The Neighborhood Project By Akshata Malhotra
New Brunswick (New Jersey)
Week One My approach: Engaging People in the neighborhood to get information about their well being because it is them who contribute into and influence the wellbeing of a neighborhood.
How I did it: I conducted an experiment in the apartment building by asking them what they have and what they wish they had through stickers around areas where people go to mostly. This gave me insight into what they are thankful for and what they dream to get.
Stickers Format
I chose ‘I have’ and ‘ I wish i had’ as questions to keep it open ended, yet directed towards their assets and dreams.
I have... I have ______________________________________________________
What is it that you have? It could be a beautiful relationship, your favourite car, adorable kids, good health, helpful neighbors, or ANYTHING else you can think of!
I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________
You could also use drawings to describe it here :)
I have ______________________________________________________
PS- This will be totally anonymous.
I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________ I have ______________________________________________________
I wish I had... I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
I wish I had
____________________________________________
What is it that you really wish you had? It could be a 60 inch TV, a million dollars, your ex girlfriend, kids, a new shirt, ANYTHING! You could also use drawings to describe it here :) PS- This will be totally anonymous.
Post its- to introduce myself and thank them
Places where the stickers were put up
LAUNDRY ROOM Not very crowded, but people who come here have time to spare
GROUND FLOOR This is where the main exit/ entrance is
NEAR THE GYM This is also where the back exit is.
These were put up for three days and the response was great. 96 responses + a stolen sheet!
These responses turned out to be really interesting and told some stories about people’s lives.
ey & thing on
10)
#3
s(
car
m
pea c
11)
#1
#2
n(
happiness ) (12
e&
r & ambitio ee
$
he
h (3) alt
I wish i had..
#6
love (9)
fai
)
(4 th
#5
#4
$ PEACE & HAPPINESS
CAREER & AMBITION
A good job world peace peace of mind A job inner peace permanent stable job so i can I wish for nothing raise a family with a loving husband just wellbeing better writing X 2 organization happiness passion Happiness TIME everything time to enjoy life Courage more free time more control of myself more money + time An oscar meyer weiner Time everything To stay 11 forever Mike Greek stop bothering me when i work out
MONEY & THINGS
LOVE
FAITH
HEALTH
money $$$ God health girlfriend god more money and god Whatever it takes to cure all boyfriend more money and god the ills of the world millions to give to my parents so Akshat Forgiveness and hope and faith that they dont work anymore The love A pizza Alejandra crayons a girlfriend Macys Coupons a job closer to my boyfriend a new car Alejandra a chef The right woman in my life video games An autographed copy of Capital by Marx
lo
pea
#1
#2
)
4)
(1 ve
happin e
(7 ss
& ce
health( 4 )
#3 I have.. (2) ith#6
Fa
eer & A m Car
#5 $
& thing ey
Mon
ion(3) bit
#4
(2)
$ LOVE
PEACE & HAPPINESS
HEALTH
The best parents A Reason to smile a good memory good family and friends joy in life memory a good family everything I need Talent a happy little brother happiness A healthy body supportive family and friends Health on my side a good mind, a good heart sexy wife A happy life beautiful wife (baby soon) Lots and lots of mental peace and no worries a great family & loving friends wonderful girlfriend a lovely wife who is unfortunately busy studying at SVA A family, a job and trying to get education amazing friends A wonderful fiance & family A good family
CAREER & AMBITION
A family, a job and trying to get education A wonderful future A wonderful job that keeps me alive
MONEY & THINGS steak & potatores Lo mein Debt (-ve) money and god
FAITH
God on my side money and god
I wish i had..
I have...
Mapping my neighborhood
14
7 4
$
3
2
2
3
4
9 12
10
11
love peace & happiness health career & ambition $
money & things faith
Responses scaled to pts.
* ‘I have’ points towards expressed assets ** ‘I wish I had’ points towards dreams or assets they expressed to lack.
$
I wish i had..
I wish i had..
I have
I have...
Analysis: Interesting Insights
TOTAL NUMBERS: - Adding up the numbers, it was clear that the majority of people care about love, peace and
happiness
- It was intriguing that even though so much of money is involved in healthcare and religion, the least number of people mention these in my survey.
LOVE: Large no. of people
wished they got more love and even larger number expressed the love they already have. This may signify that people are happy with the love they have but want more.
MONEY & CAREER: Many people wished they had more and very few expressed their satisfaction for what they already have.
Week Two Now, my next step was to validate these indicators & insights further. For this, I conducted another experiment. This time it was more abstract.
