Timeline

4 months | Aug 2022 - Nov 2022

My Role

Solo Project | Final Project of MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures Program

Methods

Qualitative Research (Participatory Observation, Interview) | Quantitative Research (Questionnaire) | Insight Analysis | Co-decide | Co-design

Project Partner

Granville Community Kitchen
(GCK)

Problem & Challenge

A neighbourhood-scale bottom-up approach to household food insecurity in the UK requires improving its impact and resident engagement.

Household food insecurity is an urgent and severe social issue in the UK and will likely worsen over time. Low-income families are more likely to suffer from hunger and malnutrition due to poor access to affordable and nutritious food.

Granville Community Kitchen(GCK) is a community-based organisation(CBO) responding to household food insecurity and entrenched deprivation on a neighbourhood scale in South Kilburn. Apart from hunger relief, it prioritises the right to food (eat with dignity and eat culturally appropriate food), and they are trying to develop a more sustainable approach to intervening in food insecurity rather than only relying on charitable models. However, their practices grew slowly, and few residents engaged in their ongoing programs.

Solution

A collective publication, published by GCK, consisting of food support information, local food heritage events and neighbourhood stories. 

Scoping

To figure out why fewer locals are involved in GCK's projects, I proposed some initial assumptions and listed the objectives of the research and proposing phrases, respectively.

In the communication with GCK, I realised as a grassroots organisation, GCK has limitations in operation, such as the need for more people and fundings. Therefore in the ideation phase, I invited the members of GCK to participate and prioritise the feasibility of the design concepts.

Research

Secondary Research Methods

  • Council report analysis

  • Reports of South Kilburn by other researchers


Primary Research Methods

  • Mapping

  • Shadowing

Main Findings

  • Deprivation

    South Kilburn is in the 20% most deprived areas across England with prevalent health issues.

  • Ethnically diversity

    The profound history of migration brought diverse heritage and created various ethnic food landscapes*.

  • Regeneration and gentrification

    · Due to uncertainty of future rent, other living service costs and tighter social housing rules, local households moved around or out more often.

    · People prefer grocery shopping in large chain supermarkets because local shops have become less and the food price is more competitive in large chains.

Primary Research Methods

  • Sub-structural interview

  • Street experiment

  • Workshop

  • Participatory observation

  • Informal conversation

The primary research has done with three-month volunteering in GCK and participatory observation in South Kilburn.

The bias as an ‘outsider’ (I’m not part of the low-income group, nor a South Kilburn resident) and ethicality of design research were considerations when I designed research methods.

To propose feasible ideas for GCK, I researched the ongoing programs of the GCK and feedback from their users. Here I show the research about one of the main GCK ongoing programs, Good Food Box, a weekly food bag subscription scheme.

Main Insights

Based on research, we can see that GCK’s ongoing services have met the primary food needs of locals using existing resources. Moreover, as a community organisation, it serves as a hub for exchanging food information and bond users( locals who visit GCK and use their services) in South Kilburn, a community with low trust and neighbourhood engagement.

HMW(How Might We…?)

How might we

reinforce and highlight GCK as a hub to build a network of trust in the community through food and to create a more supporting and collective community atmosphere where more residents of South Kilburn are aware of food support (individuals or organisations) around them and are willing to ask for help?

Ideas Evaluation

Methods

  • Co-deciding

  • Blueprinting

To help GCK members sort out and align ongoing programs and relevant resources, I designed a set of card tool used with the assessment quadrants model and timeline.

The timeline blueprint helped stakeholders plan short-term or long-term project proposals to achieve GCK’s 2-year goals, considering feasibility, desirability and viability.

Conclusion of evaluation

  • The improvement of Good Food Box service is the most feasible idea.

    In general, the GCK team was in agreement with all five HMWs. The common consensus was that the proposal for improving the Good Food Box scheme was the most feasible, as it would require the least input and rearrangement of resources.

  • Building more connections within the community through limited resources.

    The GCK teams agreed that 'trust and connection building is the basis for a more resilient and collective community food system'. What they want to achieve is how to use limited space and resources to set up connections.

Design Outcome

Bring newspapers and share it with others. It is the most common act of ‘sharing’ in the GCK space and often the beginning of communication between locals.

Therefore, inspired by the interaction, I designed the ‘food newspapers’ issued by GCK with content contributed by residents, which contains food heritage events organised by GCK, mutual support information on food, such as low-budget recipes and local food organisation information provided by residents, and narratives of local stories.

Everyone in South Kilburn is the contributor, narrator, editor, as well as reader and owner of the publication. 

Knowing what is happening locally and realising what lovely people are contributing to making a supportive neighbourhood is the beginning of building a better network for the community.

I developed co-design workshops with residents to brainstorm and collect ideas for the local newspapers content.

Feedbacks

I feel like crying. We are all one. I don't look at colour. I don't look at religion. I don't look at race. Are we not breathing the same air right now? Are we not sharing the South Kilburn community?

—— Linda (A resident in South Kilburn)

The video presents the natural reactions of residents and GCK members when they first saw the physical publication. Most residents showed great interest in reading and handing it out to neighbours.