Posted: August 11, 2011 Filed under: design, master of design, process | Tags: communication, exhibition, open spaces, poster Leave a comment »
The final poster! The Masters Show opens on Saturday the 27th of August in Dundee.
colour!
Posted: August 1, 2011 Filed under: community, design, engagement, knowledge, master of design, open space | Tags: design methods, method cards, open spaces Leave a comment »I’ve not blogged in a while, with only three weeks to go, I’ve been focused on finishing up my project and preparing for assessments. There’s a lot to do! I’m producing a set of methods cards and a wee book for local authorities consulting about open spaces, and I just thought I’d share a snapshot of how they are shaping up – they’re bright!
poster prototype
Posted: July 25, 2011 Filed under: master of design, process, prototyping Leave a comment »
For the degree show at the end of August we will each have a large poster to fill, so here is my first attempt… don’t look too closely, a lot of the text is gibberish – just trying to get a handle on the layout and general content.
seashore festival
Posted: July 16, 2011 Filed under: art, engagement, open space, participation, prototyping | Tags: Ann Lolley, broughty ferry, broughty ferry environmental project, engagement, Jackie Malcolm, Samantha Higgins, seashore festival Leave a comment »
In mid June it was the seashore festival in Broughty Ferry. I went a long to help out at the Broughty Ferry Environmental Project stand, and Ann Lolley, who runs the project had graciously given me the opportunity to ask people about open spaces. Picking up on the results from the open space meeting earlier in the week, I made up some question cards that might get at how people connect to open spaces – and used Castle Green, where the event was taking place as the subject. I had the perfect backdrop – a replica victorian bathing machine that the project had built. It’s a beautiful thing, white and gleaming and resting on massive old cart wheels – but it’s a bit of a beast to move! Inside we had the first showing of an exhibition of the Tay Estuary – fantastic research by Samantha Higgins, beautiful posters by Jackie Malcolm and two watery artworks by myself. 
shared aims
Posted: July 16, 2011 Filed under: city, community, design, engagement, open space, participation, process | Tags: Dundee City Council, post-it notes Leave a comment »At last months open space meeting I asked everyone what they were looking for from consultation – reponses were written on post-its and each person was given three sticky dots to vote for those they too would like to see. It was interesting to see the common aims and shared goals. Top of the list was to understand people’s personal connection to open spaces, and then to build relationships with the community and to give them the opportunity to discuss what it’s like where they live – their feelings, issues and ideas. The feedback from the group was that had been really useful as it was first time they had voiced their aims. At next months meeting I’ll hold a longer session to take this further. Walking to the meeting I saw a lovely bit of open space improvisation…
Day 10: from Santiago to Guanabo
Posted: June 22, 2011 Filed under: cuba, travel | Tags: beach, casa particular, guanabo, INIFAT, rum, santiago de las vegas, spanish Leave a comment »The story continues… apologies for taking so long, but ife seems to keep getting in the way!
Well today was finally time to leave INIFAT… I had wanted to tell everyone what an amazing experience it had been for us, so decided to write what I wanted to say – I had intended to read it out, but when I saw Esmeralda she took the letter and read it out loud herself – mistakes and all! However they laughed at the bits I had meant them too, and didn’t look too puzzled overall, so I think I was understood! We had to wait a while for my certificate to arrive (which I didn’t know I was getting and was ridiculously excited about), so we ate a massive tub of ice cream each to fortify us on the bus journey. Then goodbye all…
We trundled off to the bus stop and managed to haul our stuff on the baking hot, overcrowded bus. We even managed to get a seat after a while and cram all our things around us – I was feeling quite glad about deciding not to get a taxi, when the bus stopped in some dusty outer region of Havana and we all had to get off. Where were we? Finally figured out that we were probably closer to the coast than if we continued into the centre of Havana, so at this point we flagged down a taxi which took us all the way to Guanabo. We had decided we wanted to go to the coast, but we wanted to spend as little time (and money) travelling as possible. Guanabo is a small coastal town, not very far from Havana and a popular destination for folk from Havana – as we soon discovered. We found a lovely casa particular – rather than stay in a hotel, we wanted to rent a room with a family – this is the probably the best way to see Cuba – the rooms are cheap (well relatively speaking) and the hosts friendly. This casa was airy and fresh and just a couple of blocks from the beach – which is where we headed as soon as we had dumped our bags.
