Tag Archives: event

Design Thinking workshop: urban mobility

We plan to hold DesignAction.bdg, an international conference/workshop on Design Thinking, but not all of us have a design background, nor are familiar with conventional design process, and most of us have never experienced Design Thinking approach. Therefore, as one of the pre-events that precede DesignAction.bdg, we held an internal workshop on Design Thinking, by inviting Amelia Hendra (ex-IDEO Shanghai) to be the facilitator. This workshop consisted of an introduction about Design Thinking, then an exercise to use the method within the context of urban mobility issues. It is like doing a simulation of the actual DesignAction.bdg event in a smaller scale.

Day One: introduction

The workshop was held on April 5-6, 2013, attended by about 30 participants. In the first day, Amelia introduced herself. It helped that she was born in Indonesia (originally from Pontianak, West Kalimantan), so Indonesian language was used the whole time. During this workshop, she was assisted by Adi Panuntun, founder of Sembilan Matahari and co-founder of Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF), a movie maker/ video mapping creator who pursued his study in Design Thinking at Northumbria University, UK. The participants are organizing members of/ contributors to DesignAction.bdg event that came from different backgrounds and communities in Bandung, such as Riset Indie, Labtek Indie, Sahabat Kota, Vidour, GrowBox, Sembilan Matahari, KreativeLab, Fight.BDG, ITB (from School of Business and Management, Faculty of Art and Design, and Architecture Department) and UNPAR. Amelia proceeded with giving an overview about Design Thinking method and examples. The participants came up with questions, whether the Design Thinking phases should start from a certain point or if it can be started anywhere, about “extreme users”, and discussed the importance of “reframing”, since this is practically the most important skill required in the process. Lunchtime was filled with a documentary video about Curitiba, which inspires us all: that with few resources we should still be able to move and make changes. The day ended with an assignment that required the participants to break into groups and started a fieldwork: Understanding urban mobility through the lens of Bandung. The participants should map out design challenges: map out key stakeholders, list out interview questions, and divide tasks with team members.

(c)AmeliaHendra2013

1 Observe & Understand: Not only about being creative | But also about being empathetic

2 Reframe: Does not start with the answers | But about asking the right questions

3 Ideate: Not only for designers | But also for problem solvers and optimists

4 Prototype: Not only about designing and thinking | But also making, learning, and sharing

5 Co-design: Not only about perfection | But also about perspectives

Processing ideas

In the second day, the process was continued and completed, up to prototyping and sharing phases. There were four groups, each took a different focus: angkot (a public minibus that serves as a public transportation method that dominates Bandung), pedestrian, DAMRI (city bus) and PKL (mobile food vendors that often cover a parcel of roads and sidewalks). As a closing, each group presented their findings and solutions, all in role-playing, and it was obvious from this phase that everyone enjoyed the workshop. It was a pleasant way to identify actual Bandung mobility problems from different viewpoints, to exercise all forms of creativity and to come up with recommendations that might be solutions for the problems.

The groups proposed products, systems, programs and activities that might release some burden related to mobility and traffic, at different scales. Some might need conventional way of infrastructure improvements, but most could actually be implemented without requiring substantial financial capital and complex bureaucracy, and could be succeeded as long as networks and collaboration among local people and communities are available.

An impression from a participant (Ronaldiaz from Agritektur): Collaboration is an important key point, since this workshop was joined by people with multidisciplinary background. If one participant from each discipline could contribute one solution from his/her field, by collaborating we would be able to give a comprehensive solution. The power of collaboration is indeed frightening!

Thanks to Amelia and everyone involved in the workshop! We had fun – a productive kind of fun – which what we of young productive age actually need, to be able to respond innovatively to endless problems faced by our urban environment.

The results of the four groups were all presented at the next Pre-Event of DesignAction.bdg, PechaKuchaNight.BDG that was held on Sunday evening, 26 May 2013.

