Art In Transit
Amitab Kumar - Arzoo Mistri - Abhiyan Humane Shivani Seshadari, Aastha Chauhan, Aditya Bharadwaj, Siddhant Shetty
By Karman Nanda
B.DES(PSD) 2016
Content Part One, Art in Transit Art in Transit Why Art in Transit. Site Cubbon Park St. VIdhana Soudha St.
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Part Two, Research Initiation Process Specific Study E-waste Study Literature Review
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Part Three, Concept Project Proposal Curatorial as a Collaborative Site analysis Mood Board Concept Development Cartography Final Form Prototype
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Part Four, The End Acknowledgements Bibliography A line drawing of 4 wards of Bangalore, Image is extracted from QGIS
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Part One Art In Transit
Art In Transit A project, that aims to create meaningful art and design interventions in transient public spaces.
respond to these dynamics of public space influences the exploitative practice and the participation of diverse communities that engage with the space. The collaboration with BMRC offers such a space where art and design interventions help initiate a dialogue between the people and the city through art and design principles and concepts coming together.
A Project facilitated by Srishti Institute of Art, De-sign and Technology, Bangalore in collaboration with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation.(BMRC). The project aims at creating Art and Design interventions that help create a dialogue between people and urban spaces about the ‘nature’ of the city.
In this project as artists and designers we were offered a platform where we could reflect on our observations of being a part of Bangalore’s evolution from garden city to the Silicon Valley.
The project is located in the city of Bangalore. A city created by the possibilities that it offered and the developing aspirations of the inhabitants. These together have been constantly forcing the cities identity to evolve. Evolve at a pace where the previous identity is getting lost in the imaginations, desires, hopes, and aspirations of inhabitants towards what Bangalore can be in the future.
There are two kind of people in Bangalore between people who have experienced the change in nature of the city and people who have inhabitant to the cities IT boom.
A result of this pace and the rapid unplanned urbanization has been the Namma Metro. A rapid transit system connecting multiple ends of Bangalore city. This transit system as a working system would add ‘Metropolis’ to the cities identity in times to come. Living in a city whose identity and nature has been bought into question world-wide, one has struggled to adjust and seen others have the same experience. Both the local and migrant populace that make the population of the city today experiences this on a day to day basis. The constantly increasing rate of living, time of travel and change in land use has changed the cities nature. The people feel lost, unsettled, disoriented, nostalgic, perturbed, etc. As artists and designers how we listen, engage, reflect and
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Why Art In Transit? An opportunity offered by Art in Transit lab to reflect on being a part of the Bangalore for four years.
ingness to the city. A belongingness where the local populace feels a part of the city again and the migrant and urbanized populace start to relate more to the city. This project looks at the metro system being an aesthetic that is new to the city and how can this aesthetic be accepted with ease and functionality in the city. Art and design offer the medium to create this engagement and experience between multiple components of the city through a transit public space. AIT does this by using principles of art and design to create meaningful art and design interventions that initiate a dialogue, raise consciousness, create learning, and make people comfortable in a space.
“A project where people from multiple disciplines of art and design, come together and engage in learning and making. In this course we have accessibility to the metro station as a public space to initiate a dialogue between the city and its inhabitants through are and design instillations” This is how I explained my course to my father. Choosing Art in Transit to purse my final project in was a very foggy decision until I understood the role I’m supposed to play as an artist and designer in that space and I could explain that role to a third person. The initial process in the course helped me understand why Art and Design are important in the metro setup coming up in Bangalore. The fact that metro is required in Bangalore today was shocking enough for the people who found their belonging in cities old identities (garden city, pensioner’s paradise). Metro coming in as a rapid transit system is also a mark on the fact that the identity change to electronic city and silicon city has been accepted. In such a scenario, the inhabitants of the city feel lost in two things. First, the nostalgia of what the city was and what it has become today. Second, the people who are getting carried away by what the city has to offer today and to some extent are taking away the nature of the city. In a very broad generalization the first persona is of a local inhabitant, who has experienced the switch in identities of the city. The second is more of the migrant and urbanized population. Art in transit offers an opportunity to help both categories of people relate to the city and create this feeling of belong-
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Site Art in Transit offers us two underground metro stations as semi-public spaces for art and design interventions.
inhabitants through are and design instillations� This is how I explained my course to my father. Choosing Art in Transit to purse my final project in was a very foggy decision until I understood the role I’m supposed to play as an artist and designer in that space and I could explain that role to a third person.
“A project where people from multiple disciplines of art and design, come together and engage in learning and making. In this course we have accessibility to the metro station as a public space to initiate a dialogue between the city and its
The initial process in the course helped me understand why Art and Design are important in the metro setup coming up in Bangalore. The fact that metro is required in Bangalore
Vidhana Soudha St.
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Cubbon Park St.
today was shocking enough for the people who found their belonging in cities old identities (garden city, pensioner’s paradise). Metro coming in as a rapid transit system is also a mark on the fact that the identity change to electronic city and silicon city has been accepted. In such a scenario, the inhabitants of the city feel lost in two things. First, the nostalgia of what the city was and what it has become today. Second, the people who are getting carried away by what the city has to offer today and to some extent are taking away the nature of the city. In a very broad generalization the
first persona is of a local inhabitant, who has experienced the switch in identities of the city. The second is more of the migrant and urbanized population. Art in transit offers an opportunity to help both categories of people relate to the city and create this feeling of belongingness to the city. A belongingness where the local populace feels a part of the city again and the migrant and urbanized populace start to relate more to the city. This project looks at the metro system being an aesthetic that is new to the city and how can this aesthetic be accepted with ease and functionality in the city. Art and design offer the medium to create this engagement and experience between multiple components of the city through a transit public space. AIT does this by using principles of art and design to create meaningful art and design interventions that initiate a dialogue, raise consciousness, create learning, and make people comfortable in a space.
Sampigaraman Nagar Map, The 2 active sites, Cubbon park and Vidhan Soudha are shown with respect to what’s around them. The Purple line shows the Metro line.
Cubbon Park St.
This metro station is located opposite to the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium next to HAL, at the junction where Cubbon road and Queens Road meet. Having four functional entries, it provides access to Cubbon Park, HAL and the cricket stadium. Each entry has been designed keeping in mind the maximum footfall the space can experience during rush hour days. Like on the weekend the entry next to the Jet is expected to have a high footfall. Similarly the cricket stadium is also expected to have a high footfall during cricket games.
The first underground metro station of the city and a space where one can see Bangalore’s lost identities
The immediate site, Cubbon Park is located in the heart of the city 500m from MG Road and with walls touching
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major government establishments. Cubbon Park has a picnic culture on the weekends, a walk culture and tiffin culture on the weekdays. This station makes Cubbon park accessible to many. People who earlier couldn’t or haven’t experienced the nature of space that Cubbon Park offers will have that opportunity now. Today, Apart from being a landmark ‘Lung’ area, Cubbon Park has become a very important representation of Bangalore’s garden identity; an identity that is getting overpowered by the IT culture that the city is experiencing. In a time where Bangalore is growing towards the IT culture rather
than the garden culture keeping Cubbon Park active for its nature seems very important. Having a very box like basic architecture, the station feels out of place in respect to the surroundings spaces. One can notice the station from a distance because it stands out in architecture in that space. Keeping in mind the surroundings this station has a very non-linear design; the platform is at a slight unnoticeable bend.
