Phygital Manchester is a localised environment that allows you to positively escape and explore coping mechanisms for your mental health. Harry Westwood's research design project, into the spaces that people find important as coping mechanisms, is set as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic that we are currently enduring and the restrictions that have been imposed during the last 12 months or so. The project interconnects constructed spaces from participant outreach during the initial research stages with identified real-life Manchester spaces, to create a localised, cohesive digital environment. This enables users to connect with places (real and digital), connect with people and connect to mental health advice/support, providing an immersive ‘escape’ from being trapped inside the four walls of your home.
It has been a journey that has had its ups and downs, battling lockdowns and the project alongside my own mental health challenges, which have played an important role in the development of and the path in which this research thesis has taken. Through undertaking this project, it has though, made me realise the scale and importance of mental health of people in this country and to me personally. It has made me think about the City at a greater level of detail, in terms of spaces that are positive for mental health and how they could be incorporated into planning. The importance of having coping mechanisms and open space on a local scale, which has been emphasised during the pandemic has also been highlighted through this research.
Overall, the conception of Phygital Manchester takes a step into how we could use localised digital environments and transitions between the real and digital worlds, to help inform the spaces that are important but also to help prevent future nationwide decline in mental health during any future global pandemics.
Harry Westwood