Decoding Everyday - a citizen science portal for streets & public spaces
We started this project in Jan 2021. Over the next two years, the different sections of the portal with citizens contributing stories from their own neighbourhoods were developed. On this page, we share links to a few pages from the portal. We are looking to restart this project now, with a better understanding of how it can create impact in a post-pandemic world where cities need to be more people-centric and nature-centric than before. The project will regain momentum as soon as we have the funding and human resources we need!
Core team: Arnav Prakash & Eklavya Koralkar (Jan-June 2021). Aparnaa C., Eklavya Koralkar, Dibyashekhar Bhattamishra & Vidisha Sahay (July 2021 - Dec 2022).
Know your city
FIND AND KNOW YOUR CITY is where you can find city-wise data on the 'Decoding Everyday' portal. For now, we have SIX cities listed here - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Mumbai and Panaji. These are the cities for which the citizen stories received have been highest.
Contributing your experiences
The Indian city seems chaotic, seems congested as if nothing works. In all of the chaos, some things do work. We'd like to find out which part of the chaos works, who's designing this part and how do we replicate it; which part of the chaos doesn't work, who's responsible for it and how do we hit the 'Delete' button there.
Urban themes
URBAN THEMES is where you can find theme-wise data on the Decoding Everyday portal. For now, we have four themes listed here: Ecology & Public Spaces, Markets as Public Spaces, Pandemic & Public Spaces, and Women & Public Spaces. You can find data on these themes in various formats, including photos, videos, reflective pieces, maps and interviews.
Competitions at Decoding Everyday
Over time, we have had competitions on different themes such as Make your own map, Life in the Streets, Urban sketching, Ecology and Public spaces, Women and Public spaces, Active street edges, Markets as Public spaces and so on. The output from each of the competitions is shared on this page.
Everyday Community
'Everyday Community' is a space where you can find the FOOTPRINT i.e. the collection of stories and experiences (two or more) shared by a CONTRIBUTOR.
Participatory tool for issues related to public spaces
A 3-min film that describes how a citizen science portal (Decoding Everyday) can be a useful participatory tool for issues related to Public spaces.
Women & Public Spaces - An interview with the competition winners
A discussion with two young women about their perception of public spaces and insights into their prize-winning contributions to the Competition: 'Women and Public Spaces' at the citizen science portal.
Street Stories
a sample contribution on Decoding Everyday
The film looks at how different people gather at a street corner at different times of the day. In sharing the same space in different ways, street stories are created.