It was so beautiful and turquoise and sparky! The beach itself was mobbed – it seemed the whole of Havana had come out to play and drink rum… honestly, everyone was drinking rum! The water was warm and the breeze was gentle, although there was a band of killer rocks in the shallow water (ouch). We had only been in a few minutes when Freya noticed a policeman waving to us from the beach, so back over the rocks we went, only to be severely warned about the danger of leaving our things on the beach – it was not a wise thing to do he said, they’ll get stolen for sure. The only solution it seemed was to take it in turns to go in the water – which wasn’t so much fun…
first sketch
Posted: June 17, 2011 Filed under: design, master of design, process, prototyping | Tags: degree show, doodle, exhibition, sketch Leave a comment »
It’s prototype fortnight, and with only 10 weeks until our degree show (not that I’m counting), we’re prototyping our exhibition spaces. This is a sketch of my first ideas. It’s a bit difficult since I’m not yet sure what form my final outcome might take but this process is starting to make it a bit clearer – and if I can have a good idea of the finished space by next week, then all I have to do is realize it!! Unlike undergraduate level, we aren’t actually assessed on our exhibition – a viva and slide deck is what is required for that. The degree show is really for communicating our work to a wider audience, so it’s a slightly different challenge to make our projects interesting to the wide variety of people who will be visiting.
the plan
Posted: June 2, 2011 Filed under: city, community, design, engagement, master of design, open space | Tags: co-design, consultation, creative engagement, design methods, Dundee, Dundee City Council, Gerry O'Brien, greenspace scotland, land use, open space audit, scottish planning policy no.11, Theresa Lynn Leave a comment »So the project I’m working on is called The Place We Don’t See which is about local authorities and open spaces. The brief was written by Gerry O’Brien, landscape architect at Dundee City Council and I’m working closely with him and Theresa Lynn, Environmental arts co-ordinator (also at the council). Scottish planning policy no.11 states that local authorities have responsibility to protect and enhance open space and to ensure a strategic approach to open space (by requiring local authorities to undertake an open space audit and prepare an open space strategy). The responsibility for this lies across various departments: in Dundee these are housing (the major landowner), planning (responsible for land use strategy), Tayside contracts (provide maintenance) and leisure and communities (technical skills and community planning). They have been working together to undertake the open space audit for some time now, but have only recently started meeting together on a regular basis. The audit criteria come from Greenspace Scotland, and the team walk an area in pairs, scoring each piece of land according to it’s perceived qualities. Gerry felt that auditing as an ‘outsider’ gives only the most basic information, and wanted to know how the council can better understand the value of open space to a community.
I’ve used a variety of methods, as I have outlined on this blog - interviews, guided tours, workshops, observation, mapping etc. There have been loads of interesting points that have arisen as a result, all of which would have taken me in all sorts of different directions, but the key insights have been:
1. Council impenetrability
2. Difficulty communicating council work with community
3. “The council doesn’t listen”
4. “You have to take the people with you”
5. Poor response to traditional consultation
6. Lack of supportive structure between community groups
7. Problem of conducting the audit without community involvement
My plan is to develop some appropriate methods of consultation with the open space team, based on the four levels of co-design. At the moment there is some really great, award-winning creative engagement practised by the environmental arts team, but between there is an empty gulf between that and standard methods such as the questionnaire. My question is how design thinking can contribute to the consultation process. By working with the team I hope to develop and test some new ideas that can become a shared resource for the future of open spaces in Dundee.
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getting (re) organised
Posted: May 31, 2011 Filed under: design, innovation, knowledge, mapping, master of design, process, prototyping | Tags: design, diary, organisation, planning, post-it notes, schedule, semester, timetable 2 Comments »Another semester, another attempt to get organised. I always remember when I was at school, my dad would get on to me for spending all my time making study planners instead of actually studying… with that in mind (sorry dad) I have created my very own scheduler, combining a method I’ve been using for most of this year (the urgent /important quadrant) with a tip I heard from Hazel White yesterday (to do list + must do list – from How to save an hour everyday by Michael Heppell).
I stick all my tasks on mini post it’s at the top of the page then organise them according to importance. I can then decide which ones I must do today (max of 5) and which ones can wait ’til later in the week. The ‘sometime’ sounds vague, but is really important for me – the method I was using before was good for getting all the urgent stuff done, but not so good for future planning and visioning. The ‘done’ box is essential – so I can see all the stuff I’ve done and give myself a pat on the back (or a large glass of wine). Ok, that’s the planner done, now for some work…
ps. if anyone is confused I have been back from Cuba fro a wee while – I’m just slow at writing up my experiences…
Day 9: Santiago de las vegas
Posted: May 25, 2011 Filed under: cuba, food, urban agriculture | Tags: Allotments, Havana, huerta, INIFAT, organoponico, santiago de las vegas, urban agriculture Leave a comment »A quiet last day at INIFAT, we spent some time around the grounds, exploring all the bits we never saw, then a trip in the afternoon to see some nearby patios (plots), tended by some local people. They were similar to allotments, but just a couple of them on disused corner sites just a few streets away. The produce is for the owners, but any extra is sold on site at a wee stall. It was beautiful (as usual), green and luscious, well maintained and healthy plants. Some chairs in the shade and a vine covered archway that shaded the worm rich compost… heavenly.
We went back to the hotel for our last dinner – the food has been amazing. An interesting culinary experience that I must mention is the fruit puree pudding: a large ladleful of pureed mango, papaya or coconut served on a saucer. Delicious and very sweet, but it was a wee bit odd to us the first time we were served it as it wasn’t obvious what it was or whether there would be anything you were meant to eat it with. Last night however we had a variation – it was served with a slice of cheese! Turns out it’s quite common – and actually pretty tasty – I’m a fan of jam and cheese on toast anyway, so just a Cuban variation.
