
Dott 07 and the Discovery Museum, care for the country’s growing number of
elderly’. The RI-MAN robot can hear, see,
contained only real-life, practical
smell, talk and touch, and is designed to be
and well-meant enhancements by a partner robot that can carry out welfare
dedicated designers and engineers. and care tasks. The idea is grotesque – but
a boom in assistive technology is on the way,
The problem is that these experts
whether we want it or not. Tech companies
tend to work in isolation from and researchers have identified a market
each other. They seldom get to among elderly people’s children, who would
rather pay for care than provide it in person.
stand back and talk with us about
But will those who are supposed to benefit
consequences and the bigger picture. from such products be allowed to participate
It’s not an either/or discussion in the development of the technology?
that we require – technology can be
B: the renowned Australian artist Stelarc
a boon if you’ve been disabled by demonstrated and performed this
accident or illness – but we do need extraordinary ‘Walking Head’ – a six-legged
walking robot – as a joint activity between
to discuss priorities. The poorest
Dott and Newcastle’s celebrated Centre for Life
nations spend $11 per person
on health, compared with nearly
$5,000 for every US citizen.
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What next?
If you would like to find out more
about the impact of technology on
our bodies and health, visit:
www.dott07.com/go/cyborg
Below is a further list of useful
websites and recommended
background reading related
to Our Cyborg Future:
C E
Android World
www.androidworld.com
Andy’s Wearable Computing
Resource
Investigating wearable computers
and associated technologies
www.redwoodhouse.com/
wearable
bionow
D F Cluster support group of
England’s biotechnology,
C: Tobie Kerridge, Ian Thompson and Nikki E: Marcel·lí Antúnez Roca – Requiem. pharmaceutical and healthcare
Stott – Biojewellery. Making jewellery special The Requiem exoskeleton is made of industry in the North West
to you is hard to do, but how about jewellery aluminium sheets, stainless steel and 19
www.bionow.co.uk
made from your loved ones? One couple’s pneumatic pistons, enabling movement
cells were seeded onto a ‘bioactive scaffold’, of the knees, thighs, groin, hip, shoulders,
which encouraged the cells to divide and elbows, jaw and hands Fashionable Technology™
grow rapidly. The resulting tissue took on the
Research Consortium
form of the scaffold, in this case a ring shape F: G-Tec – Brain-Computer Interface for
Computer Control. Wouldn’t it be great www.fashionabletechnology.org
D: this flying human form, designed by Land to just have to ‘think’ to move a cursor on
Design, the exhibition’s designers, represented a computer screen? The Brain-Computer
Smart Textiles network
the blurring boundaries between the human Interface aims to do this. A neuro-cap
form and a growing number of man-made with sensors attached, which is linked to Think-tank exploring the
spare body parts and enhancements a computer, picks up mental activity and future of smart textiles,
then detects changes and transforms
intelligent clothing, products
them into a control signal
and environments in the
context of future markets
www.smartextiles.co.uk
medGadget
Internet journal of emerging
medical technologies
www.medgadget.com

Food / Introduction
Food: the
ultimate design
challenge?
Food is a crucial energy challenge. For a Northern city such as Toronto, 30% or
more of its ecological footprint can be traced to its food systems22. From farm to
plate, depending on the degree to which it has been processed, a typical food
item may embody input energy between four and more than 100 times the
food energy that enters our bodies23.
Food for thought transportation of foods alone have to re-frame food systems as design
Global food systems are not fuelled greater demand for locally opportunities, and to consider what
sustainable. Industrialised food can grown food. But, for many of us who design steps we might take to make it
consume over 100 times more energy live in cities, the separation between easier for city dwellers to grow their
in production and distribution city and country has seemed to be an own fruit and vegetables.
than enters our bodies as nutrition. obstacle to local food production. The Urban Farming project in
In developed countries, the food Some planners and architects have Middlesbrough brought together more
consumption of a single family responded by discussing new ways than 1,000 citizens – or ‘New Urban
generates eight tonnes of CO2 to grow food in cities in what they Farmers’ – to grow food in small,
emissions a year24. This madness is call ‘continuous productive urban medium and large containers all
enabled by non-renewable fossil landscapes’, building on existing over town.
fuel. But what to do? resources such as the UK’s 59 city
Over the past 10 years, the farms, nearly 1,000 community
growing number of food miles and gardens and 66 school farms. The
escalating CO2 emissions from the focus of the Dott 07 food projects was
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Food / Urban Farming 76 / 77
A B
C D
PHOTOS: A & B – North News and Pictures; C – Dott 07; D – Steve Messam
How might we keep food within
city limits – from farm to plate?
Up to a quarter of the ecological footprint of towns and cities is made up of the way
food is grown, distributed, prepared, eaten – and chucked away25. What practical
design steps might change that?
A: schoolchildren planting at Berwick Allotments as part of the Urban Farming project
B: students from Linthorpe Community Primary School bring in their harvest for the town meal
C: Jimmy Cooper and Pat Hindmarch, members of the Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust gardening club
D: red pumpkins

