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Thesis Project at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology - Bengaluru, India

Rituals of Refuge

Rituals of Refuge

Introduction

About Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology - Bengaluru, India

About Srishti Institute of Art, Design
and Technology - Bengaluru, India

Bachelor's Degree 2019-2023

The Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, is a multi-disciplinary design school established in 1996 by Geetha Narayanan in Bangalore, India.

Bachelor's Degree 2019-2023

The Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, is a multi-disciplinary design school established in 1996 by Geetha Narayanan in Bangalore, India.

Overview

Overview

Overview

Emerging practices in design are increasingly focusing on ideas of inclusion and diversity. There are multiple bodies of knowledge that are being produced in literature and academia as well around the topic. Many of the ideas and concepts on design inclusion (for example “Intersectionality Theory”, “Design-Thinking” etc.) are constantly oversimplified or misinterpreted in media and social media. Also, not all concepts of inclusive design make sense for all physical contexts (public spaces, systems, books, furniture, services etc.) However, what both the design industry and design research need more than ever today, is a bridge that connects theories and practice when it comes to inclusive design practices.

Emerging practices in design are increasingly focusing on ideas of inclusion and diversity. There are multiple bodies of knowledge that are being produced in literature and academia as well around the topic. Many of the ideas and concepts on design inclusion (for example “Intersectionality Theory”, “Design-Thinking” etc.) are constantly oversimplified or misinterpreted in media and social media. Also, not all concepts of inclusive design make sense for all physical contexts (public spaces, systems, books, furniture, services etc.) However, what both the design industry and design research need more than ever today, is a bridge that connects theories and practice when it comes to inclusive design practices.

Methodology

Research Through Design

Research Through Design

Theme

Inclusivity

Inclusivity

Activities

Observing Activities - The entire class was divided into two groups. We were asked to choose one road around Yelahanka and pick points to sit and observe the activity at that spot. This activity helped us develop our observation skills on-site and draw insights from different times of the day. As a group, we were able to sit and discuss the different observations we made and plot them accordingly.


Cognitive Mapping - The activity was aimed to understand how different people navigate their way through a certain space. Understanding the different aspects of wayfinding and being able to communicate with strangers was one of the main takeaways from this.

Observing Activities - The entire class was divided into two groups. We were asked to choose one road around Yelahanka and pick points to sit and observe the activity at that spot. This activity helped us develop our observation skills on-site and draw insights from different times of the day. As a group, we were able to sit and discuss the different observations we made and plot them accordingly.


Cognitive Mapping - The activity was aimed to understand how different people navigate their way through a certain space. Understanding the different aspects of wayfinding and being able to communicate with strangers was one of the main takeaways from this.

Methodology

Research Through Design

Research Through Design

Activity 1 : Cognitive Mapping
Employee Vs Student ( Questioned both demographics to understand how each of them
understand the area)

Activity 1 : Cognitive Mapping
Employee Vs Student
( Questioned both
demographics to
understand how each of them
understand the area)

Questions asked to the students (Demography: 18-21 years old) :

  1. How do you commute from point A to point B ? ( Point A,B being 2 campuses of the college)

  2. What are the landmarks you keep in mind while taking this route?

  3. Which route do you prefer? (Considering all student have different routes of commuting)


Questions asked to an employee in an office next to the college (Demography: 24-27 years old) :

  1. How do you travel from home to office?

  2. Are you well versed with this area? Do you walk around a lot?

  3. While travelling from home, which landmarks do you keep in mind?

Questions asked to the students (Demography: 18-21 years old) :

  1. How do you commute from point A to point B ? ( Point A,B being 2 campuses of the college)

  2. What are the landmarks you keep in mind while taking this route?

  3. Which route do you prefer? (Considering all student have different routes of commuting)


Questions asked to an employee in an office next to the college (Demography: 24-27 years old) :

  1. How do you travel from home to office?

  2. Are you well versed with this area? Do you walk around a lot?

  3. While travelling from home, which landmarks do you keep in mind?

Activity 2 : Observation of infrastructure around areas of public transit

Activity 2 : Observation
of infrastructure around
areas of public transit

Observations:

  1. Travel Points - Auto Stands/ Bus Stands/ Cab Stations/ Railway station route

  2. Staff in and around the metro stations

  3. Ticket system

  4. Overhead bridges for pedestrians

Observations:

