Multimodal Meaning – Multiliteracies and an Urban Planning Workshop

Portsmouth NH is a city of 21,000 peoples situated on the New Hampshire Atlantic Ocean seacoast. The city is challenged by growth and expansion which is changing the look and feel of the city and bringing pressure on city services and affordable housing.  Portsmouth Smart Growth for the 21st Century (PS21; http://ps21.info ) is a not-for-profit organization providing education and collaboration on growth strategies. PS21 hosted two events focused on creating engaging public spaces.  The two workshops produced a set of recommendations for future review and consideration.  Participants in the events were interested citizens without credentials in city planning and urban design.  As a result, facilitation needed to education and enable participants in design principles and then create an environment where recommendations could be created.

Day 1 Schedule

7:00 – Architectural Presentation by Emily Corbett

7:30 – Film – The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

8:30 - Discussion

 

Day 2 Schedule

Noon – Registration at Discover Portsmouth
12:30 – Presentation by Jane Lafleur
1:30 – Small group tour and downtown assessment (45 min. walk plus stops)
3:00 – Review and discussion at Portsmouth Public Library
 

Table 1 – Workshop Digital Considerations

Learning Elements

New Learning Online Descriptions[1]

PS21 Facilitated Workshops[2]

Possible Digital Experiences and Enhancements

Written

Writing and Reading – Handwriting, printed page, the screen

No written documents were provided.

Prework could have been distributed to registered attendees along with a checklist of desirable attributes.

Oral

Live or recorded speech, listening

The first workshop was hosted by local architect Emily Corbett.

The live workshop could have been created as a virtual workshop with the same speaker and presentation materials.

Visual

Sill or moving image; view, vista, scene, perspective

The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, a 1979 documentary by William H.  “Holly” Whyte was shown. It highlighted key elements of successful spaces: seating, light, orientation, entertainment, vegetation, etc. [3]

The documentary was a very effective visual in spite of its 1979 creation.

Audio

Music, ambient sounds, noises, alerts,

Presentation by urban planner, Jane Lafleur with downtown walking tour.

Multiple video walk throughs could have been created enabling a broader reach of prospect areas.

Tactile

Touch, smell, taste

Presentation by urban planner, Jane Lafleur with downtown walking tour.

It would be very difficult to create digital variants of these elements.

Gestural

Movements of hands and arms, expressions of face, eye movements, demeanors

Captured through the walking tour.

Could be captured using GoPro or smartphone videography.  These assets then become resources for further discussion and image creation.

Spatial

Proximity, Spacing, Interpersonal distance, streetscape

Achieved through downtown walking tour.

 

3-D imagery and augmented reality could be used to create “before and after” views of targeted areas.

 

Impact of Digital Enhancements

The workshops were very successful with a number of excellent recommendations.  With digital enhancements, the results could have these additional impacts.

-          The events would be archived and easily adapted for new audiences, or people who could not attend the sessions.

-          A much broader range of target areas could have been survey using digital enhancements.

 

[1] Professors Cope and Kalantzis collaborate though New Learning Online.  Multiliteracies are described in greater detail http://newlearningonline.com/multiliteracies .

 

[2] http://ps21.info/2016/10/take-a-fresh-look-at-portsmouths-public-places/

 

[3] The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, a 1979 documentary by William H.  “Holly” Whyte , explores the successes and failures of public spaces in New York City  Through the film and an accompanying book, Whyte and his team chose a variety of public spaces and set about observing and recording how and why people used them.  http://www.citylab.com/design/2011/10/social-life-public-space/237/