Food / Urban Farming
Growing together to existing and new markets, a new When you eat an
During the summer and autumn of relationship needs to be struck
2007, thousands of people living and between urban and rural, and iceberg lettuce from
working in Middlesbrough participated communities need inspirational and the US, 127 calories
in a project to increase local food
production and reduce food miles.
educational ‘soil to plate’ experiences.
Middlesbrough Council and David
of energy are used
Along the way, young, old, rich Barrie, senior producer for Dott in its shipping and
and poor worked together, growing 07, have led the project, working in merchandising for
food and realising new relationships close partnership with Groundwork
with local food producers and South Tees, Middlesbrough Primary every one calorie of
existing growers in the town and its Care Trust, more than 15 primary nutrition that enters
surrounding area. Their goal has been
to pioneer a new sustainable future –
and secondary schools, many local
community and voluntary sector
your mouth26
not just for Middlesbrough, but also organisations, and existing allotment
other post-industrial communities growers in the town. It was driven There are 52
across the UK. by Bioregional’s commitment to
They were also working to raise the concept of one planet living, transport and process
awareness of the benefits of and developed in collaboration with the stages involved
opportunities for growing and
securing food for our towns and cities.
World Wildlife Fund and endorsed
by the Minister of State for the
in making one
Local growers need to be connected Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. bottle of ketchup27
PIE CHART: “Carbon footprints in the supply chain”, Carbon Trust Report CT616, 2007
Figure 1: Schematic of the supply chain of a can of cola and its proportional
carbon footprint (illustrative)
Supply Raw Product Distribution Consumer Disposal &
Chain material manufacturing & retail use recycling
Steps uAluminium uCola production uTransportation uRefrigeration uCan collection
production
uPackaging uChilled storage uRecycling or
uSugar farming and retail disposal
& refining
Total carbon Disposal & Raw
footprint of cola recycling material
Product
manufacturing
Consumer
use
Distribution
& retail
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A B
C D
A: lunch is served to 1,500 people at the
Middlesbrough town meal
B: Emma Thomas, community health
development lead at East Middlesbrough
for Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust,
and Donna Siviter, school nurse assistant
PHOTO: A – North News and Pictures
for Middlesbrough Primary Care Trust with
children from Brambles Farm Community
Centre and Brambles Farm School
C: teachers and growers from
MacMillan Academy
D: Anthony Kirkbridge, study
support for Middlesbrough schools,
with courgettes grown in schools
across Middlesbrough

