The research centre for inclusive access to outdoor environments
In association with Landscape Architecture, Edinburgh College of Art
and the School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University.
What is OPENspace research about?
OPENspace research is concerned with inclusive access to outdoor environments for everyone; for disabled people, for minority ethnic groups, for children and young people and their carers, for older people and for economically or socially disadvantaged groups. OPENspace has an international reputation as a leading research centre, able to address policy level and strategic research needs and provide advice for a range of government funded agencies and professional groups.
We recognise the potential offered by urban and green open space at all scales to provide opportunities for outdoor activity, positive engagement with the natural environment, and to build social capital and social inclusion while contributing more generally to people's health and wellbeing.
OPENspace is concerned with practical guidance on accessible environments for planners, designers and managers, working in partnership with professionals and community groups to bridge academia and practice. Our research should make a difference. We believe that good landscape and urban design, responsive to people's needs, local distinctiveness and sense of place, are vitally important to quality of life.
Our Background
OPENspace, the research centre for inclusive access to outdoor environments, is based in Landscape Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and the School of the Built Environment at Heriot-Watt University. It was established in 2001 with support from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) through their Research Development Grant scheme. This scheme was developed in response to the government's Foresight Programme, to improve the fit between the research capability of Scottish Higher Education Institutions and the needs of society. Recent research development takes advantage of a Research Council funded project to enhance research between Edinburgh College of Art, the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. Since its establishment, OPENspace has attracted over £2m in external funds and gained an international reputation for innovative work.
Research Themes
OPENspace has developed its profile through contributing to research in the fields of:
- Disability and Social Inclusion,
- Children's Outdoor Environments
- Health and Restorative Environments, and
- Tourism.
Projects may be diverse in their individual focus but certain elements are common to everything we do: our research addresses the needs of disadvantaged groups; our research addresses barriers to access, of all kinds; and our work addresses the environmental design implications of the research findings. These are the common threads that connect every project and underpin the outcomes and presentation of findings.
Key research clients and funders have included the Forestry Commission, Scottish Natural Heritage, ODPM, Greenspace Scotland, EPSRC, the Countryside Agency, English Nature and ixa (formerly the Public Art Forum).
What OPENspace offers
OPENspace brings together leading researchers with international reputations for excellence in their respective areas: landscape architecture, environmental psychology, visual impairment and quality of life, forest and recreational design, human geography, environmental design for children, for older people and for disabled people, and socially inclusive planning.
OPENspace undertakes research of the highest academic quality and rigour, using its flexible and multidisciplinary team to engage in interdisciplinary challenges. In addition, OPENspace plays an important role in bridging between academia and practice. We have extensive experience of partnership working with government and public agencies and engagement with end-users. This sensitivity to research users' needs makes us particularly well-placed to address cross-cutting policy agenda in a holistic and inclusive way.
- We offer expertise in fundamental and applied research to support policy and practice.
- We undertake scoping studies, systematic and critical reviews of research literature, mapping of research coverage and development of searchable databases, all of which can contribute to developing new research agenda.
- We undertake original, empirical research using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and develop and test models founded on sound theoretical bases.
- We have experience of a range of techniques for engaging end-users as participants in research, empowering relevant communities as contributors to the research agenda as well as the research outcomes.
- We have expertise in graphic, mapping and visual techniques for exploring and presenting experience of the environment.
- We have considerable experience in facilitating seminars, running workshops and writing readable reports in order to disseminate research effectively to different user groups.
Policy Relevance
OPENspace contributes to policy through relevant research consultancy and through its researchers' contributions to key government agency committees. Researchers are members of the Scottish Executive's new 'Scottish Physical Activity and Health Council', the Disability Rights Commission's Built Environment Reference Group in Scotland, and the Forestry Commission's Advisory Committee for Forest Research.
Theoretical support
We take a user-led philosophy in approaching research and quality of life
issues are at the heart of what we do. We have a track record of work grounded
in a sound theoretical framework, which strengthens the consistency and
reliability of our findings and their value to the wider research and policy
community. We recognise the transactional nature of people’s engagement
with place and our research draws on Kelly’s Personal Construct Psychology,
Little’s approach to Personal Projects, Canter’s components
of place and Gibson’s theory of affordance.
Research excellence
An OPENspace project developed at Heriot-Watt University on how to illuminate bus stop timetables in rural areas without a power supply was selected for a major exhibition in London hosted by EPSRC and the Royal Academy of Engineering, 'A Celebration of UK Engineering Research and Innovation'.
Courses
Inclusive Environmental Access and Design, a new course based at Heriot-Watt University, is an Accredited Scottish Training Scheme developed by OPENspace in collaboration with the Scottish Disability Equality Forum. Building on this, Masters Level Courses on design for accessibility are being developed based on landscape at Edinburgh College of Art and on buildings/construction at Heriot-Watt University.