PUBLIC COMMONSConceptual Design

Charlotte Fliegner

The public commons is commonly referred to as a place in our world that has a public good that is free for people to view and enjoy and owned by everyone who wants to be a part of it.

BackgroundHow do residents in Prahran/South Yarra relate to one another?

In the first half of 2012, I looked at the relationship between residents who live in Stonnington’s public housing and their adjacent private housing neighbours.

Employing a user centered design process, I used interviews, observations and self-documentation techniques to understand how residents perceive their neighbours. And whilst the valuing of diversity was shared amongst residents, an authentic understanding of one’s neighbour was absent, with residents expressing views based on prejudice and stereotype rather than that of personal interactions, understanding and experience.

In understanding the commonalities between different demographics within Stonnington, a shared value on place was a focus. An importance in belonging to place, sharing the memories associated with place with newcomers, and realizing the personal histories that are embedded in places was a key focus.

Through building on the strength in diversity amongst residents, together with a shared passion for the neighbourhood, this project seeks to provide a creative means to improving the connections between neighbours, to celebrate and learn from the differences that unite all City of Stonnington residents in their common belonging felt to their place in the City.

Building on the research of stage one, this next stage therefore translates the findings into a tangible concept design and the process required in developing the project further.

Suds Laundrette,’Society’ Apartments Simmons Street South Yarra South Yarra/Prahran Public Housing

Listen to the stories hidden beneath your feet

FREECALL 1800 654 321To share

FREECALL 1800 123 456To listen

And share your story of the place you stand

PUBLIC COMMONS is a community initiative bywww.publiccommons.org

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The three hour long walks across to Richmond. Mum’s place, no longer there. Ballroom dances for the young ones. Huge trees in the park. Strolls to the market. My passion for this place. History on that tennis court. The bridge that used to be there. The best spot for a coffee. Weekly community meeting place. Old schools. Tales of a 100 year old resident. Streets before all these cafes filled with famous people. Grandmas of footy players. Quietness. Before the cranes came. The changes are welcome though. Street sellers. The park holds such significance. Neighbourhood meetings here determined our rights. Community Halls were the place to be on a Saturday night. Danced the night away. What the neighbourhood was like twenty years

Prototype Design

Public phone boxes are clad with semi-translucent vinyl:Place specific historical images or text extracted from stories

Public phone boxes across the City of Stonnington are converted into private listening booths, through which people can share, listen and record their stories connected to the locations.

The number leads the visitor to a free service through which one can listen to stories or record their own to share.

Public phone boxes are transformed into private listening booths, where a free call to the Public Commons service plays the recorded stories of the area to the caller. Callers are then able to participate, recording their own stories through making a freecall to the service.

The phone box is fitted out in semi-transclucent vinyl which depict the stories to be told inside in either images or text, creating interest and intrigue as well as public awareness of the program.

InfrastructurePublic Commons uses the existing public phone boxes in City of Stonnington, fitting the phone booth with signage and incorporating a freecall phone service through which stories are played and recorded.

Locations of public phone boxes in City of Stonnington

Why StonningtonPublic Commons adds value to current projects and groups working in the City.

As the physical urban fabric of Stonnington changes, so too does the City’s population. The gentrification of the city makes it an opportunistic time to focus on how a transforming city might look to improving the social cohesion of the community into the future.

The City of Stonnington represents a diverse population. Whilst figures point toward an ageing population, the lower than Melbourne average median age represents the growing younger population that are moving into the area’s new residential developments. Similarly, with 36% of residents born overseas, the population is diverse in cultural background.

These differences – both in the physical built form and the demographic make up - make for an interesting context in which to situate a project that seeks to build an inclusive city. This project also builds connections with two concurrent projects:

Public CommonsConnects these two projects - Provides an opportunity for the Boon Wurrung Foundation to advertise their new presence in the City- A tangible and public outcome for the storytelling project currently being catalysed in the Stonnington Stories Project

Boon Wurrung HubIn the development of an Arts & Cultural Hub in South Yarra, the Boon Wurrung Foundation aims to improve the relationship between Stonnington’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Stonnington Stories ProjectRecognising Stonnington’s ageing population, the Stonnington Stories project aims to record and publicly share the personal histories of CALD community members. It is a partnership between the Aboriginal community, the academic sector and local government.

Indigenous History of StonningtonStonnington’s Indigenous history, published in 2006, provides an important historical reference on which to ground the project in the Indigenous value of place. The historical account of Indigenous cultural sites within the City expresses a public acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land and the important places that hold historical value that exist within Stonnington. Public Commons therefore employs the Aboriginal concept of Deep Listening to work with the Indigenous community in expressing their stories of urban identity through communicating their values of place in a contemporary context.