Vidhana Soudha St
This is the next underground station in the purple line. It’s a metro station that provides metro connectivity to, two very important establishments and architectural spaces of the State of Karnataka, i.e. Vidhana Soudha and High Court. The geographical location of the station connects the growing city to the administrative support and to delights offered by Cubbon Park.
The station that connects the beautified and administrative part of the city to the entire city. Hence a high security station
This station, when the metro setup is established properly will help people from all around the city commute to the administrative part of the city. Which now a days, leads to
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heavy traffic and resultant pollution in that area. When one stands outside the station they can clearly see Vidhana Soudha with no obstruction. Looking around, when one observes the magnificence of the structure and the high security in and around it one understands its importance. Vidhana Soudha has a strong grey colour and high court a strong white, making the over ground architecture of the station stand out in white. This station has a very linear design compared to the
Cubbon park metro station which refers to the architecture around it. On one end of the station is the High Court of Karnataka and on the other end Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha. Having such important landmarks on both sides of the stations has somewhat reflected in the architecture of the station. All four entries have Turrets that represent the architecture style of these buildings. This makes the over ground architectural structures stand by being white and yet belong to the place with the Turrets.
Part Two Research
A Bus Ride, (pen on paper) Representation of a journey through the roads of Bangalore. (Experience of Transit)
Immersion Process The initial few steps of being a part of AIT where I established and understood my position. The course was introduced to us step by step keeping in mind how vast and immense the cities functioning is. As the course immersed one understood how sensitive the evolution of the city is to its inhabitants. To create a meaningful instillation understanding the context of the site, not just at micro level(immediate site) but at a macro level(the city as a whole) became the entering point to the project.
desired sensitivity. To reach such an understanding we went through multiple exercises and processes. The following steps were taken to reach this stage: Line Exercise, Food Mapping Exercise, Experience in Transit and Exploring a New Medium.
To cover such massive research, work was divided amongst groups and then amongst individuals. Thereafter, individually researching and attending interactions in class gave us an overview and understanding of the city with the
After going through these exercises one thoroughly understood the immediate site and its relation to the city. The context in which the Namma Metro finds itself as new aesthetic in the city started getting clearer.
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Line Exercise We started off with a group research of the immediate site and its surroundings. All groups were assigned roads along the boundaries of the park. We walked the stretch and observed the people, their needs, their behaviours and their purpose of being in that space. The first part of the observation walk started from KR circle towards Narputunga road. From Narputunga road we headed towards the Corporation circle where we took a left towards Kasturba road and walked till the end of it. Walking on these roads we did a sensory analysis (sound, smell, touch, taste, visual and feel) of the line (roads) we were experiencing. Both roads were drastically different from one another. The use of land on both roads defined the traffic, the people and use of the road. Narputunga road was a collection of government offices, 2 sets of colleges, a hospital and a lot of street vendors. Hence, the footpath on this road was always crowded. People were walking from both ends all trying to run with time. Everyone that was walking on that road was in a hurry, trying to catch up with time. It’s just at the roadside vendors, where these on course people would stop to take a break and interact with the space. The fact that the road had so many institutional setups the shops there were to satisfy their demands and needs. Demands leading to the flower vendor, coffee truck and needs leading to the local canteens, roadside chai shops, Xerox shops. Etc. The road also had a constant canopy cover, which also created a lot of casual interaction spaces along the roadside. Further walking down to Kasturba road was a completely difference experience. I had come to Kasturba road earlier to watch a football match, the same road was so crowded on the match day and was completely empty on another day. After walking down the jam-packed and loud road, Kasturba road was a completely different experience. Even though the road connected MG road to a lot of places in this opposite direction
The Busy Narputunga Road, a connector between two important destinations.
Mind Map of Observations, This is a location and sensory observation mind map. As a group we put together all our research and located our site in a bigger perspective.
A Busy Courtyard, one of the multiple sets of persona’s that exist on the line. Possible Commuters.
Kasturba road was fairly empty. We sat roadside on this road for a while and tried to understand its character, which was a drastic difference than the previous experience. The fact that there was a park on one end of the road made a lot of difference. The noise got lost in the openness of this road. The next few times that I walked the same routes I could actually experience the space for what I had observed. Even though both the routes cover the same distance a walk down both the routes takes different times. A walk down Narputunga is always longer than a walk down Kasturba. The former offers an individual a variety of options and experiences on the same route and the latter is a walk through an empty road where there are no distractions. We understood the lines purpose and what experience it offered. Such observations gave us an idea of how people interact with public and private spaces. Through observing the elements that invite an individual to interact with a space and the elements that makes the same individual ignore the space and walk towards their purpose. As a group when we discussed our observations we looked at our given roads as connectors. Narputunga road that connects the busy city work life, and Kasturba road that connects the entire city to the stadium; that once in a while invites a lot of traffic. Both acting as different connectors even having different widths but in the same area serving different purposes. Purposes that satisfy the immediate interaction needs people have with these lines.
Kasturba Road, a almost empty always
This exercise, followed up with class discussions gave us insights on how people interact with spaces and what demands do those interactions have. Other roads cover by different groups helped me understand, who would the possible commuters of both the stations be. It also gave me
The shaded Kasturba Road, This road only gets traffic for 30seconds when the light turns read. Its always shaded.
an understanding of the role Cubbon Park plays in between both these stations and the busy and calm life surrounded around them.
Food Mapping Exercise To understand the site and its commuters we researched into eating habits in and around the park. As a group we were asked to research the dabba or the so called tiffin system that exists in the park and around. I decided to go with an emerging approach and build the conversation as it goes. This approach worked well as the information that existed was vast and I didn’t want to restrict the flow of information by asking the same questions to everyone. The idea was to interact with people at a more personal level and try and understand the tiffin culture that runs around Vidhana Soudha and neighbouring Cubbon Park. But in a larger picture we were interacting with possible commuters and understanding their needs and their perception of the city by studying the tiffin culture they are a part of. After a few interactions with people I understood how Cubbon park offers a multi cultural space to the inhabitants of the city. The park has had this tiffin or dabba culture for years now. On weekends people come out for picnics to the park with their tiffin’s and on weekdays individuals and groups that work around like to eat their tiffin at the park. The tiffin culture in the park is also an existing memory of Bangalore’s identity of a garden city. Hence, people had a lot to say about their experience of the city, what the expected and what they found, and about the metro placing itself as a new aesthetic around the park. During this exercise I came across interesting insights that people had on what the knew about the city and how they discern the city. Studying peoples eating habits, helped me understand how boundaries start existing in public spaces and how a park offers the ideal space for these boundaries to exist in the most pours form possible. Things like the street vendors, activities in the park, the amusement park, make these boundaries even more pours. Understanding how boundaries
work in a pubic space with respect to what the space has to offer helped me understand why the tiffin culture still and will continue to exists in the park. I also learnt the criteria that need to be filled to create a successful interactive semi public space. While studding the eating habits of people I got agitated by the aftermath of the tiffin culture, the waste generated in the park. People in the park respect their boundaries but beyond that they become negligent and decide to litter. There is this mentality of what’s seen, should be clean. This mentality pollutes the park the most. To add on the animals and birds that sustains themselves through the park, further spread the waste all over the park. The waste then overtime gets layered into the soil. Today, when you take a walk around Cubbon park you will find small pieces of garbage that have layered into the soil. Apart from dry and west waste there is a lot of debris waste and garden waste collected in the area. Even-though there are dustbins all over the park and multiple governmental organizations maintaining it the waste never seems to get over. After this exercise my research and my project got directed towards the present situation of waste in the city of Bangalore.
