informal urban practices

Jiazhen Chen (ken) ‘s portfolio

encouraging participants to engage with their urban surroundings through positive re-enforcement.

http://vimeo.com/15752350

T.H Project

Jiazhen Ken Chen & Irene Ka Ming,Lee

This week we focus on swapping with services, objects and information. We run our mobile booth at dockland next to designers market. We choose our location carefully, co that we catch as many pedestrians as we could but out of market area. We ask people pick their favourite souvenirs, then we start our conversations about what did they brought, the feeling of today, what did they visit, etc. it seems they swapping the souvenirs by spending their time, emotions and information. While we were chatting, we start object swap activity. A graphic design student would like to swap a butterfly souvenir with a batch that she bought in the market.

From the activities, we recognize that people would like get a ‘free’ souvenirs/ objects by spending their time and start a conversation for a few minutes.

We plan to do our activities indoor in building 8 and 88. we ask them to get a bookmark or craft object by motivated themselves to start a conversation with someone they don’t know in computer labs. It gives their opportunity to enlarge their social network in campus. Also they get a rest and escape form the assignments.

OBJECT SWAP( SLOW-PACED)

Jiazhen Ken Chen & IRENE

The “slow-paced” is utilizing informal space to relieving the stress of city inhabitants.

Keyword / concepts

- The gap between two buildings

- Relax

- Calming

- Public art

- Interaction

- Sustainable

- Investigation

- Open space

- City life

- Enjoy the life

- Experience of city life

Aristotle said: “People came to the city in order to survive, to live better and stay in the city”

2010, there are more than half the human live in cities. By 2030, the world’s urban population is likely to exceed 60%.With the developing of the city; people’s living tends to a fast-paced. The urban and life become much more heaviness than before. The city needs a “slow” method to adjust itself. People are the creators of urban life, who is also experiencing city life. What I am considering is the informal urban space is one of the ways to figure out this problem.

Working method:

-          Investigating the ways people release themselves.(video)

-          Researching different informal space.

-          Researching the relevant information: book; street art; etc

-          Create 3D model

-          Sketching

-          Public performance

The Amazing Race Melbourne is an adventure through the streets of Melbourne. The key is finding new places and new things to do, all the time collecting and solving clues to get to the next location.

Key words:

• Public
• Puzzles
• Challenges
• Adventure
• Advertising
• Social Interactions
• Secrets
• Exploration

Our intentions are:

To look as public adventures and games to be run in the city of Melbourne, we will be looking at ways of getting people of different age groups and backgrounds to get involved in a secret adventure, the interactions that race goers have with cryptic clues, observing participates and the ways that they initially got involved in the race as well as how they take part in the adventure. all with the purpose of getting people to explore this incredible city

Methods:

A number of methods will be employed in four key areas of research and development, which will be broken up between the group members these areas are:

• Advertising
• Cryptic Clues and codes
• Race Mapping and design
• Race running and documentation

I’m interested in how people create individual space within a public space, this is not necessarily an actual space but it could be just some sort of personalization in a public area. For example, i mean its a very predictable example but graffiti, as well as things like skaters, or bikers, things like storage and activities, or the ways in which people create their own individual, personalized routes through the city via personal transport. This doesn’t not include cars. Ways that people my travel throughout a city, with no link between each other. For example, the skaters that are in front of the state library, Informal urban practice, but what about the skaters in Bowen lane, they have no link, or no means of communicating. Or bicycle commuters that always ride the same route as so many others during the year but not link. The ways in which people create a link or personalization between a route, space, or area, is always individual, lets make it social as well.



http://issuu.com/informal_urban/docs/posters