Piazzetta Capuana Co-design session
After the first phase of demographic and spatial analysis of the project, the next step — creative phase — took place. This consisted of the research for various potential ideas and proposals to study and evaluate by the designers in order to find the best and most functional solution for the future outcome. Therefore, after producing various ideas and design solutions, the designers also need to evaluate them to select out the most potential and effective ones. The most immediate and effective way to understand this is certainly to gain feedback and insights from the people who will be directly involved when using these spaces: residents of the area, shop owners and all those who usually frequent the area in question. Their valuable insights and an opinion for the future solutions is fundamental, since using the place daily, they are the real experts of their territory and therefore hold a knowledge of the actual advantages and disadvantages of the space. Co-design sessions are certainly a way to have a comparison and direct collaboration between both experts in their field: designers and users of the space.
CO-DESIGN
Participatory or cooperative design is a design approach that tries to actively involve the final users in the design process, in order to have a greater certainty that the final result will meet the desires and needs of those directly affected. Co-design is therefore the combination of two different ways of designing: the user-centered approach, which looks at the final users of the space as an object to study, and the participatory approach, in which the designers instead interact with and involve the users in the design process. Therefore it is necessary for designers to understand what the final target will be, know it and interview about it to understand the needs and clarify any doubts. There has to be collaboration between the designers and users to reach a concrete and sensible final result, based on reliable information and facts, which therefore can satisfy the needs of the final users and make them feel as a whole integral part of the project. Carrying out public co-design sessions is therefore one of the ways to actively collaborate with the users and reach a common goal.
A co-design session was also held for the Piazzetta Capuana project; in this case, since there was no possibility to meet the users in person, it was carried out virtually. Normally during a co-design session the potential project outcomes are introduced to the participants when meeting in person, in where they have to cooperate with each other and with the designers. In more exciting ways for them, the communication is happening through completing some tools created by designers such as graphs, tables or conceptual maps. This process allows the designers to gain details and useful aspects for the final outcome.
In our case in order to communicate with the participants, a video call was held via Skype and using Miro, a web platform designed for group work, where boundary objects, prototypes and tools were illustrated to the interested parties. The participants for the co-design session were chosen carefully and according to availability: four users of the piazza were contacted due to their job or residence in the area in question. Those users have a good expertise of the square itself and its initial users. For this reason, they can be considered as the experts of the potential design outcomes for the piazza. Three representatives of the associations that are in Piazzetta Capuana took part in the co-design session. Those associations include the Circolo Arci, the Acli and the Cooperativa Diapason, also one participant is the Councilor for Infrastructure of Zone 8 in Milan; two of the participants are also residents in the area.
The organizing phase of the participatory design session did not come as easily as it might seem, especially due to the serious health and economic crisis going on during that time. After the first smooth exchange of e-mails, the organizing of the timetable and the methods of execution became more complex and came with some difficulties. In the end, two separate sessions had to take place and also without the presence of one participant due to the work commitments and last-minute emergencies. The two sessions were held on the same afternoon at different times: the first with the representatives of Circolo Arci and Cooperativa Diapason lasted about one hour, the second one with the Councilor of Zone 8 took about half an hour.
To begin the session, the two concept ideas were explained through sketches, 3d and visual moodboards: The Theatrical Square and The Square Arena. The first idea provides a space designed primarily for cultural events, while the second one is aimed for sports activities. Both cases try to maintain some additional functions explicitly requested by the customers, such as vegetable gardens or game tables. This was continued by representing the created six tools for the participants for them to fill in. The tools have been designed with simple and intuitive graphics to facilitate understanding and communication between designers and participants. Tasks also consisted of both individual and collective moments: there were plans and schemes to be completed individually according to one’s preferences and needs, and other tables developed to cooperate and share ideas and considerations mutually.
The first tools were used to find out the most specific target — the preferred activities to be carried out in the piazza and by whom and at what times. Instead the next two tools, which were to be performed out individually, were used to gain insights of various viewpoints regarding the layout and the most significant shortcomings of the square. At last, the final tool was used to discuss the two concepts and to analyze their strengths and weaknesses, in order to understand which aspects of the project to enhance and which instead to eliminate. The main purpose of a group design session for us was to examine more thoroughly, through direct and specific opinions, the advantages and disadvantages of each developed idea. It was also important to understand what kind of activities, functions and even styles could be developed for the final users; in this way designers can evaluate which idea has to be deleted, expanded or simply modified.
For what concerns the two design ideas for Piazzetta Capuana, as a result of the co-design session, it was understood that the concept to be enhanced most is certainly the sports arena concept, due to the target, their interests and the cultural preferences of the main visitors of the area. However, some aspects of the first concept, which is more based on cultural events and activities, are also interesting and therefore have to be taken into consideration too. In addition, other important considerations emerged, such as the desire to have a free and unobstructed space to allow young people to continue playing freely and to give to the associations the possibility to organize their own events; environmental issues and green activities were also very interesting and have to be developed.
Despite some initial difficulties due to the current situation, the two co-sessions were interesting and effective in order to continue developing and improving the project for the redevelopment of Piazzetta Capuana.
TEAM #6
Chiara Combi, Francesco Lamperti, Kaarin Pender, Asia Poli, Valeria Rossi
