FLIP

The solution provides examined methods for turning Tehran’s alleys into public spaces. Tehran’s alleys carry potentials to operate as public spaces; due to their spatial features and socio-cultural characteristic of their residents. It appears that transforming alleys from static, minor, and neutral spaces to dynamic, interactive, and livable places requires collaborative placemaking processes.

FLIP in collaboration with Terhan Urban Innovation Center examined collaborative urban development models to enhance the spatial qualities of Tehran’s alleys. In its initial phase, FLIP selected Jozi alley as a project site in Khan Sefid, using Design Thinking and Tactical Urbanism to define, design, and implement the changes in a one-day event. It keeps continuing its movement through Instagram, and helping anyone who is interested in turning their alley into a public space.

FLIP could positively change the lives of millions because its method is flexible to utilize in any place in the world.

Tehran’s alleys used to be a place for neighborhoods’ gatherings through socio-cultural activities. However, different factors such as political, social, and urban developments slowly diminished this closeness and turned alleys from a public space to a passing area. For example, the fear of being judged based political and social viewpoints,coupled with urban developments, created destructive consequences, such as social isolation. This isolation affected people’s sense of belonging to their neighborhood and stopped them from communicating with the rest of the community.

It appears the alleys could turn into public areas if the created activities are focused on objective actions motivating residents to involve in doing things together rather than focusing on their differences.

Activating alleys based on residents' preferences will motivate dwellers to step out from their houses, and engage them in socio-cultural activities created near to their habitats. This can help residents to rebond with their community, and find common interests with their neighborhood through shared social activities within their lane.

Alleys operating as public spaces in Tehran serves everyone in the city; citizens, dwellers, tourists, and anyone who utilize these areas. The main focus of the alley’s socio-cultural activities is based on the resident’s preferences. The dweller's preferences are collected using design thinking and tactical urbanism methods.

For example, FLIP had four stages of gathering resident’s preferences and using them to activate Jozi alley for a one-day transformation. In this process first, it identifies the stakeholders and space issues through surveys and municipality's archives. Second, it synthesizes its information into several prototypes. Third, it examines the chosen prototypes in a temporary event to gather feedback on its solutions. Finally, the fourth stage was documenting the results of its prototypes to reach a permanent solution based on dweller's feedback.

This process created a sense of trust between FLIP, alley’s residents, and the municipality. This valuable relationship will facilitate future activation through FLIP. For instance, other alleys requested from FLIP to do the same transformation in their areas as well. This achievement was FLIP’s first attempt in presenting the possibilities of turning Tehran’s alleys into public spaces.

FLIP is aligned with Tehran Urban Innovation Center's policies in examining models of citizens’ based urban developments. FLIP considered Tehran alleys’ spatial and residents’ socio-cultural characteristics and used Design Thinking and Tactical Urbanism methods to gather dweller’s preferences, recommend, and implement the possible solutions in a one-day transformation.

FLIP in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC) provided a booklet of 101 ways for activating an alley in Tehran based on FLIP’s experience in turning Jozi Alley into a public area. This booklet described the process which FLIP used from the first step until the last one in activating Jozi alley. The process was divided into five phases, inspired by the Project for Public Spaces framework for placemaking.

 The steps were :

• How to choose the alley and team members
• Identifying stakeholders and their  preferences
• Discovering the alley’s spatial issues
• Creating possible visions for the alley’s future
• Short term changes with long term consequences

FLIP uses Instagram for promoting its results for simple, light, and quick solution for turning Tehran’s alleys into public areas. Also, the booklet is available on TUIC’s website for free for anyone interested in creating such changes using FLIP’s methods.

FLIP practiced its method for turning Tehran alleys into public areas using design thinking and tactical urbanism. Many placemaking firms are using tactical urbanism around the world to activate public spaces, and FLIP was able to utilize this method in Tehran’s context too. Tactical urbanism is a western method created and developed in New York, which has never been used in activating Tehran’s alleys.