Pedestrian team

Angkot team at work

DAMRI team

Amelia closing the workshop

Amelia assisting a group

Story of a City Forest

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Not every city has a natural forest, moreover a World City Forest, like we have in Bandung: Babakan Siliwangi (BakSil). Now that we have one, what do we do with it? Merely disrupting it by replacing the trees with massive concrete buildings would be unimaginable, since that is the same as destroying the forest; but this is what seems to be the near future of BakSil City Forest if local people and communities do nothing about it.

Forest Walk at Babakan Siliwangi. (c)GalihSedayu2013

Therefore, several communities have been holding events in this area to activate the idle space, while inviting more people to interact with the forest. Among the communities is Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF), an independent organization that has previously hold two events to intervene BakSil. The first one was in 2011, during TUNZA: having BakSil declared as a World City Forest and building a canopy walk, presently called ForestWalk, at the premise. The second one was in 2012, with an event called Lightchestra as the opening of Helarfest2012: a three-days sound- and light-play in the forest, with an open-air concert of local indie bands, painting artists’ live performances, a photography contest, a paper lantern workshop for children, communities that perform best at night such as B.U.L.B. (Barudak Urban Light Bandung, a light graffiti community) and Bandung Urban Jedi; also collaborating with an environmental organization to limit and measure solid waste (food packaging, plastic bags, etc.) produced during the event.

“Al Fresco” forest picnic at Forest Walk during REGIA. (c)GalihSedayu2013

This time, as the first 2013 program, BCCF held “Regia”, which aimed to refresh our relationship with our only city forest. The name “Regia” was taken from a dominant tree species that grows within the area, Delonix Regia, or Flamboyan in local name. During the two days of Regia, 20-21 April 2013, a lot of people gathered for various events, such as “Al-Fresco” or potluck picnic at the ForestWalk, children activities and games, open library, photo exhibition, morning yoga, forest dinner, live blues performance “Blues Leuweung” by several local blues musicians, and a discussion session about urban forest to close the series of event. An infographic, that was especially made for this event and was published in a regional newspaper and online social media, presents a number of facts about BakSil City Forest and how important it is for us.

From time to time, we need to celebrate our public space. Especially in a dense, growing city with substandard infrastructures like Bandung, whose inhabitants often need to take their own initiatives to improve their living environment.

After Regia, it seemed that there is hope that the company who has the developing right over BakSil would postpone its plan to build any commercial entity on the area. But our hope is yet again on trial, due to today’s update that the developer now has possessed permission to actually build a restaurant. Irritated as we are, we shouldn’t lose focus and conduct, within our capacity, smart responses to this issue. Let’s just make sure with all of our might that the story of our city forest continues for generations, onwards.

DesignAction.bdg Pre-Events 1 and 2

Envirovolution: Pemenang Kompetisi Green Technology

Envirovolution: Kompetisi Teknologi ‘Hijau’

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Hari Senin tgl 29 Maret 2010 lalu, berlangsung sesi presentasi para finalis Kompetisi Green Technology dalam rangkaian acara Envirovolution yang diadakan oleh U-Green ITB (sebuah unit mahasiswa yang aktif di bidang ekologi/lingkungan). Terdapat 10 finalis dari berbagai perguruan tinggi: ITB, IPB, Universitas Brawijaya, UGM, dsb. Saya berlaku sebagai juri, bersama dengan Pak Nyoman (SITH) dan Pak Fauzi (FTMD), di basement Campus Center Timur, sejak pk.08:30 hingga 14:00, mendengarkan presentasi para finalis dan mengajukan pertanyaan.

