The Brief:
So for this brief, I was tasked with developing a way to bring more people back into city areas. This was a conceptual brief, set for the year 2040, so I had to consider futuristic technology as part of this.
Bloom Parks is a 24 hour park service that provides people of all ages with an environmentally friendly light show. The brand was established as a way to cut down on the use of non-renewable electricity within city areas, with the secondary function of providing security for vulnerable people whilst travelling home at night. It became more of an experience in itself however, due to the fantasy-like elements of its design; which provided a surreal aesthetic to visitors.
The parks use bioluminescent trees in order to cut down on electrical emissions, as these eliminate the need for as many streetlights (which can cost the government as much as £5 million a year). Essentially by splicing the DNA of specific marine life with bioluminescent qualities and putting it into saplings, it is possible to create trees that glow in the dark. As well as this, all of the pathways within the park have been replaced by solar-powered led strips, which provide more lighting at night.
A whopping 60% of people tend to go to their local park less than once a month, so Bloom Parks aim to get them going!
The Location:
I chose Woodhouse Moor in Leeds primarily due to the high crime rates in the area. Acts of violence and sexual assault were much higher than the corresponding area and the idea of introducing a 24 hour well-lit area seemed to be an appropriate
way of tackling this problem.
Despite the main purpose of Bloom Parks being to create a surreal aesthetic for people to enjoy, there is also that second element of wanting to cut down on crime rates, particularly sexual assault in the area. Hopefully, by making the area more safe to travel through at night, these statistics can be lowered dramatically.
way of tackling this problem.
Despite the main purpose of Bloom Parks being to create a surreal aesthetic for people to enjoy, there is also that second element of wanting to cut down on crime rates, particularly sexual assault in the area. Hopefully, by making the area more safe to travel through at night, these statistics can be lowered dramatically.
The idea is that Bloom Parks could blossom (pun intended) into a national scheme, providing areas with higher crime rates across the country a safer environment, particularly at night.
Way-finding:
In regards to way-finding, there was not really any currently existing at the park, save for a rather neglected information board. I wanted to scrap this for a more contemporary series of electronic boards (ran by solar power), which could light up at night to show directions. These boards would not necessarily be restricted to the park either, as they would also show directions to local areas of interest, such as the City Centre and the nearest train station.
