Designing for wellbeing

how the environment is experienced and that it is not too difficult to make
such an effort. The event demonstrated that the space could be used and
made more vivid and enjoyable. It also gathered local people together
around a common concern in an enjoyable way, while resources found
within the area were highlighted.
In addition to organising the Sitratori event, we collected information
about where people like to hang out and drew a map based on our findings.
The map visualised how close, for example, the elderly and children were
to each other, but still they rarely met spontaneously. Adding a feature in
the middle, a sparkle, a topic for discussion, a place to share stories through
drawings, handicrafts, music and discussion, might be enough to change
things and create social interaction. (page 111)
A group of students created a proposal for activating inhabitants’ own
participation. The aim was to create events in their neighbourhood based
on crowd sourcing: collecting ideas from inhabitants, using them as a starting
point to structure feasible activities to involve people, giving them a
common goal and offering tools to realise proposed ideas. People could
join the community on a webpage and share their ideas. There would also
be a physical location, where people who are not comfortable using the
internet could share ideas face to face. The web pages would provide a
means to plan local events; people can participate in the arrangements
and external stakeholders and sponsors get a channel to become involved.
Design for social wellbeing
A good neighbourhood is an active place with active inhabitants. Getting
people engaged in the development of their neighbourhood is a participative
learning process that emphasises the practice: learning as doing,
learning to be an active member in one’s own community, and creating
meaning through everyday experiences and practices. Through inhabitants’
own activities, the neighbourhood begins to be a place of trust, joy, experimenting
and sharing a good everyday life with others. This increases the
112 · Social wellbeing through participation in Kannelmäki suburb