Nata dari jerami nangka di meja juri, dilatari para pembuatnya

Hasil teknologi ‘hijau’ yang ditampilkan sangat beragam, seluruhnya memberdayakan potensi lokal, meskipun sebagian masih berkutat di sisi hulu. Meskipun merupakan salah satu syarat, tidak semua finalis membawa prototype untuk diperagakan; sebagian tim membawa hasil eksperimen yang belum tuntas karena kendala waktu dan sebagainya. Yah, ini kompetisi, jadi tentu saja yang mendapat nilai lebih adalah mereka yang lebih siap. Catatan saya secara keseluruhan (tidak dimasukkan ke dalam form penilaian, karena mungkin tidak relevan): produk-produk teknologi hasil penelitian ini belum siap benar diterapkan di masyarakat atau dipasarkan secara meluas, karena masih banyak aspek-aspek usability yang belum tergarap tuntas. Contohnya, sebuah produk pengolahan sampah organik skala rumah tangga (pengompos sekaligus pencacah): prinsip mekaniknya jelas dan alat dapat berfungsi (meskipun memerlukan perbaikan detail), tapi masih dapat hal-hal yang bisa diolah supaya alat ini dapat dipakai dengan baik dalam sebuah rumah. Seorang anak kecil, ketika membuang sampahnya, harus memasukkan tangannya pada sebuah corong – padahal corong tersebut mengarah ke pisau pencacah. Bagaimana jiga si anak memasukkan tangannya terlalu jauh? Seseorang, ketika hendak mencacah, harus mengengkol sebuah tuas di sisi alat. Bagaimana posisi orang tersebut: membungkuk, berjongkok? Tuas itu sendiri sangat seadanya, sehingga dari melihat bentuknya saja orang tidak dapat mengetahui arah putar yang benar. Ketika kompos sudah jadi, cara mengambilnya adalah membuka lubang di bawah alat. Tapi harus ‘ditumpahkan’ ke mana, dan bagaimana mewadahinya dengan dasar serupa itu?

Kertas daur ulang yang berbau wangi, karena dicampur dengan limbah shampoo

Nah- hal-hal ini lah yang seharusnya jadi perhatian para desainer (produk). Teknologi tepat guna sebenarnya sudah banyak dikembangkan teman-teman dari berbagai bidang ilmu, dan adalah peran kita untuk dapat mewujudkannya menjadi sebuah produk yang dapat diterapkan secara optimal di masyarakat.

Dua foto yang saya tampilkan ini, adalah hasil teknologi yang prototype-nya paling terlihat siap dikembangkan produknya dan dibisniskan. Yang pertama, nata dari jerami nangka (sulur-suluran di sekitar daging buah nangka yang biasanya dibuang), sebagai alternatif kudapan berserat tinggi. Kemasan dan branding-nya jelas harus diolah lagi agar produk tersebut menjadi lebih representatif. Satu lagi adalah kertas daur ulang yang berbau wangi, karena dicampur dengan limbah shampoo saat pembuatannya. Wanginya bertahan berapa lama? Menurut tim pembuatnya, kertas-kertas ini dicetak sekitar 6 bulan lalu, dan hingga sekarang masih menguarkan bau sabun dengan kuat. Bayangkan bila dicetak menjadi bentuk2 lain dan diperkuat strukturnya sehingga dapat berfungsi menjadi gantungan baju, pasti kita tidak perlu lagi melemparkan pewangi ke dalam lemari baju. Masih banyak lagi hasil-hasil yang sangat menantang untuk dibuatkan product development dan business plan-nya, semoga berlanjut!

Hari ini, Selasa 30 Maret 2010, akan dilakukan penjurian terakhir untuk menentukan para pemenangnya (saya sendiri belum tahu, tim mana yang memperoleh nilai tertinggi dari hasil penjurian kemarin). More news, coming up after the winners announcement! 🙂

“Envirovolution” Green Tech Competition

I’m Your Shopping Bag

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Logo of Anti Plastic Bag Campaign

Anti Plastic Bag Campaign contains a series of events that were initiated by the Environmental Engineering Student Association (Himpunan Mahasiswa Teknik Lingkungan/HMTL) of ITB, Bandung. It ended on Saturday, Feb 9th 2008, with performances, awards, exhibitions and a campaign walk. Friendster site of Antiplasticbag Campaign: http://profiles.friendster.com/50754114

Among the events was a non-plastic bag design competition that was held a couple of months before. The intention of this competition (and its result) is to encourage people to bring their own shopping bags, so they don’t have to use (free, flimsy) plastic bags provided by stores or merchants. Therefore, the bag should be compact and attractive. The winning design was put into production and are available for purchase during the campaign, and here’s how it looks: