Ian Samuel Madrigal
Community Engagement Toolkit
Architecture has been used as a tool of power over the urban landscape and its consequences has been felt by underrepresented communities whose voice was missing in the process. These landscapes harbor and visualizes the inequality through designs and decisions emblematic of the zeitgeist of their time. As a response, planners and architects have been changing their approach to include the public in the planning and development process, yet many of these attempts have their issues.
Model
Whether it’s the technical jargon, or the method of outreach, many times the public may find concepts and processes complex or uninteresting, defeating the purpose of engagement. So how can us as architects and designers better incorporate the public in the design process?
Dream Play Build by James Rojas and John Kamp, gamification is presented as a playful approach to the design process is the strategy proposed to better include the public. Designing and developing a game to allow for better interaction and bridges the language barrier between planners/designers and members of the public. how would a community engagement event look if the goal was in favor of architecture rather than planning?
Model
This thesis looks at how an architect could go about doing community engagement in an area zoned for redevelopment and asks the question on how to appropriately design a game and curate an engagement experience that allows for better communication between the public and professionals in the industry.
Community Engagement Toolkit
By taking a look at East Los Angeles, a majority Latino/e community who has faced a history of underrepresentation, but who also shows resilience and perseverance through art. Large murals and art displays are embedded in the urban fabric of this town. To better connect to the community, pieces are extracted from motifs common in the art and murals found within the neighborhood. The prompts are curated in a way which disarms but also encourages creative play.
Modules
Rather than concluding with a final design proposal, this thesis shows how a design approach including the public can shift the way of thinking of the urban fabric and being conscious of the community and history embedded within it. The ultimate end goal of these engagements is not an architectural or urban design solution but rather to extract a set of design principles. These principles would be applicable to both the architecture and urban design but also the approach best for running engagement seminars.