Design Walk Collaborative Community

Design thinking workshop, Social sector, Ecosystem, Bengaluru

THE CITY IS AN EXPERIENTIAL CLASSROOM

Bengaluru’s journey from a 16^th century urban vision to an 18^th century military stronghold, an administrative showcase for princely/colonial Mysore and finally Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s modern future-city in a free India created a multi-layered metropolis marked by cultural diversity and inherited contradictions. Uncovering these layers is essential in order to arrive at a deeper understanding of the city, establish a more meaningful engagement with it and locate ourselves within it.

WHY walk with us?

These out-of-classrooms, away-from-work spaces, experiential walking workshops re-interpret layers of city history and local culture to create a relevant context for Bengaluru experience. The theme-based Walks facilitate an understanding of city aspects that go beyond conventional expectations ascribed to a modern metropolis. They stimulate new ways to look, see and think differently. They are a useful exercise for visitors/ individuals, city projects, design modules or to meet a school curriculum need.

Bengaluru as a “case study” city is our way to share a deeper understanding of three broad concepts in our design walks: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Impact. These concepts are interpreted, contextualized and digested through various design thinking themes such as communities, livelihood, market, urban development, exchange economy, geography, social impact.

WHO walks with us?

The walks are both interactive and interpretative. They are for universities/ colleges, organizations/ companies, and professionals working across sectors such as design, technology, marketing, start-ups, urban development, social sector and civic spaces. We begin at 18+ years and prefer an optimum group size of 8 to12 people.

WHAT do we do during a walking workshop?

Participants walk through symbolic spaces, immerse themselves in city stories, meet local people and understand how the city’s past impacts its present. The Walks offer two options:

Half day workshop: 4 hour design walk where participants engage in a combination of activities.

Full day workshop: 8 hour (including a lunch break) all day session where participants engage in either all or a combination of activities.

A few activity examples are:

Creative mapping (base map provided)
Documenting (note taking and photography) experiences and reflections
Interactions (visiting artisans in their live-work spaces and specific manufacturing units)
Theme based task setting exercises on looking and seeing (for full day workshops only)
Discussions and presentations by the group/facilitator to compile, analyse and apply these experiences for a project need (for full day workshops only)