Urban Playground: Transforming Cities Into Active Communities
Shuncheng Hsieh
In exploring the intricate relationship between urban design and public health, this thesis aims to envision cities as dynamic environments that profoundly influence the well-being of their inhabitants. Through an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from research across fields, it seeks to reimagine urban spaces as vibrant hubs conducive to physical activity, social interaction, and holistic wellness. By proposing innovative design interventions, fostering community engagement, and advocating for policy change, this work endeavors to catalyze a shift towards healthier, more livable urban environments. Ultimately, the goal is to inspire stakeholders from urban planning, policymaking, design, and the community to collaboratively shape cities that prioritize human health and happiness, thereby creating a more vibrant, active, and inclusive urban future
Visualizing progress and setting achievable goals can significantly enhance people’s sense of accomplishment in activities like weight lifting.
Without adequate exploration and guidance, fostering a hobby or habit in sports becomes significantly more challenging.
Many young adults(18-25) residing in metropolitan areas struggle to adopt an active lifestyle, facing challenges such as time constraints, location barriers, financial limitations, a lack of motivation, and insufficient guidance—issues stemming from not having explored healthy habits during their early years.
The time, physical energy, and financial cost of gym attendance, combined with the fatigue from commuting, often diminish people’s willingness and ability to exercise effectively.
This thesis explores how young adults in metropolitan areas can better prepare for the transition from student life to full-time employment, emphasizing the importance of forming an active living lifestyle and overcoming the challenges of habit building. It examines the link between physical and mental fatigue and the difficulty in establishing sports habits or hobbies without sufficient guidance. By advocating for a holistic approach, the study highlights the need for supportive systems and resources that not only enhance preparation for the workforce but also encourage the development of a balanced, active lifestyle.
“The transition from being a graduate student to a full-time worker has significantly altered my lifestyle. Prolonged hours of sitting have resulted in neck discomfort, and the fatigue from commuting leaves me too tired to engage in gym workouts.”
50% of college students in the US are physically inactive do not meet the national PA guidelines
0.1% of a sample of Canadian university students meet these PA guidelines
<52% of adults across all US geographic and rural-urban categories meet aerobic guidelines
35% of adults across all US geographic and rural-urban categories meet muscle strengthening guidelines
28% of adults across all US geographic and rural-urban categories meet combined guidelines
Adults should move more and sit less throughout the day. Some physical activity is better than none. Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderateto-vigorous physical activity gain some health benefits.
For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobicactivity should be spread throughout the week.
Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderateintensity physical activity per week.
Adults should also do musclestrengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week , as these activities provide additional health benefits.
Fascia itself is a critical connective tissue that envelopes muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, which when stressed, tightens and causes significant discomfort.
“The root causes of fascia adhesion include trauma, repetitive movements, and a sedentary lifestyle.
Goal
Construct a visual representation of participants’ daily agendas, capturing both emotional and physical energy fluctuations throughout the day.
Method
Utilize charts, timelines, or diagrams to map out typical daily routines and overlay emotional states and energy levels.
Goal
Gain insights into participants’ attitudes and perspectives regarding an active living lifestyle.
Method
Conduct interactive discussions, surveys, or storytelling exercises to uncover personal motivations, challenges, and aspirations related to adopting and maintaining an active lifestyle.
Goal
Facilitate self-reflection on small adjustments participants could make during their daily routines to promote an active lifestyle.
Method
Engage participants in brainstorming sessions or journaling exercises to identify and discuss manageable, incremental changes that can contribute to a more active routine.
Goal
Uncover and analyze the obstacles hindering participants from establishing an active habit.
Method
Conduct group discussions or structured activities to explore common challenges, such as time constraints, environmental factors, or motivational barriers, and encourage participants to share personal experiences.