FLIP identified Tehran alleys’ potentials for becoming public areas and created a two-week workshop in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation center to apply its methods. We decided to use a quick, cheap, and light way like tactical urbanism to break barriers for turning Tehran’s alleys into public areas,

FLIP aims to create short term changes for long term impacts. The method uses one-day transformation for testing its possible solutions and collecting feedback to reach permanent implementation. This viewpoint will facilitate involving residents who are living in the alley for a short time because this type of users contribute to identifying space issues. Using up-cycled materials for activating the alley, breaks the financial barrier for such changes. Finally, the one-day transformations motivate the dwellers to recognize the possible impacts and choose the ones that practically work for their alley.

FLIP’s innovative process facilities reflecting people’s preferences in designers’ proposals for the Tehran’s alleys.

FLIP uses Social Media such as Instagram to bring awareness among people about using its method to help them activating their alley and turning their lane into a public space. This process is a type of movement that FLIP is promoting by using a hashtag called Tehran-placemaking. The hashtag helps followers and everyone to share their ideas for collaborative Tehran placemaking with others.

FLIP also invites people through Instagram to learn about Tehran’s placemaking booklet available for free on Tehran Urban Innovation Center’s website. The interested dwellers can use the booklet to apply the recommended process and activate their alley. The booklet gives a full description of how to identify alley’s stakeholders, creating team members, discovering space issues, proposing possible solutions, and implementing short term changes with long term impacts.

Also, people can reach FLIP through Instagram to ask for a consultation about their recommended solutions, enhancing their ideas for a one-day transformation in their alleys.

FLIP’s Instagram also provides an opportunity for people to share their experiences and results with interested followers. Municipality and architecture firms are interested in using the data collected from FLP’s Instagram to use it in their designs. Therefore, this relationship between people and decision-makers for the city’s planning is facilitated through FLIP’s Instagram and provides the opportunity to create an official virtual platform for connecting people and the city’s designers for the future.

FLIP's process helps breaking barriers that stops residents from involving in activating their alleys.

First of all, some of the dwellers hesitate to involve in activating the public areas because many of them are tenants and they do not live in an alley permanently. Secondly, financial barriers and costs of turning a lane into a public space prevent residents and municipality for initiating any changes. Third of all, the duration of existing processes for turning an area into an open area is also another obstacle in residents’ way to turn their alleys into livable and interactive spaces.

FLIP was able to address these three issues and recommend a process in solving these problems. FLIP aims to create short term changes for long term impacts. The method uses one-day transformation for testing its possible solutions and collecting feedback to reach permanent implementation. This viewpoint will facilitate involving residents who are living in the alley for a short time because this type of users contribute to identifying space issues. Using up-cycled materials for activating the alley, breaks the financial barrier for such changes. Finally, the one-day transformations motivate the dwellers to recognize the possible impacts and choose the ones that practically work for their alley.

After FLIP's first implementation, Jozi alley's residents, municipality and other neighborhood near to this area were very interested in activating their lanes. Neighborhood's dwellers realized the potentials of their alleys and looking for collaboration with FLIP to apply the same process in activating their lanes.

Our solution serves the residents and passersby of all the alleys in Tehran. In our initial phase at Jozi Alley, FLIP served six residential houses which had thirty occupants. We asked one question using four different tools to gather their preferences. The tools were designed in a way so people could choose to draw and/or write to share their opinions. For example, there was a panel fixed to the wall, asking this question: “what do you want to see, hear and leave in your alley?” People could draw or write their preferences on the board and share their answers with us .

After FLIP’s first implementation, there was another studio at Tehran Urban Innovation Center that called “We Bridge”. They turned one of the Tehran’s under bridges into a public space and served people who passed Roshandellan Bridge everyday. All FLIP’s experiences and data were used in this studio and directly contributed to We Bridge’s outcome.

In five years, FLIP aims to serve anyone who is interested in Urban Collaborative Placemaking in Iran, motivating and teaching citizens and firms to actively involve in creating public spaces based on their preferences.

FLIP was made in response to the social isolation its creator recognized during the time she was growing up in Tehran. Mojdeh Kamali realized the diversity among people and the gap between their preferences offered in public areas in Tehran, did not let like minded people to find each other. She proposed turning Tehran’s alleys into public areas because lane’s spatial features provides the context for implementing activities.After FLIP’s initial attempt, and receiving positive feedback from the Jozi Alley’s residents, she decided to continue expanding her work and reach out to many people in Iran as possible.