Experience of Transit To understand how a metro system works and what does it offer to the commuter we studied existing transit setups as a Social Network. I started my journey by travelling in a local bus 401, from Yelahanka New Town junction to Yeshwantpur junction. The experience of travel in the bus is a known one to me but this time I was more conscious about it. I observed what the window had to show to me and concluded that the bus gives an experience of what the space is in real time. I experienced the traffic of the city, a Christian festival, the parks of the city, the lakes, the bakeries. But at the same point I only saw what the main road had to show beyond that I only have an idea of how the spaces are.
due to lack of information and wrong guidance by a few individuals. Finally getting the right information I sat on the Bangalore - Chickballapur Local which made me reach Yelahanka Old Town twenty minutes. Here I experienced the background of the city and the aftermath of the city growing towards a metropolis. On one side was the garbage of the city, along with the slums around it and on the other-side was the cities indigenous fauna(Something missing from the city as it is today). All three experiences were extremely different from each other in terms of time duration, what visual they offered through the window, the seating, and on how people relate to the immediate site.
A bus journey gives you a view of what being a part of the city is. The route I took made me experience the hasty and chaotic development of the city but at the same point made me go through the shade and culture offered by the city. As I left Yelahanka the scale of buildings and quantity were increasing and these observational tools were also differentiating between different social classes. After reaching Yeshwantpur I walked from the bus junction towards the Sandal Soap Factory station of the green line. From here taking the metro towards the Peenya station gave me an overview of the growing cities industrial side. A side with fewer trees, large structures, wider roads, and the growing migrant worker class. The metro’s window offered an overview of the city which looked satisfying as you see large canopies and the top halves of immediate constructions, which can be deceptive at times. Travelling in a bus gives you an overview of what the city and its pace is, a metro ride is quick overview of the desired overview of the city. I took the metro back to Yeshwantpur train junction to catch the local train back to Yelahanka. I missed the first train
Map of the Transit Experience, Travelling different modes of transit gave me experiences of the city from different perspectives in different time frames at different levels of social and physical comfort.
Exploring a New Medium THE PIXEL STICK, A ‘pixel-stick’ is a contemporary reinvention of Light Painting with multiple possibilities in still photography. In a layman’s definition it’s a row of LEDs attached to an SD card that create an image in air. We were exposed to the Pixel stick by Bonamy Devas for a brief period, where we did multiple experiments with it in class and at the station. The image creating stick can be played around with to create interesting effects by movement and placement of the stick. The images have the possibility of a 3D feel,and animation which is also very interesting to play with.
Photos used for light painting, Using my old picture I created 2 pattern’s, in the second one I tried playing with my speed and movement of the stick. Photo credits : Roshan Shakeel
The city today, The first image of my Pecha Kucha that talks about how Bangalores identity has changed and what is it today.
Inbuilt settings used, Using the inbuilt settings of the Pixel Stick we created interesting abstracts with depth and movement. photo credits : Roshan shakeel
Photo credits : Roshan Shakeel
Pecha Kucha. An interactive session we had in collaboration with Against Simplicity(Another course in our college). Pecha Kucha is a series of images in a presentation that help talk about the project. This exercise has its own restrictions, for us the restriction was 5 slides in 5 minutes. The idea is to talk about your project in 5 minutes in a way that you prioritize the information you want to show and eliminate what’s not as important for your project.
This exercise helped me put together my project and see what I desire to do in the coming days. The presentation helped me understand the loopholes in my research and what is needed to be done to overcome these loopholes. During the presentation I understood the importance and power of using abstract images,. I started of my presentation with one such image to sum up my research about Bangalore. The image that I felt was the most abstract one conveyed the most.
The waste situation at Cubbon Park, The first image shows how a well planned drainage became a polluted water bed The second image shows the politics and negligence faced by the waste management system of the park.
Categories of waste the park experiences, Debris waste. Leaves and Branches waste. Wet and Dry waste.
Culprits of the Park , The stray dogs that inhabit themselves at the park are one of the main waste culprits of the park. They spread the waste from the bin all over the park
Specific Study A park that represents the lost garden identity of Bangalore. The waste in the same park has another ongoing story to tell, one that is also about the city.
huge varieties of Flora and Fauna in the space. The park also offers multiple options in use of space like, dog walking, exercising, teaching spaces, picnic spaces, lover spots, bird feeding spaces, adventure activities, sports and awareness runs,
Cubbon Park(Micro Study) Once we understood our position in the project we went on to doing a detailed study of a topic that came out through our initiation process. My topic was to understand the story the waste of Cubbon park has to tell. Cubbon Park historically is one of the most important green spaces in Bangalore. This almost 100 years old space represents alternative histories of rule in Bangalore. The park is surrounded by prominent governmental organizations, the High Court, Vidhana Soudha, Reserve Bank of India, etc. They have their boundaries to the park. Apart from that there are 3 sports stadiums in and around, the Government Aquarium and Museum, Venkatappa Art Gallery, The Central Library, Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum. Being surrounded by such important places the park experiences a high footfall during a few specific hours on weekdays and a all day heavy footfall on the weekends. The Park is a very well designed park keeping in mind all needs and requirements of past, present and future customers. The park also has a functional drainage system, which has been innovatively designed using Bamboo grooves and small water bodies. The park also supports
The above looks very satisfying from a zoomed out version but once you zoom in, you see how waste has become like a permanent part of the park. The park experiences little waste on the weekdays but on weekends the amount of waste generated is so high that it has an effect on the weekdays also. To understand the waste situation in the park I initiated my process by doing a mapping exercise, where I mapped and documented every dustbin of the park. Walking around the park I observed different places that the park has to offer and how waste deactivates the full potential of those spaces. Apart from doing that the waste also declines the quality of biodiversity the park has to offer. Mapping all the dustbins also gave me a chance to study the ergonomics of the dustbins that have been installed at the park. There are 9 kinds of dustbins made from different materials that exist in the park, a few of them are well designed keeping in mind the input, protection and output. The other few are dustbins that weren’t supposed to be dustbins but are being used as one. These dustbins are vulnerable towards protecting the garbage inside them and keeping the garbage contained. The fact that there are 9 dustbins installed by multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations there
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is a lot of politics in who will maintain it and keep the space around it clean. In such pity politics, the waste management system around the park gets affected. I came across some Horticulture department workers who created manure pits to dispose the biodegradable waste of the park but other parties that are working on cleaning the park started dumping mixed waste into the same pit. Today these pits have started serving the purpose of a dump yard. Its like a blame game that these organizational setups play against each other. The dustbins that are not well designed ergonomically add up in spreading garbage through the landscape of the park. I tried an experiment where I looked at random 4 ft by 4 ft frames of soil to see if there is garbage in that frame. I wasn’t surprised by the results of this experiment. This made me realize its not just the dustbins alone that lead to the park being the way it is today there are other culprits that are involved to. The following are the culprits: Dogs, Birds, Wind and Rain, Passer bys and Organizational setups having their boundary to the park These culprits do the job of spreading the garbage away from the dustbins and further polluting the park . The park also experiences other kinds of waste apart from Dry and Wet waste. The other categories being debris waste and waste generated by the flora in the park. This research helped me understand the waste management in Bangalore at a more zoomed in vision and understand how waste and boundary play part in keeping a space clean.
