SMARTER CITY ENGAGEMENT FEBRUARY 07/19
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5 WHITEHALL CRESCENT
BUILDING TOPOLOGY
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A SPACE FOR COMMUNITY BASED INNOVATION
Photography & Video Tehmina Ahmad Blair Boyle Venue Wild Rover Dundee (Downstairs) 07th February 2019 14:30-15:30 Contact w: www.blairboyle.com e: hello@blairboyle.com
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Participants Field Tereza Chroล รกkovรก Design Claire Corrigan Illustration Ola Daszynska Design Polly Ford Education Nadine Franz Design Janie Leckie Business Linsey McIntosh Design Claudia Steele Design Victoria Sanchez Illustration Leah-Ann Walmsley-Pledl Illustration
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Information 04 Contents 05 Introduction 06
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Prep 08 Task 1: Worksheet 10 Task 2: Activism in Space 14
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Activity & Analysis 18 Task 1 Outcomes 20 Task 2 Outcomes 22
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INTRODUCTION
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As part of ‘Design in Action,’ a series of workshops were arranged to engage with the public, professionals, local government and others to hear their thoughts and opinions on the ideas I am presenting for my thesis. The proposed project would involve all the above parties and more as equal stakeholders - it is important that all their opinions are represented, their needs met, and criticisms considered. The project stems from research into the subjects of co-design, smart-cities and design opportunities in the intersect of these sectors. This research was presented as my fourth-year dissertation and acts as the initial research to this project. The workshops and any further activity are focussed directly on a spatial outcome directed at the vacant site at 5 Whitehall Crescent. I have personally predefined questions as an exploration of what the project could be but expect this to change as workshops develop the definition of what this unique multiuse space should actually be. The predefined questions are:
The five values listed were defined in the dissertation period through talks with experts, stakeholders and designers as values that could improve the humanity of our smart cities. These acted as the building blocks for the first workshop exploring these values and how they would connect spatially.
1.Accountability 2.Transparency 3.Conscientus 4.Progressive 5.Empathic The first half of this workshop is devoted to making sure the values are aligned with what the general public would expect if not there is the opportunity to change them accordingly. The second half explores how values could be applied, using them as tools of activism. The second task explores this action/activism a little more and placing the values in space and building connections between them.
How might we create a more democratic and co-creative approach to smart city development in Dundee? Could we create an ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT, CONSCIENTIOUS, PROGRESSIVE AND EMPATHIC multiuse space that involves the public, private stakeholders and the public sector all under one roof? Should a new typology be developed to be a model for public engagement and inclusivity?
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Q O O UA IN R M DE I N D LI | PR M O C E | TY R ST O AG VA NC O |P M |B GR IM LU E E O M AS |C ES SI E PO U TI O E NI SO US S R R IN VE |C TY TA D T C O O ER IA O N NO M RD NF TI T |P ER N O VA | I E D O T N R PR EM EN EA TI S O | I O O TI VA F M C P GR V AT E M W L E U | O IO ES HY O CH CU E S R N S T O AN ST K |B |C IM RD |V | O GE O IN AL P E M O N R NO PO UE ER |S FI RT | P DE RT PA VA EM AN O O SI RD AN NC TI T P T O O ER IV E |T E T N W E |C | |T EA |O |P CU CH E US EA R M O S A BA SI TO TO SI M W N TI TI W O RR GE M M V VE R O ER ER IE E K | R S CH CH K | IN EM EM PA |I | AN AN CE NN IN NO PA PA NO GE GE TH TH M O VA VA VA Y |S Y TI |S | TI O |B | TI P P B B A A N O O A AR A C C R N N RR |O E E R RI |O |O IE AC AC IE E C K
Teamwork
Half a Century of Innovation
Work in Progress
Confidence
Customer Empathy
Barriers to Innovation
Community
Inequality
Transparency
Planning
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For the first task participants were given a double-sided A3 worksheet with three subtasks on it (see in next two pages). The first task gave 12 ‘value cards’ with 10 of them having illustrations and 2 of them being blank. They were individually asked to choose 5 of the cards that they felt related to the project most, determine what they meant as a value and arrange them in order of importance. If they felt anything was missing, they had the opportunity to draw it on the blank cards. The sourced images can be seen on the opposite page alongside their original definition. The sheet was prepared with ‘hook & loop’ fastening to facilitate for participants changing their mind and reconsidering things. These values would then be used in subtask two and the second full task.
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TASK 1: VALUE ORDER & POSITIVE CHANGE
The second subtask asks for participants to consider a recent experience of a space, service or other where they felt frustrated and knew it could have been done better. They were then given a couple of minutes to roughly illustrate, sketch, write or act it out – whatever they were most comfortable doing. Directly after this, they were asked to undertake the third subtask in which they considered their experiences and their frustration and explored how it could be improved by a greater presence of two of
the values defined in subtask one. This got participants thinking how they could put values into action this would then go on to inform task two ‘Activism in Space’.
NAME OF VALUE:
This is an example of one Of the cards Used.
TASK 1: WORKSHEETS SMARTER CITY ENGAGEMENT | VALUE ORDER
STILL RELEVANT
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From the Twelve cards in front of you - Interpret the pictures in your own way and determine what values they represent, write this below each image. If you think something isn’t represented add it to one of the blank cards and visually represent this. Arrange your top Five in order of importance with 1 being most important.
