Brian Patterson, Fiona Yu, Klara Joubert, Victor Martinez and Iryna Karaush
Metro Vancouver’s healthcare system was in everybody’s mind well before the pandemic: due to long waiting times, lack of general practitioners and family doctors, and even longer referrals for specialists, in some cases up to one year to get an ultrasound or an MRI. As in most of the world, the pandemic exacerbated all this and created new problems; on top of this, today we have economic and climate crises, an aging population, very ambitious immigration policies, and a polarizing political landscape. This project used a systems approach for analysing the complexity of the problem and proposing interventions that direct the current situation to a more desirable one, thinking in both short- and long-term. In order to understand what a new, desirable outcome may look like, the team consulted different experts and the public. This project was part of the spring 2023 course Design Studio 3: Design Context from the Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in BC, Canada. It followed a four-step methodology developed by the faculty, focusing on de-constructing the problem, understanding the system, creating interventions, and planning implementation. The outcomes were six areas in which to focus the interventions and a strategy for short and long-term implementation.
Keywords: systemic design
healthcare
aging population
futuring
Metro Vancouver’s healthcare system was in everybody’s mind well before the pandemic: due to long waiting times, lack of general practitioners and family doctors, and even longer referrals for specialists, in some cases up to one year to get an ultrasound or an MRI. As in most of the world, the pandemic exacerbated all this and created new problems; on top of this, today we have economic and climate crises, an aging population, very ambitious immigration policies, and a polarizing political landscape. This project used a systems approach for analysing the complexity of the problem and proposing interventions that direct the current situation to a more desirable one, thinking in both short- and long-term. In order to understand what a new, desirable outcome may look like, the team consulted different experts and the public. This project was part of the spring 2023 course Design Studio 3: Design Context from the Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in BC, Canada. It followed a four-step methodology developed by the faculty, focusing on de-constructing the problem, understanding the system, creating interventions, and planning implementation. The outcomes were six areas in which to focus the interventions and a strategy for short and long-term implementation.
Keywords: systemic design
healthcare
aging population
futuring