FLIP’s method can impact lives through involving dwellers in activating their neighbourhood by themselves, and increase residents’ sense of belonging to their community.

In the next one year, FLIP will keep providing materials to inform Tehran’s dwellers about its method through Instagram. Meanwhile FLIP’s creator is working on a virtual platform for public spaces problem-solving in which everyone can share their problems in public areas, recommend solutions, learn what others have shared on the platform and leave their comments on others submissions. This platform could possibly create a big data from user’s submissions which can facilitate bottom-up urban placemaking for city’s designers and decision makers. FLIP is a possible example of what a user could submit to this platform. The platform will be run in fall 2019 and it could become a link between people’s preferences and city planners for public spaces, resulted in enhancing the public areas directly by people.

FLIP could face political and financial barriers during its operations. From the political viewpoint, the government do not encourage gatherings, and this could decrease people’s motivations in participating in collaborative placemaking. The core elements of collaborative urban placemaking is people’s participation, which could be limited by Government.

The other destructive factor is country’s financial instability. Iran have been facing many financial crisis and most of the sponsors and city’s decision makers prefer to allocate their funds to priorities such as food, and housing.

These two factors could decrease FLIP’s pace in growing and reaching all cities in Iran. However, both political and financial barriers have solutions and FLIP will not stop operating because of them.

 FLIP has to keep the municipality in the loop and to be clear about its plan and implementation for applying its process on any alley in Tehran to break the political barrier. For example, FLIP’s initial attempt happened in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC), and the municipality was informed about the whole plan and its process. Another critical solution to this barrier is TUIC, which plays a significant role in FLP’s survival.The center is founded by the well-known architect, Dr.Nashid Nabian, and the center’s connections with municipality aids breaking the barriers for projects like FLIP.

The financial barrier has two solutions. First of all, Tehran Urban Innovation Center sponsored FLIP from the beginning, and the center has been providing connections and resources from other institutions interested in funding collaborative urban projects. The other solution is funding through promoting brands that contribute to activating alleys in Tehran. For example, in FLIP’s first attempt, a kid’ carpentry called, chakoshe sabz, sponsored the kid’s activities in the laneway. Also, the bakery at the Jozi Alley provided bread and coffee for people who visited the alley during the one-day transformation.

FLIP used both solutions to implement its first attempt, and it appears it can keep working using these key points and breaking the financial and political barriers on its way.

FLIP is part of a larger organization called, Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC).

TUIC is a design-by-research, research-by-design practice, dedicated to developing ideas for smart urban solutions for contemporary Iranian cities.TUIC aims at tackling pressing urban issues through deployment of novel technologies with the ultimate goal of making existing Iranian cities smarter, more resilient, and as sustainable as possible.  The center is open to international collaborations and is eager to be a part of the global knowledge exchange network of urban innovation and other research & development entities that are operating under Smart Cities and Smart Citizens Initiatives all around the world.

FLIP was created by Mojdeh Kamali in collaboration with TUIC in May 2018. TUIC provided the connections and resources for FLIP's two-week workshop to activate Jozi alley and kept supporting the project by helping it to reach out to more audiences in Iran.

Mojdeh Kamali is the creator and leader of Flip. The project's first phase happened through two-week workshop at Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC) in which three architecture students, Niloofar Abounoori, Bahareh Niyazi, Shadan Borounmand, and one industrial designer, Fatemeh Ghaffari,  joined the team to design the one-day transformation at Jozi alley. The full-time person in charge of developing and promoting FLIP is Mojdeh Kamali, and the part-time contributor is, Mahdi Najafi, TUIC's head of research.

Mojdeh Kamali is passionate about public space design and its impact on
people's lifestyle. Her passion and curiosity to that end directed her
to join communities in which people seek to explore and offer designs
for a human scale public space. She is a business graduate from the
University of Tehran and is currently studying Master of Architecture
with a focus on social sustainability at the University of Calgary.

Mojdeh Kamali created FLIP in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC) and she will keep working with them.
TUIC  provided physical space, team members, networks with potential sponsors for Mojdeh to develop FLIP's idea. Also, TUIC aids her to develop the next stage of FLIP, which is a problem-solving virtual platform for public spaces in Tehran. TUIC requires Mojdeh to deliver a 101 ways for activating an alley in Tehran based on her experiences during FLIP operation, and to write a full report about activating Jozi alley on May 2018. The requested booklet is available on TUIC's website for free and the report will be published on September 2019.

