Over 300 million people in China smoke cigarettes. Indeed, throughout most of China, cigarette use is widely accepted and even promoted, while many people don’t believe or fully understand the harm cigarettes can cause. This project attempts to understand why cigarette smoking is so popular. Specifically, I ask whether certain social customs and cultural beliefs are driving tobacco-use in China. To address this question, I conducted background research on tobacco-use in China and other countries and examined the effectiveness of several strategies to control tobacco use. I also conducted an anonymous on-line survey of current smokers, past smokers, non-smokers, and second-hand smokers (n=458) focusing on the role of cultural beliefs in shaping attitudes about smoking behavior. The result of my research suggests that culture does play an important role in determining attitudes towards smoking and smoking behavior. Based on these results, I provide several culturally specific recommendations for limiting tobacco use in China.
Archives: Projects
Designs by Origin
Human behavior can be understood through the lens of evolutionary psychology as the product of biological and psychological adaptations to an ancestral environment. This approach serves as my conceptual basis for design as I ask the question, how can we create public spaces best suited to our evolved needs as Homo sapiens? I begin the process by compiling a list of evolutionary theories for a variety of human behaviors. Preliminary designs for public spaces in a range of urban contexts are then sketched, expounded upon using digital design software including Adobe Illustrator and clarified for inclusion in my final product, the urban design look book: Designs by Origin. Existing public space designs accessed online serve as precedents within the final lookbook and as inspiration during my creative process. Accompanying my final designs are explanations of the evolutionary theories that inspired them as well as visual aids addressing both my creative process and the underlying science. This exploration of evolutionary psychology and urban design in tandem reveals a new method for design and a new lens through which the urban environment can be viewed. Designs by Origin will provide urban designers of all disciplines with an understanding of the dynamic natural process that produced their intended users and a relevant method for using this information to inform public space design.
Nature’s Value
In our world, we standardize worth with money. We determine a market price for everything we care about–objects, services, experiences, information, time–and can compare worth between seemingly incomparable concepts. Anything that doesn’t have a market value is very difficult to count or weigh; and nature is one such concept. Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) is a way of attaching a market value to ecosystems in order to give them weight in policy decisions, to justify investments in environmental stewardship, and to reduce costs long-term. By assessing the monetary values of the goods and services ecosystems provide to humans, we can attempt to determine nature’s contribution to the economy and begin to give nature stake in larger issues. ESV has great potential for both businesses and government organizations that are trying to reduce their environmental footprints while increasing their economic well being. While the concept of ESV dates back to the late 1950s and early ‘60s and is used worldwide, ESV is not a ubiquitous practice. By creating a booklet with design inspired by popular educational video series, I seek to introduce the general public to the concept of ESV in the hope that they will be inspired to want to learn more, to engage in conversation about it, and to normalize the practice of accounting for the environment. In the booklet I establish credibility by explaining the history of ESV. Then, I outline ESV methodology and discuss applications of ESV through several case studies. The booklet concludes with actions the general public, businesses and government organizations alike can take in order to account for nature’s contributions to the economy and promote environmental sustainability.
Participatory Mapping for Community Engagement and Empowerment
Mapping and spatial analysis can be powerful tools for producing knowledge and making decisions. Participatory mapping, which is a “bottom-up” form of map-making, can enable local communities to be directly involved in these processes. Participatory mapping can vary from small community workshops to online mapping applications, but whether a certain technique will be successful at engaging and empowering communities is dependent upon a variety of social, economic, and technological factors. This project explores the potential of different participatory mapping techniques for engaging and empowering local communities, particularly in small-scale asset-based planning efforts. Through a comprehensive literature review, an analysis of a set of case studies, and a survey of participatory mapping participants, I identify advantages and disadvantages of three different participatory mapping approaches. I synthesize this research into a set of best practices for selecting a participatory mapping method and conducting mapping activities, which can provide guidance for those who are hoping to use participatory mapping in their own spatial decision-making processes. While there is no single approach that will always be successful, this project can help planners and community leaders better understand the benefits and drawbacks of certain mapping techniques in order to more effectively engage and empower their communities in spatial decision-making processes.
Small Steps in Downtown Renton
Located 12 miles south of Seattle, the city of Renton is undergoing rapid growth and is searching for ways to activate underutilized land in the Downtown Civic Core. This project analyzes one of these vacant parcels – a former Big 5 lot that is connected to Piazza Park and Gateway Park and has the potential to serve as a gateway to the city. In particular, I am interested in how civic engagement and participatory design can bring citizens together to form alliances and personal connections to their built environment. To explore these topics I researched place attachment, successful examples of temporary space activation, site information about the Big 5 lot, cultivated community relationships, and organized a series of design charrettes that involved Renton communities.
Having this series of open design charrettes gave the community the opportunity to get involved in the changes happening to their neighborhood. Participants envisioned designs for a pop-up park that will sit in an area of the built environment that they know best and in the process were able to connect with neighbors they may otherwise have never met. This is the beginnings of encouraging civic engagement and reinforcing a strong community foundation in Downtown Renton to begin the conversations for future developments to comes as the city works to align with the Civic Core Plan to revitalize Downtown Renton.
