Engaging Community
In planning for our community engaged event, our group used a series of methods from Universal Methods of Design, Tactical Urbanism, and IDEO.org. Going through the AEIOU method allowed our group to identify the activities, environments, interactions, objects, and users that play a role in the community. The ELITO method gave us an opportunity to reflect on our initial observations and work up to the metaphor: Activate, Cultivate, Circulate. Multiple stakeholder maps show that there is a hierarchy in stake and power with many connections between groups. For our community engagement event, we decided to use two methods to create connections between things that we identifed with the AEIOU exercise and the various stakeholders of the community.
The first part of our engagement was cross-sectional, looking at how members of the community answered a series of questions differently. From these answers, we realized that, within the community, there is a diverse set of ideas and thought processes.
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The second part of our engagement allowed community members to identify places of socialization, play, green space, and insecurity. The resultant map showed a series of nodes and an overlapping of spaces where residents had different views of the same spaces.
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While our engagement provided us with a map from the lens of community members and specific answers to our questions, we also gained valuable information from the community that is not quantifiable. We all left the event with a sense that there is an intense caring within the community brought about by mutual concern for safety among community members. Most importantly, we saw a diverse group of individuals coming together to care for each other and the neighborhood that they live in. Further reflection on our interaction led our group to a realization that the passionate but differing views of the community come together in a desire for a collective identity that creates ties and overcomes perceptions both within and outside of the community.
With this, we decided to create a branding package for the community that included a website and banners. The website creates connections and networking within the community while providing resources for improvement and development. Each group member used feedback from the community to create a banner design that reflected the essence of the community. These banners were later discussed and voted on by the community, giving them the opportunity to actively choose a collective identity.
Overall, the engagement process provided me with information that could not be gathered with maps or data. This deep understanding of both individual and community identities, needs, and perspectives informed my design strategies and outcomes, allowing me to create a sensitive and transformative insertion in the urban fabric of Center Peace.
Overall, the engagement process provided me with information that could not be gathered with maps or data. This deep understanding of both individual and community identities, needs, and perspectives informed my design strategies and outcomes, allowing me to create a sensitive and transformative insertion in the urban fabric of Center Peace.