My Ideal Street – Srishti Agarwal
(she/her)
My project is about street walking experiences in Sauchiehall St and around Glasgow City Centre. Although the final outcome of my Stage 3 research is a 5-point design manifesto that can be imbibed by all creatives, I designed ‘My Ideal Street’ as a playful exercise to collect inferences of street walking experiences from my peers and the visitors of Degree Show.
Pavements as a Service
How are pavements a service? Pavements aren’t like a service. They are the longest-running public service every city already operates. Why pavements in particular? Pavements have an accessibility and a necessity factor. Nobody “opts into” it, everyone uses it, it operates 24*7! It’s free at the point of use, and it connects every other public service, which is why I feel it is an important service that needs a closer look under the magnifying lens of service design evaluation.
People who are new to Glasgow—international students, migrants and recent arrivals—experience walking in the city as a fragmented journey. Existing approaches tend to prioritise movement between destinations rather than helping people build social connection and a sense of belonging through everyday journeys. This leaves opportunities to better support wellbeing by treating walking not simply as transport, but as an experience of discovering, understanding and participating in Third Place.
‘My Ideal Street’ attempts explore how everyday walking can become an experience (and by extension, the pavement becomes the Service enabling that Experience) that supports newcomers in developing belonging and familiarity with Glasgow. Using interviews, journey mapping and an adapted service evaluation framework, I identified moments where people experience connection while navigating neighbourhoods. I want to reposition the experience of walking beyond transportation in Glasgow city centre. With the lego activity, we can map what the ‘ideal’ looks like. And then we can transform existing streets into ones that help people discover, understand and participate in community.
Pavements as a Stage
When do pavements become a stage for public opinion? This is the theoretical part of my research.
Please have a look at the five-point design manifesto at the installation in Haldane Building (2nd floor, room next to foyer) to add your thoughts, sign the manifesto and become part of the project! Looking forward to see you there 🙂
