Looking back, to a way forward

Firstly, I would like to appreciate everyone that has read or found my blogs to contain valuable information. The blogs for me have been a good platform to contemplate current conundrums in our urban world. Blogging has been a socially motivated event, so therefore I also take this moment to congratulate my colleagues. The tutors encouraged us to write about the many thought-provoking and challenging issues. I, as a firm believer in a ‘bottom-up citizen-controlled society’ therefore chose to strongly advocate for Sherry Arnstein’s (1964) idea of sharing information as one of the ways through with we can begin to govern ourselves.

One of the main objectives/agenda for this blog was to create an environment that celebrates the diversity of thought of various stakeholders. Coming from an architectural background, the many backgrounds of the diverse cohort provided a fantastic opportunity for learning. This is because the nature of the urban environment is different in each local context and hence frames designers differently.

 Opportunity presents itself

I am still learning to communicate with the street-level bureaucrat through blog writing, because I am not particularly the most comfortable at writing. But even then, the formal-informal style of expression has helped me. The first challenging thing about blogging for me is choosing an appropriate topic. Although the tutors provided us with the ‘free-will’ to choose, this infinity of choice can sometimes be overbearing. To solve this problem, I decided early on to use the blogs as my “think-repository” for the design aspect of the module. I would dedicate time into researching key themes within my project and then redeploy them into the design. This idea proved to be amazingly effective as a means to go beyond surface-level claims in terms of my design intent.

Key Learning

In my blog posts I explored issues of politics (urban ownership), Allotments (greening alternatives), Play (unrestricted) and contestable artworks, all key themes within my design project. Looking back now, it is evident to me how my key design interests are developing alongside each other. A key theme underpinning my blogs is a people-centric approach to urban design, and by people, I mean people at the grassroots level. This might be inadvertently linked to my own development as an African in the design world. The idea of commenting on other people’s blog is also a fantastic one. It helped me in generating constructive criticisms of my ideas without the shadow of a grade.

Moving forwards

Undoubtedly, this blogging experience has been as equally impactful as the first time in 2019. Although on this occasion I would say it is even more impactful. This is because, I have had to deal with issues I was directly exploring within my design. The virtual blog meetings were also a refreshing style to traditional meetings , although I still prefer the in-person meetings. Looking forwards, I am not certain that I will write blogs in future, however I am hopeful that I can take the lessons I’ve learnt here forwards in the design of more wholistic places.

References

Arnstein, S. (1969). A ladder of citizen participation. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 35, 216-224