Hello,
I can't help but say a word about the new ferries of Istanbul. Born
and raised in Istanbul, I used to cross the Bosphorus twice, every
single day, with the ferry between home and school for a long time.
It's funny... today I had my first ride in the "new" ferry after being
abroad for three months.
I guess it is the first time that I didnt worry about sitting by the
door so that it is easier to jump off to the water in case of a
disaster which seemed quite possible in those very beautiful but very
tired ferries.
I have not thought about the design of the new ferries and I dont
think they are *designed* at all. But I have experienced that they are
definitely safer. That was not an aspect that I thought mattered that
much until today's ride.
If you ride it for fun, it is nostalgic and very representative of the city
However, if you have to ride it twice a day the experience seems to
change so much! Thus, safety was a priority for me.
Best,
Cigdem
Alinti gunes tavmen <[log in to unmask]>
> First of all thanks a lot to everyone for your quick and helpfull replies.
>
> The point is, in that case I take public transportation as a case study, so
> what I had focused was the concept of 'democracy and design' or 'politics
> and design'. Maybe I should be giving more details on that particular case;
> these vapurettes they 'renewed' are in a way symbol of Istanbul and are very
> strong cultural representations. Unlike any other transportation means
> available here, there are some special social habits attached to those like
> feeding seagulls, drinking tea on the terrace etc. So it seems or at least
> seemed to me, the question here is a bit different than a general
> transportation planning.
>
> As a person who has studied 'science and technology studies - STS', I was
> expecting to find a debate on the problem of determining the 'experts' when
> society is involved in a design process. In STS, the question of 'who should
> be and/or are involved and to what extent' is a very big question, and I was
> kind of trying to apply that into design. Terry, I would appreciate if you
> could provide those references you have mentioned although I believe none of
> those techniques are applied in my city.
>
> Best,
> Güneş
>
>
> 2009/4/13 Terence Love <[log in to unmask]>
>
>> Dear Gunes,
>>
>> There is a large literature on this topic since the second world war (and
>> before).
>>
>> You could begin with a simple search on Google such as "community
>> participation transport planning". The first 500 or so web pages should
>> give you a start!
>>
>> You might also find it conceptually useful and good fun to read Illich's
>> work on transport conviviality and his book Energy and Equity.
>>
>> Also be aware that there a significant amount of work ( mainly form the
>> 1980s and now hard to get hold of) seriously criticizing the participation
>> and collaboration techniques used by planners and designers. Many of these
>> techniques are in use currently and uncritically regarded as unproblematic
>> by current planners and designers who are unaware of the deep criticisms of
>> them and the failure of the techniques in terms of equity, ethics and
>> succesful outcomes. If you want, I can provide some references.
>>
>> Good luck,
>>
>> Terry
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
>> research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of gunes
>> tavmen
>> Sent: Monday, 13 April 2009 4:19 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: a democratic design process (?)
>>
>> Dear List-followers,
>> I am currently working on a question of 'whether the proess of public
>> transportation design can be AND/OR should be democratic and
>> participative?'. It is quite difficult to find references about the 'design
>> and politics' issue whereas there is a long debate on the 'politics of
>> artefacts' from the technological point of view. There are many works on
>> politics of technology and the debate of participants, decision-makers and
>> the recipients, however I haven't found the same depth in terms of design.
>>
>> My investigation started with the municipality intervention on the sea
>> transportation in Istanbul that is a vital component of daily life of many
>> people. With the purpose of 'renewal' of a very characteristic
>> transportation means of Istanbul (they are even considered to be 'cultural
>> heritage'), the municipality had planned a drastic change to which some
>> civil groups opposed quite strongly. So as an answer to the resistance, the
>> municipality carried out a sort of online questionare with several design
>> options which was a very lame one in many ways. I don't want to get into
>> details here and rather keep it simple; consequently I ended up asking, is
>> there any way to pursue such an operation that effects public so intensely,
>> in a participative way? Or should the process be participative and
>> democratic anyway? Who are the actors, to what extent and by which way
>> should they be involved?
>>
>> In my opinion, the question of 'design and democracy' applies to public
>> transportation quite well since it primarily effects society very closely.
>> So if you know any references to suggest, I would be very glad...
>>
>> Thanks in advance and best wishes,
>> Gunes Tavmen
>> PhD Student, ITU
>>
>>
>
>
--
Research Assistant
Department of Industrial Product Design
Istanbul Technical University
Taskisla, Istanbul 34437, Turkey
t. 0212 2931310 x 2824
f. 0212 2514895
w. www.tasarim.itu.edu.tr
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