Project Market for Community Green Xuanlin Chen Chair of Architectural Informatics Technical University of Munich
2 Project Market for Community Green
Chair
of Architectural Informatics Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Petzold Sustainable Spaces | Shared Futures Prof. Dr.-Ing. Frank Petzold Xuanlin 03742310Chen
3 262320151210864 ContactOutlookDiscussionFinalPrototypingConceptIdeationResearchIntroductionImplementation Table of Contents
4 Introduction
Urban green is an important aspect of promoting sustainable development.
This method requires the participation of experts and community residents. However, there is a problem. Experts, such as organizations Green City, have rich experience and expertise, and they have also operated many projects to promote community green. But how to encourage residents to participate?
In the face of ever-changing climate change, green spaces can reduce extreme heat and ensure improved air quality and biodiversity. Urban gardens contribute to the supply of local and climate-friendly food and strengthen communities in the city. In order to improve urban green, community-scale intervention is a very effective method.
So the project market application is a solution. Experts upload different projects into the app. According to the progress of the project, it can be divided into three different stages. Residents can understand specific information, participate in the project to varying degrees, and give suggestions. It is even possible for residents to spontaneously organize their own projects according to the project templates released by experts to promote the green of the community, thus forming a virtuous circle. Furthermore, the theme of future projects may not be limited to urban green, including energy, transportation and other aspects. This application becomes an all-round project market.
Experts lack a platform to publish information on different projects and communicate it to target users very effectively. Some community residents have enthusiasm to contribute energy and time to promote community green, but they do not know how to do it. Residents lack a platform to easily and effectively obtain expert guidance and participate in related projects.
6 SustainableResearchcommunity What does sustainable community mean? Sustainable communities are places where economic assets, natural resources and social issues are balanced. The needs of residents now and in the future will be met, and everyone has the opportunities, services and conveniences needed for development. Communities can use a series of strategies to protect the environment, support economic development, create communities with multiple choices and close connections, and improve the quality of life of residents. Smart Growth Principles can be used as guidelines: • Mix land uses, • Take advantage of compact building design, • Create a range of housing opportunities and choices, • Create walkable neighborhoods, • Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place, • Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas, • Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities, • Provide a variety of transportation choices, • Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective, • Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development Source:decisions.Smart Growth Network. “Why Smart Growth?” http://www. smartgrowth.org/why.php. Accessed 16.02.2021.
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Green infrastructure and sustainable communities Green infrastructure is an indispensable part of sustainable communities.
Green space can help communities protect the environment and human health, and provide other social and economic benefits. Because of the role of green infrastructure in rainwater and wastewater treatment, it can help the government save the cost of rainwater and wastewater infrastructure. Green space can actively respond to climate change, which is more flexible and cheaper than other types of updates.
Green infrastructure allows a local government to make the most of limited public dollars and achieve multiple goals with a single investment.
Source: Smart Growth Program. “Enhancing sustainable community with green infrastructure” https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-10/ documents/green-infrastructure.pdf.
Accessed 16.02.2021.
Green infrastructure can benefit in many ways: Improved water quality, Reduced municipal water use, Ground water recharge, Flood risk mitigation, Increased resilience to climate change impacts such as heavier rainfalls, hotter temperatures, and higher storm surges, Reduced ground-level ozone, Reduced particulate pollution, Reduced air temperatures in developed areas, Reduced energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions, Increased or improved wildlife habitat, Improved public health from reduced air pollution and increased physical activity, Increased recreation space, Improved community aesthetics, Cost savings, Green jobs, Increased property values.
