This project will look at the feasibility of creating a small scale Anaerobic Digester network, which is a renewable technology that transforms food and other organic wastes into clean, renewable fuel and fertiliser. This can to take advantage of the energy potential within the substantial food waste produced daily by Camden’s businesses and residents. By generating clean energy from food waste, Camden will be able to tackle the stresses to its waste systems as well as provide energy for taxis and buses and where appropriate energy efficient Combined Heat and Power systems which simultanteously generate electrictiy and heat for local buildings. The digestate will then be redistributed back to Camden residents as fertiliser and soil conditioner to ensure there is no waste in the system.

Awaiting Public Project Summary

It is widely understood that the public sector in general and public services in particular need to be radically reshaped inorder to meet the needs of citizens in the context of diminishing public financing. Less well understood are the ways andmeans by which to do so. This one-year project explores the potential for, and value of, design-led research to addresssocietal challenges and to inform policy. It does this through establishing a 'Public Collaboration Lab' (PCL), a strategicresearch collaboration between local government (London Borough of Camden), the citizens they serve, and an HigherEducation institution (University of the Arts London). The project will use social innovation approaches to engage citizens and other societal actors in the co-design and co-delivery of some aspects of public services. These 'public and collaborative' approaches to service delivery (servicesdelivered with and by citizens and other agencies) seek to mobilise citizens as 'active collaborative people' rather than'passive individual people', 'service participants' rather than 'service users' and recognise citizens as both 'people withneeds' and 'people as assets in meeting their own and each other's needs'. However, despite the growing interest in therole, objectives and impact of design in strategic public sector contexts, there is also an acknowledged gap inunderstanding design's contribution to such situations. This project is designed to address that gap. Two interrelated action research activities will be delivered in parallel. The first will deliver a citizen-centred exploration ofexactly how such collaboration plays out in specific service contexts. For the pilot we propose to take the reform of LondonBorough of Camden's Library Services as our starting point. The second will explore the models, mechanisms andmeasurement of impact of the 'Public Collaboration Lab', evaluating the model and its wider potential as a means ofdemocratizing social and service innovation and informing policy. The project aims to: - Undertake a demonstrator social innovation project within a specially created 'public collaboration lab' to redesign publicservices through the application of collaborative design led approaches. - Increase understanding of HEI institutions' roles in supporting innovation practices within local government throughdesign led action research. - Explore the potential for co-design to democratize public service reform and improve pubic outcomes. - Co-design evaluative frameworks for assessing the role of design in local government service reform. - Propose means by which the pilot study could be upscaled within other contexts A process of examination and distillation will create a body of material which will serve as the basis for a series ofcoordinated outputs, including journal articles, conference papers, a research blog, case study material, service and socialinnovations, as well as a public collaboration lab model, framework and tools for HE/LG collaboration. The PCL team willwork closely with Nesta, Public Service Transformation Network, the international DESIS Network of over 40 DESIS labs,Impact Hub Network, Social Innovation Exchange, King's Cross Knowledge Quarter, Age UK and others to disseminateand maximise real-world impact of the project outputs. Dissemination will be integrated within the collaborativemethodology of the project, by involving relevant users, practitioners and policy makers in research, ideation andimplementation. To disseminate the findings, the project team will target major events and publications in the localgovernment, public policy, design research, and design HE communities. The final evaluation report will be designed in aforward-looking manner so that the lessons and opportunities arising from this pilot can be applied in other contexts.

Physical activity is beneficial for the health of young people. It is recommended that young people engage in physical activity of moderate intensity for at least one hour a day, to maintain good health. However, just 24% of British girls and 32% of boys achieve this recommendation, which has been partly linked to the rise in obesity levels across the UK. Studies have found that weekday physical activity in school children is lowest when they are at school. Numerous school-based interventions have focused on physical education lessons in an attempt to increase activity levels, but have generally been unsuccessful. Environments both stimulate and provide the arena for physical activity although there is limited research to show if changing the physical environment at school influences activity levels in children. Camden Borough Council will be re-designing six existing school playgrounds with exciting bespoke features to engage children to become more active. The underlying goal is to encourage motivation by integrating potential for activities that are not motivated by traditional sports or by team competition. This presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of these structures on physical activity, engagement, wellbeing, and academic performance. The building work will be undertaken in the school holidays of this year. Measuring physical activity in children is challenging and often relies on proxy measures such as parent-report that can be unreliable. In the last decade the measurement of physical activity has been revolutionised with the introduction of small wearable motion sensors that now enables us to assess movement objectively over prolonged periods at low cost. We propose to randomly select approximately 80 pupils from similar year groups from each of the six schools (total sample size~ 480) and collect objective physical activity data from them, using an accelerometer, at three different time points before and after the intervention (Spring/summer term 2014; Autumn term 2014; summer term 2015). Taking repeated follow up assessments would allow us to examine if short term effects are sustained over a longer period. We will also collect data on the child's mental and physical health (such as body mass index), and markers of academic performance.

Physical activity is beneficial for the health of young people. It is recommended that young people engage in physical activity of moderate intensity for at least one hour a day, to maintain good health. However, just 24% of British girls and 32% of boys achieve this recommendation, which has been partly linked to the rise in obesity levels across the UK. Studies have found that weekday physical activity in school children is lowest when they are at school. Numerous school-based interventions have focused on physical education lessons in an attempt to increase activity levels, but have generally been unsuccessful. Environments both stimulate and provide the arena for physical activity although there is limited research to show if changing the physical environment at school influences activity levels in children. Camden Borough Council will be re-designing six existing school playgrounds with exciting bespoke features to engage children to become more active. The underlying goal is to encourage motivation by integrating potential for activities that are not motivated by traditional sports or by team competition. This presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of these structures on physical activity, engagement, wellbeing, and academic performance. The building work will be undertaken in the school holidays of this year. Measuring physical activity in children is challenging and often relies on proxy measures such as parent-report that can be unreliable. In the last decade the measurement of physical activity has been revolutionised with the introduction of small wearable motion sensors that now enables us to assess movement objectively over prolonged periods at low cost. We propose to randomly select approximately 80 pupils from similar year groups from each of the six schools (total sample size~ 480) and collect objective physical activity data from them, using an accelerometer, at three different time points before and after the intervention (Spring/summer term 2014; Autumn term 2014; summer term 2015). Taking repeated follow up assessments would allow us to examine if short term effects are sustained over a longer period. We will also collect data on the child's mental and physical health (such as body mass index), and markers of academic performance.