Thing-Centered City Making
The Community Cone
Exploratory Research, Product Concept, UX/UIProject for Het Wijkpaleis in Rotterdam
The increased availability of cheap, DIY platforms places the Internet of Things (IoT) within the realms of possibility for grassroots communities of makers and activists. Using a Thing-Centered Design approach, The Community Cone takes the traffic cone as an archetype for an exploration around the power dynamics associated with city-making.
The traffic cone is an object full of dilemmas: The cone is a temporary thing, it arrives in the neighbourhood by order of an external entity and disrupts what’s there – the permanent. How can this power relation be reversed? What if the traffic cone belonged to the neighbourhood? What if the space it creates was for the community and bottom up initiatives? What if instead of broadcasting change, the cone was the trigger for change?