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The initial idea was that users operate on a three-dimensional model of the community. The application mainly includes three parts: Evaluation block, express needs and view design. First, residents can express their preferences by inserting emoticons and comments into the block. Residents’ favorite value of the block will become an important reference for whether the block needs to be transformed. When the block begins to be renovated, residents can insert demand labels into the map. Other users can like it, and the ranking can reflect design needs to experts. Experts upload different designs to the app. Residents can learn about different designs through text, photos and videos, and vote for the designs. At the same time, it showed the residents the possibility of a better community and inspired them to think about the community. Good connections between apps and social platforms can also stimulate young people‘s interest in participating. Next, the application will be further positioned to focus on communitwy green issues. With the goal of promoting community green, how can experts give suggestions? How can residents participate in the project more easily? The
The target users are experts and community residents. Experts may be nonprofit associations such as green cities, specific companies that promote urban greening projects, and all project planners with relevant knowledge reserves. They are committed to green city projects and have extensive experience. Experts need a platform to publish projects and attract residents to participate. Community residents come from different age groups. Their common feature is that they are willing to contribute some energy to make the community more livable and greener. They have their own ideas and needs.
Residents need a platform to browse different projects, obtain information, and participate in projects conveniently. Through this platform, information transmission and citizen participation can be promoted.
Ideation
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specific functions in the three parts of Evaluation block, express needs and view design in the previous conception were split and reorganized according to the progress of the project. The project is implemented in three phases, the idea, plan and implementation stages. Project information is more clearly presented to the residents. Residents’ participation in actions is also broken down into specific steps.
Image 4: User Interface of express needs in the initial idea stage
Image 2: Target users and needs
Image 3: User Interface of evaluation block in the initial idea stage
10 Concept
Improving the urban green in community scale is one of the aspects to develop sustainable urban. But what should experts and residents do?
Expert projects require the participation of community residents. For residents, on the one hand, they have the enthusiasm to participate, but they do not have simple and effective ways to participate, and they cannot get professional guidance. On the other hand, they have superficial ideas and needs, but residents who do not have professional knowledge cannot clearly express their needs and realize their ideas. In the end, the passion and ideas gradually disappeared. Just because residents do not have an effective way to obtain guidance from experts and participate in projects.
So I want to develop a project market application, where experts publish information about different projects and communicate it to target users very effectively. Residents can obtain project information and participate in related Eachprojects.project is divided into three phases, the idea, plan and implementation stages. In the idea stage, residents can browse different project information and comments, and choose to support their favorite projects. More than 50 people support the project, which means that the project is widely recognized in the community and can enter the second stage. In the plan stage, residents can donate or join the team. More importantly, residents can vote on different designs to jointly create a vision for community green. In the implementation phase, residents can see the project schedule. They can also become project volunteers or participate in related activities through the application.
Image 5:
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Experts created such project templates. Residents can understand how a project is realized from the idea to the implementation stage. I hope in the end, using this project template, resident can create their own proposals, it can be turned into small projects and implemented step by step. This increases the participation of residents, and can stimulate the initiative of residents and achieve a good cycle. Concept
The user interface has two types: list and map. In the list interface, users can choose to view projects at different stages through the buttons at the bottom. In this way, users can get brief information about the project very quickly, and in the first time stimulate their interest through pictures and interesting descriptions. The map interface is an interactive three-dimensional model of the community. Projects at different stages are inserted in the community model. Click the icon to enter different items. This mode allows the project to have a more visual connection with the user through a certain geographic Howlocation.touse the application?For example, Green city would like to provide the public garden for residents, who don’t have gardens for growing plants. But they want to know, if the residents in this community really need this garden. also want to encourage people to join the project. So they use this application. The community garden will be carried out in three stages. Green City uploads the project to the app. Resident see all the projects. He really needs a community garden. So he likes this idea. Resident can communicate with green city through comments on the detailed page. For example, is this a long-term project? Could I get my own Morevegetables?than50people supported the community garden project, and it entered the second phase. User can participate in three ways. Join the team, donate, and vote. If residents meet the requirements given by Green City and have enough time, they can get in touch with Green City by mail. The residents can
Prototyping
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also see the estimated costs and make small donations to support the project.
