Survey now up for Block 51 co-design

 Survey can be found here. The Block 51 screen day and block 51 co-design was organized by the City of Vancouver

Viva Vancouver Co-Design Images, Photos

Viva Vancouver Co-design was an outdoor demonstration involving drop in participants and pedestrians.  Sometimes we had two participants and sometimes five or six.   And occasionally people made their own drawing!  We would ask "Would you like to make a drawing?"   More than one participant who had "only 10 minutes" stayed for more than an hour!   Down the street there was Brazilian dancing and street food.  Cyclists and skateboarders passed us as we drew.  It was a lively party!  The Theme of the co-design was Transportation.  Images were collected as part of the Vancouver 2040 transportation plan.   note that the ideas of people were included in transportation policy for the City of Vancouver!!

A Flickr set of photos from a planner is here

photo left and above, Celia King

Stanley King

photo left and above by Yoko Nishiyama

Drew Ferrari, Co-Design Group, photo Reanne Li

Philip Chung, co-design artist

photo Celia King

Early work, 1970s

Some photos of early co-design work pioneered by Stanley King.  In this case, the site was a huge parking lot in downtown Vancouver.  Stanley organized a "City on the Wall" and also a "Design- in". During the site walk, teens analyzed the car lot for sight, smell, sound, movement and circulation.  The resulting drawings illustrated public desire for activities supported by abundant green space, a dome with a skating rink, outdoor eating, water features.  

People asked for car-free pedestrian spaces for relaxing, socializing, eating.   The ideas, drawn from ordinary citizens, demonstrate how co-design can sensitively tap into citizen's desires for how they wish to live.  Drawings were given to the design team led by Arthur Erickson who designed Robson Square.  Erickson asked Cornelia Oberlander to design the landscape:  the first roof garden in North America. 

These still shots are from Chairs for Lovers, a documentary film directed by Barrie Howells for the National Film Board of Canada.

Robson Square Before

Robson Square (after) designed by Arthur Erickson

children ask the artist to draw a dome with skating underneath

the parking lot that became Robson Square: view of the law courts, now the Vancouver Art Gallery

Stanley King starting the "city on the wall": "imagine you were here when the land was new...."

Stanley encourages kids to draw anything they want in a city