Stockport Council
Building human-centric solutions to help the 75+ live well
Ethnographic Research
Design Sprints
Prototyping
Strategy
The Challenge
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55,600 of Stockport residents are over the age of 65. This is higher than the UK average
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33% of older people in Stockport live alone
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58% have at least one long-term health condition
Healthy ageing is in decline in Stockport with health inequalities across the borough.
With a diverse older population, one size fits all products and services don't work.
How can the Council help people age better and empower them to own their health and wellbeing?
The Journey
Understanding the current state
We began by holding a series of workshops and interviews with key stakeholders at the Council to help us understand where the Council was in its journey today and to scope some of the key outcomes from the research. We also reviewed a range of existing published research to understand wider ageing problems across the UK.
What does it feel like to age in Stockport?
We next designed a detailed methodology using a combination of ethnographic techniques and in-depth interviews. We conducted 25 interviews bringing together in-depth perspectives, feelings, behaviours and challenges.
Outcomes
Collaborative Design Sprints to prototype solutions
We then ran a series of Design Sprint to identify key concerns and issues. The work with the council is ongoing as we collaborate with a working group in a series of sprints to ideate and prototype a series of products and services.
Our innovations including a series of potential policy changes and MVP will be tested with end users to co-design better solutions.
A new strategic direction for the council
This work will also be used to inform architects and designers of a new neighbourhood development in the region along with Housing needs assessments and neighbourhood planning.
We are working in-conjunction multiple departments of the council including Social Care, Local Authority Housing, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Planning departments etc.