For voting system, for the first time, user learned that there are so many possibilities for community gardens. He looked at the images and downloaded the documents. Then he like the design. This shows the residents how good the community can become.
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After the green city has selected the implementation plan, in implement stage. User can become a volunteer or participate the related activities.
User was really inspired by those project, and he also had new ideas. Because the process framework of the project has been established, he only needs to add specific content. After users create an idea, they can share it on social platforms and ask others for their suggestions whether the idea is worth implementing. After that, user can find like-minded people in the application to join, and realize this project step by step.
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Image 6: User interface of donatng in the plan stage
Image 7: User interface of voting in the plan stage
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In the idea stage, a progress bar can be seen in the project list and project details page, showing the support of the project. Users can click the heart button to support the project on these two pages. The script UiFil.cs implements the function of the progress bar, mainly by clicking the button to change the filling degree of the green progress bar at the top level to achieve
Final Implementation
First, set up the user interface of the list and map in unity, and the two interface can be switched freely. Scene switching is realized by script Test.cs. Users can enter the project creation page by clicking the edit button, and follow the prompts to enter the title, introduction and ideas. At the same time, users can upload local pictures to illustrate their ideas. After clicking the Create button, the project information will be displayed in the application and can be seen by other users. For localized storage and extraction of text data, I chose the Class PlayerPrefs provided by Unity. The script SaveText.cs implements text data storage, and the script LoadText.cs implements text data reading, and displays related texts according to the user interface. Image data is stored and retrieved by using www server. The script FileManager.cs makes file explorer, enables users to upload local images to the application and save them to a specified location on the disk. The script LoadImage.cs reads the saved image data.
I implemented the function of two phases of idea and implementation. Specifically, in design stage, user can create proposals and like different proposals, in implement stage, users can see the project schedule, become volunteers and participate in workshops and other activities.
Image 9: User interface of project in the plan stage
Image 8: User interface of project list in the idea stage
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Image 11: User interface of uploading image in the idea stage
Image 10: User interface of creating proposals in the idea stage
Image 13: User interface of activities in the implement stage
Image 12: User interface of volunteer in the implement stage
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19 the growth effect. The script AddLike.cs implements clicking the button, and the number of likes keeps increasing. In the third stage, users can directly enter the volunteer or activity page through the button on the project label. On the volunteer page, for example, community gardens need volunteers to water daily. Users can click on a specific time period and choose to become a volunteer or cancel participation. On the event page, users can see the time, location and event content. By dragging the avatar to the participation area, the event organizer can get the information that the user wants to participate in.The script DragUi.cs implements the avatar dragging function.
One possibility might be that students could get the case, with a complete process from the initial storyboard to final prototype, which might be helpful in understanding the project requirements.
The regrettable part is that the initial concept of the project market went off after the storyboard stage, which caused the project to progress slowly in the mid-term. The possible reason is that the context and problem are not clear.
The guidance and comments from implementation presentation and the next open help, helped me a lot. I finally clarified what the most important features of my project are and what problems can be solved. After that, the specific functions, user interface and operation flow are determined step by step. However, due to time issues, I have not been able to give more indepth consideration to each function. For example, how should the financial module work? Is there a difference between the user interface for experts and residents? Therefore, the final prototype is more general.
The clear theme and goal of different stages works very well, so that I could step by step produce a prototype.
This is my first time trying to design a product. Prototype, flowchart are all unfamiliar concepts to me, but the learning process is a very great experience.
Taking consider about the comments from final presentation, I would like to continue to discuss two issues, the characteristics of the project and the meaning of sustainability in this project.
For an unclear problem, I cannot convince myself that the current solution is effective. So in the middle of the project, I have been constantly changing the solution, such as the way of the game.
