Immerse yourself in the local reality. Talk to people, walk the streets, observe. Live the place!
Nobody understands the reality of a place better than its inhabitants!
If a place is formed by the meaning people assign it, understanding the local vision is the main starting point for Placemaking.ID®.
Exploratory visits are a great way to observe the dynamics of a place and the behaviour of its people. This first immersion will help better design the engagement stage. Simple observation can tell us a lot about a place. Follow the dynamics at various times of the day and on different days of the week, always seeking to understand who, why, when and how people use certain places.
In addition to understanding urban dynamics, this initial phase must also look at the cultural behaviour of the people of and in the place. When investigating the “who”, we must go far beyond gender, age and other traditional criteria, delving deeper into the uses of and cultures present in the places.
This mosaic of cultures and subcultures will serve to source participants for co-creation workshops. At Bloom Consulting we organize these workshops based primarily on cultural behaviours. That is, it doesn’t matter at first if you are young or adult, male or female, rich or poor. Rather, if you connect to a specific culture, we want to understand the challenges and anxieties within this group.
In some cases, gender and age distinction is called for. We determine this in parallel or by applying other methodological tools. Sometimes, we’ll do dozens of workshops with behavioural groups, and participants from separate groups might repeat each other. We are, after all, different but alike in some ways.
Remember:
- A good dose of local experience can be worth as much as pre-existing statistics, which are often outdated.
- More than a quantitative/census approach, we are looking to develop a qualitative, comprehensive, but mainly profound understanding.
- It’s less about age, gender and income, and more about behaviour, identity and culture.
