Designing for Diversity - Exchange in Paris
Service Design
Role: Student Designer
OCAD University x ENSCI Les Ateliers
Foreword
As a Canadian, French culture has always been an interesting mirror-like world compared to the one I grew up in. My family primarily speaks English, but at a young age I decided I wanted to learn French beyond what was taught to us over the course of an hour, once a week. French immersion was a totally different experience. I learned a different history of my country than one I was taught. Some of my teachers would get extremely emotional detailing chapters in Francophone history such as the deportation of the Acadian people by the English.
At the end of three years of “pure-laine” Québécois at school, we took at trip to la belle Pays herself. I fell in love with Europe, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. Thankfully, I’ve retained my French over the years through the internet (memes, videos, gaming) and it still remains a very big part of who I am. This project was highly personal for me, and something I am grateful to have experienced. In order to participate, I had to submit my portfolio and letter of intent to be reviewed by the University, and then hopefully selected.
It is tempting to write entirely in French for this part of my portfolio, but since the rest is in English I’ll do the same here, just to minimize confusion. Si tu regardes ma portfolio et sois d’un inclination Français, je vous dit bienvenue.
Ça Plane Pour Moi: Intro
First thing on the schedule after arriving in Paris, we toured the unviersity we were collaborating with: ENSCI Les Ateliers. Located in the 11th arrondissement, I would eat my morning Chocolatine down la Rue de Bastille (ouais, je dit Chocolatine parce-que j’suis Canadienne. Je sais c’est “Pain Chocolat” en Paris).
ENSCI was very different than OCAD, the great hall was more a gigantic shared workshop than anything. Located above the workshop, via some very rickety elevators were the library and classrooms. OCAD in comparison had a lot of wide open spaces for displaying curated work, even on the industrial design floor.
L'Île-Saint-Denis: The Locale
I was in for a set of long days! L'Île-Saint-Denis was quite far from our hostel. It is notoriously difficult to get to and from the island, in fact. One of the main issues we would face while working on this project. Thankfully we visited in late spring, so it wasn’t overly cold, or cold at all by Canadian standards.
We were briefed on conditions on the island before we got there, and we faced a number of issues going in. You may have noticed the title of this project is called “Designing for Diversity” and not “E’s Grand Parisian Tour”. It goes without saying then, that the residents of L'Île-Saint-Denis are members of a marginalized community. We were told the neighbourhood itself was also dangerous, and not to go around taking photos of people (women specifically). For the final output of the project, we weren’t allowed to tie anything to any specific racial identity.
France has a different view on demographics than we do in Canada. In Canada, we approach differences in culture with the idea of a mosaic. We’re a country of immigrants and First Nations. We’re all different, and it’s just something we’ve all grown up with. There’s some uglier sides to this mentality unfortunately, but for the most part we all get along. France however, is still reeling from the horrors of the late 1930s. The government has deliberately refused to collect racialized data on the census, and so we were left without any typical resources we would have in understanding the identity of the locale.
We were however, encouraged to explore the island in our groups. Apparently, the “right people” knew we were there and knew we would be poking around. We were given a larger tour and shown exact places not to go.
The Brief
The intentions of the exchange were simple: create something lasting for the children of the island. Something that would help them find their identity within the larger Parisian community. This has been a struggle, since the island is so difficult to get to via metro. Most days, we would miss the connecting bus and have to take a 20/30 minute walk to the island. The exchange was also only a week long, so we had to move fast and deliberately within the design process.
It’s worth noting here, that across the river bank was the Olympic Village for the 2024 games being built. These residents were so close, yet so far to being part of Paris.
Touring the Island
So we had no online resources. We couldn’t talk to anyone, and all we had was our wits. We were turned loose onto the island to explore. I was curious about the bounds of the island, and eventually we stumbled upon an old dock, albeit in disrepair.
And on this pavillion, was an old boat tie. I found it interesting that once this infrastructre had been here, but hadn’t remained in service. This was surprising, since Paris is home to many many tourist boat tours. As hard as we looked, we could not find anything on the history of this dock.
Other Cultures and Inspiration
One of my group members was really inspired by finding the dock! She was reminded of the floating markets back home in Asia. We loved the opportunity to create something vibrant and fun for the people of the island.
What became apparent after critique though, was how hard it would be to start with a boat from the get go. And the market was a great idea, but besides that, it didn’t link the people to the rest of Paris. If the residents wanted to continue this idea, and feel empowered to do so and recieve grant funding from the government, we needed to start smaller.
The Service Design
1). We bring in specialists from Paris in certain crafts or subjects to teach the children and families different skills. One one hand, this allows the children to discover parts of themselves through knowledge, and brings in outsiders to become more familiar with the island.
2). Every month, a different topic is introduced in the form of various workshops and community events. We decided these events would be monthly as a highlight for the residents. Not everyone is able to do weekly events, and so freqeuently could prove overwhelming. We want these events to have draw and be fun!
3). A preliminary market with tables is set up with the goods the participants from workshops and events.
4). As it becomes more popular, the market expands and begins to use stalls on the riverbank.
5). The market begins to schedule a truck that would bring goods from the environs of Paris to the island. This helps the residents bring unique goods in, without having to make the long walk to the metro.
6). Eventually!! We are able to secure funding for the boat. Not only would the boat work as part of the market, but it would ferry the children and families to important places around Paris. There’s docks all down the Seine for private boats, and many around historical landmarks. Much like the workshops, the boat would work on a monthly schedule to pick up and drop off families to museums, stadiums, and landmarks.
La Fin
At the end of the exchange, we got to present our project in front of the French government. They thought the idea was interesting, and enjoyed that we had the development of the island in mind, in a way that would prevent gentrification.
I really enjoyed being able to do first-hand field research, by delving into the island and looking for design problems in situ. It was also really great working with other students from across Europe, and getting more familiar with French culture as a whole. This project definitely influenced my wish to live and work abroad one day.