This is a great idea! Imagine a festival in London that facilitated up close access to monuments like the Albert Memorial or Nelson’s Column?
To make art more accessible. Literally. This is the objective of Pat the Horse’s project by GORA art&landscape, carried out in the Swedish cities of Malmö (2007) and Helsingborg (2011)
© GORA art&landscape - All rights reserved
DAC and Copenhagen X present - What makes a liveable city
Went to this exhibition when I was in Copenhagen! It was amazing and I ended up spending at least two hours there!
I was most impressed by the methods they used to communicate the various considerations that need to be taken into account when designing for cities and the built environment! They made clever use of colour, image, text and interactive videos to convey key points, questions and feedback quickly and simply.
The exhibition proposed 6 urban dilemmas or questions for Copenhageners (but relevant the world over) and used these as the basis of creating dialouge -
1. How can we stimulate the use of bicycles
2. How can we reclaim the waterfront
3. How can we create an urban space that encourages physical activity
4. How can we promote social inclusion through urban planning
5. How can we use architecture to add value to public space
6. How can we accommodate local needs when revitalising a city district
To answer the questions they approached the public and captured their responses and suggestions on video. These videos could then be viewed in the exhibitions interactive digital gallery, which you can access here.
Each video was also accompanied by a series of case studies that demonstrated projects (past, ongoing and planned) that attempted, or were attempting to, deliver solutions to each of the questions! To access the case studies you had to interact with the presentation which enhanced the level of engagement.
As you were interacting with the materials, you had the option of adding the main points and findings of each question, as well as your favourite case studies, to your own virtual magazine. Once you were finished you could then PDF the information and email it to yourself!
It was enlightening to see and hear the residents real feedback - to understand the city they wanted.
The great use of interactive technology and design made each topic fresh and engaging, not sterile and dry as many planning events so often are.
It was clear that the main drive of the exhibition and the information being communicated, was that the human perspective should be put first when creating plans for the built environment!
Interesting short video from a TED talk given by Dave Meslin on the barriers to real engagement and participation in public society. His first point, on participation in planning is so true…the current standard for “engaging” is so complex and dry…an approach like the one he suggests would surely mean real transparency, and make information easily accessible to all. Such simple changes, easily and cheaply implemented could make a massive difference to the way we engage with the world around us - real democracy.
Dave Meslin’s talk about 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities
