Mind the System Challenge
<Researcher, Reporter, Graphic Design
Project Overview
Mind the System Challenge was a group project that was completed through a course at University of Waterloo. My team and I had to find a problem in todays social environment and how might we be able to think differently and make a change to improve an existing social environment.
My Contributions
Conducted Research to find the problem in a current social enviroment, finalized the report, and incoporated designs in the the final Map the System submission.
Social Environment Issue?
We first had to choose a topic and an area to focus on, based on our core idea, we had to come to the conclusion that our topic would be in the lines of how might we improve public transportation.
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Narrowing Down the Topic💭
We came to this conclusion by the method of reducing bias and influence from other members. We then created a problem tree with the goal to narrow down our topic and come up with a solution. I played a large role in organizing this problem tree, categorizing the specific topics to narrowing down our problem to public transportation.
Problem Tree
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Below, you will find an expanded Cause and Effect table that builds upon the previous problem tree, highlighting key areas for further research to better understand the underlying issues contributing to the public transportation challenges in the Greater Toronto Area.
Causes
Effects
- People don't want to be dependant on public transportation
- People want immediate transportation
- Delayed timing - Not affordable
- Lack of people using the system - Not always reliable
- Street cars get held up by traffic
- Weather - Lack of Government Funding
- Infrastructure
- City planning
- Essentials are far from residence
- Poor experience on public transit
- More comfortable alternatives
- More cars on the road
- Traffic congestion
- Increased CO2 output
- Driving becomes less appealing
- Safety Hazards
- Limited space on the road
- Weather
- Road conditions - City planning of essentials in central location serving a large area
- Essentials are not close enough to walk, need to drive - Forced to drive because public transportation does not reach the suburbs
Research
After finalizing the topic and the problem, Our group conducted the research for the problem and a solution. I conducted secondary research to find and prove this existing problem of influx of industrial and commercial vehicles and what resolutions can be made in the transportation system to upkeep with urbanization. The research document can be found here below.
Research DocumentVisual Map
Once the research was completed, we began creating the visual map where I worked on designs and piece our research finding together.
Final Conclusions and Findings
From working on this project, I learned how crucial it is to go into the research phase. There were some secondary research that was not so apparent when originally starting the project. So after completing secondary research, our team was able to have a better grasp on what solutions would solve the problems at hand.
Also, if we had more time, we would have liked to research more about the effect that winters in Canada cause on transport to bikers/pedestrians as Canadian winters can be particularly harsh. More data about traffic and public transport use from Toronto specifically is an area where more data needs to be collected to find more specific and unique gaps to Toronto's transport system.
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