The Use of Colours in Public Spaces

Master of Art and Design for the Public Space The Use of Colours in Public Spaces Joanna Wilczyńska Masters dissertation and project work presented to the Faculty of Fine ArtsUniversity of Porto in Art and Design for the Public Space Year: 2015 Supervisor: Nuno Coelho – University of Coimbra (PhD) Most of all I would like to thank to my parents, for their support and for giving me the possibility of studying the Master's course in Porto. Secondly I would like to thank to the all the people who were willing to spend their time for the interviews and who had worked with me in the project, especially to Mr. Ricardo, Henrique, Mrs. Maria Jose, Julio and other people who I cooperated with from Junta da Freguesia do Bonfim. I also would like to send special thanks to my supervisor Nuno Coelho and the professors from MADEP course for their help; friends, who had helped me in terms of my difficulties with the Portugesse and English languages: Cristiana, Higino, Sam, Agnieszka and Maggie; the friends who had helped me in painting the walls: Amelia, Magda and Iwona; and the friends from Porto who were supporting me in many different ways. 2 Index: Abstract and Keywords................................................................. 6 Resumo e palavras-chave.............................................................. 7 1. Introduction.......................................................................... 8 2. State of the Art...................................................................... 10 2.1. Space...................................................................... 10 2.1.1. Space in general.............................................. 10 2.1.2. Public Space................................................... 12 2.1.3. Social Space................................................... 15 2.1.4. Private Space.................................................. 16 2.1.5. Conclusion..................................................... 19 2.2. Community................................................................ 19 2.2.1. Structure of community..................................... 19 2.2.2. Social relationships.......................................... 21 2.2.3. Participation in community................................. 24 2.2.4. Conclusion..................................................... 25 2.3. Site Specific.............................................................. 26 2.3.1. What is site specificity?..................................... 26 2.3.2. Site in site specificity........................................ 27 2.3.3. Community as participants of the site specific artwork........................................................ 28 2.3.4. Conclusion..................................................... 29 2.4. Colour........................................................................ 29 2.4.1. Properties of colour............................................ 30 2.4.2. Theory of colour................................................ 31 2.4.3. Semiotic of colour.............................................. 32 2.4.4. Influence of colour on human body.......................... 33 2.4.5. Unconscious impact of colours............................... 34 3 2.4.6. Colour in urban space......................................... 36 3. Description of related projects................................................... 38 3.1. PARK(ing) DAY............................................................. 38 3.2. playLAND.................................................................. 40 3.3. Boy with a Kite........................................................... 41 3.4. Favela Painting........................................................... 43 3.5. Green your Lunch........................................................ 45 3.6. Push Porto................................................................. 47 3.7. Ogród Wilda (Wilda Garden)............................................ 49 3.8. Analysis of related projects............................................. 50 4. Objective and Methodology........................................................ 52 5. Project................................................................................ 56 5.1. Context - Social housing in Porto...................................... 56 5.2. Experiments with colours............................................... 58 5.3. Project Alegria#2......................................................... 60 5.4. Description of the final project — rePLACE with colour............ 65 6. Conclusion............................................................................ 89 Appendix 1Interviews about colours............................................... 92 Appendix 2Questionnaires with inhabitants of Lomba.......................... 97 Appendix 3Interview with Judith Fahrentholz, a member of Green City.... 101 Appendix 4Plan of workshops rePLACE with color............................... 106 Appendix 5Authorization............................................................ 107 Appendix 6Examples of painting for the entrance to Lomba.................. 108 Appendix 7Examples of paintings for house of Mr. Ricardo..................... 110 Appendix 8Examples of paintings for house of Mrs. Maria..................... 113 Appendix 9Examples of paintings for house of Henrique....................... 114 Appendix 10Letter to the authorities of Bonfim................................. 