  1. Travel Points - Auto Stands/ Bus Stands/ Cab Stations/ Railway station route

  2. Staff in and around the metro stations

  3. Ticket system

  4. Overhead bridges for pedestrians

TOPICS OF INTEREST

  • Accessibility

  • Accessibility

  • Signages

  • Signages

  • Last Mile Connectivity

  • Last Mile Connectivity

  • Demographic Studies

  • Infrastructure laid for different demographics travelling through public transit

Infrastructure laid for different demographics travelling through
public transit

  • Demographic Studies

  • Infrastructure laid for different
    demographics travelling through
    public transit

Questions for behavioural
analysis


  1. How does a female traveler respond to metro stations? (Behavior/Physical Movements/Strategies/Decision Making Process)

  2. How would this mapping take place? What sort of analytical tools would be brought in?

  3. How does a woman make full use of the last mile connectivity options ?

  4. How does a female passenger’s interaction with the environment change with respect to time?

Infrastructure of a transit space

- Sytem Analysis

Research through design

Crowd interaction with public transit spaces

Crowd interaction with

public transit spaces

Study of accessibility and last mile connectivity for

the crowd

Study of accessibility

and last mile connectivity

for the crowd

The process would include breaking down the system bit by

bit to understand the complex

The process would include

breaking down the system

bit by bit to understand

the complex

It would start off with studying the existing design theories

and later progressing onto site visits for prototyping

It would start off with

studying the existing

design theories and later

progressing onto site

visits for prototyping

Women Interacting with public

transport - Behavioural Analysis

Traditional Research

Study of body language/ behaviours/ clothing choices/

decision-making/ safety/ time - based decisions/

demographic mapping

Study of body language/

behaviours/ clothing

choices/ decision-making/

safety/ time - based

decisions/ demographic

mapping

Observation study

Site based research -> deriving insights ->

outcome building

Site-based research ->

deriving insights ->

outcome building

Frame participatory activities to solidify assumptions

Frame participatory

activities to solidify

assumptions

Research Methodology

Research
Methodology

Participatory research

Participatory research

Games, image mapping etc.

Games, image mapping etc.

Interviews

Interviews

2 min conversations with commuters

2 min conversations with commuters

Secondary research

Secondary research

Existing literature - case studies, conducted activties etc.

Existing literature - case studies, conducted activties etc.

Mapping

Mapping

Stakeholders. impact etc

Stakeholders. impact etc

Questions for behavioural analysis

  1. How does a female traveler respond to metro stations? (Behavior/Physical Movements/Strategies/Decision Making Process)

  2. How would this mapping take place? What sort of analytical tools would be brought in?

  3. How does a woman make full use of the last mile connectivity options ?

  4. How does a female passenger’s interaction with the environment change with respect to time?

Activities

Activities

Mapping the surroundings

Mapping the surroundings

Images from the neighbourhood

Images from the neighbourhood

Mapping urban flows
and relations

Mapping urban flows
and relations

Strengths/ weakness
(positive/negative emotion)

Strengths/ weakness
(positive/negative emotion)

Image mapping

Image mapping

Response to scenarios

Response to scenarios

Ideas

Ideas

Women interacting with public transport
(Behaviour Analysis)

Women interacting with public transport
(Behaviour Analysis)

  • Traditional research

  • The study of body language/behavior/ clothing choices/ decision making/ safety/time based decisions/ demographic mapping

  • Observational study and participatory research

    ( interacting with women on site - conversational based/ image mapping/ short and effective conversations/ categorization games)


    Research questions:

    1. How does a female traveler respond to a space of public transport?

    2. Would it be possible to analyze this behaviour in this space?

    3. Research type: Ethnographic/ Historical/Evaluation

Infrastructure
( System Analysis )

  • Research through design

  • How the crowd interacts with public transit spaces

  • Study of accessibility and zero mile connectivity


Research questions:

  1. How do we track down traveller's activity with the digital/ physical infrastructure laid out at metro stations?

  2. Can there be screen based improvisations to the current infrastructure ?

  3. What kind of mapping/ research methodologies can be brought in to study these interactions ?

  4. Research type : Exploration/ Comparative

Line Of Enquiry

How does a female traveler respond to a space of public transit? How does it affect their experience with regards to mobility?

