Chapter 2: Recognizing and defining a problem statement
”How might we use the existing resource of Bangalore’s parks to help shape its frugal future?”
Previous chapter
After having gained a brief understanding of what frugality means to the city of Bangalore, we were tasked with defining and exploring a context relevant to the city of Bangalore. We could look at it from three possible angles:
1. People (how can you make the future frugal for a specific target group in Bangalore?),
2. Resources (how can you use an existing resource to contribute to the frugal future of Bangalore?), and
3. Technology (how can you use technology to make the future of Bangalore frugal?) Choose one of these approaches and decide upon a specific direction that triggers your curiosity.
In the context of frugal recreation, I decided to explore how I could use the existing resource of Bangalore’s parks to contribute to the frugal future of Bangalore.
Hence in the following mind map, I assess various aspects that I could possibly work on in the context of frugal recreation:
Then I tried to pose questions in various directions:
Can people be rewarded for spending lesser time on a smartphone?
Can swings be designed such that positive lessons of frugality are taught?
Can outdoor workout equipment be used as power generators too?
So that I could get a better understanding, I tried ideating some solutions for the questions posed above. For example, Park visitor picks up a “miles tracker” one he/she enters the park and can evaluate their results. This can drive greater engagement in parks and lesser on mobile devices.
After such an evaluation, I planned another field visit to the park to re-examine various aspects of the park:
Key observations from this field work:
Who are the visitors?-
- Kids and parents
- Low-Middle class families
- Couples
- Young people (school to 20’s) to play in the sports grounds
- Level of interaction with smartphone devices/tech is minimum
Activities-
- Outdoor mechanical workout equipment
- Walking/jogging path
- Sitting on the bench
- Sports: football, basketball, etc
Pain points-
- Garbage dump overflowing- damaging aesthetics
- E-toilet not operational
- Few swings damaged– may need occasional quality checks
Nearby vendors-
- Snacks: gol gappas, corn
- Toy vendors: selling upcycled low cost toy products
An analysis was done with a focus on kids-
- They spend more time at these parks
- Teachings at these ages most impactful for rest of life
- Can swings be designed to give them positive learnings about frugality, sustainability and good civic sense through active play?
- Can these “installations” be modular but self-sustaining- not needing maintenance, robust like the mechanical workout equipment?
- Kids are the future of any city, hence giving them positive learnings about good civic sense can contribute to the frugal future of Bangalore.
Some more Institutions/methods explored based on observations and conclusions from initial research:
After careful deliberation, I was able to define my context and design questions:
1- The Problem
It becomes harder to make changes in lifestyle from comfort zone to a frugal one when you are grown up as you have already been influenced heavily by the consumerist society.
2- The Design Question
How might we teach kids values of frugality at an age when they are least influenced by consumerist society?
3- What are the possible outcomes to your solution?
To make use of existing public resources (swings, walls, benches, park space, etc ) to create interactive installations about good frugal values that are fun and educational.
4- What is the impact you’re trying to have?
Teaching kids these values make them absorb such core beliefs and values for the rest of their lives. Frugal citizens make a frugal Bangalore. Frugal thoughts lead to frugal actions.
I also came up with some tentative solution concepts as games:
Taking Feedback from my peers
After the presentation about defining problem and context, here is the feedback I received from my classmates:
- “Nice Idea. But how/where kids can access the games?”
- “Philosophy-frugal ness to kids in schools?”
- “There can be another solution other than game”
- “Maybe somewhere you’ll also have to target parents and not just kids to break the stigma”
Further questions to explore from feedback:
- How can introduce the philosophy of frugalness in schools?
- How to target and involve parents/adults as well?
- How to make the game attractive to grown-ups (like in museums) as well?
- Apart from park games, what other solutions can be there?
- Will the maturity of values match the maturity of kids minds?
- Where all and how can kids access these games?
