What if,Self evaluation.

As a group we identified that the problem regarding empty shops and space in Leeds was rife.
Copious amounts of imagery collected through both primary and secondary methods, also looking at other projects that have been set up to acheive similar goals.
Predominantly, we used photographs of these places, gatherd by wondering around the city. We also gatherd a suffucient amount of secondary quantitative research, a few facts and figures from projects with similar intentions to our own. We analysed a specific street in Leeds called 'The Calls', collecting primary quantitaive research by recording the amount of people walking by (to gather an impression of how busy the area was) and qualitative by asking the public their views and opinions of these unused buildings and our project in general.
We found physically going out and talking to people very productive, we gained a more personal insight into how the public reacts to these places.
From talking to the public we came to the realisation that most people simply didn't like how ugly these places are and some felt quite strongly, encouraging 'knocking it down'.
Recording how active the area was and what age groups these people fell into was fairly tricky. Without stopping people, we just had to put them into vague catagories. This particular research didn't prove to be especially helpful as our outcome hopefully would affect all age groups and genders.
Another means of gathering primary qualitative research was pinning up interactive posters on the building we had focused on. This proved to be a struggle as people didn't really seem willing to stop and write on it on their own accord (on top of the taboo of writing on a public wall). We overcame this by approaching passers by in a freindly mannor and prompting them to write their thoughts with a pen we provided. This proved alot more productive and sparked some interesting conversations, in one case with an architect who had quite strong opinions.
Another area of research that we had proposed but didn't manage to get into the public eye was flyers/postcards. These would have been addressed to the college (and freepost stamped if the project was to rise to such a level) with a small script explaining the project and space for views/opinions.

Five things I have learnt about the design process...
• Research, Research, Research.
• Let the project flow. Dont restrict yourself to narrow-minded ideas.
• Share ideas, love criticism.
• More research.
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Five things I would do differently next time...
• More research.
• More qualitative research
• Get in touch with officials to push ideas forward
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