Research

Three lenses, one problem

Challenges associated with urbanization, sustainability, and technology all converged on a single conundrum: progress is driving a wedge between humans and their heritage.

Urbanization & migration

Correia & Mammola, 2023

Cities sit at the front line of society's complex problems as human relationships with the world and within society evolve.

For a compounding set of reasons, rising urbanization is disconnecting people from nature.

Biophobia – fear of ordinary organisms like spiders, snakes, mice – is on the rise.

17 of 25 tracked biophobias show increasing prevalence based on web search analytics.

Sustainability & behaviour

Thaler & Sunstein, 2008

Behavioural "nudges" use psychology to shift individual and public choices and understand human tendencies.

Common in sustainability campaigns and marketing alike, with the goal of achieving specific outcomes and reactions.

The key concern: this approach is often paternalistic and biased.

Giving people information and letting them choose can help mitigate some of the inherent dangers.

Technology & data

Hallnäs & Redström, 2001

Algorithms, digital twins, and AI can inform better decisions for policy makers, businesses, and the average citizen.

Despite all its benefits and strengths, technology is a double-edged sword.

People are overwhelmed by screens and information in all aspects of their lives.

There is a growing movement to find ways to tune it all out or at least change its form.

Problem statement

How might we make nature accessible to people living in cities and facilitate their yearning to reconnect with other living things in a compassionate and meaningful way?

Where the lenses overlap

Using two themes as lenses on the biophobia problem surfaced two concept directions.

Direction one

Visualization of complex problems

Direction two

Accessible, non-judgmental products

Both directions point to the same field: calm technology, and its best-known form, ambient information systems. See Philosophy → for that theory in depth. Following primary research, the most actionable gap that emerged was connecting people to their houseplants, as a first step in addressing biophobia.