Co-design is a key example of citizen design in a TED talk

Jess McMullin gives a TED talk on the importance of citizen participation in design - especially for public space.  The VIVA Vancouver Co-design street party is a key example of recording desired experiences as a starting point of design.  Furthermore, we engaged the public where they are:  on the street.   

False Creek South: It's near perfect, and it's mine - Vancouver Sun article by Daphne Bramham

Forty years ago, Stanley facilitated the community engagement for many neighbourhoods in Vancouver.  Two of these places were formerly devoted to cars:  Robson Square used to be a huge parking lot, and False Creek was a "car graveyard".  His data revealed that ordinary citizens preferred to turn these areas into car-free spaces.   Daphne Bramham interviews Stanley in the Vancouver Sun:


"It’s hard to believe that not that long ago serious consideration was given to filling in False Creek and paving it over with homes and roads.  Architect Stanley King was among the first to challenge that idea and to imagine a residential community with a public market as its centrepiece built along the creek’s south shore on derelict industrial land..."Read more: False Creek South: It's near perfect, and it's mine - Vancouver Sun article by Daphne Branham

Little Mountain Co-design Video

This video is great for describing the philosophy and rationale of co-design.   A 20 minute video of the Little Mountain co-design, facilitated by The Co-Design Group.  Co-design images are created by citizens and therefore, the citizens feel a great sense of ownership of the drawings.  The artist is only the hand for the mind's eye.  When the drawings are done, the design team analyzes and prioritizes all ideas to create a design solution from the complex and rich compilation of vignettes.  This co-design workshop was the start of an extensive consultation process.  A summary of their concepts can be found here.


Little Mountain Redevelopment: Meeting #1 The Stanley King Experience from David Vaisbord on Vimeo.

Co-design Demo at the Viva Vancouver Street Party

There will be Brazilian martial arts, dance food and... co-design! Click on the image below to get the schedule.  photos of event here.

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

Sustainable VSB Show and Tell

Vancouver School Board: Sustainability from Josli Rockafella on Vimeo.

Kevin outlines the VSB sustainability framework an invites response

Kevin Millsip, district sustainability coordinator for Vancouver School Board, hosted a VSB Sustainability Show and Tell to engage staff to respond to the VSB sustainability framework.   Next Up youth leaders led a world cafe dialogue.   I facilitated a co-design timeline as a grafitti wall: A Day in the Life of a Sustainable VSB.  Kevin asked for youth input during the  Plan-It Earth conference.

crowdsourcing

I attended the lecture on Crowdsourced Cities conducted by SFU.  Lukas Biewald of Crowdflower explained the background and trends in crowdsourcing, Darin Dinsmore of Crowdbrite showed how an international competition led to innovation in design., and Colleen Hardwick of PlaceSpeak demonstrated the use of pioneering software for location-based community consultation.

Each speaker spoke of their innovative use of the computer to reach people to collect many human judgements on planning issue. The large numbers of opinions, and the speedy gathering of them, were seen as advantages over traditional methods of public design dialogue.

Plan-It Earth, planned by youth for youth

200 people were in attendance at Plan -it Earth 2011 on April 15th.  This event enabled 120 youth to draw, write and describe their sustainable region.  Planned by a core group of five dedicated youth and an action team of about 30 students, all from Churchill, Prince of Wales, St. Pats and Kitsilano Secondaries. Participants came from throughout Vancouver, and we warmly welcomed the presence of Windermere Secondary and Magee Secondary youth leadership groups. Students from David Lloyd George Elementary attended the Children's program.  Plan-it earth was a collaboration of Vancouver youth with a passion for the environment.  This event was hosted once again by Prince of Wales Secondary.  Thanks  PW admin team!

We are very grateful for support from Bruce Ford and Vanessa Lee (Metro Vancouver); from Amanda Mitchell (the City of Vancouver); from Kevin Millsip, (sustainability coordinator, VSB)  and Stanley King from the Co-Design Group who donated facilitation services.  We accepted funding, with thanks from  Architecture Canada: The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Vancouver Foundation Youth Philanthropy Council, and the Vancouver School Board through Kevin Millsip's project eco-logo contest.

Tesicca, youth co-design artist, plan-it earth core team

day in the life of a sustainable region

day in the life graffiti wall

Stanley King, The Co-Design Group, and Architecture Canada (RAIC) representative