What adults say…

After getting an insight into what children have to “say” by play, students were now invited to ask the adults as well! Different interview techniques were used to reach various users, from kindergarten teachers, parents, teenagers, other residents, and passers-by, all invited to share their thoughts about the alleys. The main aim of the demonstrated inquiry was to get acquainted with the current role of this place, to acquire the opinions about the alleys’ placemaking and playmaking potentials, youth expectations, parent’s needs, and ideas for use of the alleys etc. Students carried out the interviews with the help and instructions from mentors and guest lecturers. Overall 28 interviews were completed – from F2F talks, online, written to graphic. The answers were later analysed and results synthesised to get a clearer view of the opinions.

On the one hand, the aim of the interviews was to actually capture the responses from people, on the other hand, the objective was also to establish connections with the community, to promote our work and to encourage people to get involved.

It seems students were successful with both – they later effectively integrated people’s responses and their expectations with  the design proposals, on the other hand, many of the interviewees and observers were enraptured by the project and willing to participate in further placemaking actions. Win-win!