YDSHINTO.
Brief
Using ethnographic and research methodologies, educate students on how Italian neighborhoods/cities within Rome, Tuscany, and Milan agglomerate and develop its innovation. Identify how they sustain themselves economically and culturally, without losing their own identity as "Italian's" among the large population of tourists. Observe the different neighborhoods to see if tourism has affected these neighborhoods and observe how innovative each city has become based on these changes.
Based on the article Fast Cities by Fast Company Magazine, identify how and why these cities in Italy are considered Innovative Cities; support the research and claims with significant architectural interventions and social/urban projects. Identify how these amenities contribute to the city as a magnet for agglomeration, creative workers, and knowledge workers.
Process
Before setting off to conduct our findings in Italy, we developed background research to help the team understand the surface level of the different neighborhoods and its historical context of each location. Based on the article of Fast Cities we identify 'What makes an innovative city' and created visual information models, which explains the arguments and visually see how they are all connected. Using these information models, we narrowed down our area of interest into: traditions, agglomeration, networking, and movement in the city.
During in-field, we used IDEO's ethnographic research methodologies to help gather quantitative and qualitative data for our findings. Research content was gathered through interview sessions, 3rd person observation, and behavioral/spatial mapping. After gathering all the necessary data based on a limited period of 2 weeks per neighborhood, we returned to Vancouver to synthesize all the content to make it legible and cohesive. The research was then presented to the board of directors and undergraduates at Simon Fraser University during a info sessions held at Simon Fraser University.
Delivery
After gathering our ethnographic research through interviews with local Italians and several observational methodologies, we as a team have gained a better understanding on why knowledge workers travel, live, and agglomerate to these neighborhoods. We were also given the opportunity to hear some interesting and unforeseen parts of Italy from locals, which were not present from books or through other mediums. We have identified what makes an innovative city innovative, which we presented and educated our peers in how we can apply and consider these factors to our own city. We have introduced an entirely new research approach, which the next research team could foster and add on to their legacy.
Client
SFU: ItaliaDesign
Category
Ethnographic Research
Role
Design Research
Graphic Designer
Interviewer
Project Lead
Photographer
Tools
Illustrator
Photoshop
Photography
Collaborators
Derek Pante
Kiks Chua
Azmina Karimi
Ryan Murray
Karen Lo