119 Bibliography............................................................................. 120 4 Webgraphy............................................................................... 121 List of figures............................................................................ 122 List of tables............................................................................. 124 5 Abstract| Colours surround us everywhere and all the time. Nowadays, more than in the past, thanks to urban design, which is becoming more popular and important in the design world we notice colour in public spaces. The majority of people are not conscious of the influence that colours have on us, which undoubtedly is quite significant. The psychology of colours tell us that they have big impact on our mood, emotions, and even our body. That is why colourful places, usually, are very welcoming and create a comfortable atmosphere. On the contrary, if we think about suburban areas, they often lack colourful sources, like artistic interventions, shop windows or commercial advertisements. Instead, we usually notice a large scale of greys, and rather monochromatic views. Places like these do not get a lot of attention as inhabitants may feel the lack of different hues there. This project intends to create a process for introducing colours into the neighbourhood of Lomba in Porto and gathering a specific community in the space, what will help defining the project. The project is focused on the development and the process that may help create a stronger society, and as a result give them the possibility to have an active part in re-designing their neighbourhood, rather than just enjoying the final outcome. The methods that I am going to use in my investigation are direct contact and conversations with people and a photographic documentation with inhabitants of that place. Key words| public space| social space| private space| community| site specific| theory of colours 6 Resumo| As cores rodeiam-nos constantemente. Actualmente, e graças à crescente popularidade do design urbano dentro do mundo do design, observamos mais cor no espaço público. A maioria das pessoas não está ciente da influência que as cores têm em nós, que é sem dúvida significativa. A psicologia das cores diz-nos que estas têm um grande impacto no nosso humor, emoções, e no nosso corpo. Por esta razão, espaços coloridos são, regra geral, acolhedores e criam um ambiente confortável. No sentido oposto encontramos as áreas sub-urbanas, onde há insuficientes elementos de cor, como intervenções artísticas, vitrinas e publicidade. Aqui frequentemente observamos uma larga escala de tons de cinza e vistas bastante monocromáticas. Espaços como estes não recebem muita atenção e os habitantes podem sentir a ausência de diversidade de tonalidades. Este projecto pretende criar um processo de introdução de cores no Bairro da Lomba no Porto, em colaboração com uma comunidade específica local, que irá contribuir na definição do projecto. O projecto foca-se no desenvolvimento e no processo, que poderá contribuir para o fortalecimento da comunidade, e graças a isto, dar a oportunidade aos habitantes de terem um papel activo a redesenhar o bairro, em oposição a apenas apreciarem o produto final desta intervenção. Os métodos que eu vou utilizar na minha investigação são o diálogo e a discussão com os habitantes locais recorrendo à documentação fotográfica. Palavras-chave| espaço público| espaço social| espaço privado| comunidade| site specific| teoria das cores 7 1. Introduction We live in a space, which has a wider meaning, and we can think about it in many different ways. The issue of space has a very complex nature and the majority of people do not think about it. It is also important because space is everywhere around us, we live in it constantly. Each of us has a private space as well as a common space, with friends or just ordinary people whom we meet everywhere. Going further when looking at this issue from the perspective of the city, we can also distinguish public space. On the one hand, all of these spaces are different, but on the other hand, all of them have something in common, they are filled with objects that create them. Space and objects influence each other creating a specific atmosphere, different for each of them. Nowadays, people are living in hustle and bustle all the time, passing by buildings, streets, squares and paying little attention to them. We can walk the same route many times, and often do not see how many interesting things surround us there. To open our eyes to the environment which we live in, sometimes we need to be surprised by some unfamiliar object which will lead our curiosity back to the usual objects. One of the incentives may be a colour used in a particular way, and a particular place that we are not expecting to see. Colours used in public spaces, in artistic installations, street art and even the most simple introductions of colour in a place, where it is not supposed to be, catch observers' attention. These kinds of interventions are opening people's eyes to their surroundings. They make them more curious about what is going on around them, provoke a smile on their faces and improve their frame of mind. Undoubtedly, colours have always been the tools of communication and expression. We can find them in ancient civilizations, used in medicine