Food / Urban Farming
allotment associations, mental health week-long blocks of activity in which
How did Urban units in local hospitals, residents’ people prepared, cooked and ate
Farming work? groups, voluntary organisations and dishes based on ingredients that
Between October 2006 and March even the staff of a smart department they had grown themselves.
2007, senior producer David Barrie store in a main shopping street in The frenzy of food production
and his team consulted community the town centre. The local council culminated in September in a ‘Meal
groups, voluntary organisations, chipped in by agreeing to dig up for Middlesbrough’ – a banquet for
schools and public health part of the main local park so the 1,500 in the town’s main square.
organisations in Middlesbrough. Urban Farming teams could grow Participants in the growing project
Barrie was supported by Zest specialist plants and food there. created the menu from produce
Innovation, a North East based The groups identified locations in they’d harvested. Local producers
service design consultancy, and which to grow food and the produce provided meat and vegetables to
Debra Solomon, artist and author of they would like to cultivate. Then, supplement the meal, which was
culiblog.com, an online publication in May 2007, about 1,000 people cooked and eaten in the open air.
about food culture. began growing fruit and vegetables Finally, several containers grown
More than 80 groups, schools and in containers at locations across the in Middlesbrough were presented at
other organisations expressed an town. They received support from the Dott 07 Festival and participating
interest in participating in a ‘soil to local horticulturalists, allotment groups prepared food for visitors in a
table’ project devoted to finding a growers, farmers and food producers. special-edition kitchen playground.
healthier, more sustainable local food Between June and September, this
system. These included primary and new team of urban farmers brought
secondary schools, pre-school groups their harvested ingredients to a
(Sure Start), residential homes, ‘kitchen playground’ event: three
PIE CHART: The Environmental Impact Assessment & Policy Development Office, Toronto
23.9% Transportation
Figure 1: Average ecological footprint for the city of Toronto 5.6%
20.9% Housing
31.9% Food 17.7%
17.7% Products &
23.9% Transportation
services
20.9% Housing 5.6% Waste 5.6%
31.9% Food 17.7%
17.7% Products &
services 23.9%
5.6% Waste 31.9%
23.9%
Toronto, in Ontario, Canada, has high transportation
31.9%
and housing contributions to its ecological footprint, but
by far the biggest factor is food, at 31.9%. The chart 20.9%
opposite is measuring the average ecological footprint
as being equal to 5.30 hectares.
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Why Middlesbrough? What next? – authors of Continuous Productive
‘Like lots of post-industrial towns
Over the next year, the urban Urban Landscapes – which identifies
and cities, Middlesbrough has plenty
farming project will build on its existing and prospective food-
of surplus land,’ explains David
successes so far: growing sites in Middlesbrough (see
Barrie. ‘A certain proportion can be
• Mapping locations where food is 82/83). It details existing allotments
redeveloped for commercial use, but
grown already in the town, maps surplus land and
there is still a lot of surplus space.
• Mapping sites or ‘edible landscapes’ highlights connections between the
The town has done amazing things
where food growing could be town and local food producers. This
over the past two years in improving
extended is a plan for the local authority and
its public realm, so why not turn
• Deploying planters to individuals others to consider as a new context
some of it into a different form of
and groups around the city for strategies towards a more local
public space?’
• Designing kitchen playgrounds and and sustainable food economy.
Industrially, too, the area is
staging a town meal. The team behind the project is
evolving fast. Areas to the north of
Middlesbrough Council listed on pages 96 to 99. For more
Middlesbrough in Teesside were
commissioned a map from designers information go to:
the heartland of Britain’s heavy
Andre Viljoen and Katrina Bohn www.dott07.com/go/urbanfarming
chemical industries. Now the area
is diversifying into renewables and
biofuel production, most recently via based economy,’ says Barrie, Below: when French scientist Jean-Marc
a £250million investment from Ensus ‘and there are many people in Jancovici added up all the processes
called on to produce the food eaten
for Britain’s biggest bioethanol plant. Middlesbrough who care passionately (in France), the total was about a third
‘The area is going to play a part about their town. It’s a good place of all French emissions
in our future, more environmentally to do a public project.’
The carbon costs of food Million tonnes equivalent
Direct emissions from agriculture 42.0
Fertiliser manufacturing 0.8
Road transport for goods 4.0
Road transport for people 1.0
Truck manufacture and diesel oil refining 0.8
Store heating 0.4
Electricity 0.7
Packaging production 1.5
Methane emissions from food waste 1.0
Total 52.2
National emissions (CEMA) 171.0
% emissions linked to food 30%

MAP: © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. LA100023413. 2007.
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Food / Urban Farming

82 / 83
Left: more than 1,000 citizens grew food
in small, medium and large containers all
over town as part of Dott 07. The success of
this experiment prompted Middlesbrough
to commission this map of ‘edible
landscapes’ by Andrew Viljoen and Katrina
Bohn. The map shows where food growing
could be extended in the future. The
design challenge now is to create services,
markets and infrastructures that will help
Middlesbrough become self-sufficient in
food once again.

Food / Urban Space Station
Urban Space Station: space-age
rooftop urban greenhouse
Reducing food miles and using far less energy to grow food means producing more
food in the cities where most of us live. As we found with our Urban Farming project in
Middlesbrough, there are many under-used allotments and plots to start with. But in
dense downtown areas, where land is scarce, we also need to grow food on rooftops.
The proposal behind this project was urban agriculture facility optimised
to build, install and unveil the world’s for the unique constraints of an
first rooftop urban greenhouse atop a urban green roof. It couples open
building near the Dott 07 Festival. The ecological systems with closed-systems
Urban Space Station (USS) design engineering. This mutualistic host/
team is led by Natalie Jeremijenko, parasite relationship increases CO2
Visiting Global Distinguished fixation and waste air cycling.
Professor, College of Arts and Green roofs are relatively new and
Sciences, New York University. are perhaps the final frontier of urban
The Urban Space Station is space. They are being colonised at an
designed to generate its own energy alarming rate for their promised
and can provide energy to the building energy conservation benefits as well
it rests upon. USS is designed to use as other environmental services such
the CO2-enriched air produced by as urban agriculture.
people and machines in a building via Unfortunately, it did not prove
the output of the heating, ventilation possible to install a prototype for Dott
and air conditioning (HVAC) system. 07 – but we hope to do so for Dott 09.
A&B: the design team’s impressions of how
The USS adapts closed-system design For more information visit: the urban greenhouses might look situated
developed for space stations to an www.nyu.edu/projects/xdesign/uss on rooftop spaces in the city
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ILLUSTRATIONS: Open Source Space – Angel Borrego, Fran Gallardo and Natalie Jeremijenko
B
A
84 / 85

