Designing presence : a strategic design approach to co-creating meaningful interactions and enhancing a sense of belonging
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Submitted: 30-01-2015 Competition Werk aan de Winkel, commissioned by Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, was a call for innovative ideas for the repurposing of the post-war shopping strips in the Netherlands, while understanding its value as cultural heritage. I wrote this proposal together with Karianne Rygh. In this proposal we present a strategic design approach to give the winkelstrip back it’s old function in the neighbourhood; its social glue, responding to the ideology of the ‘wijkgedachte’. By mapping the local community’s knowledge and skills, giving value to these, and providing a means to how they can offer these goods and services to others, the local residents become aware of what they can contribute to their community through day-to-day practices. We came with a design concept for a market and online platform (Ik souq) that combines the possibility to showcase all the vendors and map their knowledge of the products and services. The platform incorporates a rating system in which members of the community virtually and collectively decide who gains a physical space in the winkelstrip. In addition to its functional value, the ‘Winkelstrip’ in post-war neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, was a central meeting point for local inhabitants, much like that of a local market, or a corner shop, supplying residents with their immediate needs and local news and face-to-face interactions. Today, however, its vital role of strengthening and maintaining social cohesion in a neighbourhood, seems to be on the verge of being forgotten as much of the social interactions these days, are taking place online. The winkelstrips’ cultural heritage indicates its importance and role in society, and we must therefore question ourselves what the future cultural heritage of today would be. How much of our activity within society is visible through our physical environment and possible to ‘capture’? With people’s online presence increasing, virtual space and its associated behaviour, must also be included in the study of public space. When visiting winkelstrips of today, such as the one located in Herderplein (Utrecht), it is easy to see that the only visible human traces in the area are those of neglect, anonymity, vandalism and littering, clearly communicating a loss of social control in the area. The neighbourhood seems to have lost its human-ness. At first glance, one might even perceive the winkelstrip as an abandoned building, but if one looks further, there is business activity happening ‘backstage’ within or behind the shops. How can we bring back meaningful, face-to-face interactions in public space, in order to transform a neglected area into one that residents start feeling attachment to? Such a complex problem requires a multifaceted solution, meaning that the challenge cannot be solved by only one party alone. Such ‘wicked’ problems (Buchanan, 1992) calls for designers to operate on a more strategic level, collaborating with all stakeholders involved from the very beginning, in order to develop sustainable solutions. We believe that the potential of a site is a dynamic process that is to a large extent depending on and made by it’s inhabitants, and that virtual space is not only a component in this, but it could also be used a driver for participation. In a neighbourhood where the social cohesion and inhabitants’ bond to the site is less prominent, the challenge is to empower the local inhabitants to become key stakeholders, actively participating in determining the development of the their community. By mapping the local community’s knowledge and skills, giving value to these, and providing a means to how they can offer these goods and services to others, the local residents become aware of what they can contribute to their community through day-to-day practices. Our aim is to come with a strategic approach that can give the winkelstrip back it’s old function in the neighbourhood; its social value, responding to the ideology of the ‘wijkgedachte’.
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