Designing a way to involve citizens in imagining a future sustainable city that works for them.
BACKGROUND
Haven Stad is the largest urban development project in the Netherlands. It will transform the industrial landscape of the north-west of Amsterdam, creating close to 70,000 homes and 58,000 jobs by the year 2050. As the it moves forward, the city government along with Arcam aim to increase citizen participation in the urban design and decision making-process looking to build collectively towards a sustainable future. The brief of this project is rooted in this intention, adding an extra layer that seeks to explore interactive formats to co-create and envision complex topics such as urbanism and energy transitions.
While architects and urbanism enthusiasts enjoy a good map, most people outside that ecosystem don’t.
CHALLENGE
Based on observation and conversations with local urbanists and the Architecture Center of Amsterdam, we found the interpretation of regular maps to be one of the highest barriers to overcome in order to communicate and involve people more effectively. In essence, beyond architects, urbanists, designers, and others working in such ecosystems, urban plans in the form of 2D maps represent a challenging format for regular citizens.
Our main hypothesis was that when citizens aren’t able to envision future plans easily, they are less likely to form an opinion on said plans. And when they can’t form a clear opinion, they tend to not engage in conversations about them.
A research through making approach shaped the ideation and prototyping stages.
approach
We explored multiple outlets to assist people in visualizing future scenarios and engaging in conversation around them. To do so, we shortlisted potential topics and relatable pain points in connection with daily life in the city. Analogies through gamified infrastructural elements and speculative design objects or spaces stood out from our early explorations.
Considering the short timeframe to define and set up an interactive experience tailored for such a vast context, we relied on incremental rounds of low-fidelity prototypes and critique sessions with agencies and representatives of public bodies involved in the project.
The Dinner Table, a setting to spark conversation.
concept
Our final concept was centered around the notion of an immersive space that encouraged visitors to voice their opinion and actively engage in conversation. To do so, we chose a home-like environment in which people are used to bringing out opinions, hot takes, discourse and even heated arguments. The Dinner Table.
We designed an interactive experience where our participants or “neighbours” would sit at the dinner table with a digital “window” next to them. The view from the window overlooks Haven Stad in it’s current form - a port-side industrial area in Amsterdam. Along with the view there’s also an audible host which guides participants through the experience.
Setting the Stage
TABLE & choices
The table was laid out with plates for the participants and four trays filled with a selection of “snacks”. Here, each tray represents a question about their preferred lifestyle and the snacks are different lifestyle choices that they can choose from. The neighbours are prompted to consider the questions and select the snacks they want, placing them on their plates. This activity acts as a way to get their preferences out on the table.
The View Outside
Once the neighbours have all added their preferred snacks to their plates, the view outside the window transforms into a speculative future view of Haven Stad. And how is this view built? Based on the choices that the neighbours have made, we analyze the collective preferences and extrapolate them to changes in the urban landscape to show what a future that enables those choices looks like. These are created using Generative AI tools like ChatGPT4, Midjourney and Runway ML.
The audible host walks the participants through the scenario revealed. It presents them with diverse notions of living in such a place, as well as with their personal alignment to that future based on their individual choices. This proved to be a good catalyst for conversations about their decisions, the impact on their neighbourhood and their opinions on it.
Mobile Takeaway
We included a closing element to wrap-up the experience on a personal level and open a door to explore deeper layers of information. Referencing a takeaway bag, we designed a mobile extension that each participant could take on their phone before leaving the table. Inside, they could find an in depth view of the scenario corresponding to their personal choices, share their experience, and explore more about the Haven Stad project.
Final Thoughts
REFLECTIONS & Industry perspective
After building the experience prototype and exhibiting it at the HvA Master Digital Design Studio, we had an opportunity to present it to some amazing people at the IKEA Digital office in Amsterdam. Many thanks to Miranda de Groot, who leads Service Design for Circularity, for making this possible. Receiving feedback from professionals committed to innovation and sustainability was truly meaningful. Coincidentally, their office is located in Minervahaven, which is part of Haven Stad!
Overall, the installation proved to engage participants and sparked interest among stakeholders. Despite the short timeframe to build an ambitious experience with multiple moving pieces and narratives, we were able to iterate and refine by leveraging carefully defined guidelines, tests, and Generative AI tools to navigate complexity and recreate an immersive environment. From wondering how the views and the real-time decision compounding were handled, to envisioning future iterations with more control to gather and classify opinions, the project opened a space to further experiment with such formats to foster citizenship participation in wicked contexts.
