Dundee: Designing for the Future Human
With its vibrant background in video games and design innovation, can the city of Dundee kickstart new thinking about mental health?
Mental health looms large in our collective conversation. According to the charity Mind, 1 in 4 people in the UK experiences a mental health problem each year. Yet need often outstrips capacity: A Royal College of Psychiatrists survey found that some people wait up to 13 years to get the treatment they need. In Scotland, suicide rates in Dundee are higher than in any other council area—and nearly three-quarters of those who died had contact with healthcare services in the year before their death.
We’re all guilty of using our smartphones and other tech for long hours each day. Research shows this habit can contribute to the development of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression in some people. To make meaningful progress, we need to harness our digital devices to actively improve people’s well-being—and design intuitive, scalable solutions that don’t cost the earth. Does the city of Dundee have the tools to be a fertile testing ground for tech-driven innovations to aid mental health?
A unique approach to culture
Dundee has historically lived in the shadow of Scotland’s more prominent cities, but its legacy of innovation in art and design puts it on the map. Although Dundee has been called the global centre of pharmaceutical innovation, it’s better known as the birthplace of the world's biggest-selling video game: Grand Theft Auto. The series has marked the city out as a hub for video game design over the past two decades. Dundee also acquired a UNESCO City of Design badge in 2014, and opened the first-ever V&A Museum outside of London in 2018.
Dr Lorenzo Pergola, who holds a PhD in the comparative cultural values of Dundee versus Edinburgh, thinks that Dundee is well-placed for catalysing its gaming and design talent in inventive ways because of how it approaches the concept of culture. He says:
“When you compare Dundee to a city like Edinburgh, the understanding of what culture is — what it means — is quite different. In Edinburgh, culture is seen as an offer: museums, festivals, galleries. It’s something that people go and consume. To the people of Dundee, the word ‘culture’ has much more of a social connotation. They view their culture as something in their people and what they do, which is what creates such a sense of local cohesion and community.”
If so many modern ailments stem from loneliness, isolation, and a lack of community—in part because of technology’s ability to keep us digitally connected without any ‘real-life’ contact—Dundee could be the perfect place to create novel solutions for mental health, driven by gaming and design.
Gaming for better mental health
Simulations and other forms of gaming have long been used as tools to prepare people, organisations and teams for challenging scenarios and possible futures. The US military, for example, encourages its soldiers to play first-person shooter games as a way to continue their combat training when they’re not on active duty. Before video games, troops used to play military-themed board games instead.
While there isn’t concrete evidence that these games build new skills, the idea was to help soldiers stay in the right mindset—even when off-duty. Applying that same concept to mental health could see games become a powerful vehicle to shift mindsets and equip people with tools to overcome anxiety and depression.
There are already innovators harnessing the potential. GEMH Lab, a research and development group in the Netherlands, is spearheading the creation of mental health games and, crucially, establishing the scientific foundations to support their use. One of their games, a VR title called DEEP, transports its players into an underwater world where they can learn deep breathing techniques to help alleviate stress.
Shift Design is also working on solutions with games focused on tackling anxiety in young people. Their research shows that anxiety affects almost half a million kids aged between 8 and 12 in the UK, preventing them from going to school, seeing friends and participating in other childhood activities. This can cause depression, self-harm, and other life-long adverse effects.
Manjul Rathee is CEO of BfB Labs, Shift Design’s spin-off social enterprise venture, which released its first emotionally-responsive game in 2017. She cautions that designers need to be clear about what they’re creating and whether they’re building something to manage mental health symptoms or act as an intervention:
“The great thing about gaming is that its core logic is about pushing user engagement in a way which gives a young person a sense of control—be it progression, privacy, in many ways freedom—in a controlled environment. Tapping into the highly engaging nature of games to develop and deliver mental health interventions is a compelling call-to-action underpinned by robust evidence. The best games are those with a narrative around discovery or problem-solving. These have a lot of potential to deliver mental health information or support.”
Leveraging Dundee’s unique mix
When it comes to building emotional resilience and improving mental health, gaming seems uniquely positioned to assist. Could Dundee, with its own experience of mental health challenges and a rich history of pioneering design and technology, lead the field as it emerges?
Local makers are already exploring the potential. In 2018, the Dundee games design group Biome Collective was chosen to showcase its installation on men’s mental health at the London Design Biennale. Knowing that it’s often difficult for men to speak about their feelings, Biome’s tool allows them to share their emotional health in a non-verbal way. The project was a collaboration between Dundee-based designers, mental health professionals, campaigners, and clinicians aiming to give context to Scotland’s growing mental health crisis.
Dundee is in a strong position to exploit its mix of competencies and establish new industries that will ultimately help design new forms of self-expression, new kinds of play, and entirely new worlds. Innovation and creativity are powerful tools for responding to human problems. By unlocking their potential, the city could pave the way to fresh solutions for one of the biggest grievances of our time.
As always, thank you to Lauren Razavi for her research and editorial support, and to Robyn Johnston for her illustrations.
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