How can we help people make the best use of public spaces around them?

Define Discover Develop Design

Select public spaces according to specific criteria

Observe & document behaviours, uses & perceptions of the space

Analyse insights discovered and come up with ideas to tackle issue selected

Create prototype of solution to tackle issue

1. Select public spaces according to specific criteria

Transformed by You Team or student groups select public spaces according to specific criteria, to get a diversity of public spaces represented in the challenge.

Each student group will work on a different public space.

Example of space Location Size Level of use

High street, water front, popular park, etc.

Outdoor Large High

Community garden, square, bus stop, etc.

Outdoor Small High

Car boot sale, unpopular park or street, beach etc.

Outdoor Large Low

Allotment, subway, skatepark, etc.

Outdoor Small Low

Train station, campus, etc.

Indoor Large High

Library, market, etc. Indoor Small High

2. Observe & document behaviours, uses & perceptions of the space

Observe and document:

What resources in the space are available for people to use (i.e. using grass to play football, stalls to sell food, road to walk through)

How the space is being used (i.e. to relax, to meet friends, to take shelter)

What activities people develop within the space (i.e. boot sales, picnics, festivals)

How the space is valued by people who use / don’t use the space (select what you’d like to measure, i.e. how safe people feel, how easy it is to navigate)

With support by Transformed by You, students could also investigate more specific variables they want to focus on to get a deeper understanding of how people could make the best use of the space.

Examples could include: How it’s used at different times of the day, how it’s used by different types of people, how it’s being used in an unusual way, etc.

The students could focus on observation of the space or also interview people as well – depending on the amount of time you think the students can dedicate to this.

3. Analyse insights discovered and come up with ideas to tackle issue

We could then work with the students at a future session/s on how they can review the insights they’ve collected to select a problem / opportunity they’ve identified and develop an idea & prototype to help tackle that pilots the idea, designs and interprets, re-represents, re-hacks, temporally disrupts e.g. (as a pop up guerrilla installation /performance) the space.

We could use different methods to help people review the insights and develop ideas and prototypes to complement those that you are using.

Alternatively, the students could be autonomous in how they go about doing the above as long as they can come up with ideas and a prototype which can help tackle an issue they’ve identified that helps people make the best use of their space.

The template below is what everyone taking part in Transformed by You will need to answer.

Description of idea

What is the name of the idea?

What is your idea?

What problem or opportunity does it help tackle?

How does it help tackle that problem or opportunity?

Which target audience would benefit most from your idea?

How would they benefit?

How would the idea work?

What assets within the public space/s would it make use of?