Food / Tyne Salmon Trail
Tyne Salmon Trail
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86 / 87
The Tyne Salmon Trail project
celebrates the River Tyne, its heritage
and its diverse ecosystem. It explores
low-impact ways to improve access to
the River Tyne and its different species.
Ross Lowrie, senior officer at the
Environment Agency and the project
leader, worked with architects xsite
to create a trail following the salmon
from their birthplace at Kielder,
down to the sea at Tynemouth and
back again to Kielder where they
return to spawn and die.
To enhance visitor experience, the
team conceived the Moveable Cubes
Exhibition: installations were posted
at points along the salmon trail and
three events were held whose aim was
to trigger memories for people and
encourage communities to engage with
the river in diverse, unusual ways.
The Environment Agency was keen
to harness the power of public art and
technology to promote awareness of
environmental issues, our changing
landscape and, in particular, the river.
Good design and good public art
engages people and makes them
remember a place. Commissions
North have now asked xsite to take
the idea forward.
The trail serves to entertain, inform,
provoke and educate. The cubes (inset)
gather and distribute data via Bluetooth
technology, allowing pedestrians and
passing vehicles to receive information
by the cubes ranging from videos and
sound recordings to random salmon facts,
pictures and directions to the next cube
MAP: xsite architecture

Other Projects / Design Event 07
Design Event 07:
still a role
for designers
of things?
Founded by Karen Stone, Design Event is the North East’s first annual design
festival. Conceived in 2005 from a small shopfront on Pink Lane in Newcastle, the
festival originated with a group of local designers who wanted to put on exhibitions
and shout about what was happening in the region. Since then, the festival has
grown to become a region-wide delight and, this year, is supported by Dott 07.
The core of Design Event is a unfailing enthusiasm and innovation
celebration of design in all its forms, of the North East region’s design
including graphics, product, fashion, community and the continued
illustration and architecture. It aims alliance to its grassroots origins.
to provide a platform to showcase the With growth comes the confidence
high quality of design talent emerging and passion to keep the festival
from the region, alongside designers feeling fresh and vibrant year after
of national and international acclaim. year. With that in mind, Design
The festival’s success lies in Event have chosen to focus on a
its mix of design disciplines, the specific theme each year. A
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88 / 89
B
Design Event 07
The theme for Design Event 07
was ‘How do we want to live?’
• In an urban environment, how can
we escape and find solace?
• How can we create and add more
value to the things we buy so that
we treasure them, rather than
discard them as soon as the next
trend comes along?
• How often do we take time to look
up and appreciate what’s around us?
The curatorial team of Karen Stone
and Danielle Pender produced a
programme incorporating exhibitions
that responded to the theme from
both a sustainable and a North East-
pride focus. The event also featured
‘ here’sdefinitelya
T
a series of talks in association with buzzinNewcastle
the National Endowment for Science, arounddesignat
Technology and the Arts (NESTA),
which was aimed at kick-starting
themoment,with
a year-round programme of talks, individualsreally
C
events and discussions. makingthingshappen.
This project formed part of
North East England’s world-class
DesignEventisagreat
festival and events programme. wayfordesignersto
For more information, visit: developprofessionally
www.design-event.co.uk
andgettheirworkseen.
A: Launch 2007, Walnut Rejse by Polly Walnut Weneedtoencourage
B: Launch 2007, David Irwin
C: Contains, Sunday newspaper cut out andsupportdesign
entrepreneurs,and
that’sexactlywhat
DesignEvent
isdoingforthe
NorthEast’
Wayne Hemingway, designer

Other Projects / Design Event 07
Design Event highlights
One-Off Factory
This series of exhibitions across
Sunderland explored the creation
of prototypes for our future selves:
designs that propose an alternative
way of thinking or living. Each project
asked how design can find unorthodox
solutions to familiar problems, from
the furniture we use to forms of micro- A
architecture. Designers produced
one-off works for the show, using it
as a forum for experimentation and
testing their ideas in public. Featured
designers include Mathias Bengtsson,
N55 and Max Lamb.
From the Earth We Came…
This project placed new work by
illustrators Daisy de Villeneuve,
Lucy Mclauchlan and Steven Wilson
throughout the streets of Newcastle
Gateshead, curated by Platform
Projects. The works invited passers-
by to consider the way we live among
the buildings that surround us.
Through subtle design interventions
and illustrations applied to the city’s
surfaces, the works highlighted B
intricate ornamental features and the
colonisation of man-made structures A: One-Off Factory
B: From the earth we came,
by plants. Steven Wilson
C: Contains
Contains D: Delight in Design
E: Build, Our Friends in the North
Curated by [re]design, Contains told F: Plastics Recyling Factory
the stories behind the products we G: Design for Science, Virus Models
use every day – the people who make
them, the materials they use, the energy
consumed, the miles travelled – in an
innovative, inspiring and accessible
exhibition showing how design can
make a difference. Housed in a series of
shipping containers in the retail heart
of Newcastle, the venue complemented
the exhibition’s question of where things
C
come from and what their true cost is.