or in daily objects like for example street signs. Going further, they are the main tool in all kinds of design. Basically, they surround us everywhere and all the time. This might 8 be the reason why we can pass by colourful sources without really noticing them. That is why colours that are connected to some secondary sectors, like shape or unusual place, catch the attention of observers to a greater extend. The use of colours in the public space is interesting especially due to its simplicity on the one hand and the strong influence tht it may have on people on the other. The second crucial factor for this project is participation. People are the essential part of the public space. Because of that, an active participation in creating the project may create a stronger relationship not only with the place, but also with the other participants. The process of this master thesis is focused on the following questions: •How can colours affect human life? •How can the creative process of re-designing the space create a stronger connection within the community? •How can a sense of place improve social and emotional standards of living? The objective of this thesis is to find an answer to these questions and to make an artistic intervention, together with inhabitants of the place, to introduce colours in their neighbourhood. In order to achieve it, research about several issues, which are fundamental for me to understand; what the space is, how colours influence people and what creates community have been made. I have also made an analysis of other projects that are touching on the issues of colour and community. Interviews and experiments with colours were my tools to help me to understand the personal feelings that people have about colours in the specific community that I worked with. All these research processes lead me to the main part of my thesis, which was the project in the neighbourhood of Lomba in Bonfim district of Porto. This part of the project was the process of working with the community in order to create an artistic intervention in their neighbourhood based on colours. 9 play, might think that he plays often. This thought makes him belong to a higher social group, which usually is connected with golf. In this example we can see how much social space is contractual and symbolic, and does not exist in tangible sphere, but in people's minds (Bourdieu, 1989). 2.1.4. Private space Private space can be considered in two ways, the physical and the mental. I would like to focus on the mental one which does not have a connection to the owning of a place. This kind of privacy appears everywhere, infiltrates the public and social space, and gives a kind of hybrid character to them. As a basic example I am going to pick streets, which are very interesting places in the city. Using them is a normal and obvious thing, so people do not pay any attention to it. Sylke Nissen in her essay “Urban Transformation: From Public and Private Space to Spaces of Hybrid Character”(2008) is saying that streets, because of the fact that they are lively almost all the time, are “city's life veins”(Nissen, 2008: 1131). Obviously the street is a public space, but at the same time people can build their privacy there. Someone who is walking along the pavement and looking around without including any personal feelings at the same time is in a public space without the feeling of privacy. However according to Annet Dekker in her work “PublicPrivateSpace: Where the public space turns into private space and the private space opens up to the public”(2008) someone who is walking on the street and having a private conversation through a cell phone, is creating a kind of privacy in the public. This person is in the public space, but at the same time, in a very private situation. He is concentrated on the conversation, not on the surroundings. This situation creates the feeling of privacy and it may be compared to creating a bubble around oneself. 16 Students from Manchester School of Architecture made a very interesting performance called “Tree House: Private Spaces in the Public Place” (Manchester School of Architecture, 2008)1 which took place in Berlin. They allocated a space in the middle of a square and put some objects there, which are connected with the home. Then, in this space, they performed some typical daily activities such as waking up, eating breakfast, drinking tea and talking to a friend. This action was made in order to makes people think that even if they are in the public space, they can build their privacy at the same time. A lot of people do not see this, because privacy is strongly connected with a private area like the home, which is bounded by walls. Because of this, it is hard to think about privacy in the open space and even harder in a mental context. The idea of taking objects which are strongly connected to privacy and intimate activities, and putting them in the public space, may efficiently help people think about this issue. This action was a bit radical and abstract, but thanks to this, the result was stronger. This performance shows us that there are two types of privacy. One that is very obvious and has a physical space, like a room, flat or garden of which a person is an owner. And also there is a privacy which does not have a physical space, which is a state of mind, a fleeting moment. According to the Reverso dictionary: “If you have privacy, you are in a place or situation which allows you to do things without other people seeing you or disturbing you.” (Reverso online dictionary). If we place this definition in the public space, it is hard to avoid the presence of the observers. However they can just be there, and not interrupting what the person is doing. 1Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3FNs7pnnWc 17 Cedric Bernadotte, a French contemporary artist, is working in the public space in terms of borders between publicity and privacy. He uses simple materials like cellophane and tape to create some structures in public places. I would like to focus on one of his works which was made in Pau in 2009 during the exposition “Conversions”. This work tried to convert the public space into the private. By wrapping cellophane around two trees or street lights, the artist made walls. This resulted in him dividing one big space into few smaller spaces. Fig. 1| Convertions| Cedric Bernadotte| 2009| Pau Thanks to this intervention, pedestrians started to wonder about the place that they are passing through and due to this, started to have a bigger connection with it. The relationship between visitors and the place becomes more significant, which at the same time makes that place feel closer to them. Beside that, in these small spaces created by Bernadotte, observers could have more private moments than in the unconverted square (weburbanist website)2. 2 http://weburbanist.com/2010/01/08/cellophane-city-plastic-arts-change-urban-landscape/ 18 2.1.5. Conclusion Space is everywhere and people are living in it constantly. Just the context, which is changing, makes us see it differently. All the efforts to define a space in one specific way are useless. It consists of so many different aspects, that it is impossible to try to find just one. All of these aspects infiltrate and depend on each other to create one piece. A very important thing is also the contents of a space, which create relationships between themselves and space itself. 2.2. Community In this chapter we will outlines the meaning of communities. The worthnoticing things are local communities in small residential areas. Especially their features which briefly describe their origin and explain the reason for their existence. The main concerns are participation in social life and everyday activities, which create relationships between people. We will focus on importance of communication and observation of surroundings. These actions are crucial to the process of gathering knowledge about the environment in terms of understanding where we live. 2.2.1. Structure of community One of the natural characteristic of people is to create groups which have something in common for all participants. Looking at society as a whole, we can distinguish a lot of divisions there. These divisions can be defined by some common interests, like their religion, language, culture, territory and so on. I would like to focus on communities in which one of the main connection is their place of living. While considering territory as a requirement of belonging to the community, we can 19 distinguish many, small local communities which taken all together, create a community of the whole city. Dilys M. Hill in his book “Citizens and Cities. Urban Policy in the 1990s” (1994) explains, what the features of the community are: “Community has been used broadly to describe different aspects of the relations between institutions and locality, including geographically defined populations, collectivities of people sharing values, ideas or lifestyles, and social interaction.” (Hill, 1994: 34) The main factor that describes a local community is its space. Usually cities are divided into districts and each district can be subdivided again. These create a smaller common space for people who live there. That space, common care and interaction between the inhabitants are characteristics that are the foundations of the community. Hill (1994) underlines that Neighbourhood and Community are strongly linked to each other. We can say that Neighbourhood is the body and Community is the soul of a place. Talking about local communities, space plays an important role. However, as Hill is saying, territory is not a crucial factor. The main concern is the communication process between people, which creates links, social relationships, and shared ideas about common interests. The purpose of community members is to support each other. Space without a communication amongst people who live there, will be just a place. It may exist in a material way, but be deprived of its soul — social relationships between visitors of that place. It presents that community consists of spatial and social factor. This conclusion shows a model of the community which had been investigated by a German sociologist, Ferdinand Tonnies. Hill refers to Tonnies theory: 20 “The notion of the community of attachment has its roots in Tonnies’ ‘ideal type’ of community — Gemeinschaft — whose three pillars were the family, the neighbourhood, and friendship. This was to be contrasted with modern society — Gesellschaft — whose ties were marked by much looser and anonymous patterns of contractual relationships.” (Tonnies by Hill, 1994: 34) As Tonnies explains, Community of Attachment is based on social as well as spatial experiences. Because of the relationships within the people and their connection to the space, this kind of community is more visible in suburban areas and small cities. Inhabitants of places like these are willing to know the neighbours and want to create relationships with them. These connections are the foundations of a successful community. Contrary features are characteristic in modern societies where Communities of Attachment are rather rare. People who are living there, especially in big and well developed cities, prefer to be more anonymous and often are focused on their own careers and personal lives (Hill, 1994). 