The current Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of urban public spaces in achieving health and social well-being (Dobson, 2021; Poortinga et al., 2021), prompting policymakers and urban planners to rethink their approach to the design of these spaces. They now propagate adapting urban public …

Social robots are reported to hold great potential for education. However, both scholars and key stakeholders worry about children’s social-emotional development being compromised. In aiming to provide new insights into the impact that social robots can have on the social-emotional development of children, …

What is the agorà? Reading the Oxford English Dictionary definition, we find written «in ancient Greece, an open space used for markets and public gatherings». This definition is arguably precise. Contemporaries might think it is a simple marketplace, but this is an insufficient definition that does …

This chapter reports on the findings of a research project aimed at investigating the actual thermal environment of the housing of older occupants (aged 65 or over) in South Australia. The study documented their thermal preferences and behaviours during hot and cold weather and relationships to their …

This doctoral dissertation, anchored in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and design research, addresses the following primary research question: How can interaction design research contribute to stimulating physical activity in the office environment? This thesis makes several contributions …

Referring to his legendary Qatsi trilogy, Godfrey Reggio argues that the real problem with our world is not the people, but the technology we bring to life, as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. He argues that competition, winning, fame and love of money are elevated to core values of life: life as a …

There are 4 major transition domains: climate, environment, forest, demography and labour market. There is evidence that labour plays a key role in these five vital transitions. Since the Corona pandemic, especially in the US, there has been the so-called Great Resignation, a total reconsideration. According …

The increasing trend of sustainable and on-the-go healthy food products results in consumers demanding more ‘natural and organic ingredients. Not only do consumers want healthier options, but there is also an increasing concern on part of governments and legislation makers on reducing salt levels in …

Humanity has created a world where many people can live in relative wealth at the same time (7.2% of all people who have ever lived are alive right now!) It 's fantastic that mass communication has made global inequality painfully visible, resulting in increasingly one humanity. But at the same time, …

Inclusive labour contributes to the individual human need to realize a meaningful socially integrated existence. However, we are quite lost on what that could/should look like, if it is to be sustainable for both us and our planet! As impossible as it may be, the formulation of needs on a global level, …