90 / 91
D F
Delight in Design
Alistair Fuad-Luke worked with
North East design forum Designed
and Made to look at the process of
design and how the beauty and joy
of making can be celebrated. Where
possible, locally-sourced, found,
recycled or virgin materials were used
and exhibited as a dinner party with
a difference where the experience was
of equal importance as the exhibits. E G
Our Friends in the North and provides a launchpad for new Design4Science
Our Friends in the North traced products by regional designers. Design4Science highlighted the impact
the evolution of technique, process Held in venues as innovative as the of design in communicating scientific
and training in graphic design products on show, this year Launch breakthroughs and how new scientific
between 1977 and 2007. took place at Newcastle City Centre’s advances have inspired designers from
Acclaimed artists with roots in the decommissioned fire station. the post-war era to the present day.
North East, including Vaughan Oliver, Curated by Shirley Wheeler at the
Build and Richard Fenwick, were Plastics Recycling Factory University of Sunderland, it featured
commissioned to produce a new piece You may put your newspapers, bottles new commissions by Daniel Brown,
of work illustrating the impact of the and plastics into the recycling bin, Paul Cocksedge and Andy Altman.
North East on their creative style or but do you know what happens It also included a post-war archive
working process. This was curated by to them after that? At a series of of drawings, models, and animation
the Lobster Foundation. performances, Cohda Design from the MRC Laboratory of
transformed household plastic Molecular Biology in Cambridge,
Launch 2007 packaging waste into innovative designs produced for the 1951 Festival
Curated by Deadgood ltd, Launch handmade seating designs. of Britain and the winning entries
is a maverick design exhibition held Early designs from the process from the National Design4Science
annually in Newcastle and was one were a hit at New York’s furniture Student Design competition.
of the founding elements of Design fair earlier this year. Design Event 07
Event 05. Over the past three years, provided the first opportunity to see
it has established itself as one of the the process behind the work.
North’s biggest 3D design showcases

Other Projects / Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha, Japanese for ‘chit-chat’, was founded in Tokyo in 2003 by Klein Dytham
Architecture. Pecha Kucha nights have taken place in Berlin, New York, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, London and Sydney – and Newcastle upon Tyne.
In December 2006 and May 2007, The objective is to inspire through A: Pecha Kucha crowd in the
Dott 07 brought Pecha Kucha to unconventional methods. Robert Stephenson Centre
B: John Thackara welcoming
Newcastle’s Robert Stephenson Centre Among the many stars from the Pecha Kucha crowd
for a fast-paced evening of fun that the worlds of design, architecture, C: warehouse roof of the Robert
featured a collection of inspirational photography and the creative arts who Stephenson Centre
D: Steve Messam, Fold Gallery
images and stories by some of the took part were ElleDecoration ‘Young E: Françoise Lamy, Cinefeel
most influential people in the creative Designer of the Year’ Alexander F: Tom Shakespeare
industries. Karen Stone and Danielle Taylor; BAFTA award-winning
Pender curated both nights. art director Simon Sankarayya and
At the Pecha Kucha nights, 10 to 12 Ross Millard, singer and guitarist
speakers from design, architecture, art, from the Futureheads.
music and photography each talked John Thackara, Dott 07’s
about 20 slides for 20 seconds each Programme Director and host for
slide. There was no brief and images the evening, introduced the various
could be as obscure or as mundane as speakers, saying: ‘Dott 07 is about
the speaker wished. starting conversations instead of
They ranged from things that telling people how to live. One way
inspire them – a holiday snap, their to do this is setting up the Pecha
favourite books or football team – to Kucha event, where the only
something they hate. requirement is to talk about stuff.’
For more information, visit:
www.pecha-kucha.org
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92 / 93
D. Steve Messam, FRED
and Fold Gallery
First up for the evening was the
inimitable, charming and very, very
creative Steve Messam. Artist in his
own right and co-founder of FRED
and Fold, Steve hit us hard with his
fetish for red and round things.
E. Françoise Lamy,
A D Cinefeel
Françoise Lamy of Cinefeel has been
curating and promoting the work of
emerging directors, digital artists, VJs
and new electronic music since 1994.
She treated us to images from her
travels to London, Beijing, Moscow,
New Delhi and Saudi Arabia.
F. Tom Shakespeare
Multi-talented author, academic and
B E film-maker Tom Shakespeare took us
on a journey through the metaphorical
consequences of falling and laughing.
Pictured is the startling image of breast
cancer cells growing out of control.
C F

