Second Session of the Design and City Workshop Has Been Held

The second session of the Design and City workshop, hosted by “Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy” (TAK) and organized by Küresel Aktiviteler NGO (KANGO), took place on Sunday, February 23 at 13:30. A total of 24 participants met in Kadıköy for the second phase of the project, which aims to approach the city problems with a design-oriented approach.

Problems are Detected by Participants

In the second session, the participants were made to identify problems. In this context, as a first stage activity, a game was played to empathize with different approaches of different cultures. In this game, the participants were divided into groups. They were given certain cultural patterns and were asked to internalize these patterns. Then, participants with different cultural patterns were asked to interact with each other and communicate effectively. The groups coded on using different etiquette, different greeting and communication types tried to contact each other for 20 minutes. Problems, difficulties, easy and fun aspects during these contact and communication attempts were discussed immediately after the activity. Emphasis was placed on the importance of empathy and the ability to wear someone else’s shoes.

Election Simulation Game Played

Immediately after the empathy activity held at the first stage, the role-play activity prepared for the participants was started. At the role-play event, the participants were divided into two as citizens of an imaginary city and candidate politicians for mayor. Politicians decided, on the one hand, the policies they intend to present to the public. On the other hand, participants in the role of the public took various approaches to four different topics at four different tables prepared for them. While making these approaches, they entered various folk roles given to them. They got the chance to analyze the needs and desires of people in every segment of society by taking roles such as taxi drivers, tradesmen, and businessmen. Participants in the role of politicians shared their own programs and propaganda at a later session. Propaganda speeches were followed by mutual question and answer activities and the voting stages that are part of the simulation game.

Thanks to this activity, the participants identified the urban problems of people from different segments of society. They had the chance to observe the processes experienced by policymakers during the decision stages. In addition to these two main goals, they also had the opportunity to develop their skills such as speaking in front of the community, expressing their opinions in group conversations, and the ability to persuade.

At the end of the day, all participants created outputs with personal urban problems and possible solutions for people from different segments of society. These outputs will be available in the next session, the problem determination phase.

Next Session will be held on March 8^th

After the second session, which was very productive, the meeting was ended with the promise of meeting at 13:30 on March 8, Sunday. We would like to thank everyone who participated and did not leave us alone with their energies. Hoping to meet on March 8.

You can watch the 2nd day summary on our video.