Project
Next Door
Why did I choose this project This project was a real challenge for me. Travelling to Brussels, get in contact with the situation of a unsafe urban area, designing for improving a neighborhood really attract me. Contributing to a better live for others was a clear goal and where I felt something for. Designing for social aim was completely new for me and a total different approach on the design process than other projects I did before. To learn more about social design, get more experience on other fields, and the challenge, I chose this project.
Situation The first impression of the neighborhood was a feeling of being trapped; narrow streets, high buildings, and a lot of traffic. But also the appearance of the houses was very bad. But we also found it a dynamic, exotic neighborhood. It was very busy on the streets, especially in the shopping street that had a nice atmosphere. There was a park and garden so it didn’t seemed a very bad neighborhood. But after talking to the residents the biggest problems were the prostitution and the unemployment. These people had problems that were bigger than just the appearance of the neighborhood. Also the communication between the different culture groups was insignificant. The prevailed attitude was: less people you know, less problems you have.
My little scribble book
My little scribble book
When you are searching deeper into the society, you begin to discover the deeper, social problems. When you begin to talk to residents you feel the feeling of being lost, not having any trust in anyone, unemployed, etc. The first needs of people are physiological: food, sleep, and a feeling of being well. After that the need of safety is important: of employment, of resources. After that the love and belonging is important: social contacts, friends, and family. Further needs are status, achievement, and self-esteem. At least your self-actualization is important, your personality, and morality. You see that the first needs are simple: having food, a house, and healthy. After that safety and social needs are important. It is hard to trigger these needs and values because you don’t reach them easily just by observing the situation, you have to dive deeper into the underlying situation.
Teamwork Belgium students In the beginning it was hard to work together with the Belgium students because it was not clear what kind of contribution the Belgium students had in this project. But when we got to the ideas and concept phase we brainstormed together and came up with a concept. We could have long discussion about the interaction and the form of the system/service or product, whereas the Belgium students could think about the font of the text, logos of the product, and the colors of the metro plan. You noticed that the Belgium students were thinking on a complete different level than we as industrial design students. They are not trained in thinking deeper about things you experience. They are not going in depth as much as Industrial Design students. The difference in culture could contribute to the different thinking and also the education of the school.
Concept + Vision The question was how design can contribute to the improvement of the social cohesion in the Brabantwijk. We encountered the problems like the prostitution, the neglect houses, narrow streets, the unemployment etc. These problems can’t be solved with just a design addition. Design creates something, it doesn’t solve problems. With this in our mind we focused more on other problems in the neighborhood like the communication between different cultures, the anti-social situation. Our vision was to bring initiatives from residents closer together and make them more aware of the activities in the neighborhood. We found out, from talking to experts, that there are closed culture communities with one important ‘leader’ who is the contact person for that whole community. These contact persons are the ones that already have initiatives for the neighborhood but they can’t find other people who have the same ideas or organizations that can help them.
With our system residents can search for the location and information of initiatives, organizations, and other happenings. We communicate the location of the initiatives with symbols and lights among the houses. In this way the language barrier is remedied. If one person, in this case the ‘leader’ of one community, is executing his initiative, people will begin to feel appreciation and trust, and get more motivation to also start an initiative. The purpose is that the ‘leaders’ will drag along more residents for executing initiatives. In this way people will communicate more with each other and will be aware of the activities in the neighborhood. They will be proud of their neighborhood, and will feel more at home.
What did I learn from socio-cultural experience as a designer It was a whole new experience with a totally different design process and approach. I’ve learned more about the human process. What are the first needs? What are the deeper needs and values for human? And how can you reach/trigger these needs and values? This whole process of researching the user and situation was a very good and nice experience. I’ve learned methods to gain information from people and observing a situation with a different eye/viewpoint. Also dealing with this within an intercultural situation was very informative. Working together with students from Belgium was seeing and experiencing a different thinking level and approach. Further seeing cultures living together in a whole different society was astonishing. I was on vacation in Turkey last year, and when I walked through the ‘Brabantstraat’, it was like I was in Turkey again. This not integrating attitude was a strange feeling for me. Why didn’t they want to integrate? All kind of questions already occur to me.
This project also pulled my interest as a designer. Social design requires a lot of research, empathy into the situation, really feel connected to the situation. If you have that kind of feelings you are able to do something for the situation and come up with good solutions. I also had that feeling of really wanted to do something for these people in the Brabantwijk. For the time we had, I empathized into the situation and the residents. It was a good feeling, and a feeling of achievement in the end, even when the concept isn’t realized yet. So social design is pulling my interest as a designer.