Other Projects / Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha Night
G: Tania Marcetic
H: Alexander Taylor
G H
G. Tania Marcetic H. Alexander Taylor I. Simon Sankarayya,
Tania Marcetic, a prize student Alexander Taylor has given a whole All of Us
at Northumbria University who new meaning to coat hangers and BAFTA award-winner Simon
received instant MySpace fame with lampshades and his talent has not Sankarayya, aka Sanky, hit us with
her ‘Everything Must Go’ caravan, escaped the attention of Thorsten a fast and funny journey thorough
which appeared on 12 May for one Van Elten, Established & Sons and humorous images to provoke, surprise
day only. Her presentation took us Italian manufacturer Zanotta, not and re-contextualise. His images
through the bare, raw, urban, obscure to mention ElleDecoration, which showed us how simplicity and pure
and sometimes dingy images that awarded Alexander ‘Young Designer thought can be the best way of getting
inspire her work. of the Year’ in 2005 for his ingenious a message across and how the world of
‘Antlers’ coat hook. design, ideas and observation can beat
the tyranny of style hands down.
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I: Simon Sankarayya, All of Us
J: at the break, audience members were
asked to draw a picture of the person
beside them. This is the gallery of portraits
K: Paul Read, Longest Mile Records and
Ross Millard, Futureheads
L: Tim Bailey, xsite architecture
I K
J L
K. Paul Read, Longest L. Tim Bailey, xsite
Mile Records and Ross Architecture
Millard, Futureheads Tim Bailey, a man in pursuit of the
Ross Millard established Longest Mile perfect building project, shared images
Records with close friend Paul Reed. he loved from a world where all sorts
He also plays guitar, writes and sings of dualities exist. The image shows
in the Futureheads. Ross and Paul what Tim considers to be the most
immersed us in their world of duality, enduring and most believed brand
where the eternal search for that identity – ‘Guinness is good for you!’
elusive musical genius continues…

Partners & contributors
Who’s who
Design Council and One John Hudson (Staffordshire University) ie
NorthEast funded all projects Mark Nicoll (Middlesex University) If You Could
Inspire
Dott 07 Projects: Design and Sexual Health Lobster Foundation
Centre for Design Research National Glass Centre
Alzheimer100 at Northumbria University Northern Architecture
Alzheimer’s Society Centre for Sexual Health Research, Northern Gallery for Contemporary
(regional branches) Southampton University Art
Centre of Excellence Department of Health Platform Projects
for Life Sciences (CELS) Design and Sexual Health [re]design
Equal Arts Design Options – Gwendolyn Reg Vardy Gallery
Institute for Ageing and Health Brandon, Louise Hulton Reluctant Hero
Newcastle General Hospital (Senior Producer), Ben Singleton, Sunderland University
Newcastle University Jenna Singleton Tyne and Wear Museums
Professor Jim Edwardson FPA
Dr Louise Robinson Gateshead Primary Care Trust Eco Design Challenge
South of Tyne and Wearside Mental Government Office North East Cohda Design - Richard Liddle
Health NHS Trust Newcastle Primary Care Trust Enigma Interactive
Tees & North East Yorkshire North East Strategic Health Authority Rachel Deller
NHS Trust Pasante Nick Devitt (Senior Producer)
The SMART Team Jennie Winhall NE6 Design Consultants
thinkpublic – Ian Drysdale, NESTA
Ivo Gormley, Deborah Szebeko Design Event 07 Newcastle College – Phil Bawden
(Senior Producer) Arts Council Martin Selman
Time Bank DE07: Karen Stone (Curator), The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon
Wolfson Research Centre Danielle Pender (Co-curator) Management – Jill Burnett
and Kala Preston Terra Infirma – Gareth Kane
D&AD Formica Designers into Schools:
NESTA ade a studio – Ade Armstrong Purves
D&AD and winners NewcastleGateshead Initiative Arup – Carol Clarke, Lean Doody
First Exhibition curators: Ash LLP – Michael Atkinson
Daniel Foster-Smith (Northumbria alt.gallery C2M(UK) Ltd – Leon Tighe, Gary
University) Blanka Thompson
Second Bowes Museum Conran and Partners
Wesley Richardson (Ravensbourne Candy – Sebastian Conran
College of Design & Communication) Cohda Design Corporate Element – Mark Pattinson
Commendation Deadgood Ltd Design Council – Clare Brass
James Godwin (Central Saint Martins Designed and Made Design Options – Jenna Singleton
College of Art and Design) Globe City Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Ltd
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– Stuart Franklin, Nicola Watson Venue Solutions Lighting: David Atkinson
Mushroom Works – Nick James Lighting Design
NE6 Design Consultants Ltd Move Me Logistics: Claire London
– David Coates Arriva and Simon MacColl
Newcastle University – Alex Reeves Berwick Community Centre Outreach Programme – students and
Red Square Design – Paul Rea live|work – David Townson staff at the University of Northumbria
Gillian Sanderson (Senior Producer), Natalie McGhee, Members of Sight Service and North
Sustainable Development Richard Telford Tyneside Youth Service
Commission – Sarah Bray, Lizzie Northumbria City Council Professional placements: Policy,
Chatterjee Scremerston Community Ethics and Life Sciences Research
The Centre for Design Research Staff, parents and students Centre (PEALS); Elio Caccavale
– (Dr) Kevin Hilton of Scremerston First School – Institute for Human Genetics
University of Lincoln – Thom Sure Start at the University of Newcastle;
Shardlow Francesca Steele – Embryo Human
XORdesign LTd – Marta Fores New Work Development Resource; Jayne Wallis
xsite architecture – Tim Bailey B Group – Institute of Ageing and Health at
zero-waste design – Roy Shearer Bright Creatives the University of Newcastle
Enabling Concepts – Helen Kerrigan, NewcastleGateshead Initiative
Low Carb Lane Nathan Pellow (Senior Producer) Soundtrack: Steve Jones and Sally
Ashington Credit Union Fabriam Networks Rodgers
East Ashington Development Trust Geko Landscapes Videos: Studio Simple and Tribeat
East Ashington LIFE Initiative Lexica Communications Writers: David Bergin and Marie
Live|work – Ben Reason live|work O’Mahony
(Senior Producer), Murray Sim, Nimis
Alex Webb Allen Rozmic OurNewSchool
npower The Highfield Wellness Centre Co-design team – Mike Collier, Kath
New and Renewable Energy Centre Whiptail Cycles Davidson, Steve Gater
National Energy Action Engine – Joe Heapy (Senior
Northumberland Warm Zones Ltd Our Cyborg Future? Producer), Steve Lee, Julia Schaeper
Wansbeck Local Strategic Partnership Centre for Life – Ian Simmons Walker Technology College
Curator: Andrew Caleya Chetty
Mapping the Necklace (Senior Producer) Picture House, Film, Art
Cornerstone Strategies Co-curator: Sabine Seymour and Design at Belsay
– Beth Davidson, Susan Williamson Tyne and Wear Museums Arts Council
(Senior Producer) Land Design Studio Ltd Zoe Bottrell
Durham 2020 Vision Learning Programme – students and Commissioned artists: Golan Levin,
NewcastleGateshead Initiative staff at St Benet Biscop Catholic High Bengt Sjolen, Adam Somlai-Fischer,
Sony School and at Durham Gilesgate United Visual Artists
The Durham Necklace Park Sports College Curator: Judith King

