Catégorie : Projets

Collective Tool for Better Urban Future

 

Context:

Urban planning includes many dimensions such as transport, economy, people, etc. Actors with different interests strive to be heard. All these relationships between humans and their environment shape a city and should condition town planning. Unfortunately, most of the time, there is a gap between people’s needs and well-being and what a city offers. Citizens are often excluded from the town planning process, they do not have the opportunity to give their opinion about what they need or do not know how to express it.
In this context I wanted to create a space where citizen can think about their wishes and express those in a simple way. Reimage- ing, that is, reimagine, could work as comunication tool between town planners and citizens.

Why does it matter?

Each participant has memories, feelings and meanings associated with the places that Reimage-ing Geneva proposes. The mechanics are simple but the final piece is a rich digital expression. The reason why people have chosen to put a particular element at a specific place is far from being insignificant. Indeed, the key of this tool resides in the commentaries. The image in itself does not mean much because each person associates her or his own meaning to the element they chose. Moreover, people add some elements not for the object itself but for what it represents to them. Hence, people would add a unicorn, not because they want a proper unicorn in Geneva but to express their need for “more fantasy” in the urban, “more fun” to quote them. That is why the application Reimage-ing Geneva associated with discussion leverages needs and generated ideas.

It is about given a voice to the citizens for a better urban future.

How does Reimage-ing Geneva work?

Reimagine Geneva is a web application where citizens of Geneva can reimagine a well-known place of their city through a symbol system. This could be use as tool within the context of a workshop organized by the city.
First, participants are being asked to choose a place of Geneva that they would like to enhance through a graphic language.

They can then add and place objects on the scene. In this way, people can give a visual representation of the city of their dreams.

During the workshop, people would be encouraged to comment what they are doing and why, and to give a final comment when they finish their creation.