Re-think together Piazzale Corvetto
The spatial and ethnographic analysis allows us to develop two proposals for the project of tactical urbanism in Piazzale Corvetto: the first one, “Books’ Harbour”, has been designed in close collaboration with our proponent Giacomo, while the second, “Open Laboratory”, has been inspired by the natural inclination of the neighbourhood to social activities.
Preparing the co-design session
The next step was to discuss these two visions to elaborate them, with the help of inhabitants and people who work in the neighbourhood, during a co-design session. The first thing to do, to prepare the boundary objects for the session, was to understand the main topics we were interested in being focused on and which kind of questions we would like to ask the participants.
For this reason, it has been useful to do a brainstorming through which we have identified four main topics: the spatial problems, the problems regarding the community and the two proposals that we have developed. At the same time, we have tried to understand the aspects of these topics that we would like to discuss, thinking about the questions and the development of tools to obtain an answer to each question by the participants.
Since for all of us, this is the first time in which we can work hand in hand with people, to think together about what can improve their neighbourhood and the social life in a public space, we have decided to study in parallel, methods and ideas coming from the service design. It has been useful to read the book “Massive Co-design”, to understand how a co-design session can be conducted, which strategies can be applied and which kind of “style of guidance” was better for our aims. Another important thing to consider was the fact that, due to the actual conditions, the co-design session should have taken place on a virtual platform, and for this reason we have made a research on this topic, finding interesting articles on Medium [1]. Then for the development of the tools, we have studied the approaches of different groups to co-design [2], thinking on how tools and prototypes could be adapted to a virtual workshop.
The main aim of the session for us was not only to discuss our ideas, but also involve the participants in the process of creation of new ones. For this reason, we have developed a prototype and a set of tools for each topic. Considering the Double Diamond methodology, we have tried to realise “diverging” and “converging” tools in a collaborative way, encouraging the participants to “develop” ideas and also to “deliver” their opinions about the solutions.
Try to consider the first topic, the spatial problems, as an example. In this case, we have prepared two maps to explain the problems that we have found in the pedestrian flows and the changes that we would like to apply to solve those problems. With the first tool, “How might we…?”, we have asked the participants to think about other problems and possible solutions, to “develop ideas”. Then, to conclude this phase, we have asked each participant to evaluate the solutions, both those coming from the team and those coming from the previous exercise, to “deliver” their opinion about the value of each solution.
The co-design session
The co-design workshop has been divided into two sessions of one hour and a half, because it was too intense for the participants considering also the fact that it was running by remote. The five participants were all involved in several associations that work in Corvetto, so it has been really useful also because they give us suggestions about possible collaborations with other realities of the neighborhood. Although there have been some initial problems in the use of Miro, the participation has been enthusiastic and everyone was actively engaged in the workshop.
The fact that we have chosen to work on Miro and to talk at the same time on Skype has been important for many reasons. First of all, to create a real atmosphere of collaboration, with the result that sometimes a participant has given a possible solution to a problem expressed by someone else. Then because by sharing the screen it has been easy to explain to the participants how to use Miro and to force the attention on the prototypes to explain them and also because when someone had a problem in using the platform, the group was immediately helping him. But the most interesting aspect of the combination of these two platforms is the fact that has allowed the participants to think about the problems of the neighbourhood in general terms, not just about this particular project and to discuss other initiatives. For example, during the second day, all the group discussed the fact that a place for co-working is missing. Of course, this intervention in Piazzale Corvetto is not the right occasion to do this kind of activity, because of the noise and the traffic, but the fact that people from different associations and different fields were together maybe has represented an opportunity for the birth of new projects.
The new vision
Taking into account ideas and critical aspects coming from the co-design session, but also the actual situation of social distancing, we have tried to develop a new proposal. In these days the municipality is working on the re-organization of the mobility in the city, explained by the plan “Milano 2020” [3]. The main interesting aspect, regarding our intervention, is the fact the all the public spaces need to be improved, in terms of pedestrian flows, quality of social life, creation of 30 zones, with the transformation of parking lots in parklets that restaurants can use to place outdoor tables, and the invitation to use the bicycles instead of cars or public transportation.
This could be a real opportunity to improve the quality of Piazzale Corvetto in many ways. For example with the creation of a new pedestrian area and the partial removal of a row of parking lots, leaving also a space for street food that can help some vendors in this period of economic uncertainty and at the same time provide an open space where to eat, keeping the social distancing thanks to a pattern on the ground. The Wall of Kindness can be a place where people can share not only objects, but also their immaterial needs, and never as much as in this moment we have understood the power of being kind to each other. With the installation of a public bike rack, a place where to seat and information panels, we would like to transform a part of Piazzale Corvetto to the “starting point” of a trip to Chiaravalle, since there is a bicycle lane that connect this place to “Parco della Trebbia”, in preparation of the summer in the city. The same place can be used to organize small meetings for associations, since in the next future it is unthinkable to organize them in enclosed spaces and to respect the distances.
This period can be seen not only in a negative way, although it has caused pain to everyone, but also as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of public spaces, in which we are all equal, and how it is possible to think about new ways of socializing with small actions.
TEAM N°1
https://uxdesign.cc/tips-for-running-effective-remote-design-thinking-workshops-18696a52fd4a
https://uxdesign.cc/the-top-tools-and-services-for-remote-user-research-567a51787b0e
[2] https://spin.atomicobject.com/ux-design/uxdesign-techniques/
https://www.servicedesignlab.net/methods-tools-
