“Employment is one of the key routes to accessing income, which, in turn, is the pathway to many wellbeing factors, such as healthcare, self-care, nourishment, housing, mobility and security. Therefore, it is imperative that, as a society, we create an ecosystem that supports people through the employment life cycle.”
The way we live has always been subject to change but the pandemic has drastically accelerated the pace of this evolution. We are seeing record-high rates of young adults living with their parents, spurred on by widespread financial difficulty. At the same time, an increase in single-person households is being driven by longer life spans and mind shifts on traditional adulting milestones, like marriage and childbearing.
PLP Labs and Centric Lab published research for the British Council for Offices titled “Designing for Neurodiversity”. The report examines the impacts that physical spaces have on their users, finding that certain spaces can be disabling because of their poor design and lack of consideration for the diverse needs of users. The report encourages workplace design to address unemployment and burnout among neurodiverse workers.
“Employment is one of the key routes to accessing income, which, in turn, is the pathway to many wellbeing factors, such as healthcare, self-care, nourishment, housing, mobility and security. Therefore, it is imperative that, as a society, we create an ecosystem that supports people through the employment life cycle.”
Wearables in the Workplace investigated how wearable technologies, such as fitness wristbands and posture scanners, can be used to monitor occupant health and wellbeing in office environments. It considered the current state of wearable technologies, explored possible future uses and applications, and also examined how this all could impact the wider technology industry, workplaces, individual health and wellbeing, and the built environment. To help augment the research, PLP Labs ran an in-house pilot study in which wearables were used to monitor test subjects’ vital signs across different office and home-working scenarios.
PLP Labs, Centric Lab, and Comuzi have united to introduce ‘Know Your Health,’ an online platform paired with a downloadable guide aimed at enhancing urban health and wellbeing. This initiative leverages a simple, anonymous survey to offer personalised advice, helping individuals navigate and improve their health against the backdrop of city living. The project further extends its impact by offering a ‘Playbook’ that delves into seven critical areas of urban health, from housing to social spaces, enriched with actionable steps, case studies, and resources. Beyond individual benefits, ‘Know Your Health’ collects anonymised data to inform and influence equitable urban development, spotlighting the nuanced effects of environment on health and advocating for inclusive, community-focused design and policy decisions.
PLP Labs and PLP Architecture continued to operate through the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting like many others new ways of working internally and with our partners. We used this global disruption as an opportunity to not only continue the high calibre work that we always strive to produce, but to learn from the changing world, produce better work and enhance the ways that we create the built environment.