TECHNOLOGY IS EVOLVING

Design must ride the wave...

The evolution of human technologies have allowed society to tackle a wider range of problems-- with the invention of vaccines, many individuals have access to immunity against some of the historically worst diseases such as measles, smallpox and polio. With the invention of the telephone, it became easier to circulate data throughout the world. With the invention of computers, many individuals gained access to the practically infinite libraries of knowledge and information known to man.

With the emergence of AI image generation, digital design softwares and various coding libraries, design opened up more avenues of representational possibilities. However, design is most powerful when it creates prompts for deep change, criticism and investigation. Within my designs, I hope to fuse emerging incumbent technologies with intricate craft in order to create designs that intervene and speculate throughout the conditions in our evolving world.

AN EXPLORATION INTO TOOGOODTOGO

How does this investigation use various methodologies to speculate optimizations for this experience?

ToGoodToGo's app interface benefits many young professionals and students that are looking for quick and affordable meals. However, since low-income and homeless individuals are the least likely to have mobile devices, they would be the least likely to have access to ToGoodToGo's services, despite being the groups that would otherwise benefit most from ToGoodToGo's affordable meals.

Within these series of investigations, various methodologies are used in order to figure out where it would be best to place an intervention, and create primitive speculations on how these interventions may function within the context of New York City. From interactive mapping, to walkability simulations, each methodology addresses different scales that help optimize the optimal locations for a new ToGoodToGo intervention.

i. INVESTIGATION ON THE CITY-WIDE SCALE

Utilising various datasets and correlating them in order to find optimal areas of interrogation

The urban scale paints the geographical picture of general areas that would most likely benefit from an intervention from ToGoodToGo. In this analysis, various datasets were used, from median income, to 311 calls, to Restaurant location data, to NYCHA housing centroids.

From there, the data is visualized in order to geographically show the disparities between various regions of NYC. These datasets may have correlating trends, and these sets working together would bring more clarity within the incumbent social and economic conditions of the city.

MERGING THE DATA

Merging the datasets is important to get the overall pictures behind the data. Each dataset stitches an image and geographically pinpoints where interventions are most likely to have the most benefit. From here, these areas can be investigated at a smaller scale, especially within the neighborhood-scale.

ii. ANALYZING ON THE NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE

Where specifically is it best to place an intervention?

The scale of individual neighborhoods gives enough clarity to show proximity between origins and destinations. In this particular case, the neighborhood scale allows for a clearer picture of where interventions could be best placed, depending on how many connections between restaurants these origin points have within a certain time/pace.

Above: Animation of plan view showing connections between origins (Subway or LinkNYC) and restaurants

Above: Animation of isometric view showing connections between origins (Subway or LinkNYC) and restaurants

TAKEAWAYS:

Within this analysis, it is clear wherr interventions would have the most activity within its first stages. For instance, iteration 25 and 29 in this animation have the most connections between its' node clusters and restaurants, which give more variety and circulation for ToGoodToGo's system to gain traction.

However, the areas that are lacking of connection is not necessarily a bad place to deploy an intervention, but rather a bigger opportunity. With the lack of existing vendors connecting with these points of origin, temporary pop-ups can be installed here and bring a new dimension in ToGoodToGo's food distribution.

iii. SPECULATING WITHIN THE ARCHITECTURAL SCALE

How does the physical presence of these new communities affect the communities they were designed for?

Understanding the intervention at the Architectural and the user's scale is important in speculating how individuals may use the interventions in real time. In this featured design fiction, a future is depicted where rentals have gotten exceedingly expensive for vendors and residents alike.

Using components that would otherwise be wasted such as old subway cars and crates, a new commercial cloud is built on top of existing infrastructure where new vendors and residents can reside in these containers at an affordable price compared to incumbent NYC prices. From there, users were able to experience this in VR via three.js and gave their feedback on what they liked and would want improved in this design fiction.

Below: Depicted Survey Results from the feedback form on Crate Cloud

Isometric of Crate Cloud

Elevation of Crate Cloud

Close-up isometric of Crate Cloud

Pedestrian perspective of Crate Cloud

Simulation of Crate Cloud model projected in three.js

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Alternative 3-D interactive view, using Sketchfab in lieu of three.js