[Sidewriting] Participatory Design Workshop for Xindian Shizhang Park (Adult Field)

In this participatory design workshop for the park in the expropriation area of the 14-section section of the new store, the adult fitness session was the most disturbing. The only session was in the middle of the night before, where the process planning was continuously thought, discussed and focused to ensure that the goal could be achieved.

The reason is that although the participants are adults (young adults) with design backgrounds, but because it involves the construction of knowledge about physical fitness in the early stage, how deep is the knowledge transfer necessary for the participants to grasp the key points in a short period of time. This part of coming up with a design direction that fits the theme and is effective is really hard to imagine.

In addition, when discussing with the physical fitness team several times, it was found that the attributes of the team belong to the type of lectures, which may affect the results of the workshop guidance. However, when some factors cannot be changed, they can only be adjusted on the spot.

I had planned to write an article about the failure of the first participatory design workshop for an adult version of the park, but fortunately, some small bridges in the workshop were successfully resolved, plus the professional and workshop guidance of Creative Tree Space. The foundation is hard enough to be thrilled to cross.

Some observations and thoughts:

1. Where do all the adults (young adults) in the park go?

At present, most of the parks are used by children and the elderly. For young adults, the park may be just a place to buy a bottle of beer and chat or take a walk at night.

First, users of this age group may choose to go to the gym or related places where high-intensity exercise can be performed, or even directly choose the theme-oriented fields such as mountain climbing and swimming.

Second, the facilities offered by typical parks in the city are less attractive to those who need a higher challenge. (Except for sports parks with more complete functions such as basketball courts and badminton courts)

Therefore, the purpose of this workshop is to allow participants to design the environment and facilities that they are willing to use in the park again.

2. The facilities in the park should include elements that allow people to fully experience the movement process and the feeling of the field.

In traditional parks, the environment and facilities are separated, so the entire experience of use is always single and interrupted.

In the early discussion of this workshop, we spent more time trying to guide the discussion on how to effectively combine the landscape and the experience of using the facilities in series to create a basic movement process from the moment you step into the park. start. (warm up, exercise, stretch)

3. Adults are more childlike than we think and want to play more

At that time, Yaqiao, the person in charge of Creative Tree, who was also the main guide for the design of the participants, told me that he had prepared marshmallows and spaghetti for the parent-child session in the warm-up before the design. I don’t know how everyone would react. After that, let’s talk about playing without saying a word, maybe I haven’t played it before, but I really want to play it.

Sure enough, the original scene of dead silence started.

(Inner OS: Workshop is now officially on)

Of course, during the workshop, I heard many people say that they really want to play with children's slippery kicks and swings. In addition, I also saw many such shadows in the final design plan.

4. Adults start slower than children when they need a lot of hands-on work and discussions

In the latter part of the warm-up stage, everyone started to warm up slowly. At first, everyone just watched and thought.

The children in the parent-child show had their eyes burning hot when they saw the appearance of the marshmallows. Later, the adults surrendered first, and the children were still enthusiastic and creative. There was a strong contrast.

When designing, children do not hesitate to swipe their brushes, while adults do not begin to write, and always draw first. (At this time, children may have already drawn on the same piece of paper, but other people's designs will go away)

This part of the difference is quite thought-provoking.

5. Constantly communicate inquiries and seek solutions together

At the beginning, because the physical fitness team is in the form of lectures, it provides information unilaterally and seldom interacts with the participants, so we are not sure how much the participants have mastered the previous information, and how much Yaqiao has on physical fitness. Is there a way to link this key point and the back guide design?

During the whole workshop, you must constantly confirm with Yaqiao:

is this OK? Is there a way to do this? Does it pick up like this?

Later, the solution was to ask questions during the QA time after the physical fitness team explained. Of course, I asked Ya Qiao to ask him what he needed to know.

In the back-and-forth Q&A, participants were also guided to ask questions, as one of the ways to help confirm whether there was any deviation from the main axis or whether the participants understood the current situation and task at the moment of the workshop.

Finally, a few key points were unified, including muscle strength exercises that can be achieved as long as there is resistance, the basic number of times is 8-12, and increasing the resistance by adding movements that we are less likely to do in our daily life, such as pushing and pulling, these are the back Principles and materials designed by participants.

The conclusion is probably that all the arrangements are the best arrangements, although it is thrilling, but also learn a lot from it.