FLIP is a social entrepreneurship, created by Mojdeh kamali in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation Center ( TUIC).

Key resources:

• Project for Public Spaces resources for placemaking
• Mojdeh Kamali’s experiences with Vancouver Public Space Network in Tactical Urbanism, and her continuing relationship with them
• Dr.Nashid Nabian, founder of Tehran Urban Innovation Center, as the project’s coordinator.

Key Activities:

• Educating everyone in Urban Collaborative Placemaking
• Managing projects in turning alleys into public space

Partners and Key Stakeholders:

• Tehran Urban Innovation Center is FLIP’s partner
• Tehran’s citizens are its current stakeholders
• Iran’s citizens are its future stakeholders
• Municipality also plays as a stakeholder
• Anyone interested in placemaking

 Type of Intervention:

• Light, quick, and cheap changes for creating public spaces
• Promoting people's intervention in city's planning

Channels:

• FLIP’s Instagram
• TUIC’s website and Instagram
• FLIP’s future monthly magazine

Segments:

• Anyone interested in collaborative urban placemaking
• Decision makers in city’s planning

Value Proposition:

• Decreasing social isolation among citizens
• Promote people’s participation in designing and improving their city
• Creating a link between people and city’s designers.

Revenue:

• FLIP’s services in educating about Urban Collaborative Placemaking
• FLIP’s services in managing projects for turning alleys into public areas
• FLIP’s future monthly Magazine
• Donations

Cost Structure:

• Providing content for FLIP’s online and physical platform

FLIP's financial sustainability relies on its main sponsor, and three services it offers.

FLIP's main sponsor is Tehran Urban Innovation Center (TUIC), providing physical space, team members, and networks with potential sponsors for Mojdeh Kamali to develop FLIP's idea.

FLIP’s first service is educating people, architecture firms, and municipality's researchers educated in collaborative urban placemaking. First they can read FLIP’s 101 booklet uploaded on TUIC’s website for free, then for further collaboration they can require for workshop packages and specific consultations through either TUIC’s networking or FLIP’s Instagram.

The scond one is the monthly magazine FLIP's creator, Mojdeh Kamali, is currently making in collaboration with TUIC to reach out to more audiences across the country. The magazine will be sold among municipality’s decision makers, city planners, designers, and bookstores, the target is anyone who is interested in collaborative urban placemaking and learning to turn their alleys into public spaces.

The third one is managing projects for turning alleys into public areas. The potential clients are municipality and architecture firms which are interested in using urban collaborative placemkaing to implement their designs.

FLIP is looking forward to joining supportive communities, funders and experts to develop its project. The Solve MIT community helps FLIP to design its model in a way that practically operates in its best possible way resulted in creating public spaces in Tehran that could potentially decrease social isolation.   

Mojdeh Kamali believes that MIT Solve aids FLIP to reach to more audiences in Iran, so interested people in Urban Collaborative Placemaking could join FLIP and the idea grows into networks of placemaking all around the country. She thinks MIT Solve community  also helps her to learn how social entrepreneurs sustain their social impact and their revenues.

Mojdeh thinks in order to flip forgotten bonds between people, people have to make it happen through a team of individuals who are interested in doing things together. MIT Solve provides such a context and collaboration, helping social changes like FLIP to sustain and grow.

FLIP has to keep updated about Urban Collaborative Placemaking to be able to reflect people’s preferences in turning their alleys into public areas. Many placemaking in the world is also working on this social change and their resources help FLIP to educate itself and grow everyday. However, FLIP’s creator, was able to implement the project because of her real experience in tactical urbanism with Vancouver Public Space Network, therefore, she thinks reading materials is one side of the story and gaining experiences is the other contributing factor to FLIP’s success.

FLIP is looking forward to create a partnership with placemaking teams such as Gehl, Project for Public Spaces, HCMA, and placemaking firms that are interested in working with projects like FLIP.

