Garden Boundaries

Problems

Gardens are regarded as individual spaces,
not shared spaces

With the social trend, green spaces are considered to be important places for encounter, communication and interaction between neighbours. However, even if we have gardens to share, those spaces are often used as individual private spaces or even represented by problematic places that are avoided or neglected, which may damage nature.

Main Features

What kind of garden boundaries do people really want in the future?

This project is an interactive balance board game to discuss in depth with anthropocentric and ecocentric players the present garden disputes between neighbours and to start speculating about what kind of relationship between humans and nature we should aim for in the future. The below is about the details of the game features.

Garden Disputes between Neighbours

Two Players, anthropocentric and ecocentric players understand actual garden disputes such as animal extinction and tree removal with 12 questions and complaint letters during the game.

Interactive Balance Board Game

After listening to 12 questions, the players flip the green boards (Ecocentric answers) or concrete boards (Anthropocentric answers). Also, they can participate in the game using bricks, and bridges to share their opinions actively.

Speculative Space for a Debate

The winner is a player with the most coloured boards including bricks and bridges. However, they may not be able to find clear solutions to the disputes, but they will be able to find a consensus among different opinions based on the questions asked.

Project Process

Field and Online Research

How do people live with neighbours and other living beings in their gardens?

I began having conversations about gardens with neighbours in Brockley in the summer of July and collected stories of different perspectives on using their gardens. These stories became an inspiration to start my 'Garden Boundaries' project.

Secondary Research

Collect garden dispute cases happening between neighbours with four categories

In the secondary research part, I looked at dispute cases happening between neighbours in their gardens with three categories: visual, sound, and smell boundaries at first. I, also, researched possible dispute scenarios that might happen in the future garden with surveillance technologies. Then, I collected data on the anthropocentric behaviours of neighbours towards nature.

Design Methodology

Speculative design methodolgy

Speculative design aims to open up new perspectives on current problems and to create spaces for discussion and debate about alternative ways of being in the future (Dunne et al., 2013). With the methodology, my research focused on possible dispute scenarios that might happen in future gardens after looking at the current garden dispute cases between neighbours.

Design Proposals

To what extent do you think humans have control over nature?

Among my design proposals, I chose ‘Garden Boundaries’ balance board game as a main idea for my speculative project. Inspired by a board flipping game and a balance game that we are all familiar with, I created the game process and rules that allow the participants to discuss opinions on 12 questions about garden dispute cases.

What If

We create a space for debate about
what kind of relationship between humans and nature we should aim for in the future?

Game Experiment

‘Garden Boundaries’ balance board game

I made simple game prototypes to procedure my game experiment and invited two students as game players at first. After finishing the experiment, they mentioned that the 12 questions slightly prompted them to choose ecocentric answers. Based on the feedback, I reconstructed the questions in the next game experiment to balance whether to consider nature's protection or human greed.

Experiment Iteration

Refine and improve a game process and questions by testing and gathering feedback

In the second experiment, I invited Brockley neighbours who lived in houses with front and back gardens. After the experiment was over, they were able to find various consensuss during the game. For example, there were agreements about government support for installing surveillance robots to protect endangered animals.

Speculative Game Design

Garden Boundaries

‘Garden Boundaries’ is a speculative and interactive game project providing a space for debate about what kind of relationship between humans and nature we should aim for in the future.

Interactive Game Design

After listening to 12 garden disptue questions, two players flip the green boards (Ecocentric answers) or concrete boards (Anthropocentric answers). Also, they can participate in the game using bricks, and bridges to share their opinions actively. The game provides a space for them to find a consensus among different opinions The below is about the game structure, rules, 12 questions, and complaint letter about the dispute background.

Online Game Website Design

Based on feedback from Brockley neighbours who participated in the game, I created the ‘Garden Boundaries’ online game website so that more users can participate in the game without space restrictions.

https://www.figma.com/proto/DeVcK8w5A1DsPyUlutVnkO/Garden-Boundaries?node-id=2-3&t=XaenLM44jMMZDRIe-1

'Garden Boundaries' Publication

My ‘Garden Boundaries’ publication contains the design process from initial research to proposal of potential outcomes before the graduate exhibition in November 2023. Below is the publication PDF.

Check my 'Garden Boundaries' Publication

What I’ve Learend

Critical Thinking is Crucial

Designing a game that encourages players to explore solutions to a problem, rather than just finding a single answer, was a fascinating process for me as a designer. Especially, using a speculative design methodology to analyse the garden disputes from different perspectives was particularly insightful. It was instrumental in helping me design a game that is both creative and open-ended.

Through this project, I realised that both designers and players need to think critically about problems together to find better future scenarios or solutions.

What I’ve Learend

Proactive Communication with Public

Throughout the design process, I communicated with Brockley's neighbours, sharing opinions about the garden dispute. Also, their active involvement in the experiment proved invaluable, helping to shape the game's questions and structure. While online research and data analysis are important, I believe that active communication with the public is crucial for designing a game that fosters greater empathy and understanding of environmental issues.

Even during the exhibition, I found that player feedback during the game was instrumental in identifying problems and improvements that I hadn't previously considered.