SMARTER CITY ENGAGEMENT | POSITIVE CHANGE Think of a recent experience of a service or environment in Dundee that frustrated you. Using any Two of the values you determined on the previous task think of how a greater presence of these values could have had a positive impact on the experience. On the right draw, illustrate or act out your experience as it was and on the left draw, illustrate or act out the improved experience.
AS IT WAS
IMPROVED EXPERIENCE
Stick people are people too! Don’t be afraid of messy drawings or doodles - these are better than masterpieces. Just try to show your frustration in any way that works.
Using a mixture of the values defined in task one these were then three dimensionally collaged in space through a collection of fifty images (see left). The building was represented in a vertical sliding framework with 5 floors – one for each value. It was important that the idea of activism and action were presented here so the framework and floors were designed in a way that people would have to use skewers to stick their images and ideas into the floor. These skewers, when stuck on to the images, resemble ‘picket signs’ present at most protests and activism events. It was important that each of the floors could be accessed so anyone could put their idea in, this is where the sliding aspect worked well. Participants could slide the floors out and work on them separately or with a smaller group then return it to its place. Much like task one this also meant there could be fluidity in the decisionmaking process and the floors order could be changed if need be. The final part of this task was to draw connections between collaborative aspects. Connecting people with values, people with people, values with values and so on. This was done with coloured string to explore where there could be valuable partnerships built.
ASK 2 ENGAGEM ENT PROP: SPAC E MEETS ACTIVI
TASK 2: SPACE MEETS ACTIVISM
‘COMMUNITY’ Floor as designed by workshop participants
ACTIVITY
ANALYSIS
TASK 1: OUTCOMES This task became something between a card sort and a Rorschach test. Participants interpreted the images in different ways almost being an anecdote for cities and their services ‘people use the same service in fundamentally different ways each day’. From task one, the values that had previously been proposed for smart cities were challenged. Accountability, Transparency, Conscientious, Empathic & Progressive were altered for the proposed building. These became:
Collaboration in community (codesign working with people) Thoughtful design (efficiency and experience having equal value) Creative Thinking and Doing (Unique ideas not a one size fits all) Access to information (less barriers and more two-way communication) Empowerment (inclusive and targeted at those in need – not those with the loudest voices).
These Values or principles are condensed and concise and have broad definitions that will continue to be explored throughout their application to a spatial context e.g. How can a space empower someone? How can a space foster collaboration? Questions like this will be explored and hopefully answered in the next workshops. The next workshop may take on a more co-creative approach to these values and explore notions of them with regards to objects, experiences and spaces. However, for now, these are great building blocks to base any design off. Half of the workshop was spent on defining these and while it is incredibly valuable, it could have been done in a shorter time frame. Participants didn’t use subtask one and subtask two as much as anticipated and instead focussed on the values – this really represents how people value principles that people/places/businesses hold themselves accountable to and as such determines how crucial these will be in my design process and design outcome.
TASK 2: OUTCOMES
In task two the prop was a great talking point to interact with people and ask them questions while they were creating the 3D Collage. Initially, there was a slight delay in having a clear direction of where to put things as everyone had defined different values – this could have been facilitated better. Everyone worked together to agree on the values they wanted to take forward and came to an agreement on five that were then placed on each floor:
Ground Floor | Empowerment
This would be used as a space to draw people in, to encourage them to explore the rest of the building, to use it as they need or see fit. This space would act as the first point of call to passers-by playing on intrigue and curiosity drawing them in. It’s important that this space would feel comfortable and wouldn’t be exclusive to anyone but rather inclusive to everyone
First Floor | Access to Information
This space would be a way of people being able to educate themselves be that through open data, developing a digital literacy or through conversations with those in charge. Breaking down this hierarchy and top-down approach would build an interesting dynamic and emotional connection that would work both ways. People would have access to information and feel empowered to change things and those in charge would have access to the people in need knowing what they need and being able to work towards this.
Second Floor | Creativity
A place of creative ideas and exploring how they could be achieved. This would be a space of rapid prototyping, exploration and educating
people on how to make the most of their own creativity. This space would operate almost like a constant jam or design sprint where people could first-hand experience design as an attitude and its application beyond theory.
Third Floor | Play & Emotional Connection A space with no rules where play is more important than work and where happiness is more important than anything else. This like the second floor is a place of creativity but here it would be completely free in an environment built to destress and disconnect from the troubles of today.
Fourth Floor | Community and Collaboration
The highest public floor (excluding top floor café/events space) would be a place of community collaboration where people come together and share ideas. This could be achieved through open and creative co-working spaces where people are able to communicate about ideas, issues, hopes and frustrations. People could have access to shared facilities on this floor and be encouraged to interact with people throughout the build and have this be a place of building communities. Participants praised this workshop as fun but also very quick paced, future workshops should aim to maintain this energy and approach but have more time for people to process information and present ideas. A valid point was raised by a participant ‘Why would people actually go there?’ Change and activism are strong reasons, but more experience-based items and/or experiences would be considered beneficial particularly if it’s aimed at drawing communities in from outside the city centre.
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