Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors - 2

Created on 02.10.2006

The overall aim of the Consortium is to investigate ways of designing the outdoor environment to improve the quality of life of older people. For this second stage (known affectionately as I'DGO TOO!), the research will focus on the implications for older people of urban renaissance housing and land use policies, in particular in terms of the provision of residential outdoor space (private and shared gardens, balconies, parking space etc.).

The research will investigate how residential outdoor space in higher-density urban renaissance housing can best be delivered to optimise older residents' quality of life. Oxford Brookes University will now be looking for 2 new researchers to join their team for I'DGO TOO.

The Oxford Brookes team - Elizabeth Burton and Lynne Mitchell - have just been ranked top in the latest EPSRC (Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council) EQUAL round of funding awards, and can now continue their I'DGO (Inclusive Design for Getting Outdoors) Research Consortium for a further 4 years.

The total amount of the grant is £1.84 million, shared with their partners at; OPENspace (The Research Centre for Inclusive Access to Outdoor Environments, Edinburgh College of Art and Heriot-Watt University) and SURFACE (Inclusive Design Research Centre, the University of Salford).

The Consortium also has a wide range of non-academic collaborators from policy-making and practice. The Brookes proportion of the grant is £511,000, with a further shared budget of around £200,000.