In the early stages of exploring the concept, there are a few things that I am more concerned about. First, understanding the life routine of young adlut when they enter full-time status, and the difference from the life routine when they were students. Second, understanding the daily life routine of young adlut users. and schedule planning. Thirdly, to understand young adlut’s cognition of their own bodies and concepts related to health care knowledge. The goal of my thesis is to increase physical activity opportunities through devices in public spaces, thereby improving the user’s health. Have a better understanding of the body and its use, and ultimately hope to build a passion or habit for exercise.
One of the phenomena that I have noticed is that commuting inevitably takes up a large part of our daily life. So how to use this time to do design is a very interesting entry point...
This is an idea I came up with when I was working on provotype. Since commuting is an unavoidable time, perhaps transforming the car into a space where you can move around freely may also be an interesting entry point.
The first step was to make the handle of the carriage more difficult to hold, so that the body would have to spend more effort to stabilize it.
Then I expanded the scale to space, turning a carriage into a space for movement. Taking this illustration as an example, I tried to incorporate boxing into this space.
At the same time, I also imagined more possible ways to use the space in the carriage, converting various movements into the space of the carriage. I used chatgpt to help me produce this series of ideas, and the result was both funny I also think it would be quite interesting if this space really appeared.
In the process of SME investigation, community and competition awareness are often very important factors. So how do I add these factors to my design?
Another idea is to install a flywheel on the unused space on the subway platform. This flywheel has an app that can record your results, allowing you to compete with your friends online. This competition method may not be so timely, so I thought, maybe different stations have their own idle space, maybe we can compete with people from different stations to achieve immediate and crossregional confrontation.
In the process of USER’s investigation, incentives are a very important factor. In the young adult period, financial burden is often one of the reasons why it is difficult for them to form sports hobbies or habits.
So I also imagined that maybe this is a whole system that allows all participating players to earn currency, and these currencies can also be exchanged for resources that can help them develop exercise habits, such as gym pass, climbing class pass, protein fans, sports equipment discount coupons, etc., to create more incentives to get people moving
Many young adults(18-25) residing in metropolitan areas struggle to adopt an active lifestyle, facing challenges such as time constraints, location barriers, financial limitations, a lack of motivation, and insufficient guidance—issues stemming from not having explored healthy habits during their early years.
There are 2 key approaches in my design process: Utalize public space and create easy access for user to join. The target audience differs for both of these approaches.
Physical and mental fatigue are intricately intertwined, forming a vicious circle that is closely linked to one’s lifestyle.
Hsiu Han Yang
Customer Service Agent
Marko Lai
Piano tutor, theater music composer and former children’s theater actor
Ting
Graduate Student
2D Animator
Jung Hye Hwang
Graduate Student
Cheryl Zhang Graphic Designer
Suntas Hsueh
Graduate Student
3D Artist
Will Huang
Handbag & Footwear
Designer at Coach
Zeyu Xue
Fashion Sales Assistant
Yang Graduate Student
Graduate Student Artist Feng Fan
Graduate Student
Graduate Student
UI/ UX Designer
Alyssa Lee Rui Tzu Yi Lee“The transition from being a graduate student to a full-time worker has significantly altered my lifestyle.
“Prolonged hours of sitting have resulted in neck discomfort, and the fatigue from commuting leaves me too tired to engage in gym workouts.”
After the user interviews, I gathered the common experiences and made them into storyboards, which mainly showed the impact of lifestyle changes on the body, the actions taken after feeling unwell, and finally the awareness of the body. As age changes, we must take action to cultivate a better lifestyle to cope with it, and the cultivation of exercise habits often encounters considerable difficulties.
During the interviews with early users, I was more concerned about the cultivation of exercise habits and the reasons why they decided to develop exercise habits. Two of them (Hsiu Han, Marco Lai) shared about their resistance to the cultivation of exercise habits. One of them was the need for sports venues. The commute time is too long , which consumes time and energy, and even affects their sports performance. In addition to this, factors that make them determined to exercise include that their physical performance is not as good as before, they feel tired easily, or some parts of their body are feeling discomfort .
