Map the Makers, Chengdu
British Council x Makerfun
Chengdu, China, 2018
Role:
Designer
Methods:
Community mapping
Service design
Design research
Facilitation
British Council x Makerfun
Chengdu, China, 2018
Role:
Designer
Methods:
Community mapping
Service design
Design research
Facilitation
In collaboration with British Council China Living Research, my collaborators and I at Studio We&Us organised this service design workshop at the Chiahuo Educational Makerspace in Chengdu to explore the many connections between local making and craft ecosystems in China. We have now prototyped this workshop template for the use of local communities facing climate emergency
around the world, in collaboration with a variety of partners.
Participants were all creative practitioners working across design, making, craft and art. Working with a variety of hands-on design research approaches, from tool postcards and user profiles to memory palaces, we examined where the nodes of key community spaces and other social actors were located across the city of Chengdu, including organisations, community spaces, events and government bodies - and how to connect them.
This enabled us to develop an open data map on the web, hosted on storymap.js and Open Street Map, which highlighted the intimate relationships that make Chengdu’s creative cultures shine, and suggested future approaches for nurturing new kinds of digital innovation. Photos thanks to: British Council, Ingrid Murphy, Steve Coombs.
Participants were all creative practitioners working across design, making, craft and art. Working with a variety of hands-on design research approaches, from tool postcards and user profiles to memory palaces, we examined where the nodes of key community spaces and other social actors were located across the city of Chengdu, including organisations, community spaces, events and government bodies - and how to connect them.
This enabled us to develop an open data map on the web, hosted on storymap.js and Open Street Map, which highlighted the intimate relationships that make Chengdu’s creative cultures shine, and suggested future approaches for nurturing new kinds of digital innovation. Photos thanks to: British Council, Ingrid Murphy, Steve Coombs.
