neighborhood booklet

8/12/2019 Neighborhood Booklet

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TheNeighborhood

Project

By Akshata Malhotra


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New Brunswick(New Jersey)


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My approach:

Engaging Peoplein the neighborhood to get information abouttheir 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 askingthem what they haveand what they wish they hadthrough

stickers around areas where people go to mostly. This gave meinsight into what they are thankfulfor and what they dream to get.

Week One


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I have...I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

I have ______________________________________________________

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!

You could also use drawings to describe it here :)

PS- This will be totally anonymous.

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

Stickers FormatI chose I have and I wish i had as questions to keep

it open ended, yet directed towards their assets and

dreams.


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LAUNDRY ROOM

Not very crowded, but people whocome here have time to spare

NEAR THE GYMThis is also where the back exit is.

GROUND FLOOR

This is where the main exit/entrance is

Places where the stickers were put up


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These were put up for threedays and the response was great.

96responses + a stolen sheet!

These responses turned out to be really interesting and

told some stories about peoples lives.


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I wish i had..

peace

&happines

s(12)

love(9)health(3)

#1

#4

mon

ey&things(10)

care

er&ambition(1

1)

#2

faith(4

)

#5

#6

#3

everything

passion

more control of myself

organization

A good job

Courage

permanent stable job so i can

raise a family with a loving husband

An oscar meyer weiner

everything

A job

better writing X 2

CAREER & AMBITION LOVEMONEY & THINGS FAITH HEALTHPEACE & HAPPINESS

wish for nothing

just wellbeing

Time

To stay 11 forever

Happiness

peace of mindnner peace

Mike Greek stop bothering me when i work out

more free time

more money + time

happiness

world peace

time to enjoy life

TIME

Alejandra

a girlfriend

boyfriend

The right woman in my life

The love

Alejandra

Akshat

a job closer to my boyfriend

girlfriend

$

a chef

more money and god

An autographed copy of Capital by Marx

a new car

A pizza

Macys Coupons

crayons

money $$$

video games

millions to give to my parents so

that they dont work anymore

godmore money and god

Forgiveness and hope and faith

God health

Whatever it takes to cure allthe ills of the world

$


8/24

I have..

love(1

4)

Career&Am

bit

ion

(3)

Faith

(2)

#1

#4

health(4)

peac

e&happiness(

7)

#2

Money&thin

g(2)

#5

#6

#3

A Reason to smile A family, a job and trying to geteducationA wonderful futureA wonderful job that keeps me alive

CAREER & AMBITION

joy in life

everything I need

happiness

a good mind, a good heartA happy lifeLots and lots of mental peace and no worries

PEACE & HAPPINESSThe best parentsgood family and friendsa good familya happy little brothersupportive family and friends

sexy wifebeautiful wife (baby soon)a great family & loving friendswonderful girlfrienda lovely wife who is unfortunately busystudying at SVAA family, a job and trying to get educationamazing friendsA wonderful fiance & familyA good family

LOVE

Lo meinDebt (-ve)

money and god

steak & potatores

MONEY & THINGS

$

money and god

God on my side

FAITHa good memorymemory

TalentA healthy body

Health on my side

HEALTH

$


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$

$

Ihave...

Iwishi

had..

Mapping my neighborhood

love

peace & happiness

health

career & ambition

money & things

faith

Responses scaled to pts.

14

9

7

12

4

3

1110

4

32 2

* I have points towards expressed assets** I wish I had points towards dreams or assets they expressed to lack.


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Ihave...

Iwishihad..

Analysis:Interesting Insights

Adding up the numbers, it was

clear that the majority of people

care about love, peace andhappiness

TOTAL NUMBERS:

-

It was intriguing that even though somuch of money is involved in health-care and religion, the least number ofpeople mention these in my survey.

-

$Ihave

Iwishihad..

LOVE: Large no. of peoplewished they got more love andeven larger number expressed

the love they already have. This

may signify that people arehappy with the love they havebut want more.

MONEY & CAREER: Manypeople wished they had moreand very few expressed their

satisfaction for what they alreadyhave.

-


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Week TwoNow, my next step was to validate these indicators &

insights further. For this, I conducted anotherexperiment. This time it was more abstract.


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Memories

This time, I asked people to share their happiestand not-so-happy

memories in the neighborhood with me through same medium. I put

up posters at the same three places.

Happiest Memoriesin the neighborhood

Can you think of a great memorable

moment you had in this 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

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 Iwanted to find out what theyvalue 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 patternsin these and compare it tothe previous insights.


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Not-so-happy Memoriesin the neighborhood

Can you think of a not-so-happy

moment you had in this 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


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Putting up the posters

- 2 posters at 3 places each- post its to introduce

- Hung pens- Results of last experiment

What I put up


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Responses

73 responses + 2 stolen sheets!

The responses were full

of interesting stories, onceagain.


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Mapping memories

Happiest

Memories

in the

nieghborhood

peopl

e&relationship

s(24) ambition(2

)

60%5%

infra

structure(3

)

act

ivitie

s(11)

27.5%7.5%

Not-so-happy

Memoriesin the

nieghborhood

pe

opl

e&relationship

s(10)

activities(6

)33.3% 20%

am

bition(7)

infra

structure(7)

23.3% 23.3%


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Happy memoriesin the neighborhood

activities career & ambition

60%

Not-so- happy memoriesin the neighborhood

33.3%

23.3% 23.3%

20%

27.5%

7.5%5%

Total Happy Memories= 40

Total not-so-happy Memories= 30

MappingMemories


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Analysis & Insights

More Happy memories

This points out that people associate

positivity more than negativity with

the neighborhood.


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Happ

iestmemories

Not-so-happy

m

emories

14

10

7

3

3

People centric associations

60% of happy memories and 33.3 % of

not-so-happy memories were peopleand relationships centric. This points

out that the respondents valuepeople and social relationships the

most.

Infrastructure & Physical Environment

Overall, few people related infrastructure to

memories of the neighborhood.This is surprisingbecause typically neighborhood is defined as asection 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.

No memories about money or things!

It is interesting how none of the 73 responses were

related to money. Something to think about!

TOTAL NUMBERS

Analysis & InsightsHappy versus not-so-happy


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Analysis & InsightsHappy versus not-so-happy

Ha

ppiestmemories

No

t-so-happy

m

emories

7 7

3

3

2

Infrastructure:Among the less no. of memories related toinfrastructure, there were more unhappymemories than happy memories. This may

point out that the infrastructure of theneighborhood needs to be improved.

Ambition:Similar to the infratructure pattern, very fewpeople related ambition to memories.Among those few ones, there were more ofunhappy memories than happy memories.

These could point out that the career aspectof wellbeing needs to be improved amongpeople in the neighborhood.


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Analysis & Insights

Comparing the data

How value changes with time

Happiestmemories

Not-so-happy

memories

14

10

7

2

$Ih

ave

Iwishihad..

Memories-Past valueI have- Present value

I wish I had- Future value


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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 inhappy memories

A large no. of people expressed

that they wanted improvementin career (I wish i had). This

week, significant no. of people

expressed associating unhappy

memories with ambition.

Love ,People and RelationshipsLast week, respondents expressed

that they have lots of love, but wantsome more. This week, it was

validated that people value love

most in past, present and future as

maximum no. of memories wererelated to people and relationships.

These could mean that what we want

(value) for future may not be

something we value after attaining it.


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Inspired from Candy Changs before I die, it was exciting to conduct

the experiment to see how people will react to it. The greatresponse 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 isassociated 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.

In Retrospect

Maybe stories are just data with a soul.- Bren Brown


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