Dustbins of Cubbon Park, The park has 9 kinds of dustbins, these 6 are the most seen in the park. Each kind of dustbin is installed and maintained by different organizations and individuals.
Mapping of Dustbins of Cubbon Park, An exercise done to observe the waste management system.
The City(Macro Study)
relation to the other states in India, keeping in mind the growth of the city and other cities that surround Bangalore.
After doing a more micro and zoomed in study of the waste management system in Cubbon Park I carried my research forward by zooming out and using the city of Bangalore as a macro site.
As Bangalore got the identity of the Silicon Valley of India in the 1990’s, the city began to grow at a pace never experienced before. BCC could not manage the growth of the city on its own. This led to the collapse of Bangalore City Corporation, creating a need for new organizational setups and division of the city.
Bangalore city grew at a speed at which the cities development and management didn’t do quite well keeping up. Even though there were systems designed and put into place the growth speed of the city made the management difficult. In 1862, under the British rule Bangalore’s first Municipality setup was established and divided into two parts, the city municipality and the civil and military station municipality. This setup establishment was tested during the Plague that the city experienced in 1876. The result of this made in prominent to have a more organized and planned setup. R.K. Baliga, the first Chairman and Managing director of Keonics had something else planned for the city. Its his plan that made Bangalore what it is today. After independence one of the first steps taken by the Karnataka government was to create functional municipalities under Bangalore City Corporation. This organization was meant to help manage the city in a sustainable manner keeping in mind the future of the city. But the growth of the city didn’t let this organization fulfil its tasks. As the city grew at a hasty pace, the need to have similar organization in and around the city also grew. It became really important to foresee the growth of the city and the pollution it causes in a larger context. The Karnataka government in 1976 passed the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, where KSPCB(Karnataka State Pollution Board) was found. This organizations helped the cities waste management and municipality services to be at power with a standard set for the state, somewhat similar to other states. KSPCB set a standard for Karnataka in
Between 2000 and 2005, three such organizations were created to manage the city. BMP ( Bangalore Mahanagra Palike), CMC (City Municipal Council) and TMC (Town Municipal Council). These three organizations divided the area of the city and the work needed to be done to maintain it. This also took a fall as again there was a blame game that started between these organizations. At this point, a few local populace got agitated with the functioning of these organizations and started setting up initiatives to proper waste management and spreading awareness amongst the masses. Setups like Hasiru Dala, Saahas, The Ugly Indian, 2bin1bag. Etc. The establishment of these setups also invited intellectual and powerful people to work towards a better governmental organization to work in the city Thereby in 2007, BBMP(Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagara Palike) was setup, which was a collaboration of BMP, CMC, TMC and 111 villages that surround Bangalore. This setup is still in existence and has done fairly OK in being able to manage the waste of the city but still the growing pace of the city nullifies these efforts. BBMP have created multiple steups to organize the waste generated in the city. One such example is setting up of (DWCC) Dry Waste Collection Centres all over the city. These dry waste collection centres collect all the dry waste and send it out multiple recycling units to recycle. The other rejected dry waste goes to landfills in and around Bangalore. These setups initially faced a lot of problems
in running because of the negligence and unawareness amongst the inhabitants of the city. A law passed by the High Court of Karnataka in 2012 stated the 2 bin one bag law. The law states that every household in Bangalore needs to segregate there waste into 2 bags (Sanitary and Dry waste) and 1 bag for the waste workers to collect. The High Court also issued a fine for people who don’t segregate their waste. This law helped DWCC to have the desired waste segregation. As DWCC looked at almost passing one hurdle and came another. This hurdle is the shutting down of waste landfills in and around the city due to constant protest by localities around these landfills. Mavallipura landfill, a landfill in the city was opened in 2007 and closed in 2012 due to the increase in toxic levels of the soil in and around the site and the unbreathable space created by the awful smell. Mavallipura was one of the last few landfills in the city.
News on Mavallipura, The Hindu, July 2012
Today Bangalore has reached such a stage where the closest landfills are around 50km from the city and they are also reaching a stage of shut down. In 2015 there was a phase where there were no landfills to dump the rejected waste and hence BBMP refused to collect waste and this led to waste pile ups all over the city. With Bangalore’s growth rate if this issue of waste is not dealt with it will face increase in toxins and pollution in its landscapes. With the help of governmental organizations and private establishments doing this seems convincing but not until the populace feels responsible for the decline in living conditions. Understanding the cities waste management concern made me thinking of using art and design as a tool to raise consciousness about waste amongst masses.
Lady working at a DWCC, DWCC, Freedom Park
Rahul Dravid in an awareness campaign, 2Bin1Bag did an awareness campaign about the new law with the former Indian Cricket Team Capitan.
E-Waste Study The first Electrified City, The Electronic City, The Silicon Valley of India, The IT Hub. Existing in these identities Bangalore over the years has developed a strong connection with E-waste
E-Waste(Evolved Study) Today one of the categories of waste that the society is not well aware of and is one of the major toxin generator in waste is E-Waste. Increasing amount of E-waste and its negligent handling has generated a world wide threat. The rapid growth in technology and its equally rapid obsolescence, has made e-waste one of the fastest growing categories of waste. E-waste is basically, obsolescence or not function electronic that have ended up in the category of not needed or spoilt. These materials have high value of hazardous toxins and are harmful to the mankind and the environment. A normal E-waste board is a collaboration of 35-40 elements of the periodic table which are combined and made to function. The extraction of these elements is a harmful process in itself If one can up-cycle functional parts and reuse them in new circuits then the damage done on the environment through mining also reduces. A study done by Greenpeace found e-waste growing at 15 per cent annually and projected it to go up to 800,000 tonnes by 2012. But when numbers came from UN in 2014, India was the fifth largest producer of E-waste in the world, generating about 1.7 Million Tons. Today, in 2016
its a speculation but the country is expected to generate somewhere between 2 million to 2.5 million. This is a rising cause of concern in a country where 70% of the landfills are filled with waste E-waste. In India E waste is also important as it accounts for 4 per cent of global e-waste and 2.5 per cent of global GDP (2014 figures). henceforth one can understand how important this existing market of E-waste is in India. In the city of Bangalore this unheard and unknown system exists its a multi core market where collection and dismantling of E-waste parts take place. This market has its own monopoly and has grown to a stage where Bangalore has become the third largest producer of E-waste in the country. This E-waste is not only generated locally but is imported from cities around Bangalore and is exported to Delhi, Mumbai and other countries too. This also explains why a kilogram of E-waste in Jolly Mahulla, the scrap market is ranging between 200-400 rupees. In the 70’s Bangalore became popular as the Electronic city, and started experiencing a globalised city life. Looking at this and seeing the migration patterns amongst the neighbours of the city KSPCB(Karnataka State Pollution
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2 articles in a time frame of 2 years, The Hindu 2012, 2014. Shows the growth of E waste in Bangalore in 2 years
Control Board was set up under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation ACT. This establishment had the power to create systems, and manage them to manage the waste generated in the state but with a strong focus on its capital, Bangalore. By the 90’s the Electronic city was booming as the IT Hub. At this point the city started generating enough waste to create a chaos in waste management. It was expected and predicted by a few that the electronics will reach their first strong obsolescence stage at this time. Then it happened, being the Electronic City and the IT Hub, the first obsolescence of electronics was experienced and most communities didn’t know how to handle it. Initially, there was no differentiation in E-waste and dry waste. They were both dealt with the same way, which generated great environmental problems. The waste became hazardous. In 1989, KSPCB reacted to the growing concerns with E waste and its negligent handling and Hazardous Waste Management Act was passed.
