The four new types of post-Covid public behaviour we are already designing for…

We spend a lot of our time designing public engagement experiences, many of which cover complex and controversial subjects.

Like how to decide if you should freeze your eggs, or understanding the effects of night shift work on our health. Or dying. And much of our output involves physical interaction with a variety of different elements- and with people too!

Whilst most of this type of delivery was thwarted in 2020 by the pandemic, as we start 2021 we can see projects ahead where we expect we will once again be working up close with people, engaging them in a spectrum of activities. It’s an exciting prospect, and we are quietly confident that in a few months much of the public will be enjoying getting out and about and being a lot more social.

Yet we imagine that the latter half of 2021 will be a long way from how things used to be. Even assuming that vaccine roll-outs happen speedily and effectively and R numbers reduce, we foresee a range of different behaviours and mindsets coming to the fore. We think there will be four new types of post-virus public who we are ensuring we consider in our future public engagement designs:

Elders First…

Unusually in society, there will likely be a short period this late spring/early summer when those able to most enjoy being out and about in social settings first will be older people. With vaccines rolling out for the elders first, we expect to see groups of older people quick to realise their new-(re)found freedom. Being mostly retired unlike other demographics, this group will be out and about midweek as well as the weekend and, for a short while at least, we think they will enjoy being visibly the most outward-bound people in the UK, and will perhaps enjoy the novelty and camaraderie of this, too!

Gimme Gimme Gimme

For many people, cooped up for months and months, the desire to get out and see things and be immersed in the crowds will be compelling. We think this group will feast on going to places, meeting people, engaging in experiences, being in the hubbub of busy public places and enjoying the opposite of lockdown. They will feel secure in their newly vaccinated selves and will very quickly throw off all of the social distancing shackles they once had. And they will want more as they feast after a famine of stimulus; from a public engagement point of view they will be clamouring for more, and will likely snap up tickets and book up weekends to make the most of this freedom.

See, don’t touch

Whilst most people are very much looking forward to getting out and about again in post-virus safety, keen to experience the simple pleasures of shopping without a mask, or going to a cafe where they might literally bump into someone, when the time comes many will be shy about it. Even though they’ve been told it’s safe, they may feel a strong sense of caution and desire to be sensible.

They will embrace being out and returning to places they used to go to, but they will be reticent about it. They’ve become used to being concerned about touching things or being in very crowded spaces. Visits to new places might be slightly uncomfortable for them when once they wouldn’t have been. They will still value experiences, particularly seeing things, but will seek out ways not to be in close physical contact with others, and will appreciate a gentler return to normality- with experiences that stimulate the senses without taking them out of their comfort zone, and that let them engage on their own terms.

Off Peak

For a significant minority of people in the UK, we expect that shaking off the legacy of a year of worry, hardship and social distancing will be difficult to do. These new patterns of behaviour learnt under duress will be deeply embedded. They might be unable, or unwilling, to go out of the house, to visit people or places, or to interact much generally, let alone to be in busy public engaging in new experiences. Over time most will hopefully find their way back and become comfortable in the post-virus world. From a public engagement perspective they will be the hardest to reach. By speaking to them and creating experiences that respect their inhibitions we will help our clients make inroads and be part of their rehabilitation.

Our work is designed to create connections across society, and throughout the pandemic we’ve delivered projects which bring people together and create new experiences in both digital and blended formats. We will be taking the learnings from this past year into the new liminal space we’re all living in, and designing with these behaviours in mind to ensure that post-pandemic public engagement fits the needs of our time.

The Liminal Space creates groundbreaking experiences that transform what people think, feel and do. We help forward-thinking organisations take a new approach to solving business challenges, bringing difficult social issues to the public and making an impact with academic research. Drop us a line, we’d love to talk.