Charette Reflection-Julia Paret

Union Loop 

It was challenging to consolidate our ideas into something cohesive, fully formulated and well articulated during the short timeframe. The short time frame forced us to begin creating physical things right away, which is something I struggle with. I have issues with “analysis paralysis” even when topics are provided for me.  This felt no different in that regard. However, being forced to make things straight off while the idea and concept were still forming helped push and clarify the concept. Sometimes I need to get out of my head and just make things to see what happens. I get hung up in the planning phase otherwise. I usually work well in a group that has at least one person who “just wants to make stuff” because it helps me visualize and clarify what direction to head in from the 5,000,000 possibilities when I get caught up in my head.

Part of our issue was that we didn’t start with the original idea of the Riverwalk. So we had to also set up our own scenario to turn it into a cohesive story. This wasn’t immediately apparent to me. I had a hard time understanding what points the instructors were trying to point out because I was too close to the topic. Also, in the end, I burnt out a little.

I think we may have some time management problems. We needed to make things right away instead of conceptualizing. Sometimes I forget that those things go hand in hand. Also, figure out each others working styles faster. Not only do I need to recognize other peoples’ workflow, but I have to adjust my own to create a new system that compliments instead of assuming what works for me, works for everyone. I need to have a balance of both group discussion, time to reflect and ideate or question further and then collaborate in person again so I can synthesize what my partners’ perspectives.

I tend to rely heavily on the critique of my instructors because, in my mind, they have seen and done a lot more than I have. While this is true, I also need to have confidence in my own perspectives. I have to remember that sometimes an opinion given (from anyone) is from a unique perspective that I should take into account and look at objectively but that doesn’t make my own thoughts “wrong”. Things aren’t black and white and rather than assuming the concept is invalid, realize I just need to be more convincing or make adjustments to parts but not necessarily scrap everything and start over.

I felt exhausted trying to envision a cohesive story to multiple moving parts, particularly how they fit into a bigger system together. Parts of this had to do with the timeframe, I had to figure out what was being made before the ideas were fully formulated as we worked out flaws in the logic during the process of making. Or if a process wasn’t ever articulated explicitly, reading between the lines because video production needed to be started before all of the assets were finished. Stay flexible.

I wrote the video script and information displayed on the poster (except for the application walkthrough), provided the background research and framed our design problem for the final presentation, recorded the video footage with Megan, created mock-ups of our designs in context for the video and poster, drew out the path of the trail, and used the brand Ashley created to show how it was generative through wayfinding.

Union Loop_Collaborative Folder

• Wayfinding Process
• and more…

Raleigh River Walk

Many Neighborhoods, One Community

Jack, Julia, Nicole, Ashley, & Megan

Statement of Purpose: Rather than emphasizing the idea of a unified social collective, our initiative aims to amplify and celebrate the diversity between Raleigh neighborhoods while creating enriched connections between individuals, neighborhoods, and communities.

Concept: We strive to enhance the identity of Raleigh neighborhoods by creating the opportunity for residents to become placemakers. Similar to the “Paint the Pavement” initiative, we envision creating an annual event in which residents congregate to paint semi-permanent street murals along the Rocky Branch Trail that visually encapsulate the current cultural climate of neighborhoods in Raleigh (please see below for more details on location).

However, to establish a true sense of participation, we want to take it a step further by enabling everyone in the community to co-create the design. We challenge ourselves to determine a method that enables individuals to visually recognize his/her contribution. This could potentially take the form of a supporting app and/or website.

Although each neighborhood creates a customized, unique visual identity we also propose to create a unifying branding system through which we conceptually integrate individuals into neighborhoods and neighborhoods into a larger community.

Location: The Rocky Branch Trail runs through a variety of Raleigh neighborhoods and park systems along the Capital Greenway Trail System. The trail has the potential to catalyze dynamic partnerships by providing a culturally neutral venue.

The street murals also serve as an alternative form of wayfinding that suggests a reconceptualization of the definition of a neighborhood. Traditional signs and maps imply neighborhoods are bound by arbitrary demarcations. However, the murals as “signage” intimate that neighborhoods are defined by the people that comprise them rather than their physical locations.

CONNECTING THE MARTIN STREET CONNECTOR TO The Rocky Branch Trail through Boylan Heights and Raleigh Union Station enables accessibility by creating a loop.

Aims/Challenges:

• Establish a real sense of participation: give citizens tangible way to contribute
• Encourage Involvement:
  • keep interactions simple, straightforward, and accessible. Input needs to be succinct to encourage maximum user participation
  • Allow Access: Maintain physical (closing the gap between the Martin Street connector, Raleigh Union Station through Boylan Heights to create a loop) as well as cognitive accessibility
• Co-Creation
  • Is this essentially a crowdsourcing app that utilizes user input to aid in the design of the mural?
    • The mural is essentially a form of data visualization that allows people to see what is currently important to the neighborhood.

Locality: Comprehensive Map

Locality Concept Map:

 

Process Concept Map:

Chapter 4: Locality

Loss of diversity is a major concern in modern cities. Homogeneity is being perpetuated by a society preoccupied with consumerism and mass entertainment resulting in poor quality of life, a loss of experimentation, and a lack of authenticity. By putting people first, encouraging complexity and connecting people instead of places, we can reintroduce variety through experimentation, innovation, and allowing the unexpected to emerge.

Instead of defining regions by their tangible commodities, localities should be considered based on the people who comprise it. In addition, creating networks linking smaller, complex groups of people combats the ramifications of a society enamored with consumerism. Urban designers should, therefore, approach city planning using bottom-up ideation as well as macro- and microscopic lenses to foster social connectivity to resolve issues.