Partners & contributors
Dott 07 Curator: Juha Huuskonen Monica Chong Middlesbrough Institute
English Heritage English Heritage of Modern Art
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Environment Agency Middlesbrough Partnership
Heritage Lottery Fund Island6 Arts Center Middlesbrough Primary
Northern Rock Foundation Project It (campervan installation) Care Trust (PCT)
Northumberland Strategic James Rokos Middlesbrough Town Centre
Partnership Vincenzon di Maria Company
Christina Worsing Northern Rock Foundation
RSA Design Directions Team Wind One NorthEast
Ann Crawley Amanda Lwin Debra Solomon (Culiblog.org)
Janet Hawken Annabel Bradbury Stronger Together East
Susan Hewer Fold Middlesbrough
Justin Johnson The North East Regional
RSA Design Direction Winners Konstantinos Chalaris Food Group
Konstantinos Chalaris Mike Thompson Tubbyphunk – Robert Page
Lorna Cochrane Stephanie Chen Zest Innovation – Nina Belk
Dawn Danby Urban Camping
Lucy Denham Martin Beyerle Welcomes
Linzi Deprez Celine Dalcher Clarences Community Centre
Jotis Moore Linzi Rachel Deprez Clarences Community Farm
Wesley Richardson Lorna Murray Cochrane Marcus Coates
Mary Rick Patrick Quinn Huw Davies
Jyoti Stephens Design Camp Mentors: Durham Tees Valley Airport
Lisa Stockton Beth Davidson Erimus Housing
Beckie Dodds Film and Media Arts Festival
Sustainable Tourism – Mikael Genberg Football First (Middlesbrough
Design Camp Antonio Izzo Football Club in the Community)
Amec Wind Leandro Pisano Hemlington Community Cafe
Fawside Trust High Clarence Community School
Helen Jamieson Urban Farming Media 19 – Nick Oldham,
Steve Messam (Senior Producer) David Barrie (Senior Producer) Belinda Williams
Natural England Bioregional Quintain Ltd Middlesbrough Art Development
Ouseburn Trust bohn & viljoen architects – Team
Cecilia Stenbom Andre Viljoen and Katrin Bohn NewcastleGateshead Initiative
Camp Teams: Connexions – David Bilton, Stella Hall
PBPower Groundwork South Tees (Senior Producer)
Guy Schofield (animation) Middlesbrough Council – Ian Middlesbrough Central Library
Allendale Collingwood
Allendale Estates Middlesbrough Environment City
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Council