Memories This time, I asked people to share their happiest and not-so-happy memories in the neighborhood with me through same medium. I put up posters at the same three places.
Why Memories? The previous questions- I have and I wish I had gave me insights into what people value in the present and future respectively. Now I wanted to find out what they value from the past. Also, I feel memories result in associations of places with emotions. They are absolutely subjective and can be very different for people in the same locality. I wanted to find patterns in these and compare it to the previous insights.
Happiest Memories
Can you think of a great memorable moment you had in this neighborhood?
in the neighborhood
It could be a crazy party, your first love, playing football, a picnic, making friends, moving in party, or ANYTHING else you can think of!
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
Not-so-happy Memories
Can you think of a not-so-happy moment you had in this neighborhood?
in the neighborhood
It could be getting a ticket, having an accident, a fight with your best friend, going to the hospital, crappy food at a restaurant, or ANYTHING else you can think of :)
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
I remember
Putting up the posters
What I put up - 2 posters at 3 places each - post its to introduce - Hung pens - Results of last experiment
Responses 73 responses + 2 stolen sheets!
The responses were full of interesting stories, once again.
Mapping memories
act
ties (11) ivi
in
ambition (2)
5%
Happiest Memories in the nieghborhood
inf r
tructure(7) as
& le
relations h
Not-so-happy Memories in the nieghborhood
23.3%
bition (7 am )
23.3%
activities
20%
(6)
33.3%
(10) ips
peo p
peo p
)
7.5%
24) ps ( hi
60%
structur fra
e (3
& relations e l
27.5%
Mapping Memories
60%
27.5%
Happy memories in the neighborhood
5% 23.3%
23.3%
33.3%
7.5% Not-so- happy memories in the neighborhood
20%
Total Happy Memories= 40 Total not-so-happy Memories= 30
people & relationships
activities
infrastructure
career & ambition
Analysis & Insights
More Happy memories This points out that people associate positivity more than negativity with the neighborhood.
Analysis & Insights Happy versus not-so-happy
Not-so-happy memories
Happiest memories
14
3
3 7 10
TOTAL NUMBERS People centric associations 60% of happy memories and 33.3 % of not-so-happy memories were people and relationships centric. This points out that the respondents value people and social relationships the most. No memories about money or things! It is interesting how none of the 73 responses were related to money. Something to think about! Infrastructure & Physical Environment Overall, few people related infrastructure to memories of the neighborhood. This is surprising because typically neighborhood is defined as a section of a town or city’ and we tend to think about it in the sense of physical space and environment. However, this concept may not be true.
Not-so-happy memories
Happiest memories
Analysis & Insights Happy versus not-so-happy
3
2
3 7
7
Infrastructure: Among the less no. of memories related to infrastructure, there were more unhappy memories than happy memories. This may point out that the infrastructure of the neighborhood needs to be improved. Ambition: Similar to the infratructure pattern, very few people related ambition to memories. Among those few ones, there were more of unhappy memories than happy memories. These could point out that the career aspect of wellbeing needs to be improved among people in the neighborhood.
Analysis & Insights
How value changes with time
Happiest memories
14
I wish i had..
I have
Not-so-happy memories
2
7 10
Comparing the data
$
Memories- Past value I have- Present value I wish I had- Future value
Love ,People and Relationships Last week, respondents expressed that they have lots of love, but want some more. This week, it was validated that people value love most in past, present and future as maximum no. of memories were related to people and relationships.
No memories about money or things! It is interesting how significant no. of people expressed their desire for money. But not even one response for memories was related to money.
Ambition stood last in happy memories A large no. of people expressed that they wanted improvement in career (’I wish i had’). This week, significant no. of people expressed associating unhappy memories with ambition.
These could mean that what we want (value) for future may not be something we value after attaining it.
In Retrospect “Maybe stories are just data with a soul.” - Brené Brown Inspired from Candy Chang’s before I die, it was exciting to conduct the experiment to see how people will react to it. The great response from people in the neighborhood, (where there is hardly any interaction) was surprising. It was intriguing to realize that three basic questions can result in interesting, rich data and stories. The responses for ‘Memories related to neighborhood’ signified that neighborhood is barely about the physical space in which you live. The physical aspect of neighborhood only provides a context for the experiences individuals and the community go through. From this experiment, it appears that for people, neighborhood wellbeing is associated with emotions defined by the sum total of personal and social experiences. Also, it is insightful to know that what people value highly in present (I have) and future (What i wish I had) is very different from what they value in the past.