As global temperatures are rising and leading to an increase in extreme weather events, those changes can also be felt in Melbourne where the number of unusually hot days and heat waves is increasing rapidly. Extreme heat can lead to physical health issues and hospitalisations, increased violence, mental health issues and increased mortality.
To explore how Melbourne can become more heat-resilient, I focused my graduation project on the development of an interactive and engaging toolkit that provides an overview of cooling interventions suitable for Melbourne's climate, but also addresses the overall pedestrian experience within the streetscape by including placemaking, wayfinding
and walkability aspects. The toolkit is designed for use in co-design workshops where council, planners, designers, and local residents come together and collaboratively develop a concept for a heat-adapted street or public space.
and walkability aspects. The toolkit is designed for use in co-design workshops where council, planners, designers, and local residents come together and collaboratively develop a concept for a heat-adapted street or public space.
Role
Master's thesis MSc Integrated Product Design at TU Delft | Individual work
ClientCollaboration with City of Melbourne
Tasks
Research | Concept development | Graphic design and illustration | Workshop facilitation | Report design
Achievements
Exhibitor and workshop facilitator at City Climate meets Creative Coding Festival in Hamburg
Workshop facilitator and teaching assistant at RMIT's Heat Adaptation Design Studio
My Vision: An Engaging and Interactive Toolkit with Physical Assets for Creative Collaboration
Existing heat-adaptation toolkits are often lengthy and technical documents written in a high-level language. This inspired me to simplify the information by turning it into easy-to-understand playing cards that can be moved around on a gameboard-like map of the streetscape to be redesigned. This approach makes the information accessible to various stakeholders (such as council, planners, designers and residents), allowing them to collaborate, regardless of their expertise in planning.
The Toolkit
Cooling Intervention Cards
The most important element of the toolkit are the cooling intervention cards. These cards provide concise information on various cooling strategies suitable for Melbourne's climate. Each card includes a brief description, an indication of cooling potential, and key application rules. A QR code on the cards links to a booklet with scientific evidence about the cooling impact and additional guides and recommendations for each cooling intervention. Additionally, a digital map complements the cooling cards by showing features such as available roofs for potential green and cool conversions, and laneways suitable for (vertical) greening.
Street User Experience Cards
When designing a streetscape, it's crucial to not only consider climatic influences but also the overall pedestrian experience. In addition to the cooling cards, the toolkit contains various street user cards as well as experience cards related to placemaking, wayfinding, and walkability. These cards help workshop participants understand and define the diverse needs of different street users, thinking beyond just protection from the heat.
Co-design Workshops
Case Study: Drewery Lane
As part of my graduation project, I tested the toolkit in several co-design workshops, where participants had to develop concepts for Drewery Lane, a small laneway in Melbourne's CBD.
Site Visit and Desired Future Experience Workshop
A group of local residents, business owners, and community members joined me for a site visit to Drewery Lane to analyse the current experience. They identified nuisances and delights and mapped these observations. Next, they brainstormed and defined their ideal future experience for the laneway. During this process, the street user and experience cards facilitated thinking from different perspectives, incorporating aspects of cooling, placemaking, and wayfinding.
Concept Development Workshop with Council
After the site visits, I facilitated a workshop with a team from the City of Melbourne Council. Based on the ideas developed in the desired future experience workshop, the planners and designers from Council had to work out a draft streetscape concept using the cooling intervention cards and taking into consideration the ideas and gained insights from the local residents and community members.
Final Thesis
From Research to Final Toolkit
If you are curious to learn more about this project including all the research, design considerations, concepts, testing, etc. you can find my final thesis "A Toolkit for Co-Designing Streetscapes for A Cool Pedestrian Network in Melbourne, Australia" for download over here!