were the common methods used. These methods are surly fast but they generate toxins at a level at which living conditions get difficult. Henceforth in 2013 there was an amendment made to the rules of the act. The government realized the importance of a formal sector for this category of waste. There was a need for awareness to be spread on what’s right and what’s wrong. That is what E-Parisaara did, they made people aware of the other ways of handling E-waste and other Hazardous Waste. But the people who were handling waste with their simpler methods were very reluctant to use the new show methods. However overtime multiple E-waste handling organizations came in like, Eward, Ebirdd and BinBag, etc. Theses organizations with there different approaches gave the citizens of Bangalore another choice apart from the informal sector. This choice that was offered to the citizens made the informal e-waste handling sector more aware and start using similar methods that the formal sector was.
This act was very much needed at that time, waste collectors and handlers had already understood the hidden value of E-waste. The unofficial sector that handles E-waste today started extracting elements from waste but by the
Today they informal sector has evolved to a stage where they have units that import and export E waste in and out of Bangalore to other parts of the country and the world. A system with which the government is also convinced and
wrong methods. Acid wash and burning down PCB’s
along with efforts from the formal sector’s in maintaining
the rules and spreading awareness about them. Yet the informal sector don’t follow all the rules. A visit to Jolly Mohalla, the hub of informal E-waste recyclers in Bangalore, shows how still most of the methods used are very primitive. For e.g., Using hands to separate wires from the rubber coating and the way they store it is very hazardous maybe not as hazardous for the environment but for the people using it. Going to other places like Nayanahalli, and Goripalya one can see old primitive methods still being used. E-waste in Bangalore still doesn’t seem to end. Two newspaper clippings from The Hindu in a time frame of 2 years shows that the E-waste generated in 2011 had reached 16284 tonnes a year and in 2014 it reached 87,000 tonnes. The generation of E-waste is not alarming but the fact that 70% of it is handled by the informal sector is. There is another layer to the story of E-waste, the ignorant and negligent public that never lets of their E-waste. When they do it reaches such a stage where the material is so old that it cannot be recycled or up-cycled. For E waste to be recycled properly it needs to be given in and not kept with a hogger like attitude. To make people aware about the hazards of E-waste and understand the fact that at some stage the value of the product is less important the protection of our environment. The obsolescence value of E-waste is scary more than anything else. If people continue to be unaware and negligent towards efforts made by the formal sector for proper and efficient recycling then in years to come there would be so much e-waste but only partial amounts would get recycled. E-Waste recycling in Nayanahalli, Waste narratives, work around this space in spreading awareness and teaching in proper and healthy e-waste recycling.
Literature Review I studied artist who have worked with waste, E-waste and E-waste maps.
Waste
Aurora Robson, The Great Indoors(2008)
Nek Chand, Rock Garden
She believes waste is displayed abundance. In this exhibition she creates an abstract space with PET bottles, the most abundant wast. The magnificence of the structures in the space lets the audience to zoom in to the waste and then zoom out into the beautified magnificence of the space. She use the principles of scale and repetitiveness to generate emotions amongst people who interact with the space.
He creates a garden with debris waste where people can come and enjoy the space for its original purpose and be amongst human sculptures made out of waste. As a kid I have been to this garden and its very intriguing to see how he uses a category waste in a time where it wasn’t even considered waste. He creates an alternative experience with in the space where people feel lost yet comfortable. Comfortable because its a park and also because the material he uses is seen everyday and one can relate.
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Ralf Schmerberg, Igloo He created an Igloo in his home town. He uses old refrigerators and places the door outwards with all the transistors inside. Hence there is heat created inside and it feels more cold than the normal temperature outside. He places a power meter to show how much energy is consumed by the setup. This is also a comment on how complicated our needs our when there our simpler solutions. He uses relativity to communicate his concerns where people understand through comparison
Michelle Reader, Seven Wasted Men She creates to scale human figures by collecting garbage of those individuals over a time period. Each sculpted human has a personality that can be defined by his/her waste generation. These humans are made over a month and are to scale to the actual human. Hence, one can say we produce 12 equivalent wasted men in a year. She tries teaching people through relativity of material and quantification in terms of time.
HA Schult, Trash People He created an army of sculpted intimidating men with waste and makes them travel the world. HE believes if we produce trash we will become trash. The arrangement of the sculptures is like the army would stand. He looks at using trash to intimidate people by using its existing qualities.
E-Waste
Dhariya Dand, Thinker Toys
Ben Yates, E Lectri City
He created toys from E-waste for the waste workers kids at really economic prices. Keyano is one of the projects it works like a piano in terms of sound but the keys are the keyboard. A small playful device. But this device also shows the fact that E-waste has an up-cycle and recycle property and he introduces the kids to that property through his play objects
A miniature cityscape created with up-cycled PCB’s inside a coffee table. The idea is to interest the individual using the table. To develop this interest the table is programmed in a way that every time it sees movement or someone keeps something on the table there is distinctive change is the city. He just wants people to have a cup of coffee, and see and experience the cityscape he has created Rodrigo Alonso, N+ew HE created mini landfills that have no hazardous effect and placed them at an exhibition as a furniture piece. He uses wasted E-waste, that can’t be recycled and creates a method to constrain the toxicity present in the waste and burnt out material. Better than filling a landfill Stanza, The Nemesis Project A large interactive city scape created that represents how busy the city life is. Any movement in the room feeds as live data for the city and shows some kind of light, movement and sound. This city keeps the audience engaged for a long time as there are constant changes and at places the individual can even seem themselves.
E-waste Maps Susan Stockwell, left-Africa, bottom-The World Susan Stockwell works with the form of map, and creates multiple map instillations with different materials, country maps with different material. The world is created with recycled PCB’s while Africa is created with a made PCB.
Yuri Suzuki, The underground. A Map created of the London underground that shows the movement of the train. At the same point of time talks about the work that happens in the background to keep the system running, i.e. complements the underground staff.
She wants to show how a country is made of E-waste. Its in the Background of everything. She installs her maps bit by bit, i.e. PCB by PCB and says the colours represent countries, methodologies, believes. Etc.
Part Three Conceptualization
The Project Proposal My initial project proposal evolved and changed as I grew into the course.
Initial Proposal
requirements of the city`s ever growing population. This gap leads to social instability, water crises, impromptu infrastructure and unplanned waste disposal.
The Overarching Goal of Initial Proposal
With the unprecedented population growth the quantity of waste generated in Bangalore increased from 2500 TPD in 2002 to a contested (based on estimates from several organisations in Bangalore, not the official figure) figure of 4500 TPD.2 This rise in production of waste, proportional to the rise of population in the city, raises alarming concern about waste management.
The aim is to create a spatial intervention by showcasing a form that creates awareness about the present situation of garbage using the third teacher approach. I would like to give meaning and identity to a space by using design principles that help people relate to my work or experience it in a way that they get aware of the waste they interact with.
