Event Report: EDRA56 – Environmental Design Research Association Annual Conference

Please describe the event you attended.

I attended the EDRA56 Annual Conference held in Halifax, Canada. This year’s conference, themed “(Re)connecting People and Place”, brought together a diverse group of designers, architects, researchers, planners, and social scientists to examine how built environments influence human experience and vice versa. The event was rich in workshops, paper presentations, design charrettes, and plenaries that tackled some of the most pressing social, ecological, and design challenges we face today.

My engagement included two main contributions: participation in the full-day EDRA Student Mentoring Workshop, and the presentation of a working paper currently under review. I also took part in an urban design workshop using card-sorting methods, as well as a site-based mobile session exploring nature-based coastal interventions.

What drew you to attend this event? 

EDRA56 stood out for its strong emphasis on participatory methods, with a programme rich in workshops, collaborative sessions, and presentations that explored inclusive and community-led approaches to environmental design. As my research focuses on ageing, care environments, and socio-ecological health, this emphasis on participatory practice aligned closely with my current academic trajectory—particularly the final phase of my doctoral work, which involves co-designing interventions with older adults.

Contemporary models of person-centred care underscore the importance of recognising older adults not as passive recipients of care or environmental conditions, but as active agents capable of shaping their surroundings. Attending EDRA56 offered an opportunity to learn directly from international leaders in participatory design, whose work demonstrates how user engagement can drive more responsive, empowering, and contextually grounded solutions.

My paper presentation at EDRA56 emerged from work conducted as part of Work Package 4 of the ACRC and focuses on how older adults navigate outdoor activity in care contexts. The student mentoring programme also provided a valuable platform to receive tailored feedback and to explore how participatory methods could be meaningfully integrated into future stages of my research. Overall, the event offered both intellectual enrichment and practical insights that will significantly inform the applied and collaborative dimensions of my work.

How was your experience attending the event? What were the highlights and key moments? 

One of the key highlights of the conference was the EDRA Student Mentoring Workshop. The morning began with short presentations from PhD students—including myself—who shared our research progress, challenges, and emerging questions. I presented my ongoing doctoral project, which focuses on the socio-ecological barriers and enablers of outdoor activity among older adults. The feedback I received from a panel of senior academics and fellow PhD candidates was both insightful and constructive, encouraging me to critically reflect on the interdisciplinary framing of my research and its potential for real-world application.

In the afternoon, the mentoring programme transitioned into a collaborative design thinking workshop that tackled the complex issue of global housing shortages. Our group utilised Daniel Christian Wahl’s framework from Designing Regenerative Cultures to map out the systemic interconnections between issues such as forced displacement, affordability, ageing demographics, and ecological degradation. This exercise highlighted the necessity of designing for adaptability, resilience, and inclusion in the face of global uncertainty. One of the key takeaways was the potential for adaptive building use, particularly in the context of demographic shifts. As populations age and birth rates decline, many educational facilities—such as underutilised schools—could be creatively reimagined and repurposed as ageing-friendly infrastructure. This approach invites innovative spatial and architectural thinking to address the evolving needs of communities.

Another significant moment was my paper presentation, based on work developed as part of Work Package Four of the ACRC Academy. My talk explored how a personal project lens can illuminate subtle facilitators and inhibitors of outdoor activity among older adults. A stimulating Q&A session followed, where the discussion centred on the delicate balance between providing social support and preserving individual autonomy. Participants engaged with the idea of a “sweet spot” in environmental and social design—where interaction feels supportive rather than surveillant—optimising both physical and mental health outcomes for older individuals engaging with outdoor spaces.

On Day 3, I took part in a card-sorting design workshop aimed at identifying community priorities for the redevelopment of an urban courtyard near Dalhousie University. The session employed participatory methods to explore how spatial configurations, accessibility considerations, and ecological interventions could enhance the inclusivity and sustainability of the site. The workshop reinforced the value of engaging users in co-design processes to create places that are meaningful, multifunctional, and community-driven.

Additionally, I attended a mobile session that included site visits to three key nature-based coastal interventions along the Dartmouth waterfront. These interventions, grounded in principles of permaculture and landscape design, showcased the use of native planting and biodegradable materials to mitigate coastline erosion. More than erosion control projects, these interventions were framed as opportunities to redefine public open space—not solely as recreational assets but as habitats for biodiversity and as shared spaces for human and non-human communities alike. The experience underscored how thoughtful environmental design can deliver both ecological function and social value, without compromising long-term sustainability.

How was this event relevant to your research, interdisciplinarity and the ACRC Academy? 

EDRA56 exemplifies the kind of interdisciplinary, applied research that lies at the heart of the ACRC Academy’s values. From urban designers to gerontologists, the conference brought together stakeholders who view health, aging, and design through integrative lenses. This environment allowed me to both contribute to and learn from conversations that spanned social justice, ageing in place, community co-design, and regenerative environments.

My research investigates how older adults interact with outdoor environments, particularly within care contexts. The sessions I attended—especially those focused on place attachment, regenerative design, and healthy ageing—offered powerful new ways to conceptualise ‘care’ not just as a service, but as a spatial and ecological relation. This conference helped crystallise how findings from my work can inform the design of age-friendly, ecologically attuned spaces.

The mentoring, hands-on, and site-based workshops offered exposure to practical tools and environmental strategies that can be incorporated into research and design work in care settings. The combination of critical reflection, interdisciplinary discussion, and site-based learning aligns closely with the ACRC’s mission to create applied research with tangible public impact.

Any lessons learnt / best practices that you’d like to share

EDRA56 reinforced several best practices that are valuable for interdisciplinary, socially responsive research:

• Systems thinking is essential: whether addressing housing, coastal erosion, or ageing, the most effective interventions considered environmental, social, cultural, and infrastructural dimensions as interlinked. The regenerative design framework provided a valuable model for systemic intervention.
• Participatory methods are powerful: Tools like card-sorting and co-design workshops demonstrated how communities can meaningfully shape space and policy. These methods could be adapted for participatory planning in care settings.
• Nature-based solutions are multi-beneficial: The site visit along Dartmouth’s coastline offered real-world evidence that environmental protection and public space design are not mutually exclusive. Using native plants and biodegradable materials allowed both erosion control and public engagement with nature.
• Adaptative design is an emerging trend: With an ageing population resulting from increased life expectancy and declining birth rates, there is growing potential to repurpose school buildings into facilities for older adults. This shift calls for more innovative and creative applications of spatial and architectural design strategies.
• Mentorship and peer learning as catalysts for growth: the student mentoring workshop served as a powerful reminder that academic development flourishes in open, reflective, and dialogical environments. Structured support of this kind should be a standard component of early-career researcher development.