Oculus Launch Pad — Week 4 — Choosing the Star, The Neighborhood
This week we found our star of the game, Gowanus.
“In summer or in winter, in the spring or in the fall,
You breathe the same old odors from Gowanus Canal” — Michael J. Shay (the Chorus from the “Gowanus Canal Song”).
It’s been tough selecting our star since there are so many neighborhoods in vibrant cities dealing with gentrification. I’ve been following the battle in the Mission District of San Francisco with endless articles and posters depicting the “Monster in the Mission.” These residents and neighborhoods feel as though they are battling a force so great they must name it a monster. The Yimbys, the Nimbys, and those outside the battlegrounds are all finding creative ways to raise their voices in this complex situation.
I would love to tell the story of the Mission District in this game, but I feel so far across the country and removed from the situation; and I would really love to hit the ground running with my 360 camera to do interviews. The Mission District has such a strong cultural identity it would be a crime to see it get wiped out and developed against the will of its people. But a vibrant, living city will always struggle with growth. Growth is expected and with the constant expansion of a job force in Silicon Valley there is a demand for housing which must be solved.
Some neighborhood, somewhere has to deal with the anticipated population increase. The other neighborhoods we’ve been looking into are Flatbush in Brooklyn, Harlem in Manhattan, parts of Detroit and Miami. Gentrification and issues of displacement really are everywhere. I was surprised to read that even the East Village, a gentrified and charming neighborhood is fighting to keep large chain stores from displacing their small businesses.
So why did we select Gowanus? It took a lot of research to find the right location, but as a team we cannot ignore the rapid changes and the fascinating history of this Brooklyn neighborhood. Gowanus was settled in the 1600’s by the Dutch. Formerly known as the “Gashouse District” there is a canal, and waterfront properties in New York are unique. But this canal takes on a character of its own, as it has been toxic for years, remembered even in songs like Michael Shay’s dating back to the 1800’s for its putrid odor and toxicity. It has a unique industrial zone that has served metalworks and metal fabrication, residents, and a variety of artists. And it has recently been identified by real estate developers as a desirable neighborhood to transform. But what does that transformation mean to the longtime residents? What does it mean to the artists who are making ends meet for low rent, barebones studios? And what does it mean to the small businesses — from mom and pop shops, to new, hip, independent cafes? I’m curious to explore what “transformation” means to this community.
On the creative side, not only did we cast our starring character, Gowanus, we decided to give our narrator a voice. We want to make the narrator a character. Instead of keeping the narrator detached and neutral, it will be female and she will identify with the neighborhood. This means a major rewrite for Alyssa and I on the script this week.
On the technical side my UX designer Kent and I tackled the logic. We studied blocks in Brooklyn to get an average of building height and number of stories, types of building use and how new developments look strikingly different from the neighborhood’s previous construction style. We detailed all of the systems in the game, how they relate and how they affect each other.
I end this blog post with more of Michael Shay’s Gowanus Canal song:
“‘Way up on the”Slope” all the people are complaining;
From the foul scented odors their health is quickly waning
And the smoke from the soft coal their linen it is staining
When the wind blows that way from Gowanus Canal”
