Over the course of the three days, sustainable development team went through several iterations before coming up with a website to demo. Initially the team focused on comparing LLoyd, Division, and the River district neighborhoods and defining sustainable development. With the data we had, we couldn’t determine consistent metrics for the areas. “Every neighborhood is different,” said Emily Young, a journalism student at U of O. “They’re like little villages.” The team scrapped the comparison idea and brainstormed what kind of deliverable would be possible in the available time.
By lunch this diverse group of designers, developers and journalists, decided on creating a website to give locals a voice in development and were off to the races. We brainstormed all the features we would want on our platform. “Everyone wins in the fact that they were heard,” said Leslie Waara, a digital designer for Wieden + Kennedy. Features included notifications when a permit application was submitted, a space for locals to tell their story and suggestions for projects voted on by the people. Developer Nikolas Wise captured the purpose of the site when he said PlotPDX tells you the state of the city, users tell us what they need from the city.
To give the team the best chance at success, they decided to simplify the idea. At Nik’s direction, the unofficial tech lead, sustainable development decided to make a site where users can vote yes or no on what should be done with a vacant lot or underused building. The tech side took over one table, while graphics and copy sat at the other. Joy Alise Davis, a founder and researcher at Design + Culture Lab wrote up demographic questions so we would know who is voting. Eric Youngson, Founder and CEO of Succession Ecological Services, found the relevant data for the project.
By 5:30 on the first day, the team had made enough progress that members started heading home for the night. They went from showing a set of graphics comparing development in three different neighborhoods in the morning, to creating a tool for locals to voice their opinion on development by night.
by Robert Redding