A SF citizen sits in a listening dish in the Living Innovation Zone on Market Street.
MKThink’s work with San Francisco’s Planning Department, the Exploratorium, and the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District has been written up in the Architect’s Newspaper. The Living Innovation Zone Program (LIZ) seeks to create a flexible framework that harnesses the city’s creativity by using City-owned assets, such as public spaces, and partnerships with leading organizations as catalysts for exploration, innovation and play. Check out the full article HERE.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
MKThink has deployed sensor devices around the LIZ to investigate pedestrian use patterns in and around the site in order to understand the installation’s impact on the urban environment and the interactions between urban inhabitants. By conducting this research, MKThink hopes to achieve the following three goals:
1) Track the urban impact of the first Living Innovation Zone.
2) Support San Francisco Planning in their endeavor to use data to inform and understand planning decisions as part of the Better Market Street Initiative.
3) Test/prototype MKThink’s pedestrian tracking technology in a new (public, outdoor) environment.
RESEARCH GOALS
The project is divided into an analysis and communication component, and will address each of the following questions:
A) Does pedestrian linger time increase during the LIZ installation? By how much? (Quantitative Analysis)
B) How does the LIZ facilitate an increase in linger time? How does it activate the site? (Qualitative Analysis)
C) How do we communicate this information and analysis to the general public? (Communication Piece)