How might we...
Design interventions within public spaces, such as offices or studios, to facilitate increased movement for individuals throughout their daily tasks?
Given the insights from the quote, I’m curious: How might we design interventions within public spaces, such as offices or studios, to facilitate increased movement for individuals throughout their daily tasks?
After the user interviews, I gathered the common experiences and made them into storyboards, which mainly showed the impact of lifestyle changes on the body, the actions taken after feeling unwell, and finally the awareness of the body. As age changes, we must take action to cultivate a better lifestyle to cope with it, and the cultivation of exercise habits often encounters considerable difficulties.
My first solution, ‘Celebrate Catch,’ is a device that encourages spontaneous celebration through simple movements like high-fives, adaptable to any space, making every little success enjoyable and active.
Continuing to build on the theme of integrating movement with playfulness, I’m now extending our focus beyond offices and studios to include parks and streets.
I envision ‘Junk Dunk,’ a design that makes throwing away trash more enjoyable. It includes a detachable basketball hoop that fits over trash cans, encouraging movement and adding a playful twist to daily tasks.
How might we...
Leverage this waiting time to promote physical activity? If we can transform this idle time into an opportunity for exercise, we could significantly enhance daily activity levels.
These strategically placed leg press installations in urban areas like subway stations and parks encourage people to engage in muscle-strengthening exercises during their commutes.
To understand and address obstacles to active living, I consulted with physical therapists, personal trainers, and gym owners. Their insights on the challenges their clients face have helped us identify key barriers to regular physical activity.
Experts emphasized two crucial challenges: the importance of visualizing progress and the difficulty in exploring and guiding sports hobbies. Overcoming these obstacles is vital to enhancing individuals’ sense of accomplishment.
How might we...
Develop a system of incentives around Metro Muscle to motivate participation and reduce barriers to physical activity, while fostering community engagement and friendly competition?
Establishing a public ecosystem with various interventions requires a strategic blend of incentives to encourage young adults to adopt and sustain an exercise habit.
I start to building installation that can intagrate with digital product you can see more process of building this design in physical product design chapter.
“Heart Beast” is a gamified application aimed at fostering an active lifestyle among its users. The app operates by allowing users to accumulate points through engage ment with various activities. These points can then be redeemed for a range of rewards, including nutrition supplements, protein powder, and gym courses. This system incentivizes users, encouraging and rewarding their dedication to maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.
Here’s how to use Heart Beast: Start by scanning the QR code on the Metro Muscle installation. Next, download the Heart Beast app from the app store. Set up your profile by entering basic personal information and your fitness goals. Now, you can use Metro Muscle to track your exercise progress and earn points on the app. These points can be redeemed for gym passes, nutritional supplements, and sports equipment. Additionally, you can invite friends to join friendly competitions using Metro Muscle.
Simply place your phone on the Metro Muscle to view real-time progress and track your current stage.
Each player will be assigned a unique color, allowing you to easily identify the leader by the proportion of their color on the screen.
Users can review their previous progress and track how many more points they need to reach their target.
The Stanford Method For Ultimate Super Recovery. Tomoo Yamada.
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. James Clear.
Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour of Master of Physical Therapy Students: An Exploratory Study of Facilitators and Barriers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC5754144/
Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. chromeextension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:// health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_ Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf
Time-to-commute. https://www.geotab.com/time-tocommute/
Active Commuting and Depression Symptoms in Adults: A Systematic Review. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC7037710
Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habitformation’ and general practice. https://www.ncbi.nlm. nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505409/
Motivation toward Physical Activity and Healthy Habits of Adolescents: A Systematic Review / https://www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10136410/
Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in University Students–The Role of Gender, Age, Field of Study. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fpubh.2022.821703/full
Association between commuting time and depressive symptoms in 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ S2214140523001676#:~:text=Results,interval%20 %3D%201.04%E2%80%931.29%5D
Evidence-based intervention in physical activity: lessons from around the world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC4978123/