In London’s Brent borough, social housing faces an ongoing maintenance and oversight crisis. Minor issues—such as mold on walls or cracked tiles—often evolve into serious health and safety hazards when not addressed promptly. Missing data, inadequate supervision, and long-standing lack of accountability have left many residents’ legitimate complaints unheard or excessively delayed. This not only disrupts daily life for tenants but also places added strain on local healthcare, education, and social services.
To address these challenges, we designed a CC Bot–based system that automatically collects, organizes, and stores crucial information about property damage and repair requests every time it is copied (CC’d) into emails. This data is then linked to a public “appeal space,” a physical installation in community areas where residents can interact with both the materials and the interface. In this way, residents can easily archive and review their complaints, monitor progress, and even receive suggested next steps if their concerns go unaddressed beyond a set timeframe. This provides robust support for individual and collective advocacy.
Through this public appeal space, residents’ reported issues are mapped across different districts in Brent, creating a clear, visual “disrepair map.” Its approachable interface and welcoming materials design help strengthen community bonds, while also supplying crucial evidence for media, lawyers, and charities—spurring broader awareness and action. Ultimately, this system breaks through opaque complaint processes, allowing residents to voice their concerns in a transparent, publicly engaged forum and paving the way for lasting, sustainable improvements in housing across Brent.
My role in this project mainly focuses on the CCbot design, data visualization and city mapping.
