Smart Social Spaces Product Sprint

We wrapped a very successful Product Sprint in conjunction with UNSW’s Built Environment ‘Smart Social Spaces’ Research Team, Georges River Council and Street Furniture Australia! 

The 22 participating students workshopped in teams over 3 days in response to the following challenge:

How might we re-design public spaces and develop smart street furniture to increase amenities in parks and plazas and improve the efficiency of asset management for local government councils?

The purpose of this product sprint was to discover new opportunities and applications for social outdoor spaces that advance upon the existing smart street furniture: the Healthy Living Hardware (HLH) pole and the ChillOUT Hub. Additionally, exploring different uses for the data collected by the Smart Asset Management (SAM) Dashboard, currently being used by the installed infrastructure.

The program schedule was crafted to guide students from deep research, to divergent thinking and finally refining their idea through convergent thinking methodologies. Participants engaged in Design Thinking, Ideation and Rapid Prototyping sessions and pitched to a panel of industry expert judges at the end of day 3!

The winning team, “Our Place”, pitched a new design for the ChillOUT Hub to be located in Redfern, transforming the chosen site from a transient thoroughfare to a destination. Attempting to transform the space into a place for community engagement and participation, acknowledging the history of Redfern as well as its growing multicultural community. “Our Place” presented a considered design approach through its functionality and purpose.