Evolved Proposal The Design Brief A project that looks at the two metro stations in a city, as a space that needs to be given a meaning and identity, to make it a place; through art and design interventions towards the E-waste management in the city. Bangalore is a city in state of transition. The ways in which people have interacted with the city has changed its profile constantly. Once known as the Pensioners paradise and the Garden city, it rapidly metamorphosed to be the Silicon Valley of India, but simultaneously earned the infamous tag of also being the Garbage city. The transition is also reflected in the unprecedented population growth rate of 47.18% in 2011 as compared to 2001(census 2011).1 Such rapid population influx has contributed to rapid and unplanned urbanization, after effects of which, the city is now experiencing. The shift from rural to urban places has created a gap between the infrastructure and the growing
Amongst waste the fastest growing category of waste is E-waste and it can be blamed on the constantly improving technologies and the ever happening obsolescence of electronics. This leaves an alarming concern about the future of e-waste and its management in the city. Even though there are multiple formal and informal organizations working in this sector, until the inhabitants of the city get equally involved e-waste will continue to be a threat. E-waste generates a lot of un-recyclable parts like the plastic body, the printed circuit board without the elements, bulbs. Etc. A results of the toxicity of these parts and negligent and unaware handling is shut-down of Mavallipura and Mandur landfills in 2012 and 2014 respectively. These landfills majority consist of unsegregated and unrecyclable waste. Yet there is still a consistent demand for more landfills for managing the ever growing waste. Hence, the need to bring about awareness amongst the diverse populace of Bangalore towards this alarming menace.
The Need Bangalore today is the third largest Producer of e-waste in a country which is the 5th large producer of the same. In Bangalore, E waste is also an unknown monopoly market
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that people are not very well aware of. This informal sector that exists in this market contributes to 70% of the E-waste collection. Even though there have been multiple formal sector organizations like E-Parisara, Hasiru Dala, E-ward, E-birdd, Bin Bag. etc, the fact that they have control on only 30% of E-waste management rises concerns about the future. Organizations like Bin-bag offer door to door pick for e-waste and organise awareness drives; they still face problems in generating e-waste from households. The problem is the mentality of having a value for everything. For e.g.: I bought this phone for 10,000 in 2007 why should I give it away fro free. The major problem with this mentality is that the Electronic device becomes waste in that time frame and henceforth no proper recycling and extraction can be done. People are not well aware of the fact that dead and not used technology over time becomes so obsolescence that it is not even E-waste anymore its waste. From the above scenario one can establish that the city needs to be well aware of the e-waste they possess and the consequences of not being responsible about it . The formal sector organizations make multiple efforts that help in spreading awareness about e-waste amongst the common populace and the waste workers. Even though these setups have been effective, they haven’t been able to reach out to the masses and spread adequate awareness amongst them. To keep E-waste generation out of the streams of other waste and treating it in a hazard free tedious method , the human awareness obstacle needs to be addressed as early as possible.
spreading awareness across the commuters through an approach that hasn’t been tried by the existing setups yet in such a public space. Creating a Map of Bangalore as an interactive PCB will help me create a visual that calls the passer bys by the following principles of The Third Teacher Approach • Relativity • Competitiveness The PCB that represents the city will be made functional with E-waste parts to show how E-waste is reusable. Artists in the past and present have used these principles to express their observations and concerns through art and design. For example: Michelle Reader, in her work ‘Seven wasted men’ uses the principles of time, quantification, scale and relativity to express how waste is our reflection and when quantified is equivalent to a live scale human sculpture of us. The principles of competitiveness and relativity will help me create my ‘Third Teacher Approach’ to make people aware of my observations and concerns through a Map. As a public space design student I would look at creating an intervention that makes the audience well aware of the E waste they possesses and the impact it will have on the city`s landscape if not recycled properly. I would like to do that through the experience these principles of design create for the audience.
One cannot deny the fact that, once the metro is functional a lot of commuters will start using it because of its location being next to a park, two major sports stadiums, government offices and colleges. In Shivani’s, presentation There have been campaigns, social awareness experiments, on the understanding of the metro as a mode of transit and and talks held by these setups. Still the desired result is far its effect on the city along with discussions in class, the idea fetched because the approach is still very passive. They have of the last mile connectivity as a loophole got highlighted. not been able to spread adequate awareness and this creates However, for these two stations the connectivity is through a big loophole in the waste management systems. Hence, one the park which most people don’t mind walking by creating needs to create desired awareness amongst masses, though a loophole in the loophole. The idea of the park can make an alternate medium, which is more active than the currently the walk a thinkers and observers space by initiating with initiatives. an instillation at the site.
My Position
The Overarching Goal
Understanding the crucial need to spread awareness amongst the diverse populace of Bangalore, the space offered at the landing of the Jet entry of the Cubbon Park Metro St helps me create the desired awareness.
The aim is to create a spatial intervention by showcasing a the city as a printed circuit board and using the third teacher approach to generate results. I would like to give meaning and identity to a space by using design principles that help people relate to my work or experience it in a way that they get aware of the e-waste they possesses and would now want to donate.
To create awareness about E-waste management I would be using principles of art and design to create an interactive offline Map instillation. This creates the possibilities of
Curation as a Collective. 4 groups creating a curation and then putting that curation together as a collective was learning process in itself
The 4 Curatorial groups
keep the commuter thinking.
We were introduced to the site after a few interactions with it as a curatorial space. 4 categories were generated by the course facilitators to make the walk through the metro not look meaningless. The 4 categories were: Participatory Networks Aesthetics and Aspirations The Other Land The Traveller
The project around me was Abhisheks who was making windows into the soil. These windows show the insect life that lives under it. To compliment my project with his we decided to look at E-waste a possible material for his windows that are close to my site. This curation helped us understand the site and the projects before and after us that spoke about the city and its change in aesthetics.
I chose to be a part of Aesthetics and Aspirations as it fit my concept really well and helped me understand my works relation to the city. My project talks about the rise in generation of E-waste in Bangalore which is also an aesthetic that came along with the aspirations of the inhabitants of the city.
Curatorial map for Aesthetics and Aspiration. (Cubbon Park Overground)
Understanding the city and its evolution under this curatorial frame work helped me justify the generation of my concept and at the same point of time gave me an opportunity to reflect on my understandings. Bangalore is a city in state of transition. The ways in which people have interacted with the city has changed its profile constantly. We started curating our group Aesthetic and aspirations by looking at the spaces offered to our group and how can those spaces help us compliment each others work. The project before me was in Cubbon Park about understanding the visual aesthetic of waste and how people react to it. So, placing my project after hers at the jetlanding entrance(Entrance A) would help us as a group
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Curatorial map for Aesthetics and Aspiration. (Cubbon Park Level one) My site is marked in Blue complemented by Natasha’s and Abhihek’s work.
Curatorial Map as a Collective (Cubbon Park Level one- interior) Being placed next to Nitya doesn’t compliment my work as such but it creates this contrast amongst two works which in itself is also very interesting.
As you enter from the Jet landing the first instillation on the left will be my site.
Exiting from the Jet entry/station no . The site is visible from the token counter and the lift.
Site Analysis Selecting a site to create the desired impact on the audience.
