Places: Architect talks up a new approach to urban planning ...

Tag : arts designing

For decades, planners and developers ignored the public and prettymuch did as they pleased. Then along came public process andcommunity meetings, which, indispensable as they are, can befactional and dominated by the constituency with the loudest voice.
San Francisco architect Fred Dust believes there's another way tofind out what people want, even when they don't know they want it.He came to town this week to argue for nothing less than "arevolution in the design process."
In a fast-paced, 45-minute talk Monday evening at the UniversityCenter at Point Park University, Dust, who leads multidisciplinarydesign teams as head of IDEO's international Smart Space group,suggested architects and planners design for behavior.
"What people do tells you what to do," he said.
The University of California at Berkeley wanted to build acommunity center for students and faculty in an existing plaza.When IDEO had potential users map where they had been on campus ona given day, none of them had passed through the plaza. So Berkeleybuilt several satellite community centers rather than a singlelarge one.
"There are new ways to know who you're designing for," said Dust,whose appearance was sponsored by the Community Design Center ofPittsburgh.
One of IDEO's tools is the in-context video, which involvesinterviewing potential users on-site to determine what they'redoing and why. Starbucks wanted to build a drive-through thatreplicated the sensory experience of coming inside the store, untilIDEO's research discovered that drive-through customers really justwant to get in and out as quickly as possible.
How does this apply to cities? Dust touched on that aspect all toobriefly, but the question was taken up afterward by panelists whowere asked how Dust's ideas can be used in solutions forPittsburgh. Urban Redevelopment Authority director Rob Stephanywondered if local foundations, government and community developerstogether could embrace "a more creative team approach."
Culture and the arts, he suggested, might be helpful in setting abetter tone.
"Can an artist," he asked, "be more effective than a planner?"
No wonder Dust calls it "radical collaboration." Bring it.