Our Future World – Trends, Risks and Scenarios: Stefan Hajkowicz

‘How will our children, grand children and great grand children be living? What policies, research and investments do they need us to make today to make their lives better tomorrow? A megatrend is a pattern of environmental, social and/or economic activity with profound implications for how we live. Mega shocks are sudden, hard to predict, single events. Scenarios are a mix of science fiction and science fact and explore how the trends and shocks might play out into an uncertain future.’

Stefan's lecture explored in depth the concept of the megaworld, which is made up of...iworld, more or less, a personal touch and divergent demographics. What i took away from this lecture is that the megaworld and future will eventually cross over and become the same thing.


Group Work

We decided to begin our work on MAX MSP and Jitter as soon as possible, to ensure the final concept satisfies our initial aim, as well as our tutor's expectations. Below are some photos to show our work in progress.


Jo and I proposed our idea of Llankelly to the rest of the group this week--

• ‘Llankelly place is an already existing passage/walkway, which connects Darlinghurst rd to Orwell st- which then connects back onto Victoria st. The passageway consists of little restaurants and cafes and is located in the heart of Kings Cross- right near the police station and the fountain.
• We thought this could become an interactive passageway which would connect the ‘strip’ to the transport hub- drawing people away from the drama of the cross to a slightly different atmosphere behind the busy nightlife- to create a transition area between the travellers crazy night out and the cab/ transport home.’

The rest of the group agreed with the location for our transport hub. As we work to complete the DJ booth, we began to work on our A1 board and presentations.


Structure of Presentation:

• Slide one/concept: Interactive Playground

-  Desire to create an outdoor play escape in a urban setting. Design structures and incorporation of interactive technology specifically focuses on minimising antisocial behaviour, educate users on the effects of alcohol, improve safety in high activity environment and promote recreational environment.
At the semester break we proposed the introduction of projections into King’s Cross to minimise antisocial behaviour. During our research we found antisocial behaviour to be the result of alcohol fuelled violence and crime, however we were unable to find any academic research that projections could or would minimise the prevailing issues.

We used Designing Out Crime as the building blocks for our project, and since then we have developed an interactive transport hub which improves traffic flow and congestion of people and transport. The hub provides a safer route to transport for people entering and leaving the Cross.
We have proposed projections throughout the transport hub. In order of making these projections interactive, we developed the concept of a dj booth- – incorporating the same controls on a dj pad to allow the user to trigger and influence the projected images.
The camera facing the dj booth and audience are the basis of the projections, and the various effects triggered by the dj pad cause different effects on the image, i.e. blur, rotate etc. By having the camera facing them, the projections relate directly to the user’s physical state.

Design phase

Design phase- process, testing and development
-       Include location, physical development

• 3.design proposal
•   -Original intention for design
•   -Evolution of ideas

• 4. Location and connection to previous research on the stakeholders

Location- comparison between what we first outlined to the final decision, Dan’s imagery- jo’s development mapà final map outlying flow etc-Revised map of location [Alex’s mapping] and how it relates to the design proposal.
Why have we chosen this location?- Limited interference/ change to existing landscape

• Evolution of physical process, influence of MAX msp, sensors
• Include photos, diagrams, screen grabs and videos of progress
• Documentation of playing with projector in the cross at night- video footage and pictures etc

A3 Board:

• 3 images required- final design in action- main image
• Map of area – small [Alex’s creation] with key?
• Transport hub idea- small

Project name:  escape kings cross, escapade, and the strip, exit the strip, exit red-Llankelly Place
Pitch line: your tunnel to transport, the safer way to leave, your interactive departure,The interactive way to get home?

Students: Catherine Barnes, Rebecca Glaser, Alexandra Hackett, Johanna Lark, and Daniel Mazic.

Brief: to provide Kings Cross commuters with a transportation hub, which engages exiting visitors with interactive urban graffiti. The design will aim to assist in minimising antisocial behaviour, congestion issues and to provide a direct and safe passageway for departing commuters to their desired mode of transport.


Situation- physical and social context of area:The Kings Cross precinct is an inner city locality that borders the CBD. In its social context, Darlinghurst Rd or ‘the strip’ is known as Sydney’s red light district and prominent entertainment quarter. High-density traffic, a thoroughly built up area and a high volume of activity characterize the district.

Problems

• Anti-social behaviour
• Lack of transport
• Safety concerns
• High alcohol and drug consumption in a confined space
• High fluctuation of visitors/ stakeholders, especially between Fridays through to Monday mornings.

Solution: To create an interactive passageway and transportation hub which will engage exiting visitors through an interactive projection experience. The proposed DJ booth with live camera feeds of the audience, will engage, entertain and distract the departing visitors. Our primary aim is to draw individuals away from the high social activity environment of kings cross and work towards managing and decreasing congestion through the implementation of the proposed transport hub and passageway. We have chosen to place this interactive environment in Llankelly Place, Kings Cross, because the space is pre-existing, is in close proximity to the police station and there is minimal change required for infrastructure.

Benefits

• Will contribute towards minimising congestion.
• Will provide a safer route for commuters to leave the Cross.
• The interactive projection will entertain and engage visitors to distract from possible participation in anti social behaviour.


Will encourage movement of people from ‘the Strip’ into an easily accessible transport area