Since day one when I entered the metro station I enjoyed the way metro offers this thinking space amongst the crowds where one can just analysis what they have seen. To select my site I looked at places that would have a few qualities. I selected the wall on the left as you walk down the Cubbon park landing. Though depending on my projects final result I might have wanted to switch my site, but as my project evolved I got fixed to my site. I saw the following qualities in the site to be sure of my selection:
a proper walkway or interupting traffic. Interaction Time I wanted people to interact with my instillation even if the commuter gets a glimpse, the glimpse should lead to walking up to the instillation which would make the commuter interact further. Present Site Visual The site is painted in a canvas of Grey and white adding some colour to this canvas can be inviting enough.
Viewpoint. A viewpoint from multiple sights around my site. If a person is walking in to the station from the Cubbon park entry our out of the station he/she has a sure shot long visual of my instillation. Even if you enter the station through the lift one gets a glimpse of my instillation which can go both ways.
Worst case scenario The instilation is next to a fire hose. So, if by any chance the instilation short circuits, the solution isn’t far.
Security. E waste has had this constant concern about security. Putting the instillation in a place which is comparatively more isolated might be a obstacle in the security of the station. Footfall The footfall in the space should not interrupt my instillations functioning as its a Big PCB model, etching of material from it or standing against it might kill the instilations functioning. Hence the space that I chose wasn’t
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Site model, of my site. The time of travel is also mentioned.
Front view of my Site. Boundary created by the fire department console and the camera
MoodBoard
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Finding the connection between E-waste Boards and the city map. This gave me an idea of what material can I use to represent specific structures. For e.g.: an IC can be used to represent Vidhana Soudha
Concept Development My concept evolved into multiple forms but my final form was constant after a point - The MAP
A. Growth of the Trash Man Using data of waste generated by an individual over a month to create an instillation on the wall of the Token concourse. The instillation is of a human figure forming over a month bit by bit. The fingers first, then the hand and slowly the entire body. By the end of a month a human waste man would be at the end of the walkway blocking the path of the commuter and raising a question to him. What works - Using the design principal of quantification of time to show data. - Relation of waste data over a month. - Represents a human figure who holds a particular personality generated by the consumption of waste of an individual. Hence people can maybe relate to it. What doesn’t work - Obstruction in the walkway. - A monotonous representation of the same figure. - Stagnant Information, people will lose interest overtime. - No relation to the city. - The hand to the body a long process with very less meaning.
B. The Trash Tree A tree made out of the E-waste collected in the park,
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the size and scale of the tree would depend on the waste generated in the park over a particular time period. One of the main features of the park is trees and creating a resemblance of one to scale with waste would give people an idea of the amount and kind of waste generated in the park. This instillation grows outside the Cubbon park station with a few parts going inside and then coming out. When a passer by looks at the tree he understand the quantity of waste generated in the park in comparison to the surrounding trees. What works - The quantification relation to the surroundings, which is a relation to the immediate size.
- The magnificence of the tree can be visually seen and experienced. - Material used from the intimidate size. - People can look at the tree and relate to the waste they generated in the park What doesn’t work - No results in terms of learning - Stagnant information once its made. - Challenging the Visual Aesthetic of Garbage. - Overtime will lose its visual appeal as the waste would start to degrade. - To Literal.
C. E-waste Map A map that shows the live movement of the metro train on an E-waste base talking about how potential e-waste exists everywhere but most people are not aware of it. The fact that one is in the metro station, it is also possible E-waste in the future . The train moving on the map reflects the fact that this entire metro system is also a ticking potential e-waste bomb. The map has a possibility to have secondary data as another layer of showing improper segregation of e-waste or the proper segregation. This map also adds to functionality by showing live movement of the train helping people be aware of how much time do they have to reach their train.
What works - Possibilities of multi layered data. - Live data is also a possibility. - A strong relation to the change in identity of the city and how the IT hub is growing. - Constant movement of the train metaphorically shows the movement of E-waste in the city. - Location. What doesn’t work - No awareness and learning. - Strong purpose missing. - Functionality already exists. - Trigger.
Taking the E-waste Map forward. D. Macro(The City), Micro(12 wards Purple line exists on), Mini Macro( the 2 wards in which the immediate site exists) Looking at creating an actual map rather than just having E-waste in the background and a metro map on it. Zooming into and zooming out creates Macro, Micro and Mini Micro levels of the city. Zooming in and zooming out, gives the option of adding and deleting information from the map. The map is a morphed piece made with recycled and un - recycled material that shows the city and its prominant spaces as E-store Hubs and highlight them through diffirent material that is represented by sound, light and movement. This different material represents people, offices, e-stores, metro, social spaces. Etc. The Bangalore map gets cut out into zones and zones further get cut down into wards. Using this as the boundaries for each form the map will be created. Depending on the zoomed in future I decide to use the scale of those features would increase and decrease. What works - E waste has a strong relation with the change in identity of the city. Garden city to Silicon city to Trash city. - Sound, light and movement inviting. - Linear positioning interesting for concourse. - Representation of existing data will help people relate to the instillation What doesn’t work - No direct and valuable learning /awareness. - No strong Purpose. - Functionality not required. Stagnant Information, people will lose interest overtime. - Data representation and generation not valid enough. - People get no information looking at the map they already know the space.
Taking the Macro Map forward. Understanding the previous concerns of the map not working, the form remained same but the concept and understanding behind it changed. Now the idea was to create awareness about the involvement of individuals/ wards/zones working towards disposal of E-waste. This awareness would be created by using Principals from the Third Teacher Approach of competitiveness to create learning and awareness amongst commuters. Lets say Ward 110 contributes in E-waste disposal, hence it gets highlighted and the others are not. There is already existing competitiveness amongst the wards of Bangalore on online websites. Using this I wanted to create awareness amongst the commuters. This map also looks at creating some form of ownership about ones ward amongst people. The material with which the spaces are represented will help the commuter relate to the boundaries they belong to. Hence the information that goes in the map has to be selective and concision enough for the people to read and understand. In the previous forms there was always this constant need of having some results with the instillation. What’s the point of creating a map with E-waste when people don’t get a chance to reciprocate. Hence I decided to look at creating a system with an e-waste disposal organization where through my form I could help them collect more e-waste or spread awareness about this organization. Creating a dustbin for e-waste sounded essential for the desired results. What works - E waste has a strong relation with growth of the city into the Silicon Valley. - Sound, light and movement inviting. - Creates Awareness and Learning through competitiveness. - Has results - Long term instillation with live data. - Shows up-cycle and recycle of E waste. - Representation of existing data will help people relate to
the instillation What doesn’t work - Peoples understanding of the Maps breakdown - Dust on the map. - Live data generation still doesn’t have a source. - Material restrains in cutting and using all parts. Material that is used to create the map and the live data has a unpredictable life span. - Using E waste to create a neat map that is functional. Is this the idol option.
Bangalore, 1914 Studying an old map of bangalore and they way the cartographer made it and how he used the desired design principals
Cubbon Park A modern map of Cubbon park cartographed to the desired needs.
Cartography As my form developed, the idea of using a map became important by the day and so did understanding one.
