WildOne
Get Wild, London Style.
Weaving Wellbeing and Biodiversity Recovery into Everyday Experiences for People and Planet
WildOne encourages active engagement with nature through quick, accessible rewilding activities in London’s green spaces. It supports personal well-being and urban climate resilience by reconnecting people with biodiversity and sustainable outdoor experiences. In collaboration with Citizen Zoo, local government, and communities, we ran co-design sessions to ensure inclusive participation and effective stakeholder engagement.
I worked with fellow service designers Sijia Li and Viva Chanyam, sharing responsibilities across research, concept development, and design. My focus was on applying regulatory perspectives, particularly around stakeholder engagement and top-level collaboration.
"Its really hard to dispose my waste, as the bins on the canal are always full"
- Emma, Continuous Cruiser
(Boater who needs to move every 2 weeks)
“I’ll search for a nearby cafe to search for bins to throw my rubbish out every time I moored ”
- Chuntian, Continuous Cruiser
Challenge
We believe nature isn’t just a place to visit, but a powerful way to support everyday wellbeing. Over 8,000 people have joined NHS green prescribing mainly for mental health support — yet 48 million UK adults reported stress or burnout just last year, showing a much greater need for nature-based care. But nature itself is also having an urgent problem.
Problem
UK has been highlighted to have the lowest biodiversity in Europe.
1 in 4 British mammals are now at risk of extinction.
By 2030, the UK’s GDP could be lost by 12% due to envir/onmental degradation.
These set as a reminder: it’s not just about what nature can do for us, it’s also about what we must do for nature
Research Insight: Rewilding as the solution
Rewilding is one of the key solutions to support nature. The challenge? It remains under the radar — many people still don’t fully understand what it means.
At its core, rewilding is about restoring habitats, reintroducing native species, and strengthening biodiversity.
In practice, this can look like simple, hands-on actions. For example, during a volunteer activity, we cleared brambles from an overgrown patch of land, creating space for cattle and pigs to roam again.
But rewilding isn’t only about large landscapes or big animals. Sometimes, it starts small — with a single, powerful species that sparks ecological change : The Beavers. Because beavers are ecological engineers, they prevent floods, Restore wetlands, and boost biodiversity. Their dams naturally manage water, saving millions in infrastructure costs. They make our cities more climate-resilient.
Before
After
Our Sevice Proposal
HYPOTHESES
We aimed to design something that works for our three key stakeholders: people, rewilding groups, and nature itself. But before jumping to solutions, we had to test a few hypotheses:
Do nature-based experiences actually improve well-being?
Can a small creative takeaway extend that positive effect?
Does tracking impact motivate people to return?
And finally, can low-effort actions lead to long-term engagement?
We ran this test with 10 participants experiencing stress and burnout, guiding them through a prototype experience in a green space.
90%
participants reported feeling less stressed after the experience
30%
reduction in post-event stress and anxiety conditions
80%
wants to stay connected and see the fresh event updates to continuously using this service.
The results pointed us toward one clear direction which is to make nature easy to access, fulfilling to join, and inspiring to return to. Which leads us to our solution :
WildOne — your gateway to nature in the city.
Where everyday people restore biodiversity — and themselves, so both people and the planet can thrive.
EXPERIENCING WILDONE
Meet Sofia, she can easily book an activity, join rewilding sessions, spend time in nature, and meet new friends. Through regular updates and creative reminders, she stays connected to the process and feels included as part of the community.
COLLABORATION
WildOne was co-created with Citizen Zoo, Ealing Council, the Ealing Beaver Project, and local residents, exploring how rewilding can support both ecological restoration and community well-being.
Through the RCA Service Design program, we ran two key workshops:
Discovery Workshop – mapping challenges and opportunities in making rewilding more accessible.
Prototyping Workshop – testing early ideas directly with the community.
This process shaped WildOne into not just a design outcome, but a prototype for cross-sector collaboration, uniting academia, local culture, environment, and policy.
We later showcased WildOne at the RCA Summer Exhibition in July 2025, sharing the vision for rewilding as an accessible, everyday experience in London.