PROJECTS

Earth Logic Design
Forest Meetings
Earth Logic
UCRF
BOOST Metadesign 
TLLAA
Design + Change
Metadesign project
Lifetimes
Lucky People Forecast
Urban Nomad

TRANSNATIONAL LIVING LAB FOR ACTIVE AGEING (TLLAA)
This project responded to the context of a rapidly ageing society, declining resources for care and many people living away from their relatives and close friends. An ageing society presents many challenges including the risk of loneliness, mental ill-health in older persons and ageism. As we shared insights across Sweden and Japan, we learnt that meaningful occupation and authentic participation in community are central aspects of living well, including in old age. The core proposal of the project – complementing many technology focused initiatives – was therefore to strengthen the connections between different generations in society. Using living lab methodology we worked with different stakeholders – local and regional governance, health care, education, companies, and local communities in Växjö, Sweden and Kawamura, Japan to co-create and prototype proposals, including:  

’The  TRALALA Choir’ (playing with the project acronym) is open to all ages, live and digitally for accessibility, as singing can accelerate a sense of community and bring back memories as well as skills. This led to the development of ‘Care-oke – a singing orchestra of care’ – a methodology for using singing in transdisciplinary collaborations.

’The Intergenerational Start-up’ brings together insights and ideas from the very young and old and all in between. It breaks the norm of the typical entrepreneur, can add important diversity to the innovation process, and can balance resources such as time, energy, experience, patience which can differ across an individual’s lifespan. 

The notion of ’Age Creativity’ can be used to discuss and raise awareness of norms and presumptions associated with age, and how they can limit what individuals and society allow people of different ages to be and do.




Transnational Living Lab (2017–2019) was a collaboration between researchers from design and social work, Linnaeus University and from gerontology, Tokyo University. Mathilda Tham led the Swedish part of the project, working with Sara Hyltén-Cavallius and Angelika Thelin. The project was funded by Vinnova and Japan Agency of Science and Technology.