Further questions to answer:
1. Is the same experience for all women?
2. Do they use any specific strategies? If so, how can it be documented
and analyzed?
3. Are there certain decisions that are made during a transit? ( Based on time/safety etc.)
4. Do we see women using the infrastructure laid out for all travelers - last-mile connectivity, and ticketing spaces?

(More detailed questions are added in the proposal)

Detailed Research Questions

Detailed Research Questions

How does a female traveler respond to a space of public transport ?

How does it affect their experience with regards to mobility?

Are women able to utilize the surroundings of a metro station to its full extent?

Is there a change in behavior? If so, how can it be noticed/observed?

Are there strategies applied when using these spaces?

Is there a certain advise that women would like to give to first time travelers?

Are there certain decisions that are made during this entire journey and why?

Does the decision making happen to impact their time of travel?

How does it affect the use of infrastructure provided to these travelers?

Do they end up using the last mile connectivity infrastructure like bus/autos/cabs or do they decide to walk?

Does the time of the day happen to affect their chosen mode of transport from the metro station?

How do they perceive fear and safety in spaces like this, does it happen to affect the way they navigate through these spaces?

How can the above stated questions be mapped/analyzed/documented?

Methodologies

Methodologies

Informal Interviews:

Informing the participants that this conversation is part of a research project, to make them feel comfortable and informed about the information they can share/we are looking out for through this conversation.

Questions like :
1. Where are you traveling from?
2. Do you use the metro often?
3. What time of the day do you prefer traveling in, using public transport? Etc.

Image based mapping:

A vs B images will be placed in front of the participant and asked to choose which image they would pick in a certain situation and why ?

Example: A dark road vs A well lit/ full of a activity road.
A collection of photos put out in a collage and the participant would be asked to assign colors (red/yellow/green) based on the emotion they would feel when imagining themselves in that particular space.

Walk alongs:

This activity would be preferable with someone that I already know because walking along with a complete stranger might not be the most comfortable situation for both parties. If I happen to conduct this, I would like to focus on every interactions that they make from the start of the journey till the destination point.

1. How do they reach the metro station?
2. How do they navigate through the metro station?
3. How do they access the facilities in the metro station?
4. What interconnectivity infrastructure do they use? Etc.

Informal Interviews:

Informing the participants that this conversation is part of a research project, to make them feel comfortable and informed about the information they can share/we are looking out for through this conversation.

Questions like :
1. Where are you traveling from?
2. Do you use the metro often?
3. What time of the day do you prefer traveling in, using public transport? Etc.

Image based mapping:

A vs B images will be placed in front of the participant and asked to choose which image they would pick in a certain situation and why ?

Example: A dark road vs A well lit/ full of a activity road.
A collection of photos put out in a collage and the participant would be asked to assign colors (red/yellow/green) based on the emotion they would feel when imagining themselves in that particular space.

Walk alongs:

This activity would be preferable with someone that I already know because walking along with a complete stranger might not be the most comfortable situation for both parties. If I happen to conduct this, I would like to focus on every interactions that they make from the start of the journey till the destination point.

1. How do they reach the metro station?
2. How do they navigate through the metro station?
3. How do they access the facilities in the metro station?
4. What interconnectivity infrastructure do they use? Etc.

Documentation and Insights

Documentation and Insights

Observations through pictures

Observations through pictures

Participatory activites

Participatory activites

Interviews conducted on site

Interviews conducted on site

All participants gave their consent to take notes
 and to be recorded - A total of 30 interviews were conducted

( Link to all the interviews : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eK5vLWcKKk7lCkGbDb4aUqzEFbIGo7Ll/view?usp=sharing)

Data Visualisation

Data Visualisation

To get a better understanding of the interviews, I created word clouds for each of them.

Top 5 words used during interviews

Top 5 words used during interviews

What do we understand from
these research tools?

What do we understand from
these research tools?

