Understanding The Challenges of Navigating Construction in NYC
Client - New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC)
Project Overview
The DDC acts as the primary capital construction project manager across all boroughs of New York City. Through this research project the DDC aimed to understand the diverse ways in which people interact with construction sites, and identify the challenges faced on a regular basis. They aimed to increase community awareness about conventional infrastructure projects in the public right of way.
Team Members
Field Observation: Akshata Karekar, Sagarika Konanuru
Diary Study and Co-Design Worshop: Cathy Hu, Jun Hou Kok
My Role
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Conducting field research and user interviews to understand how residents, city dwellers and visitors interact with construction pits.
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Designing a dairy study to enhance our understanding of peoples day to day challenges.
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Developing and facilitating a Co-Design Workshop to help promote collaborative ideation.
The Challenge
The DDC presently finds it difficult to serve the needs and limitations of people impacted by construction.
Through this ethnographic and field research the DDC aims to:
Understand how people's lives are impacted by the nature and frequency of interruptions caused by construction.
Gather insights into the challenges faced by people and identify possible solutions to help inform future design decisions.
Key research questions to facilitate better understanding of client goals
01.
How do people interact with and navigate around the construction sites in New York City?
02.
What are people's primary needs while navigating around construction sites in New York City?
03.
How does construction and its surrounding environment influence people'e behaviours and emotions?
Research Approach
The journey of identifying and empathising with people's needs
FIELD OBSERVATION
Observing New Yorkers "in the wild," noting first-hand impressions of their interactions.
DIARY STUDY
See how someone's day is affected on a day-to-day basis and understand how they feel.
CO-DESIGN WORKSHOP
Facilitate empathy and a collaborative understanding of the target audiences' needs.
Site Observation & Field Research
Observing the environment around the York Ave and 61st St construction pit
Our team and a few other classmates visited the site on different days and timings. Our observation focussed on understanding how pedestrians, tourists and residents of the city had adjusted to the construction.
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The construction pit itself seemed deserted but was surrounded by a high amount of footfall.
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People seemed indifferent about the construction or the fact that the sidewalks were blocked off.
Majority of the pedestrians were medical practitioners from nearby clinics, residents, delivery agents and traffic cops who did not seem bothered by the traffic, noise or the limited space on the sidewalk..
Although there was a board explaining what the construction was about, no one really made an effort to glance at it to find out more information.
The information stated on the newsletter was in English and wasn't very legible.
User Interviews
How do New Yorker's feel about the construction?
As part of the field research, we interviewed residents, pedestrians and visitors around the construction site to gague their understanding of the construction project and identify their challenges.
"That the sidewalk is blocked sometimes so I have trouble walking my dog. I wish it wasn’t there."
"It's ridiculous honestly! It's been here for so long and no one knows when its ending."
Annoyed by the inconvenience
Karen, Pedestrian
Angry due to the lack of communication
" It has changed my route. Plus it takes longer to do my job as the traffic signals are longer than usual"
Don, Delivery Agent
Frustrated by the interference in his job
Joe and Tracy, Residents
Key Themes & Big Ideas
While indifference is the overall sentiment, people do care about the personal impact of construction.
Impact v/s Annoyance
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People personally impacted by the constant interference, care most about construction activity, specifically regarding when it will end.
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Non local residence do not care to know or find more information about construction sites they pass by.
Hyper- Local Information
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Locals receive information from hyper local sources: community meetings, boards, newsletters, talking to other locals, doormen etc
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An issue with hyper localized information is that not all locals are connected to community resources.
Loss Of Faith
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People don't have much confidence in city endeavours as they barely see any active work happening.
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Residents feel that there is no point trying to find out more details as they have no control over the situation.
View our observations and interact with people on the field through the interactive prototype below.
Designing the Diary Study
Gathering deeper insights into people's day-to-day experience's with contruction sites
4 Participants living near or traveling past construction sites regularly were asked to document their interactions with the site over the course of 3-5 days. The aim of the Diary Study was to gather in depth insights into the impact of construction on peoples day to day lives, their behaviours and emotions.