The three hour long walks across to Richmond. Mum’s place, no longer there. Ballroom dances for the young ones. Huge trees in the park. Strolls to the market. My passion for this place. History on that tennis court. The bridge that used to be there. The best spot for a coffee. Weekly community meeting place. Old schools. Tales of a 100 year old resident. Streets before all these cafes filled with famous people. Grandmas of footy players. Quietness. Before the cranes came. The changes are welcome though. Street sellers. The park holds such significance. Neighbourhood meetings here determined our rights. Community Halls were the place to be on a Saturday night. Danced the night away. What the neighbourhood was like

STORIES Public Commons aims to connect generations and cultures across the diverse City of Stonnington.

Stories connect people: People to people, people to place, people to generations - both past, present and future – and people to memories - their own and those of others.

Residents of Stonnington have rich stories to tell. In a changing city, residents’ stories about their homes, communities and suburbs serve to connect people through the memories of place.

“ ‘When someone goes on a trip, he has something to tell about,’ goes the German saying, and people imagine the storyteller as someone who has come from afar. But they enjoy no less listening to the man who has stayed at home, making an honest living, and knows the local tales and traditions.” Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller

Public Commons isn’t about the grand story or event told in the news. Nor is it about the landmarks, major places and main streets told in the city map. Instead, the project focuses on the nuances of everyday life in Stonnington, the small places that tell the personal stories of the city as are important to those who live there.

“Memory creates the chain of tradition which passes a happening on from generation to generation.” Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller

For the purpose of stories are to insure against forgetting. To pass the memories of place and of people from the long standing residents to the recent arrivals to Stonnington. For the City of Stonnington is diverse in its demographics. Newcomers in residential developments live adjacent to public housing tenants who have been Stonnington residents since the 1930s.

“The storyteller takes what he tells from experience… and he in turn makes it the experience of those who are listening to his tale.” Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller

Public Commons takes these multitudes of stories, curating them to form an interactive experience that opens one up to the sounds, sights and smells of the suburb. Rethinking how the pedestrian experiences the daily commute through the city, to develop a new appreciation for the people and places that surround oneself.

PLACEPublic Commons aims to amplify the existing importance that place holds for Stonnington residents.

Whilst interviewing residents of South Yarra and Prahran, common links concerning a shared belonging to place emerged. Whilst neighbours may not know one another as well as they would like to, their passion for their neighbourhood comes out of attitudes relating to diversity of residents and history of place.

Patterns of sharing histories of place also emerged as an already existing behaviour. Through social media and technology, it was found that residents are engaging with the history of their neighbourhood, sharing photos and stories acroos generations.

Process

PRELIMINARIES

Funding & project partners

Technical feasibility

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

Small scale user testing

Refine design

STORYING & ENGAGEMENT

Public mapping & memory community project

PROTOTYPE

Install in select locations

Testing

FEEDBACK

From partners & user testers

REALISATION

Full scale implementation across the City

Preliminaries

The formation of partnerships with a diverse range of stakeholders will guide the project’s development to ensure that it aligns with the goals and objectives of the City’s residents and visitors.

Development of a Project Reference Group, which is envisioned to include representation from stakeholders such as -- City of Stonnington Arts and Culture- Public Tenants Housing Association- CALD community (eg. New Hope Foundation)- Indigenous community (eg. Boon Wurrung Foundation)- Senior Citizens Association

The Project Reference Group will meet monthly throughout the course of the project and will form a key part of the feedback processes.

Partnerships will further form the core project team which will be responsible for project implementation. These will be made up of in-kind resourcing from both the public sector - Council, comunity arts groups, cultural community groups - and private sector - local businesses - to provide the opportunity for involvement and contribution to the development of the project.

The project team will be accountable for the development and implementation of the project to meet the project’s budget, timelines and objectives.

Design Development

The intiial concept will be developed through testing low-fidelty prototypes with end users. Through engaging with a diverse range of Stonnington residents and visitors, the design will be refined according to the feedback and experiences during this test development phase.

A low fidelty prototype will be built to create an interactive experience that users can engage with in a private environment. Stonnington residents and visitors from a diverse range of backgrounds - schools, cultural groups, senior citizens associations, local organisations - will be involved in role playing and scenarios to test the concept. Their feedback will be gathered and used to further refine the concept accordingly.

Storying & Engagement

Public Commons works with the residents of Stonnington through a Storying & Engagement process based on principles of co-design.

In this way, the project will be developed by and for the Stonnington population through an inclusive process of engagement that aims to build community ownership and involvement through the making of the project.

Participatory activities including mapping and storytelling will be used to engage with residents, and to develop relationships amongst community stakeholders through narrative.

Through a cognitive mapping & memory community project, the public are invited to make visual maps of their neighbourhood and record their oral histories that tell the stories of places in the map.

