As the world gets more connected, we are surrounded by devices, networks and infrastructure which carry data about the buildings and places we live and work. But whilst we collect data on everything from energy consumption to wifi signal strength, weather predictions to traffic, this data often feels abstract and inscrutable. Would we feel and act differently if this data was made more tangible, more accessible? Would it help us to understand and trace our own environmental impact if we could interact with the data in more human-centred ways?

This two-day Lab run by Julie's Bicycle and Watershed, aimed to make the ‘invisible’ environmental data around us visible by bringing together a diverse community of artists, technologists, data analysts and designers, to explore how environmental data might be visualised and made tangible in creative ways to increase public engagement and data literacy, and inspire long-term behaviour change. Participants were:

- Artist Mr Underwood
- Creative technologist Pete Bennett
- Rudi Ball and Tim Brooke from the Future Cities Catapult
- Adam Nieman from Carbon Visuals
- Mike Faulkner from D-Fuse
- Sound Artist Matt Green
- Visual artist Meadhbh O Connor
- Choreographer and dancer Laura Kriefman
- Creative technologist David Haylock
- Designer Molly Price
- Artist Fiona Chambers
- Designer Lee Nutbean
- Anthony Rowe from artist collective Squid Soup
- Creative technologist Ben Winstone, currently a research associate at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory

Through a two-day process of thinking through making, the group engaged  in playful enquiry, prototyped and showcased new ideas for sustainable futures.

Read more about the Lab and the ideas the group came up with here