Inclusive co-experiences delivered in underground stations through service design

As a concept, sustainability depends upon the support of the three pillars of economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity. Nevertheless, progress towards developing socially equitable and inclusive solutions within the built environment is slow. New methods could improve inclusivity. The five-stage Service Design (SD) method, used in the financial services industry (observe, synthetise, new idea, refine, and implement), was transferred to the design of the built environment. Case 2 represents a new paradigm for an inclusive underground station. Now case 2 is operational, this new post-occupancy study used a participant observation method to co-experience inclusivity, in situ, at two stations. Critical customer ‘touchpoints’ of the passenger’s journey reviewed are, arriving at the station entrance, entering, ticketing, waiting, boarding, riding the train, alighting, and continuing. Finding, waiting, and taking the lifts. Video recordings taken result in a long descriptive analysis that triangulates with literature. To provide accessibility for everyone, stations need not be more costly or larger. It is practical to transfer the SD approach to the built environment context during the early design stage. Co-experiencing inclusivity with a designer and users within a building is a beneficial and inspiring learning opportunity. These are significant original contributions of this work.