My First Garden

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My First Garden A family-friendly gardening program within Prince of Wales Secondary


Content 2

Understanding of the problem

3-7

Personas + Mapping

8-12

Co-creation tools

13-17

Research Analysis

18-51

Design strategy

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Conclusion + learning outcomes

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Understanding of the problem Based on existing research, our group discovered that, individuals are now less informed about the food they consume daily due to the mainstream practice of industrialized farming and oil-vulnerable food transportation methods. The fast pace of urban living, and the lack of food education within local school systems also result in a community’s limited food and farming knowledge. These issues influence youths to become unmotivated towards learning resilient food practices, leading to the lack of intergenerational communication with elders. In Vancouver, there are existing groups of experienced adults and farmers that are practicing their sustainable skill sets in relation to gardening and food resilience.

However, due to the disconnection between different generations, they face multiple constrains when trying to pass down their knowledge. Another common problem is that, even when youths are interested about food resilience and sustainable practices, they are having difficulties in finding platforms where they can join and learn with people with similar interests. In order to prevent the community from facing fatal consequences due to the lack of local food resilience in potential dangers, a system should be designed to strengthen the bond between community individuals, where they can co-create new social possibilities.

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Personas + mapping


Personas + mapping Our group’s initial idea was to design a system that mainly focuses on young adults and elders. Thus we created two personas, an university student who is interested in community activities and learning behaviour change, and an skilled elder who wants to meet others with similar interests. While developing these characters, our group focused on the strengths and difficulties of each generation when participating in community activities.

We wanted to create two individuals who can practice intergenerational knowledge exchange and collaborative working. Using our personas as an example, Tyler can learn about food and gardening knowledge from Ada. In return, he will help Ada with physical labour work and also tell her more about the current youth generation. Our group also developed a relationship map of the two personas in order to understand how individuals can influence others to engage in behaviour change.Â

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Persona A Ada Goodall, 60 Ada is a retired Librarian who is currently working as a private tutor. She practices a healthy lifestyle and wants to bond with people who have similar values and interests as her.

Values: Community involvement, Healthy lifestyle, Cost-effective living • practices a healthy lifestyle • active volunteer of the community • goes to the community church on a regular basis to bond with her neighbours • likes to plan events to meet and eat with friends • beginner in farming, eager to recommend it with friends • started gardening because she wants to save money due to the current grocery price • has a backyard garden, but wants more gardening space

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Persona B Tyler Underwood, 20 Tyler is a college business student who is trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle. He is trying to find community activities where he can engage with others and get some exercise.

Values: Being healthy, Having good grades, Community involvement • has detailed financial planning • lives with a roommate • loves to engage with the community • aware of the environmental impact of consumer goods • has a busy schedule, therefore doesn’t eat proper meals regularly • eats a lot of processed food because he doesn’t have the time to do grocery shopping • wants to eat more healthy food and get more exercise

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Mapping The map emphasized the relationships and media that the two personas interact with in their daily lives.

Social Network Map -

social media • Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc...

Media

Sarah (mother) practices healthy life

Media Family

broadcasting media • television

Tyler Age 20

Friend

Andrew works with Tyler at a coffee shop

School

education regarding environmental consciousness

Clubs

weekly/monthly gatherings • Meetup • UBC Dance Club

employee of

Beth (daughter) Ada wants her daughter to eat properly and stay healthy

od ho e ild nc ch flue in

Ada’s behaviour is mainly influenced by her family and friends. Tyler, who recently became independent, receives heavier influence from the media and people he encounters at social occasions. Aside from that, education plays a crucial role in shaping Tyler’s perception on food resilience.

news on community gardens and urban farming

motiv ation

Ada Age 60

Emily + Anna • plan events + gather together a lot • share recipies and food

Friend Wilson • has farming + gardening experience • encouraged Ada to try farming

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Co-creation tool


Co-creation tool Based on our personas and mapping, we designed a set of co-creational activities where we invited university students and elders to participate. Our goal was to understand the two generation’s similarities and differences in terms of their understanding of community, food resilience, and gardening. We wanted to observe how youths and elders collaborate, and what decisions will they make together. Most importantly, through the help of our participants, we wanted to find inspirations in creating a design system where the needs of both generations will be fulfilled, and knowledge exchange will also be achieved.