The Diary Study required participants to:
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Jot down their journey & highlight a key moment
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Use a sticker/emoji to express their feelings
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Use stickers to visualize their journey
At the end of the diary study, they are asked to summarize and reflect on their experience. They are also asked to describe the ideal experience of interacting with construction sites.
An example of a participants diary study: Mapping their commute navigating a construction site
Co- Design Workshop
Facilitating empathy by shifting focus to people's primary needs and concerns
To help people better empathise with the challenges faced by city dwellers as a result of the construction and account for accessibility my team decided to conduct a Co-design workshop.
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To ensure our proposed solution addresses the primary needs of people navigating construction, we designed our workshop to focus on design interventions for personas with a diverse set limitations and strengths. We used the Cards for Humanity Deck by Idean to facilitate persona generation and considerations.
Co- Design Workshop Example
Scenario: Pedestrians have to cross the street on a road with no sidewalk due to construction blocking the sidewalk on the usual path.
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Consider:
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How would your persona get to their destination in this scenario?
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Suggest some improvements to satisfy their needs and help them get to their destination safely?
Participant Response Example
Affinity Mapping
Evaluating people's challenges and trends while interacting with construction
We utilised an affinity map to analyse our data. We took note of participant observations, behaviours, challenges, emotions, and grouped them accordingly.
Evaluating people's challenges and trends while interacting with construction
Affinity Mapping: Key Insights
3 Fundamental focus areas to reduce the impact of construction
01.
Accessibility & Inclusion
Challenges navigating construction sites, and the subsequent negative sentiments can be reduced to some extent by providing more accessible alternatives.
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Access to Resources
Providing easy access to updated information on specific construction sites via webpages or chatbots will help in effective and transparent communication.
03.
Supporting Those Impacted
Provide support to residents near construction sites who face temporary disturbances (noise, water, electric, pests, etc) and connect them with available resources.
Accessibility
There is a need for universally accessible resources to accommodate a wider and diverse audience.
I felt concerned for other people walking past traffic cones
- Diary Study Participant 3
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It's imperative to cater to the diverse needs and challenges of people navigating construction sites around the city. Acknowledging that people have unique needs, strengths, and limitations is the first step towards accounting for accessibility and inclusion.
RECOMMENDATION
Ensure all resources and artifacts follow universal design principles.
Having a tool to translate fundamental information into various languages and accents.
Incorporating features to accommodate people with diverse limitations.
Ensuring signages are placed at easily accessible areas and match peoples mental models.
Ease of access to resources
New Yorkers want consistent updates and easy-to-access communication regarding street construction.
They said it’ll come off last year. But now we don't know when it will end
- Diary Study Participant 3
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The lack of progress and updates on construction sites causes people to feel annoyed and results in a loss of faith in city endeavours. New Yorkers want to know what the construction would look like once completed, the duration of construction, why it's being done, which areas are affected, and when construction is going on.
RECOMMENDATION
Leverage existing apps or other digital platforms to provide updated information.
New Yorkers prefer information that is concise, updated, comes from a trusted source and from a mode of communication that they already use or check often
A mode of communication that can be easily integrated into existing digital infrastructure
A platform that allows the information to be personalised to their needs/ locations.
A platform that provides information that people can trust and rely on.
Offering additional support
People want to feel compensated for the inconveniences and challenges caused by construction.
It's an inconvenience because people find it hard to locate the centre and drive past the entrance most times as they fail to notice the driveway.
- Diary Study Participant 3
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Residents and other New Yorkers affected by construction would appreciate additional help and resources and will help them feel like their voices and concerns are heard.
RECOMMENDATION
Establish a communication platform to make people feel acknowledged.
Residents, commuters, pedestrians and visitors should all have the opportunity to raise concerns regarding their interactions with construction around the city.
To make people feel acknowledged and understood it would be effective to provide New Yorkers with a digital tool where people can:
Raise concerns and clarify queries
Provide suggestions and solutions
Request additional help and assistance
Next Steps and Future Scope
Providing up-to-date information about construction, designing with accessibility practices in mind, and facilitating open communications will improve New Yorkers' experiences with construction sites.
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Continued research should be conducted regularly to stay informed about New Yorkers need, and to inform future decisions in terms of construction and/or communication design.