Well‐being through design: transferability of design concepts for healthcare environments to ordinary community settings

The paper aims to explore current interest in the concept of well‐being, and to trace, with examples, the growing use of design ideas in healthcare settings to reduce stress and maximise efficiency. Finally, it seeks to look at the relevance or transferability of such design principles and approaches to opportunities to enhance well‐being through design in community settings.

The potential in this approach is illustrated with some examples of design approaches applied in healthcare, teasing out the wider implications with ways to explore and arrange the patient journey, for example, or the “care pathway” for a vulnerable adult into a care or support service for maximum benefit.

Thinking on enhancing well‐being by design has been further advanced in applications in the health service, but a number of design concepts and approaches seem to promise similar benefits in community settings where issues in managing the health and well‐being of vulnerable individuals are equally relevant.

Design principles may be especially useful in current efforts towards creating dementia‐friendly homes and communities, or “psychologically informed environments” in services for marginalized and excluded individuals.