98 / 99
Vital Signs: Town Crying Claire Capaldi Cool Blue
Arts Council Beckie Darlington Different
Forma (Senior Producer) Nick Devitt Exposure
Lone Twin Louise Fowler (Design Council) Gateshead Council
NewcastleGateshead Initiative Stacy Hall (One NorthEast) Groundwork South Tyneside
Ruth Hasnip (Design Council) and Newcastle
Vital Signs: Landscape/Portrait Caitlin Hood Infratech - Ian Fraser
Artist: Kevin Carter Cara Bell-Jones Karen Morris
Arts Council Susan Lowthian Kit Grover
Babel Digital Emer McCourt NE6 Design Consultants Ltd
d|lab Stephen Moretti Origins
Data supplied by: upmystreet.com Jonathan Neal (One NorthEast) Press Ahead
Digital City Robert O’Dowd Robin Mackie
Digital Knowledge Georgia Rakusen Sony
Exchange Lynsey Robinson (One NorthEast) The Crack – Mandy Baxter
Fluid Pixels Studio John Thackara and Joe White
Forma (Senior Producer) Adam Thomas The National Glass Centre
Media 19 Jo Wilson Wardour – Molly Bennett,
NewcastleGateshead Initiative Simoney Girard, Rob Loveday,
University Teesside Dott 07 Festival architects Linda Ososami, Alex Perchard,
xsite - Tim Bailey, Nicola Gartland, Barney Pickard
Creative Community Christoph Oschatz Warm Design
Award Judges Will Wiles
Claire Byers Intersections 07
Holly Francomb Kevin McCullagh Doors of Perception
Vikas Kumar Northumbria University School Programme Director – John Thackara
Max Lamb of Design The Doors team
Paul Younger
Photographers
Dott 07 Board Phyllis Christopher
Alan Clarke Andy Taylor
Penny Egan
Jackie Fisher Companies that worked
David Kester with Dott 07
Chris Thompson BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Art
Dott 07 Core Team Bibliotheque
Susan Ambrosi Blue River
Katherine Bain Circus

Who’s who
Partners and stakeholders
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Manual references
References
1. Indicators of climate change in the UK 14. ‘Deschooling society’, Ivan Illich,
www.ecn.ac.uk/iccuk/ (World perspectives, v. 44) Harper & Row (1971)
2. Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and 15. Learning beyond the classroom: education for a changing
Hunter Lovins, London: Earthscan (1999) world, Tom Bentley, Routledge Demos (1998)
3. Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and 16. Improving the health of the world’s poorest people,
Hunter Lovins, London: Earthscan (1999) Population Reference Bureau
www.prb.org/pdf04/ImprovingtheHealthbrief_Eng.pdf
4. New Mobility Agenda
www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/wt_index.htm 17. World Health Organisation
www.who.int/whosis/indicators/2007LEX0/en/index.html
5. New Mobility Agenda
www.ecoplan.org/wtpp/wt_index.htm 18. Profile of Informal and Family Caregivers,
Bohse & Associates
6. Widex Noise Report: Traffic Noise in England (2007), www.bohse.com/html/facts_on_aging.html
Deepak Prasher, Professor of Audiology,
The Ear Institute University College London 19. Alzheimer’s Society www.alzheimers.org.uk
7. Is man the only cause of climate change? Jean-Marc 20. Equality Strategy, Kent County Council
Jancovici, www.manicore.com/anglais/documentation www.kent.gov.uk
_a/greenhouse/only_action.html
21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy
8. Sector Skills Agreement, North East England (January
2007) www.lantra.co.uk/documents/NESSAStage5.pdf 22. Toronto Food Policy Council
www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc_index.htm
9. The way to work in 2016, Orange (2007)
www.business.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=B 23. The Party’s Over, Richard Heinberg, New Society
usiness&c=OUKPage&cid=1044133326057 Publishers (2003), Gabriola Island, BC Canada
www.newsociety.com
10. 2007 City & Guilds Happiness Index
www.city-and-guilds.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0AC0478D- 24. Ecological debt – external debt
E8BF11C0/cgonline/hs.xsl/2342.html www.cosmovisiones.com/DeudaEcologica/a_alier01in.html
11. Design Council www.designcouncil.info/ 25. Toronto Food Policy Council
futurecurrents/HM_energy_statement.php www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc_index.htm
12. Danish Board of District Heating 26. Why Our Food is So Dependent on Oil, Norman
www.dbdh.dk/dkmap/dkmap.html Church, Energy Bulletin (2005)
www.energybulletin.net/5045.html
13. Sustainable Schools
www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools 27. Eating Oil
www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issues/jones216.htm
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