Bangkok, Thailand, 2011
The ‘Community Lantern’ is based in Klong Toey, the largest informal dwellings area in Bangkok. The area suffers from a lack of public services, high unemployment rates, violence and crime due to its considerable drug problem. The aim of the project was to provide a safe space for children, and encourage community interaction.
The designers spent over a year researching the physical, social and cultural environment and getting to know community members to establish a trust-based relationship. Local residents were involved in collaborative activities and temporary interventions throughout the process to initiate productive collaboration.
To make it fun for children to participate in workshops, the designers used interactive solutions such as wool strings and colour stickers to mark out children’s daily routines and to point out sites of interest, such as the places where they spent most of their time. The second phase of the process involved wider interaction with the community and the implementation of a permanent intervention in one of the studied areas.