Ka Wai Rebecca Lee (she/ her)
As a designer, I am interested in looking at how small changes in human interaction can produce a big impact. The understanding of attitudes, habits, and behaviours are the core of my design practice where I develop products and services which can better help us to engage with others and the world around us.
Self-Initiated: ComeAround5
My self initiated final project began with my personal interest in how we can live more sustainable lifestyles without feeling we need to change our behaviours drastically. During the development of my design brief, I reflected on my time as a waitress at our family owned Chinese restaurant where I have observed the cultural shift in food relationships and their impact on food appreciation and waste within the last eight years. This prompted the design of my project, ComeAround5.
ComeAround5 is a shared Chinese cultural sampling experience which aims to build stronger relationships with food through multi-sensory experimentation. ComeAround5 is a dining experience which pushes for authenticity. It does this through building sensory and emotional connection of individual ingredients to final assembled meals.
In the experience, there are no menus and diners must be open to experimentation. The chef cooks a traditional Chinese meal for his diners, but does not reveal to them what he is cooking. He instead presents them with the main herbs and spices contained within the meal as experimental samples, in purposely designed dinnerware created to push for a sensory experience. The aim of this experience asks its diners to figure out what the ingredients are, and in doing so, the diners are also priming their senses for what is to come. The sum of the ingredients create the flavour profiles within the meal, and the game is to figure out what the meal is before it arrives.
Future Experiences: Citizen Nomad
Within our future world which is based on local citizenship in 2032, people who live nomadic lifestyles may still struggle to intertwine within societies and feel a sense of belonging to an area. This lifestyle can be seen in two lights – something to be adopted, or something forced upon. If homelessness and van life are what we’re seeing now, what might this look like in ten years time? Who are our future nomads? And how can we better support this group of people in the future?
What is Citizen Nomad?
Citizen Nomad is an infrastructure which is a response to the rapid shift of lifestyle changes where, in the future, people will become more mobile in their living. It places people at the forefront of citizenship by providing them an alternative way to register their existence beyond the use of a home address. Maintenance of citizenship is tied to community participation and engagement.
Citizen Nomad is a new type of citizenship which affords its users with:
- The right to recognised citizenship status as a Nomad.
- The access of basic needs and services within the local area.
- A legal form of identity based on biometric data.
Who is Citizen Nomad for?
Whilst lifestyle changes are often seen as a choice, Citizen Nomad primarily aims to support those who face forced nomad-ism (homelessness). Citizen Nomad provides them with a gateway out of a catch-22 situation, enabling them to reintegrate into society.
How does the general public sign-up to the service?
Citizen Nomad sign-up points will be located throughout towns and cities so that they are accessible to any and all. These sign up points are easily located on a map and can be easily identified by the Citizen Nomad logo.
To sign up to the service, the user must produce a valid form of identification to ensure that the citizenship status is tied to the correct individual. This step prevents the likelihood of identity theft and fraud. To link this new citizenship status to the user, biometric data is recorded. Once the sign-up process is complete, the user is then issued with a Citizen Nomad Card.
How does the user access services and resources?
Participating local services and resources will be marked with the Citizen Nomad logo, and will have the Citizen Nomad Card and Fingerprint Scanner. To activate the service, the user must present their card and scan their fingerprint in sequence.
What is the result of this infrastructure ten years after its implementation?
The hope for Citizen Nomad is that it can provide a successful gateway for the homeless to break out of vicious cycle, leading to the reduction of homelessness rates in 2042. People may abandon the idea of owning homes to settle down, and there could be the potential to design infrastructure around “transient homes” and the idea of ‘home’ changing from place-based to people-based.