  • Provides a perspective of how women of this city perceive the metro stations

  • If they find it safe/unsafe and how they dress/behave/take certain decisions

  • Gives us an idea about time based decisions being taken by them

  • It allows us to understand their purpose for using the metros

Insights

Insights

There was a clear difference in decision making/ behaviour within the groups of women ( below 28 and above 28)

The exclusions that played out here were in terms of safety, social power/status and exclusions. that are solely led due to cultural mindsets and stereotypes

The exclusions that played out here were in terms of safety, social power/status and exclusions. that are solely led due to cultural mindsets and stereotypes

The activity was able to inform a few decisions that women take in metro spaces i.e preference to having women around in the coach environment (this again, varied based on their age)

In the ladies coach, if there were approximately 60 ladies in the coach, more than 40 of them could be seen wearing indian wear (sarees and kurta sets). A lot of them were wearing scarves and masks as well.

In the interviews, a few of them mentioned about standing near the ecit in general compartments to get fast access to the exit - one of the few tactics used by women on a day to day basis

Women in the age group, above 28 had a different lookout towards dealing with verbal harrasment/being stared at - they seems to rely more on "BOLD ACTIONS" as mentioned by one of the interviewees

Women in the age group, above 28 had a different lookout towards dealing with verbal harrasment/being stared at - they seems to rely more on "BOLD ACTIONS" as mentioned by one of the interviewees

Infrastructure wise, there were female guards stationed near the ladies coach to make sure that no men tried to enter the ladies coach but this system was only visible at the main metro station which was Majestic

Infrastructure wise, there were female guards stationed near the ladies coach to make sure that no men tried to enter the ladies coach but this system was only visible at the main metro station which was Majestic

A few incidents that contradicted my assumptions were where the men in the coach would actively create some sort of a physical distance between themselves and the woman in the picture, which depicted body language playing a role in spaces of transit

Women travelling in groups of 4-5 would hurdle up and create their own space and look our for each other in different senses

The advice that each of the interviewees gave varied largely based on their age but most of them emphasised on how it can get overwhelming to travel in general compartment for which they suggested that a first time traveller should probably board the ladies coach in their first few trips

The average rating of the experience of women, for the 15 women interviewed in 7.8, the most common reason for them cutting down the rating was "Safety"

Time based travel i.e preferences during rush hours leaned more towards the ladies coach as it would make women feel less of a need to stay in an "alert" state and they could travel with some sort of a relaxed state after a long day of work/college

When asked why they still prefer the metro, the most common words used as a unison were "convenient and cost effective" because they kept emphasising on how autos get stuck in traffic and in fact increases their travel time and is also very heavy on the pocket when taken during a rush hour

The activity, A vs B scenario mapping, helped me inform my questions regarding the decision making process of an average woman traveller in the metros

Outcome Ideas and Way Forward

Outcome Ideas and Way Forward

What gap am I bridging?

What gap am I bridging?

Concept Note

Concept Note

The goal is to raise awareness and promote behavioral change among citizens regarding women's experiences when using public transport. Existing literature often overlooks abstract concepts like emotions, behavior change, body language, and decision-making that women go through while traveling. Our visual journal, "Rituals of Refuge," illustrates these instances to help policymakers and infrastructure developers empathize with women and use it as a secondary research tool.

Additionally, we've created a guideline book for developing "Public Behavior" aimed at instilling a mindset of creating safer spaces for women among boys from a young age. We've also crafted animation scripts for display in metro coaches and stations, encouraging men to be mindful of their actions and suggesting ways to contribute to a safer environment for women through small actions. All these outcomes aim to make future mindsets and infrastructure more considerate of the daily challenges women face in public transit.

The goal is to raise awareness and promote behavioral change among citizens regarding women's experiences when using public transport. Existing literature often overlooks abstract concepts like emotions, behavior change, body language, and decision-making that women go through while traveling. Our visual journal, "Rituals of Refuge," illustrates these instances to help policymakers and infrastructure developers empathize with women and use it as a secondary research tool.

Additionally, we've created a guideline book for developing "Public Behavior" aimed at instilling a mindset of creating safer spaces for women among boys from a young age. We've also crafted animation scripts for display in metro coaches and stations, encouraging men to be mindful of their actions and suggesting ways to contribute to a safer environment for women through small actions. All these outcomes aim to make future mindsets and infrastructure more considerate of the daily challenges women face in public transit.

Outcome 1

Link for the book:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ad9w-BwqXQvm7sOML2Co8QcPmP0GUKnT/view?usp=sharing

Outcome 2

Link for the course and animation script:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BNFBtmSeAd8LbuCUbqeoVlr1Wv5-g10C/view?usp=sharing