FLIP is very interested to partner with these organizations :

Dialog:

This is one of the Canada's leading architectural firms
that involves in many projects using innovative models for social,
economy, and political sustainability.

HCMA :

Mojdeh Kamali's first inspiration for turning Tehran's alleys into livable areas was from HCMA's project in Vancouver, leading her to FLIP's creation. 

Project for Public Spaces:
Their online resources and experiences were used during the time Mojdeh Kamali was developing FLIP at TUIC.

Gehl :

Their tools for observation were used during FLIP's two-week workshop at TUIC.

MASS Design Group :

They use lo-fab, standing for local fabrication which means using local effort and materials to build up their communities. FLIP is using up-cycled materials to develop its project, therefore, learning strategies like lo-fab could be very beneficial for its future.

The GM prize could helps FLIP to implement one-day transformations in Tehran's alleys. The more alleys present their potential as public areas, more city's planners get interested in Urban Collaborative Placemaking. The power of this method could only happen through presenting its impact and people 's direct involvement in the process.

FLIP uses the fund for

1. Promoting its future problem-solving virtual platform for public spaces

2. Creating networks of placemaking in Iran to reach out to more audiences in Iran

3. Monthly magazine's production

This prize helps FLIP to cover the mentioned expenses and be available for different demographics across the country.

FLIP's method is focused on reflecting people's preferences in their alleys and turning their lanes into public areas. This method also provides the opportunity to motivate women and girls in Tehran in Iran to speak out and share their ideas for improving alleys next to their houses.

FLIP in collaboration with Tehran Urban Innovation center has already created an opportunity for female architecture students to participate in FLIP's foundation, growth and expansion.

FLIP will use the Innovation for Women Prize to:

1.Invite female architecture students to write articles on women and placemking in cities to publish in its monthly magazine for placemaking in Iran.

2. Inventing tools that help collecting women and girls preferences for turning their alleys into public areas.

3.Developing tools and strategies on decreasing sexual harassment for women and girls in  Tehran alleys, using their own voices and ideas for implementation.

Tehran is serving many refugees from Afghanistan, and we need to define, design and implement models that help bringing refugees voices into our city. FLIP's method is focused on reflecting people's preferences in their alleys and turning their lanes into public areas.This method provide the opportunity to ask, include and reflect their ideas for turning alleys into public areas. We have to find out their voices, hear them and understand how Tehran could become inclusive for them as well.

FLIP will use the Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion to:

1.Develop tools for collecting refugees voices in Tehran in the process of turning alleys into public areas.

2.Including Refugees voices about their problems in public areas in FLIP's monthly magazine and recommending possible solutions based on their preferences.

The FLIP's future is a problem-solving virtual platform for public spaces.
It appears a reachable platform consisted of people’s opinion about public areas from their city helps designers and decision-makers to recognize and reflect people’s desires in delivering their preferred designs in public areas.

This platform is open to everyone and they can share their problems in public areas, recommend solutions, learn what others have shared on the platform and leave their comments on others submissions.

This virtual platform also gives the statistics of submissions’ locations and number of submission from each public space in the city. One can understand where the most problems and/or solutions are happening in a city’s public areas which resulted in facilitating people’s involvement in creating and improving their public areas.

FLIP will use he Innospark Ventures Prize to:

1.Run the website

2.Promote and produce big data based on people's submissions

FLIP was made in response to the social isolation its creator recognized during the time she was growing up in Tehran. Mojdeh Kamali realized the diversity among people and the gap between their preferences offered in public areas in Tehran, did not let like minded people to find each other. She proposed turning Tehran’s alleys into public areas because lane’s spatial features provides the context for implementing soicio-cultural activities for community's inclusion.

After FLIP’s initial attempt, and receiving positive feedback from the Jozi Alley’s residents, Mojdeh decided to continue expanding her work and reach out to many people in Iran as possible.

FLIP’s method can impact lives through involving dwellers in activating their neighbourhood by themselves, and increase residents’ sense of belonging to their community.

FLIP will use the Morgridge Family Foundation Community-Driven Innovation Prize to :
1.Publish its monthly magazine for placemaking in Iran.

2. Develop specific survey tools for collecting Iranian prefernces in for public spaces.

3.Create a sustainable organization for turning alleys into public spaces using FLIP's method.