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Co-creation tool: describing nouns Participants were divided into three groups, where each group had one youth and one elder. After the participants were organized, facilitators showed terms that are related to the co-creation theme, and asked the groups to write down any words that came into their minds while reading it. Then, each group will share their answers and explain what they thought of their ideas. Through this activity, we wanted to encourage participants to interact together and share their own understandings of the given terms. Moreover, based on the answers provided by youths and elders, we wanted to compare and contrast their answers, and understand how different backgrounds and levels of knowledge can shape a generation’s distinctive understanding of their surroundings.

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Co-creation tool: role-play First, participants received a character that they will be role playing for this activity. The characters have different ages and backgrounds, and are all members of a new community garden. They all have strengths and constrains in terms of participating in a community garden. Participants introduced their characters with first person narrative. Then, the group analyzed and discussed how could their characters help each other in order to create a community building and educational gardening space. The goal of this activity was to see how participants analyze and solve existing issues regarding to behaviour change and community building based on their personal knowledge and understanding.

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Co-creation tool: activity planning A basic drawing of a community garden was presented to the group. Based on the characters and discussions from activity 2, participants were asked to propose systems and activities for a community garden that could solve each character’s issues, as well as to achieve intergenerational learning and community building. Facilitators and participants added the proposed ideas to the drawing, providing a holistic view of a co-created ideal gardening space. Through this final activity, we want our participants to gather all the answers and understandings that they have gained from the previous co-creation activities, and use them to think about possible solutions of a given design challenge.

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Research analysis


Research analysis After the co-creation session, we employed multiple methods to analyze the responses we collected. Through the analysis we hope to observe any patterns and commonalities in our participants’ perceptions, and to extract informations that are relevant to our task. The result will guide us towards the possible directions of our design strategy. Overall, the research finding revealed the flaw in the existing food education model, which have resulted in the disconnection between younger generation and community gardens. At the same time, it also marked the potential to introduce a program that involves children, families, and local public schools. The objective of this program would be to help children develop gardening habits and sustainable lifestyles, and connect them with the local community.

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Research analysis: describing nouns In this section, we used keywords and charts to group our participants’ impressions the given phrases. We noticed that most participants associated phrases containing “community” with collaboration, relationship, and education. According to their experiences, community building usually take place in public schools and community centres. We also discovered that the two seemingly unrelated phrases “collaboration across generations” and “promoting sustainability”, were both connected to positive experiences such as “fun” and “welcoming”.

During group discussion, an elder participant mentioned he wanted to see more youth in community gardens. “Kids are the foundation of future development, gardening should start from kids.” —Participant W He pointed out that Vancouver’s current education system rarely offers the opportunity for children to learn and practice gardening techniques.

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Research analysis: role-play For this activity, we created a chart to categorize how the characters could benefit from, or contribute to the community garden. Despite the evident difference in their strengths, the two groups can still learn from each other, and benefit from participating community activities and adopting healthy lifestyles.

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Research analysis: activity planning 1. Information Board

Information System

2. Signage

3. Seed Library

Garden Planning

1. Children’s Garden

Workshop 2. Food Preservation Workshop

Activities

1. BBQ / Potluck

Information system used to promote gardening techniques and knowledge within the community garden at all time: 1. An information board to post community garden schedule, activity sign up, URL to community garden site and Q&A. 2. Signage for information about different plants, and bugs. 3. A seed library for members to store seeds from harvested plants. These activities can be a part of future system design.

Workshops designed to promote youth education and teach new knowledge: 1. Food resilience education should start from youth, because youth are the foundation of the society. Potential of designing a children garden where children will learn to be responsible, gain new gardening knowledge, and build a deep bonds with other children in the community. 2. Food preservation workshop - to teach members knowledge about of food preservation and food resilience.

Extra activities/facilities to make the workshop more fun and engaging! 1. BBQ/Potluck party for members to enjoy the food that they grew and share cooking techniques with each other.

