Important design features for Highly Sensitive People

I am delighted to share with you the preliminary results of Helena Seget’s pilot survey she conducted on design features for public spaces that are important for highly sensitive people. My delight is twofold, as I am rejoicing in the idea that HSPs views will be taken into consideration when designing public spaces and also because I have retained a keen interest in our built environment and architecture – my original field before I became a Counsellor. It warms my heart to imagine that HSPs exquisite sense of environmental impact will be able shape and improve perhaps the public spaces for all of us.

See the results of the survey: Important design features for Highly Sensitive People

I am sharing Helena’s letter about this to Barbara Alllen, as well.  I hope that many of you will have a look at the link to the survey results and benefit from the confirmation of what creates a good environment for sensitive people.

“Hello Barbara

I hope you are well.

Thank you again for your help in connecting me to your network and thereby enabling me to gather data for my pilot survey ‘Important Design Features for HSPs’. I wondered whether you, or any of your network, would be interested in seeing the result. (Please see attached table.)

As previously mentioned, the British Standards institute invited me onto their steering group, which was set up to create the first set of UK building guidelines that would take into account differing neurological states. A draft of the BSI PAS 6463 Built Environment Design for the Mind should be ready for public consultation sometime this month and I wondered whether you would like me to notify you of its release.

I had wished for HSPs to be defined in the document and for their specific needs to be specified as such however, it was decided that no neurological ‘difference’ should be addressed by name. I believe that the needs of HSPs (as identified in the survey) has been met, to some degree, in the guidelines. However, 85% of respondents to my survey reported that overhead lighting prevented them from feeling at ease and, while the BSI guidelines recognises that wall-level lighting, i.e. table and standing lights, is preferable to overhead lighting, the strong adverse impact of overhead lighting on HSPs was not made note of in the guidelines.

This public consultation provides HSPs with the opportunity to shape public spaces. Would you be willing to share a link to the document with your network once it is available?

If you would like to share my e-mail address I’m very happy to be contacted by anyone who might have any questions about my survey or the BSI guidelines.

Once again, thank you very much for your time.

Kind regards

Helena

Helena Seget 07961 178 468“