Rural Roads, Product Design Summer Intensive

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Parsons the New School for Design Summer Intensive Studies 2007 Product Design Professor: Robert Rabinovitz Assistant: Eddie Chiu

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.�

- John Dewey

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

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RESEARCH:

One fourth of Mexico’s population lives in extreme poverty in the rural communities of the country.

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

Education is the key for progress in poor populations. Children in Mexico are given this right and obligation to attend elementary school, but most of the time, the poorest kids have the toughest time in order to get to school. Bad road conditions in rural Mexico make it difficult for kids to go to school.

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

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RESEARCH:

Mexico has 226,465 km of rural roads that are unattended and in very poor conditions. ( the total of roads is 342,181 km) The raining season registers about 500 storms per year, this goes from June till October. Other problems that relate are floods and diseases that can be spread.

18% of the population are not educated, only 19% finish elementary, 10% percent continue school and only 9% goes to college.

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RESEARCH:

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

7

RESEARCH:

Recarpeting roads or any type of fixing is “temporary� due to the extreme weather.

Specific problems are floods, landslides, mudd, potholes. They make it dangerous for kids since the provoke injuries and sickness.

There are many different types of environments in rural mexico, like deserts, forest, mountains, rural towns and riverside communities.

This conditions make skiping school something common which causes clases to fall back and children to get poor grades.

This makes moving forward in school dificult and may end up dropping out.

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RESEARCH: Jose 5th Grade

Lupita 7th Grade

Miguel 9th Grade

Son of a coffee grower, lives in the mountain

Daughter of a farmer, lives in a ranch

Son of a fisherman , lives by the lake.

Walks 30 min to school Grass and rock road Huge potholes

Bikes 25 min to school Dirt road

Walks 40 min, rides bus 20 min Poorly paved road, floods constantly Doesn’t go to school when it rains

Often gets his feet wet and sick Travels with his brother to school Likes playing soccer in recess

Large amounts of mudd Gets very dirty and damages her bike Travels alone to school Highly motivated about school

Walks alone and meet friends at bus stop Not interested in school.

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

9

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RESEARCH:

The government has a program to give this children bikes, but under the road conditions it becomes harder to bike than to walk.

The government and military only give relief to the rural communities when a disaster occurs, meanwhile the roads deteriorate drastically.

The main problem about this rural roads are that very few people ride them, and the people who do aver very poor, so there is little interest to fix them.

Most of this roads were spontaneously created and not planned so any solution is only temporary.

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO

helping kids go to school

Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

11

RESEARCH:

Education Future Dreams Opportunity Frustration Disappointment Tragedy Rain

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

ia r e t i r C n g DESi

The outcome of this project will: Facilitate the trip between home and school.

Easy to tranport.

Low cost.

Long lasting, or reusable.

Quick to implement.

Not affect nature.

Anyone will be able to use it.

Encourage kids to go to school.

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 13

Concepts:

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 15

1: # t p e c n o c

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 17

2: # t p e c n o c

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 19

3: # t p e c n o c

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 21

:

on i t c e r i D n Desig

Geo Textiles

Plastic Mats

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Biodegradable

Cement

Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

:

on i t c e r i D n Desig

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 23

:

ON I T C E R I D N DESIG

Light weight biodegradable mat, easy to carry, can be rolled up. It’s surface consists of cement particles and plant seeds that are both release to the ground when laid on the mudd, the particles react to the water in the soil, drying it almost inmeadiatly. The plant seeds will create vegetation during the next days helping to fix the road in the long run.

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

:

ON I T C E R I D N DESIG

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 25

on i t c e r i D n DESig

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Jorge Diego Etienne Ortega

Parsons the New School for Design

Summer Intensive Studies 2007

RURAL ROADS IN MEXICO Product Design

Professor: Robert Rabinovitz

Assistant: Eddie Chiu

helping kids go to school 27