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Design strategy


Design strategy There is a need to pass down the valuable knowledge to youth to confront with food insecurity and to develop sustainable habits when they are young. However, the problem is that not many young people are seen working in a garden nowadays. To change the current situation, our group proposed a family gardening program: My First Garden, within a local Secondary School—Prince of Wales Secondary—that has unused gardening space available. Through the program our targeted audiences: parents and their children will collaborate with other families, student volunteers, and knowledgeable gardeners to learn and experience working in a community garden.

Our ultimate goal is to promote knowledge exchange across generations, to foster strong relationships within families and communities, and to share the values of community gardens. For this project, we hope to encourage community participation to co-create new social possibilities.

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Community bond: family The activity allows children to engage in physical activities and develop a sense of responsibility by growing their own plants. They can also obtain skills in relation to gardening, team cooperation, creativity, and food resilience Parents can strengthen bonds with their children by working and learning together. It is also an activity where parents who values youth education can join to provide their children essential food and gardening knowledge.

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Community bond: PW Secondary Collaborating with PW Secondary My First Garden will be implemented into an existing system by collaborating with Prince of Wales Secondary’s community garden. Part of the gardening space will be provided to future family participants, where the others will still be available for the school’s program. Benefits for students Students are able to fulfill their academic volunteer credits by signing up as volunteers, and receive training in becoming gardening supervisors. It is an opportunity for them to engage with their schoolmates and community members, and be introduced to a variety of gardening and sustainable practices. Students can also develop leadership and communication skills by participating in community building activities.

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Promotion 1

Public market

School

Community centre

Promotion will be made around public markets, schools, and community centres. By promoting the education activity to parent union members and elementary students, parents and children are encouraged to come and participate.

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Finding group members 2

Families that are interested in participating are asked to invite another family they know to join the program together. This will be an opportunity to foster relationships for community families. If families couldn’t find collaborators, the garden will help them to find and form groups.

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Joining the garden 3

There will be activity information, joining requirements, and agreement given to each family to sign and agree on before joining the garden officially.Â

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1st family gathering 4

All the family gardeners will participate in the first gathering, where families will meet their collaborators and together become assigned to a specific gardening space where they are responsible to take care of.

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Receiving seed packages 5

The gardening supervisor will provide a set of different seeds (that is in season and easy to grow for beginners) for the families to choose and plant.

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Seed packages The origami seed packaging is designed to be both a package and an informative poster that the children can take home. After the seed is being taken out, children can unfold the package and discover planting instructions and a variety of information about the plant. Through this informative print material, children can learn more about the food they are growing. It can also stimulate their interest and motivation towards food resilience.

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Seed package variations

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Planting the seeds 6

After receiving the seeds, families will then plant them together while listening to the garden supervisor’s instructions.

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Plant signage A set of plant signage will be used to help gardeners to identify different crops. Each signage is 5x7�. Since the target audience of our design are elementary school children, we personified the plants with facial features and birth dates. We also provided space for gardeners to fill in their names. By doing so we hope the gardeners to develop personal attachment with the plants, and thus develope motivation taking care of their crops.

Pumpkin

Strawberry

Birthday: Planted by:

Sunflower Birthday: Planted by: Birthday: Planted by:

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Bulletin board There will be bulletin boards in the garden with the posters for gardeners to see and learn basic gardening knowledge. They also provide opportunity for family education when parents and children are reading them since the instructional posters are also designed to be visually engaging and approachable. There will also be a feedback submission drop box by the bulletin boards for gardeners to write and drop in their suggestions or questions to the garden supervisor.

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Gardening tools poster Gardening Guide Tools 101 Watering Pot

Wheelbarrow

Hand Trowel

Rake

Spade

Hoe

Use a watering pot to sprinkle water for plants, remember not to water to o much so your plants won’t drown!

Wheelbarrow is handy to move soil, rocks, compost, and harvest food around the garden.

Use a hand trowel for planting, digging pot corners, and taking out weeds.

Rake is a great tool for thinning seedlings, leveling ground, creating raised beds for plants, and of course to rake leaves.

Spade is handy for digging holes for plants, moving small amount of dirt from one area to another.