These activites will take place in public spaces as well as with organisations including local schools, university, cultural groups and elderly citizens associations.

Prototype

A high fidelity prototype will be installed in select locations to test the design in-situ.

Local Projects

Candy Chang

[murmur]

Card sort, James Pierce

Local Projects IDEO Make-a-thon prototype

The developed design will be built and installed across a range of locations across the City of Stonnington to trial the installation in various contexts and environments. This will test the patterns and behaviours surrounding how people use the service.

Through in-context observation and informal on-street interviews, user feedback will guide the refinement and further design development of the prototype to identify any technical issues and areas of improvement.

Feedback

Grounded in a co-design approach, feedback from project partners and users will be ascertained and analysed using qualitative design research methods.

Observation, in-context interviews, card sorts and participatory activities are some of the methods through which users will be involved throughout the process to help develop the design. In this way, the outcome will respond to user needs and behaviour so that it is intuitive to use, and responsive to human interaction.

Implementation

Full scale realisation to construct Public Commons.

The project will be installed across all location in the City of Stonnington. Ongoing Storying and Engagement will take place as well as monitoring, maintenance and data collection to continually improve the system.

Budget

The following provides an estimate to the development and installation costs of the current conceptual design to approximately 20 locations.

Research into the technical implications during the preliminary stage will modify the installation costs according to costs specifically from Telstra and service installers.

These figures are based on the current design, however as the design develops with users, the scope of works may alter accordingly.

Cardboard Hospital, Aalto University

IDEO Make-a-thon prototype

STAGE BUDGET ESTIMATEPreliminaries- Materials: printing, stationary $500

Design development- Low-fidelity prototyping materials $1,000

Storying & Engagement- Materials, printing, stationary for participatory activities, site setup materials $2,000

Prototype: High-fidelity1. Installation to two locations- Printing & installation of phone box signage - Development of phone recording service- Installation into phone box

2. Decommissioning and reinstallation to alternative sites

$3,000$5,000$1,000

$1,000

Feedback- Materials: printing, stationary $500

Realisation1. Installation to 20 locations- Printing & installation of signage- Installation into phone box

2. Maintenance- Maintenance to phone boxes- Upkeep of phone service- Ongoing feedback process

$10,000$20,000

$2,000$2,000$1,000

Total $60,000

PrecedentsThe following projects are a review of selected work completed both overseas and in Australia that combine storytelling, placemaking and urban design

Common themes -

Public space interventions Urban design projects that engage people using physical installations in the shared spaces of their cities, creating moments for interaction, contemplation and thought in the everyday spaces of the public domain.

Experiencing the city Interventions that aim to change the way people move through, understand and experience their city, by opening up the sights and sounds of the everyday.

Collaborative storytelling Storytelling projects that call for participation, collaborative storytelling aims to share and connect knowledge and information between participants.

Strengths

Weaknesses

To learn from

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STORYCORPS BOOTHA physical presence for Not for Profit StoryCorps, this mobile public space intervention takes the online stories recorded by thousands of people Nationwide, making them accessible, inviting and engaging to pedestrians.

+ An interactive exterior together with an intimate exterior, that creates an engaging experience that is also personal and respectful of the knowledge it holds within.

- Funding issues that limits the existence of Storycorps.

? The translation of intangible stories into a tangible form to maximize reach by utilizing public space

www.storycorps.org

BEFORE I DIEA series of interactive chalkboards that engage people in the making of their local places.

+ Inexpensive, easy and low tech, Candy Chang’s work is simple to develop and easily accessible to everyone.

- It is generally temporary in existence

? The process of live prototyping to develop the idea. The power of sharing ideas and thoughts with one’s neighbours.

www.candychang.com

OTHER PEOPLE’S PHOTOGRAPHSA public curation of residents’ stories of their town through the display of hundreds of historical photographs installed on signposts across the town.

Other People’s Photographs uses the shared and public nature of civic space as a place to connect people through memories of personal moments experienced in all areas of the town. The meaning of the project comes from its focus on the seemingly insignificant spaces in a town, transforming it both physically and emotionally into a place of significance for the local community.

+ low-tech nature, low maintenance, high visibility – located in all 540 streets.

- Maintenance of digital map.

? The project’s ease in connecting personal stories of residents with the understated places of a town to celebrate the town’s history.

www.strangecargo.org.uk

EVERYWHERE MEANS SOMETHING TO SOMEONE People’s guidebook to Folkestone, UK, developed by the local residents for the use by locals.

+ Inclusive, low tech, inexpensive for people to purchase their own copy.

- Static, one way participation.

