Tales of the City social design project (2021)
A social design project which took place in Beirut, Lebanon. As Lebanon had grappled with a financial and political crisis for several months, this project was aiming to bring relief to the local residents of Beirut, in offering small spaces for sharing stories.
The project resulted in a solution which aims to transform small spaces "leftover" alleys (interstices) on the streets of Beirut into spaces where the locals would feel welcome to socialise and relax, which would result in a better atmosphere for the entire city.
Client
SRH Berlin School of Design and Communication (school project)
Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts
Services
graphic design, city planning
Category
social design, human-centered design
Target group
citizens of Beirut of any ages
This is what we started with - these small alleyways all over Beirut, which unfortunately are full of trash (and we even saw a dead kitty cat, to our great horror).
These spaces exist between streets, and aren't usually walked by the locals because of their smelly and unorderly nature.
Our mission was to reimagine these spaces as flourishing havens for the city dwellers - a place to not only enjoy their time but also to connect with other locals.
This was our wonderful team for this project, with the project initiator and consultant Bachar El Amine,
a researcher and architect from Beirut, Lebanon.
Bachar El Amine
Mohamad Bzih
Lena Feichtinger
Jennifer Winter
Paola Faddoul
Tiiu Lausmaa
The design process
The first step in this social design project was to identify the problems and needs of the citizens of Beirut, in order to gain a better understanding of the situation. We identified the problems and needs as follows.
No knowledge
of the existance
of these spaces
Unpleasant living environment
Problems
Lack of
self-initiative
Trauma from the different crises in Lebanon
Needs
Need for idyllic/calming spaces
Reconnection with the public space
Reconnection with
other city dwellers
After having identified the problems and needs, we moved on to the ideation phase of our process, which consisted of several key design thinking methods, to help us reach the best solutions. Some of the methods we used were theory of change, crazy 8 and of course talking and reflecting. We also used different design thinking analysis tools, such as system mapping, empathy mapping and personas.
The Solution
Our design research led us to the following hypothesis – playful interventions on these leftover interstices in the cityscape of Beirut could:
1. Make the spaces more attractive
and also give
a peacful moment
to breathe
2. Reduce the gap
between people
and communities
3. Help to increase a sense of belonging and reduce the fear
of public spaces.
The actual solution would consist of:
- a web app where people could see where these spaces are
- interventions in these spaces, in the form of a flag and an object which carries a QR-code or a phone booth with a telephone with recorded messages by other citizens.
- The QR-Code would enable the citizens to listen to share their stories with others and listen to other's stories, while relaxing on a bench that is placed there.
- The spaces could also be used for just relaxing and reading a book.
