Design Strategist in Climate Change
Design Strategist in Climate Change
Creating an experience that facilitates interaction in highly individualistic future vertical cities
«The building [...] takes the amenities of the horizontal city block and stacks them vertically»
Building high structures has proven to be a sustainable response to rapid urbanization, at least in contrast to sprawling. The utopian vertical city is now a close reality and it represents many opportunities to ensure that people who inhabit it not only live comfortable, but also that they are facilitated to live a more sustainable and efficient lifestyle.
Still, studies show that people living in high-rises are more likely to live isolated and suffer from depression. An important problem to address is how to promote a sense of community and social interaction when vertical cities boom.
In order to understand the vertical system, we decided to dive into the horizontal current transportation system of a city and to extract from it design principles and rules to translate them vertically.
Different types of lifts account for different types of transportation according to distance, price, privacy and efficiency. We assumed that we were designing for a 180 floor building that would have a capacity of accomodating around 40K people. By imagining the basic vertical system of transportation, we can better understand the context in which the interactive experience is going to happen.
To follow this up, we decided to conduct a user journey research on the current experience of riding the elevator, so we could understand where other feelings appeared, besides the uncomfortable feeling of being to close to strangers. This also allowed us to recognize the interaction with other riders and with the elevator interface. We realize how important it was to understand important feedback, touchpoints and emotions to maintain or improve.
Proxemics is "the branch of knowledge that deals with the amount of space that people feel it necessary to set between themselves and others". The less invaded our personal space is the more comfortable we are. This sensation, which is controlled by the amygdala, varies from people to people, depends on the level of familiarity we have with the person close to us and can change based on the cultural background as well as the situation.
In order to respect people´s different perceptions of personal space, we created a system where the user sets the personal bubble size on the app before entering the elevator and defines the level of interaction he is comfortable with. The elevator is filled with particles, and your personal bubble repulse the particles in order to create space around you.
Using processing, a kinect as sensor, and a projector we were able to test with user what this experience design would feel like.
The creation of an interface helps to bridge the gap between the system and the user, but also between users, interconnecting them to each other and making their commute more enjoyable and easy. The user can plan his trip in advance, control his parameters, and also connect with people he has crossed paths with.
UP was the joint effort of a great female team: Taylor Greenberg Goldy , Daniela Terán, Mia Zaidan, and Mitsue Guerrero