? The project’s ability to turn a seemingly banal story and place into a binding force through visual communication.

www.strangecargo.org.uk

[murmur] GEELONGA documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations, and makes them accessible through mobile phone technology.

People record online their personal history and anecdotes about the places in their neighbourhoods, which are then made visual through street signage, displaying the number to SMS to listen the recorded story whilst at the location in which the story took place.

+ Captures the interest and imagination of the community, popular for people wanting to record their own story.

- Invisibility of technology meant that there was no publicity mechanism, maintenance of online website, no data collection methods, needs to be community self managed, obstacles in working with an internationally commissioned provider.

? The success of the project in areas that are of mixed demographics and mixed land use, as well as the obstacles in technology.

www.murmurgeelong.com

ViSiT THE Safari 7 BaSE CaMP aT graND CENTraL TErMiNaL • EarTHWEEK • aPriL 19–24 2010 • Safari7.org

don’t miss the Mta arts for transit projects along the line

the Safari 7 self-guided tourinclude these podcasts:

dogs

ecology of death

reef condos

chickens flushing Meadows

pigeons

Squirrelsu thant island

fish pharm

oysters

coop courtyards

immunity Boosters

Ik-Joong KangHappy World1999

Safari 7 line

Historic Wetlands

Landfill

Jackie FerraraGrand Central: Arches,Towers, Pyramids2000

Christopher SproatV-Beam2000

Sydney CashColumns2000

Yumi HeoQ is for Queens1999

Dimitri GerakarisWoodside Continuum 1999

Tom PattiPassage2004

Jane DicksonThe Revelers2008

Samm KunceUnder Bryant Park2002

SAFARI 7 “A self-guided tour of urban wildlife along the 7 line”, Safari 7 is a podcast guide for subway commuters, taking the listener on a journey from Midtown Manhattan to Flushing, Queens, exploring New York’s urban ecosystem. The project also includes hard copy maps and drawings.

+ The complex layers of the city stripped back to an accessible medium.

- In a city of endless tourists, the prospect of being seen on the subway with cumbersome maps and a ‘self-guided museum tour’ is not entirely appealing to locals. Logistics including functioning technology, and dependent on the ability to get a window view in a crowded subway car.

? Turning the everyday banal commute into an awakening of the surrounding environment, inviting people to be open to the environment in new and unexpected ways.

www.safari7.org

STILLSPOTTING NYCA series of different interactive audioexperiences that takes participants on tours of the stillspots of the city to escape the noise of the urban environment through different mediums.

+ Combines a web platform, sound tours, walking tours. Draws upon a variety of media to tell different stories of the five boroughs all concerning the use of sound.

- Temporary installation. Abstract and not easily public.

? Takes people on a historial tour of their city through the often unheard sounds.

www.stillspotting.guggenheim.org

CITY OF MEMORYAn online repository that tells the story of New York’s “characters, communities and unusual happening”. Stories are both professionally produced as well as independently uploaded by users themselves. Paired with images, videos and text, the stories are grounded in place by the digital map through which users can navigate and explore their city.

+ The curation of entertaining stories through a combination of visual multimedia.

- Final project if limiting in its user demographics, only online.

? The design of the user interface in creating an engaging online experience.

www.cityofmemory.org

MAPPINGMAIN STREETA collaborative documentary project, Mapping Main Street aims to document every street named Main in the country by going to each of these 10,466 places, taking a photo, recording a video or writing a brief story. People can contribute to the project through the website.

+ The diverse and fascinating stories all connected by a common name and common nation.

- Mainly online, this project is limiting in its reach.

? The interactive format of the website, including a blog, easy links to participate and multimedia.

www.mappingmainstreet.org

IT’S YOUR STORYAn interactive experience at the National Museum of American Jewish History, It’s Your Story asks visitors to question their own position in relation to the exhibition’s themes. Responses are then curated together into a larger film that weaves together different stories.

+ Active participation of museum visitors, building community amongst visitors through curating the responses

? The act of contributing to a communal and public project, to share personal views and opinions, and then to communicate the community’s responses.

EXPLORE 9/11A smartphone app as well as museum interaction project that asks visitors to participate through contributing their personal stories surrounding the event and aftermath of 9/11.

+ Outlet to voice feelings and emotions, and to connect with others in a supportive environment.

? Encouragement of active contribution from visitors. The sharing of lost information to connect one another.

PATIENT VOICESPatient Voices is an example of the role that digital storytelling plays in supporting health and social care. By recording the stories of carers and patients through workshops, digital stories are then integrated into healthcare development programmes to share patient experiences with healthcare professionals.

+ Application of stories to an educational programme to develop patient-centered healthcare mindset amongst healthcare professionals.

? The use of stories to educate and to shift the mindset to one of empathy and understanding of others.

www.patientvoices.org.uk