STBY were asked by Dott Cornwall – a Design Council body who promote design-led solutions to economic and social problems – to investigate what could be done to support sustainable living in Cornwall. The project initially focused on whether a new ‘Centre for Sustainable Living’ was needed in order to support the transition to sustainability throughout the region. To this end, STBY interviewed 27 carefully selected people – 18 stakeholders and 9 ‘future’ users – before analysing the results with nine key stakeholders in a subsequent workshop.
The field research for this project was done in close collaboration with four design students from University College Falmouth. From the data analysis and the workshop, it emerged quite clearly that a decentralised approach – one that would support the various organisations, initiatives and practices already existing in relation to sustainable living – would be far more useful than building a new centre.
