Students of the Delft faculty of Industrial Design have developed products that contribute to the development and improvement of District Service Points. In addition a research was done on what an ideal district service point would look like.
A District Service Point/satellite is a place where local inhabitants can visit in order to get information, advice and support. In addition it also serves as a meeting place. A District Service Point differs from a satellite in that the first in manned by a professional and the latter is manned by volunteers. On the 17th of October 2012 the following district service points and satellites were opened in Kralingen-Crooswijk.:
- Satellite in nursing-home Pniel, Oudedijk 15
- District Service Point in Healthcare centre Rubroek, Goudseplein 245
- Satellite in the office building of the Sub-municipality Kralingen-Crooswijk, Oostzeedijk 276
- District Service Point on the Vredenoordplein, Vredernoordplein 43
The following questions laid the foundations of the research:
- How can the provision of services by a district service point be expanded?
- What does an ideal district service point look like and how can this be implemented in the future renovation/new building of the Nieuwe Plantage?
The first question was answered though the implementation of the ‘community based co-design’ method by bachelor students of the faculty of Industrial Design from the TUDelft. ‘Community based co-design’ is a method which is regularly used by dr. ir. Adinda Freudenthal and which fits the working method of Veldacademie. This method implies that students perform their research in the actual field and that they also engage and interact with the actual inhabitants and users. The fieldwork is performed in the form of interviews and observations. The students also work on their designs in cooperation with the inhabitants of their target group and evaluate the product designs with this target group. This yielded the following designs: a ‘Medication Dossier’, the ‘MotiveRing’, the ‘Storytable’, alarm/request for medical apparatus and the ‘Budgetholder’. These designs are further elaborated in the report. In addition the report also evaluated the possible implementation of these designs in the district service points (DSP), the potential partners and following steps.
The second question was answered with the input of the vision-document of the steering committee Kralingen-Crooswijk, an interview amongst the visitors of the DSP and observations of the DSP. The steering committee has designated De Nieuwe Plantage as the most ideal location for a DSP after is has been renovated. The report describes how the DSP can be fitted into De Nieuwe Plantage. In addition, other potential opportunities for the DSP are also described, for example the supply an demand of volunteer work. A good example of such a (digital) platform is www.zorgvoorelkaar.com.
The research findings will soon be presented to the management group Kralingen-Crooswijk and the definitive report will be posted on the website.
Partners: Steering committee Kralingen-Crooswijk and Industrial Design TUDelft