A map is like an info-graphic that primarily puts forward geographical information and then can be layered to add different kinds of informations. A map uses multiple elements and principals of design to create the desired learning. A good map has all the design principles used well in place. The design principals used to create maps help facilitate better learning and access to information that the cartographer wants to how you. The principals of designs used in creating a map are as follows: - Visual Contrast There needs to be a crisp, clean and sharp visual contrast in a map to highlight specific spaces and give them importance over the other. Higher the contrast more the features would stand out and less contrast appears to merge them together. Both can be used to generate desired information. - Legibility The maps needs to have the ability to be seen and understood by the reader. Hence, proper selection of symbols, appropriate size for them, choosing familiar symbols need to be though carefully keeping in mind the audience the map is made for. Ideally the symbol should be as geometric as possible, then they can be read in the smallest sizes possible also. There are a few common symbols used and should be used for better legibility. For e.g. the red cross resembles a hospital and shouldn’t
change. - Figure Ground Organization The spontaneous separation of the figure in the foreground from an amorphous background is really important to highlight spaces ad make information legible. Lets say if I want to show the houses students stay in on a map then the colour and symbol - Hierarchical Organization The visual separation of the map into layers of information helps create features that the cartographer wants to highlight over the others. The visual layering of information needs to have an hierarchy as the smallest spaces with relation to bigger places is also a relation. This relation shouldn’t change or even if the cartographer decides to change it there has to be a reason to do so. For e.g.: in the map of Bangalore, Yelahanka is historically more important than Kormangala or Kamanahalli. Hence in the hierarchical information Yelahanka comes before the other two places. - Balance There has to be a balance struck between the elements of the map. The elements being symbols, the key, scale and advertisements. These need to be placed on the map in a way that they don’t take away any form of information that the Cartographer has to offer.
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Wards and Zones in Bangalore Bangalore is divided into 8 zones which further get divided into 8 wards. Understanding what localities, lakes, parks, offices and other such spaces that exist in the map. I used
data from the BBMP website and OSM(open street maps) to generate this map. Scale: 1 cm : 169 m OSM zoom Level : 15
Ward Map Bangalore. This map shows the 198 ward wise breakdown of the city with the localities that exist in that particular ward.
Zone Map Bangalore. This map shows the 8 zonewise breakdown of the city with the wards that exist in every zone.
Final Form The final form evolved from the insights of the previous concepts and keeping in mind the maintenance of the instillation over time.
The form evolved from Seminar 2 didn’t change the form
Creating A PCB that in itself is the map evolved to be
but helped me conceptualize and visualize the purpose and functioning of the instillation. The base concept is still the same i.e. to create a map instillation that represents live data. Data, that helps in creating awareness and ownership through the Third teacher approach amongst metro commuters.
the final form. On studying how PCB’s are made and the multiple layers that go into creating it, I could relate to the way a map also has multiple layers of information. This information that the map has can be divided and individual it exists as a layer that compliments the functionality of the map. Similarly in a PCB every layer compliments the desired functioning.
The map instillation is an offline representation of live data. Live data that will be generated through an online GIS and represented on the map in the form of movement and light. This live data is generated in collaboration with an organization working with E-waste, Bin-bag. Bin-bag is a profit organization that offers free e-waste pickups all over the city. The live data is generation of a E-waste pickup which is then categorized into a ward and then further represented on the map. This shows people and localities, in a particular ward being active towards E-waste recycling. The visual language of the form changed as my understanding of E-waste and the PCB board developed. Initially I was looking at creating the map of the city and representing specific sites in a 3D form like the Nemesis Project by stanza. As I created my Ward and Zone map of Bangalore, that I planned on using for my final scale, the Zoom in visual I decided to use earlier changed. When you look at a PCB from a distance it looks similar to a map. Understanding and visualizing this changed my approach to create the map. The form evolved into creating a massive PCB, or a collaboration of PCB’s, that visually represent the city.
On using the software KiCAD(an open source PCB creation software) I got access to the 13 layers that are required in creating a PCB. There is a layer called the FRONT SILK SCREEN, this layer is the layer of the PCB where all the components are annotated. The annotations can be also replaced by images on the software. Using the image of lines(roads), and labels and names extracted from QGIS will create an image that can be placed on the Silk Screen layer of the KiCad file. This will print a functional PCB that would have a non functional silk screen layer. This non functional layer is functional to the form of the map but not the PCB. Once the silk screen layer is created the elements that make the PCB functional can be panned and placed in a way that they represent the topography of the city. For e.g., Vidhana Soudha can be represented by an IC transistor which as a material represents the linear shape of Vidhana Soudha and as an component represents the functioning of Vidhana Soudha. Once PCB is created I would place additional components
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of E-waste on the MAP-PCB to show the land use and specific localities on the board. These components would be from E-waste PCB’s and wont be functional on the map but would seem to be. The MAP-PCB also addresses the issues of maintenance and life span of the base material. In the future if some parts of the instillation stop working they can be easily replaced and the base circuit would still work.
Line drawings that come on the Silk Screen.
MAP-PCB The final shape of the instillation and the working Yellow LED Parts
Prototype Creating a small section of the map was important to understand how the full form would be, Hence I only concentrated on 4 wards that we interacted with during this course. And looked at that as the final form for my prototype A. Dirty Prototype The idea was to create a prototype to just explain the experience and understand the material. I created a small setup with e-waste from my house. This setup not only represents my house but it also represents other Srishti student houses, and on a more zoomed out version a students house. The idea was to show how people can relate to E-waste and how every house has undiscovered E-waste.
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A. 4 Wards Prototype 110 - Sampagiraman Nagar 92 - Shivaji Nagar 93 - Vasanth Nagar 111 - Shantala Nagar. This was the first step to study the new developed form and the final form. Creating these 4 wards, had to be done to detail. I had to learn multiple software’s to understand this prototype. The idea was to create a prototype visual and an Arduinon UNO setup to represent it.
Part Four The End
“Sapna Wo Nahi jo Nind Mein aaye... Sapna Wo Hai jo Pura Kiye Bina Nind Na aaye” -Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
Acknowledgements I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. I acknowledge with thanks for the kind of valuable guidance and constant supervision offered by my project faculties Amitabh Kumar, Shivani Seshadadri, Arzu Mistri, Aastha Chauhan and Abhiyan Humane to direct me in the right direction. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Aditya Bharadwaj and Siddhant Shetty for helping me through the project when I got stuck. I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to other faculty members of my institute that helped me through the project Yashas, Tejas and Arnab Basu for giving me such attention and time. My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleagues Upendra Vaddadi, Aishwarya Kumar and Tiffany Dias in helping me develop the project and people who have willingly helped me out with their abilities. I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents who had faith to believe in my project and gave me the motivation and strength to work towards it.
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Biblography I Change My City. “http: //www.ichangemycity.com/ bangalore/wards.” Accessed. B City. “http: //www.bcity.in.” Accessed. Esri. “Make Maps People Want to Look At.” Accessed. http://issuu.com/wakeupcleanup/docs/nov_2014_svp_bbmp_ extracting_value_. SVP India. “Extracting Values from Bengaluru’s Dry Waste Chain.” Extracting Values from Bengaluru’s Dry Waste Chain (November 2014): https://issuu.com/wakeupcleanup/ docs/nov_2014_svp_bbmp_extracting_value_. EMPRI. A study of Market survey of re-usable e-products and re-cycled e-components (March 2014): http://www. karnataka.gov.in/empri/Documents/2014-04-09_EMPRI_ MarketSureyofe-Waste.pdf. Ministry of Environment and Forest Central Pollution Control Board. “Guidelines for Environmentally Sound Management of Ewaste.” (March 2008) Environmental Policy and Research Institute. “Study of Cyber Waste in Karnataka.” Journal Title (ma 2005) E Parisara. Envis Newsletter. Bangalore: E Parisara, 2011
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