Hoe is good for shaping the soil, also to control weeds from spreading and growing in the garden.

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Bug indicator poster Smart Guide for Bug Detectives Good Bugs and Their Benefits

Bad Bugs and Their Damages

Honey Bee

Aphid

Honey bee pollinates and helps plants to grow seeds.

Aphid nibbles leaves and causes leaves to deform.

Ladybug

Mite

Ladybug eats bad bugs, and helps plants to stay healthy.

Mite bites on leaves and turns leaves yellow and sick.

Green Lacewings

Caterpillar

Green Lacewings protects plants from bad bugs by eating them.

Earthworm Burrows under the ground, earthworm enriches soil bed for plants to grow strong.

Caterpillar likes to play hide-and-seek between leaves by folding them.

Snail and Slug Snail and slug chew on leaves, and leave slimy trails behind.

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Outfit poster

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Mock up

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Collaborative gardening 7

The two families who share the same gardening space will create a schedule to take care of the garden collaboratively. They can help each other to maintain their garden when one of the family can’t come to the garden.

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School volunteers 8

The garden will also be open for the secondary school’s students Academic volunteer credits will be given to students, therefore benefiting and encouraging them to participate in this system.

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Volunteer training 9

The supervisors will share their experience and knowledge to the students, where in return volunteers will help with physical gardening labours.

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Volunteer tasks 10

Volunteers will be responsible to supervise and do work in the school gardening space if the supervisor is unavailable.

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Checklist A checklist was designed to help student volunteers to complete their tasks in the community garden. Volunteers will check the boxes if they see any included conditions in the checklist and will hand the form back to garden managers. The displayed checklist is a template and managers will edit the checklist based on different seasons and crops.

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Volunteer task 11

If the supervisor thinks the volunteer is qualified with sufficient experience, then the volunteer can help out family gardeners if they have problems in gardening.

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Monthly gatherings 12

Each month there will be a planned meeting, where all gardeners (families and volunteers) are invited to participate in.

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Monthly gatherings 13

Gardeners will interact and do different activities together in the garden (such as potlucks, DIY lessons, making organic fertilizers, food preservation workshops etc).

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Monthly gatherings 14

The garden will invite guest speakers and learn more about gardening and local communities. Volunteers will take care of the children by running engaging activities (such as a bug searching trip in the garden) to keep the little gardeners entertained.

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Slack + blog Our research result suggested that an online platform could help enhance the communication between the garden members. Therefore, we proposed to build a team page on Slack, a chatroomlike social network designed for group messaging.

Since PW’s gardening club has a blog for documentation and announcements, we decided to use this existing asset rather than creating a new website. This decision also enabled us to better integrate our design into the school’s system.

The manager of the page can create multiples channels, and group members can have access to different channels depending on their roles. News and resources will be posted on the general channel that is open to the entire group. It also allows members to share their knowledge and expectations. Those who have difficulties using Slack can also drop their feedbacks into the suggestion box installed on the bulletin board.

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Slack

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Blog

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Summary 1 One community garden open to anyone interested to join and gain experience working in a garden

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Summary 1

2 Families collaborate together in taking care of their garden

Students volunteering in the garden

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Summary 1

2

3

Big monthly gatherings for all gardeners to learn and have fun

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Ezio’s notes Small + local

Open

Connected

Starting local and small, to unify youth and elders through a community garden

Open to all families and volunteers to join and learn gardening experience

Building strong bonds within the community through intergenerational learning

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Conclusion + learning outcomes Through the whole strategy, our main focus was to pass down valuable knowledge to youth to confront with food insecurity and to develop sustainable habit when they are young. Our design strategy aims to promote intergenerational knowledge exchange, to foster strong relationships within families and communities, and to share community garden practices and values. For this project, we hope to encourage community participation to co-create new social possibilities.

food system and community-bonding projects. Most importantly, by co-designing with different generations, we have learned how community involvement and intergenerational learning could impact children’s perception on sustainable practices.

Overall, we gained the ability of designing a system that can be implemented into an existing platform. The research process has broaden our knowledge on the local

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My First Garden


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