20 Discussion
So for this application, it is very important that the project must be divided into different stages, idea, plan and implementation stages. Each stage has different modules, such as voting module, volunteer module, financial module, etc. Each module may have different types. Through the participation of residents, the project is a tracking process step by step from idea to actual implementation. This is also more educational for the residents. Under the project framework, the residents can understand the project progress in detail, have a higher sense of participation, and are more enlightening. Residents‘ own ideas may also use project templates to move forward step by step.
Project Incubator Prof. Dr. Ing Frank Petzold mentioned a similar software “consul, a completely open citizen participation software. This is a broader, more flexible, and more professional tool for citizen participation. In terms of citizen participation, “consul and Project Market for Community Green are similar, such as voting. But the projects corresponding to each function in “Consul are independent and pay more attention to the suggestions of participants. In the application Project Market for Community Green, each project has a coherent implementation plan, and the participation of residents is embedded in different stages of the project. So this project market is more similar to a project incubator, and citizens play an important role in the process of project incubation.
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Sustainability addressing in the application
What is the meaning of sustainability in this application?
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A definition of urban sustainability: Urban sustainability is the idea that a city can be organized without excessive reliance on the surrounding countryside and be able to power itself with renewable sources of energy.
Source: Polo Center Sustainability. http://www.polocentre.org/research/ sustainability/urban-sustainability.
Accessed 16.02.2021. Community public green spaces can reduce extreme heat and improve air quality. The green space provides residents with outdoor activities and contributes to the vitality and livability of the community. Some green spaces that can be planted can also provide food supplies. All of these have reduced the community’s dependence on the external environment, improved the internal organization of the community, and developed the community in a more sustainable direction. This is the meaning of the application of sustainability in this application Project Market for Community Green.
23 Outlook
GreenLocallyRecycledRenewablereduction,energy,water,sourcedmaterials,infrastructure,
The current project market application only focuses on the issue of community green. But applications have great potential to accommodate more complex sustainable projects. According to the city‘s sustainable focus and the characteristics of community participation, the application can also be expanded to these areas: Energy
Traffic ForEducation.,example, for the project of a shared car station, experts want to know whether community residents think the project is necessary. If most residents accepts, where is the location of the shared car station? What types of shared cars do residents need? What is the usage frequency of the residents‘ forecast? When the project starts, will residents be able to book and return shared cars through the app? Another example, residents can use exchange instead of buying, thereby saving resources and energy. The application can display the different activities, including time, location and category of the exchange item. If the application can cover more aspects of the project and has a high degree of integration, it will be more attractive to users and expert groups.
24 TemplateProject Energy GreenRenewableReductionEnergyRecycledWaterLocallySourcedMaterialsInfrastructure Traffic Education Information Module Member Module Finance Module Voting ActivityVolunteerScheduleModuleModuleModuleModuleType1:Text and pictures Type 1: Email Type 1: User donation Type 2: Find fund Type 1: Like form Type 2: Questionnaire form Type 1: Completed task schedule Type 1: Easy task, individual Type 2: Complex task, team Type 1: Activity without requirements Type 2: Contact the organizer
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When the application contains different types of projects, the project template cannot be a simple structure from the idea to the implement phase. Project templates should have more flexibility and more types. A project template contains different modules, information module, member module, volunteer module, activity module, finance module, schedule module, voting module, etc. Each module can choose different types, and different modules can be freely combined to become a new project template. For example, voting modules can have different types. In Type One, users vote on different design schemes through likes. Type two is the questionnaire form, where users choose different answers. The volunteer module, the first type is a simple situation, and the user can click on a specific time period or task to choose to participate. Type two maybe a complex task. The user needs to select a group, and the members of the group work together to complete the task.
On the other hand, if this is a highly integrated application in various aspects, it will attract more organizations and companies to use. There will be better results in finance. Resident donations can only solve smaller projects. When the project needs more financial support, it needs to ask for funds or companies. If the project information can be seen and recognized by these organizations and companies, it is possible to obtain fund support or cooperate with companies in related fields to obtain investment.
26 Contact Xuanlin Wintersemester03742310Chen 20/21
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