The Difference is in the Detail: Its Potential as a Place Branding Tool and Impact upon Perceptions and Responses

This article resulted from research undertaken in our in respective fields over seven years. It sheds new light on how elements within built public environments can both 'affect' and 'effect' feelings, human behaviour and responses. My contribution developed from my ethnographic design studies.

Previous studies of behaviour and activity in public space have focused on architectural or anthropological considerations, but this article fills a gap in research, by addressing the subject area from a user-focused design approach, offering new perspectives to existing and new audiences. It draws on ‘experience design’ models (e.g. those of IDEO, Tangerine) examining the dialogue of users’ and stakeholders’ experiences of objects/ environments; using models which have not been extensively applied to design of details in public space.

Key to the visual studies undertaken was generation of online, categorised visual research archives, which then serve as design research resources for a variety of investigations.

Marcus Willcocks

Research Interests

Design; public sphere; context; use; informal appropriation; environmental interactions; space, streets; city; details; social space; social innovation; design against crime; activity support; industrial, communication, systems and service design; evaluation.

Current Research

My current research pursuits remain primarily within activities allied to the Design Against Crime Research Centre, headed by Prof. Lorraine Gamman, plus other activities outside of DACRC, which are often connected and feed in to this work, but also relate to the activities of the Socially Responsive Design hub (SRVD) headed by Adam Thorpe, for example.

My specific design and research focus has emerged from my interest to investigate design’s place in public space and related social territories. Particularly, to explore opportunities for innovations in response to informal interpretations and unanticipated uses of these contexts.

Within DACRC and SRVD this has most recently translated into my preparation of external funding bids for the ‘Flushed with Innovation’ and ‘Graffiti Dialogues’ projects. These are associated to research I am already undertaking, together with Gamman, Thorpe, and others on the DACRC team in addition to external partners, looking into design responses and creative solutions that seek to address (a) the issues of street urination and public toilet provision in the twenty first century (‘Flushed with Innovation’) and (b) the creative and criminal conflicts linked to the practices of graffiti and street art (‘Graffiti Dialogues’), respectively. The latter of these projects has already also expanded with an Enterprise Project in collaboration with the Southbank Centre, engaging many stake-and duty-holders connected to the control or creation graffiti practices near the site. In addition, I have this past academic year continued to be involved in research and development on existing AHRC funded activities including the Design for the C.21st Bikeoff 2 project, for research into innovations for bicycle parking and cycle security. (2006-9, now largely concluded. See www.bikeoff.org) and Grippa 2 (2007-10) developing anti bag-theft research and associated furniture and accessories designs for bars and restaurants, with user testing trials conducted so far in venues in London and Barcelona. The ‘Stop Thief’ chairs (developed by Gamman, Piper and Willcocks, DACRC) have additionally now been licensed to major Danish furniture manufacturer Dan Form, who have produced production tooling. These activities and collaborations are diverse, yet each represents forms of investigation into the designed environment and design innovations that can influence change in perceptions and responses among different user groups in everyday society.

• http://www.marcuswillcocks.co.uk/codigos...
• http://www.marcuswillcocks.co.uk/codigos...