When Systems Designed for Safety No Longer Function

Yes, I’m talking about fire alarms. Specifically, when fire alarms are triggered in public spaces. I was shopping today when suddenly the fire alarm began to ring and as I looked around I realized that no one else concerned. I began to think and wonder if I should be evacuating the building. It didn’t seem like a test, but because no one else appeared to be distressed I plugged my ears and finished shopping as quickly as possible. It wasn’t until I left the building, that upon seeing the firemen running into the building, did I realize that this in reality was not a test. This brings us to question safety alarms and their impact on our realization of imminent danger.

Think about the times you have heard a fire alarm go off in a public space. Did you think it was a test? Did you think that perhaps you were not in danger because you saw no signs of immediate crisis? At what point do we stop and say that this is a problem that we need to fix?

I think it is something we need to evaluate before people are unnecessarily injured or killed because they didn’t take the signal that notifies us of danger as a serious threat. How often has major catastrophe happened due to people thinking the alarm was false, rather that it had to be false?

We need to re-think the design of the system. We need to recondition what an alarm signifies, because right now most of us think it is a false alarm.

Happy City - Charles Montgomery

A recommended read. I am only halfway through this book, but it has taken hold of me. It is an inspiring book that is important for anyone interested in the space they occupy. As citizens of cities we are responsible for making a space we can all enjoy and be happy in. 

As a student of design, I am increasingly interested in the spaces that I occupy or walk past. I am curious about how design can help influence our daily lives and how it can be used to make cities better. “Happy City” covers design issues related to the social aspects of urban design while offering ideas and solutions studied to the problems posed in the urban lifestyle choice.

I had to stop midway when I reached this quote: "It was people that made the space most interesting and worthwhile, but it took design to draw us together and slow us down just enough to transform that landscape of marble, concrete, water, and glass into a social environment" (Montgomery, 165). Montgomery and the people he describes in his book are inspiring. I hope to learn more and maybe attempt my own contribution to making the city a happy place. It only takes one, right?

thehappycity.com

Montgomery, Charles. Happy City: Transforming Our Lives through Urban Design. Canada: Doubleday Canada, 2013. Print.

City Age - The Western Cities Summit - Part 1

cityage.org  June 23rd-24th, 2014

This is my interpretation and summary of the Western Cities Summit for those that were not able to make it and desire to learn more about current projects, ideas, and initiatives that are changing the way we live in cities.

Don Iveson, Mayor, City of Edmonton

The morning began with a keynote speech from our very own Mayor, Don Iveson. He covered topics that are being worked on that will overcome the current barriers we face in improving our economic future and building a successful city.

Blatchford Project

The Blatchford Project is an initiative to create a new living space in the former Edmonton airport that is a high efficiency, green community.

Open City Initiative

Don Iveson believes that city data should be open data. The Open City Initiative is a project to help change move forward. Creating a space that we can all find information about the things that are important to us and allows for public engagement, dialogue, and feedback.

Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner, City of Toronto.

Focused on building resilient livable cities, Jennifer Keesmat introduced 3 critical objectives of Canadian urbanism.

1.  Welcoming and Respecting Newcomers

2. Attracting Talent

3. Designing for Health and Sustainability

We need to think differently on how we build and plan our urban environments and how we implement access to resources of food, water, and energy. Keesmat stresses that cities are contingent on the design and implementation of transit, the environment, innovation, and housing. We need to think on a shared national interest with an international imperative.

ownyourcity.ca

Speaker Session 1 – Building Our Regions to Compete in the Global Economy

Robert Layton, Simon Fairbrother, Joel Burns, and Jennifer Keesmaat

The need for citizen engagement is key in this conversation. In order to make a change we need to be aware that there is a problem in the first place. It is tricky to begin this conversation and bridge the communication gap in our dispersed cities.

Often there are many organizations that are competing for the same funding. This creates a competitive market that makes organizations that are trying to make change for good jump through hoops.

Read ‘Induced Demand’ - Working Together to Address Induced Demand

(the increase in travel that is caused from a road being built or expanded) 

State of Design: How Design Education Must Change

Donald Norman is one of my most revered people of this period. He is someone that I look up to in many ways, and has entirely changed the way in which I view our world. If you want to know anything at all about design, I highly recommend reading not only “The Design of Everyday Things”, but also “Emotional Design”. However this is not about these books, but rather this post is about the article he wrote some time ago and recently updated with Scott Klemmer on the state of design education.

I think the most important thing that Don is talking about in this article is that the world has changed. It has become an increasingly complex place that has no simple solutions. Design as a discipline has also changed dramatically and we need training in experimental, service and interaction design, as well as the social and behavioral sciences. We have moved on from the days where design focuses on the aesthetics and functionality of everyday objects and have moved into a new world where design requires people with advanced knowledge in many non-design related areas.

We need a new kind of designer that can function in a broad range of fields from business and technology to science and engineering. They need to know how to market themselves, and to understand people in order to meet the demands of today. Don also cautions that we need to adapt these other disciplines to be included in design education, to create courses that are unique and fulfill the requirements expected of new designers.

Where does this lead us into the future of design education? This is a question that I am unprepared to answer. Because I am currently a student of design education, it is hard to analyse how well we are prepared for future success without first reaching the point that I need to make something of myself. I do however know how I am trying to work myself out of this problem by taking on further education beyond my required classes and reaching out into the world of books, online MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and trying to network myself in the community. I think one of the root questions that need to be asked is if one education program alone has ever been enough? So how do we teach to encourage more students to reach beyond their everyday coursework?

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140325102438-12181762-state-of-design-how-design-education-must-change