Jonathan Daly’s work questions the relationship between people and cities and how urban environments can be better designed around human needs and motivations.
Architecture & Design spoke to him about what behavioural design is, how it can be applied to architectural practices and the issue of Green Star ratings being lost once a building is handed over to occupants.
Can you explain behavioural design?
Behavioural design bridges the gap between design intent and actual human behaviour through the application of social, cognitive and environmental psychology in the design of the built environment. It is primarily a human-centred approach that puts users at the centre of the design process to provide a stronger contextual fit between people and place.
How did you become interested in it?
For almost a century now we have been tearing our cities apart to accommodate cars and traffic, condemning people to the margins of the urban realm.
Although opposition to this kind of urban development began more than 50 years ago through urbanists like William H Whyte, Jane Jacobs and more recently through by Jan Gehl, it is only in the last decade that urban policies have caught up and change has taken place.
We cannot design our cities around people in the way that we have designed them around cars. Behavioural design is an interdisciplinary response to this new form of urbanism. I believe that if you start with people, you end up with people.
How can it be applied to architecture and design?
Behavioural design is an approach that integrates with and enhances the traditional and emerging practices of architects and designers, starting with the design brief and continuing through to post occupation.
Design research can help articulate a design brief that is more closely aligned to the users of a building or space. These critical insights can then be utilised during both the conceptual and development phases of the design process.
Unlike traditional methods, behavioural design, through behaviour adaptation strategies, also supports users adapt to new environments (e.g. buildings targeting ratings under BREAM, LEED, Green Star and NABERS). It closes the loop on the design process by supporting post occupancy evaluations, and depending on the outcomes, supports behavioural change among the users of buildings and spaces.
What building types does it most suit? Why?
Behavioural design can be applied to all types of buildings, including residential, commercial, health and education. It is particularly well suited for high performance buildings where sustainability is a key driver.
Unfortunately, to date, the actual performance of green star buildings has been relatively poor. While the physical design might be right, occupants often fail to adapt their behaviour to align with the new environment, with evidence suggesting that occupants override most of the technologies and strategies to improve energy efficiency and comfort.
Behavioural design aims to embed pro-environmental behaviours in the fabric of the building to make them as intuitive as possible, while at the same time supporting occupants to adapt to their new surroundings.
Have you used this approach on any projects to date?
We recently developed a behavioural adaptation strategy to support the redevelopment of Swanston Street in Melbourne. Currently we are assessing the design intent of a new plaza on crowd behaviour for major events in Brisbane and we are also assisting our urban designers with a pedestrianisation scheme in Melbourne.
We also have a number of projects coming up where we will be working closely with our architects on various buildings and masterplans.
How do you think the concept will evolve in the next two to five years?
The next few years will be about embedding this approach into the traditional and emerging practices of architects and designers. It is not about creating a new (and possibly costly) service, but rather one that supports and enhances what architects and designers already do in a way that offers tangible value for our clients.
Looking further ahead, there are many exciting developments in this field such as the application of neuroscience and virtual reality, enabling people to experience new environments and for this sensory and cognitive experience to be captured and utilised in the design process to create a stronger contextual fit between people and place.
