Making Places
How can participation packs help everyone to vision neighbourhood change online?
Commissioned artist Malcolm Hamilton created Balance boxes containing a range of playful materials posted to peoples' homes. Participants could use these materials to reimagine their neighbourhoods while being guided through a series of questions online.
About:
Malcolm Hamilton, of Play Disrupt, developed the design of Balance boxes in collaboration with KWMC The Factory.
The boxes support collaborative thinking and empathetic design while collating crucial data that communities can choose to share with designers and planners.
During the Come Together Weekender, Balance boxes were posted to each person’s home, then Malcolm led the participants through the session via Zoom. This enabled more members of the community to access the workshop and feel included in planning their public spaces.
Below is a compilation of everyone’s creations at the Come Together Weekender:
“I thought it was really incredible how you can just use simple tools so effectively. I’ve now got a design to give to the council that I’ve just made.”
Charlotte
HYBRID TIPS:
“Invite virtual event participants to use their hands, like using pencils and objects at home. This helps overcome Zoom fatigue by moving the focus away from faces and words to making and explaining.
Put care into what you send people. Be thoughtful that this can also be a barrier for some people”.
Malcolm Hamilton
Malcolm Hamilton (he/him) of Play Disrupt creates playful interventions and tools to help local authorities, planning groups, designers, and communities to interrogate systems and environments.
He notes that while empathy and inclusivity are getting more space in some quarters, polarisation and conflict in communities and decision-making are ever present. In response to this, Malcolm strongly believes in using tactile, accessible, active tools to encourage empathetic design from all participants in the process.
Gallery