The Ballard Mural Project
Rapid urbanization is a tidal wave that is taking over many Seattle neighborhoods that we know and cherish. Identical large scale apartment buildings are tearing down culturally significant buildings and simultaneously tearing away at the identity of a neighborhood. A way to combat this unforeseen growth is urban art. On top of combatting this urban growth, urban art also has a lot to offer the business owners, residents, and visitors of an area. Urban art is beginning to be more widely accepted around the world and is seen as a way to beautify our streets while also combatting illegal graffiti. Business owners and community organizations are considering the benefits of introducing murals onto their businesses and communal areas. The purpose of this project is to work jointly with The Ballard Alliance, whose Business Improvement Plan includes a section highlighting the importance and goals of implementing urban art in the commercial core of Ballard, and create a mural on a wall within the Ballard Improvement Area. Working with a non-profit in such a unique and vibrant area of Seattle such as Ballard will provide an example to the greater community that murals are a great medium to showcase an area’s identity, combat urbanization, and a way to support the arts.
From Rust to Robust
Have you ever wondered what happens to old factories or industrial sites when they are no longer being put to use? This project explores the effects of different redevelopment sites around the country and some of the lessons learned from these projects. These lessons will then be looked at in the context of Bellingham, WA as the city looks completely redevelop an old paper mill into a brand-new waterfront.
How Motivational Speaking Can Change to Empower Latina Women
Motivational speakers choose to share their messages to attentive audiences in hopes of uplifting and inspiring listeners to make positive change. However, despite their encouraging spirits, motivational speakers can strive to be more inclusive by acknowledging how women of color encounter certain barriers such as cost, representation, and specificity in programs that may prevent them from feeling the empowerment that is supposed to come along with a speaker’s moving message. For my project, I looked at four categories that made up the larger themes of my research: background information on motivational speaking, improving accessibility, focusing on representation, and program specificity aimed for women of color. I analyzed various sources that provided background and additional context for my project question, and then organized that collective information in the form of a literature review. Next, I reached out to motivational speakers, and interviewed three Latina women who are active in the motivational speaking event community, in order to inquire about how cost, representation, and program specificity influences or incentivizes motivational speaking events. In evaluating current literature regarding the motivational business and the importance of representation, I’ve explored how speaker background, market, and advertising influences tickets cost; how representation in speakers lead to empowerment and affirmation; and how program specificity for women of color encourages inclusivity and encouragement. Lastly, I combined the knowledge gathered from my sources and interviews to demonstrate how I believe that it is important to change certain factors of the motivational business so that it can positively transform the impact of speakers on women of color.
Graduating Green
In recent years, the University of Washington has promoted itself as a green leader in higher education and has made significant strides towards increasing sustainability efforts on campus. One area in which the University has not focused heavily on sustainability is in the curriculum. To address this gap, I developed a basic framework for implementing a new undergraduate sustainability graduation requirement. This framework and the founding of a student coalition to support a sustainability graduation requirement initiative will serve as the initial steps in what I anticipate to be a multi-year implementation process. To develop the framework, I have researched sustainability requirement policies at other universities; reviewed policies at the University of Washington which would support a sustainability graduation requirement; solicited feedback and support from UW faculty, staff, and students; and studied the University of Washington’s Diversity Credit as a case study for a student-led initiative to change University of Washington graduation requirement policy. Based on this research, I then created a series of recommendations detailing a recommended action plan for implementing a UW graduation requirement. To ensure this project continues after I graduate, I have also formed a new student coalition and registered student group to foster campus support for the requirement and work with university faculty and administration to pass the policy through the appropriate channels. If this new requirement is enacted it will not only help the University of Washington emerge as a true leader in sustainability higher education, but will also ensure that graduate of the University of Washington understand sustainability and its applicability to their lives and careers, making them more prepared to tackle emerging global challenges.
Reclaiming Identity through Space: Designing for the Multiracial and Multicultural
The population of multiracial and multicultural individuals in the United States has steadily risen, but few public spaces have been designed to represent them or express their identities. Individuals in this group can find themselves feeling isolated from spaces because they feel like “imposters” or that they have to choose only one part of their identity to belong. How can we create public spaces that encourage people to express all parts of their multiracial or multicultural identity in a way that is inclusive, educational, and encourages cultural exchange? Through research of existing design methods and practices, this project addresses how public spaces can be created to include multiracial and multicultural individuals. I provide design methods and practices in four categories: cultural exchange; cultural education; safety and inclusion; and expression. These methods are compiled into a set of guidelines and best practices to guide designers through the creation of multiracial and multicultural spaces. These guidelines fill a gap between white and other mono-cultural spaces to create public spaces where multiracial and multicultural individuals can find belonging in. As a product created for designers, these guidelines bring the multiracial and multicultural identities into conversations and processes that they would not normally be a part of. This project reflects my own desire to see my multiracial and multicultural identity and others like me reflected in public spaces and serves as an example of why spaces like this are important and why representation matters.