The contribution that a co-design approach can make to idea generation for workplace travel plans

This study proposed the cooperative processes of ‘co-design’ as a means by which to increase ‘active’ participation in the early stages of workplace travel plan development. In particular, the research takes a first step towards a quantitative comparison of solutions/ideas generated using a co-design approach versus the more traditional methods normally used in travel planning by comparing the number, originality, breadth and type of ideas generated. One group of staff took part in a co-design study and another in a non-co-design study. The main findings were that co-design techniques appear to: encourage a greater number of ideas overall, a greater number of ideas that are innovative in the specific organisational context and different types of idea (particularly ones that tend towards more psychological-based interventions). However both approaches are similar in terms of the global innovativeness of the ideas they generate which was generally low.