2.2.2. Social relationships In cities, we can notice almost a constant movement of vehicles and people. Although we can point easily to movement between buildings in the centre of the city, it is also present in the suburbs. In suburban places, that movement and contact between people is more personal because the groups, who usually meet there, are close neighbours. While walking in the street it is often easy to encounter unexpected situations which can involve contact with others. Jan Gehl in his book “Life between buildings. Using Public Space” (2010) distinguished three kinds of outdoor activities which exist in places where people live. The first are “necessary 21 activities” (Gehl, 2010: 9) which are all of the activities we are somehow obliged to do, like shopping, and going to school or work. These actions do not depend on the conditions of exterior environment. The second type are “optional activities” (Gehl, 2010: 9-11) — if the outdoor conditions are favourable and there is an urge to do them. It could be going out for a walk, sunbathing or sitting on a bench. And the third type — “social activities” (Gehl, 2010: 12). These activities depend on the one factor which was not present in the previous ones — society. They can be very different from each other, it starts very spontaneously with basic actions like moving, seeing and hearing and can evolve into more active and more personal contact like a conversation or kids playing together. Social Activities may vary depending on the time and place where they occur. Interaction between people can be more superficial in the area of a city centre, where many different people are passing by. In residential streets, however, where inhabitants more or less know each other, their contact will be more natural and personal (Gehl, 2010). According to Gehl (2010), all these kinds of activities between the buildings condition how that place feels and if people actually like to spend time there. HIGH INTENSITY close friendship friends acquaintances chance contacts LOW INTENSITY passive contacts (“see and hear” contacts) Table 1| Gehl (2010) scheme of the intensity of contact between people 22 Gehl's scheme shows us, that even the lowest intensity of contact between people is important and needed. Sometimes it can be the beginning of a closer contact and sometimes it is just needed to keep the a basic level of social relationships in the space. Even if passive contact is not very personal and does not make any strong connections between people, it is still important to help keep life going between the buildings. Seeing and hearing what is going on in the place around us can tell us a lot about our social environment. We can notice if people who are passing on the street know each other, if they are friends or just acquaintances. These observations help us to understand how the space works and how social relationships build there. It is important to help gain new knowledge about that specific place and people, but also about social relationships in general. Gehl brought up an interesting and current theme which is a juxtaposition of mass media and social relationships. A lot of people are saying that nowadays, because of mass media, which fills human lives, people have less of a need to talk with strangers on the street. Gehl's opinion about this issue is different. According to him, these two sources of information are different and are giving a different kind of data (Gehl, 2010). MASS MEDIA BEING WITH OTHERS larger scale, more common, daily more sensational things for all of people information/ events Table 2| Gehl (2010) juxtaposition of mass media and being with others 23 Looking at the scheme, we can see that both of these sources are delivering information which is different, but equally important. It shows also that trying to replace social contact with mass media information is wrong. We are living in the world surrounded by people all the time, and it is important to derive knowledge about the society that we live in. This knowledge can help us to understand our position in it better and to be able to create a “confidential relationship with the world around us” (Gehl, 2010: 21). 2.2.3. Participation in community Communities are formed naturally, usually as small units which facilitate communication between members. Thanks to this, participation, which is one of the main foundations of community, is better developed and more effective. Common interests, problems to solve and daily activities are strong talking points and help create stronger fellowship. Community members' Involvements can vary. Some people are taking part more directly, while others indirectly, but it is important that there is an involvement in mutual decisions. The aim, to change the neighbourhood, and a spirit of community and union is motivating members to participate (Hill, 1994). Benjamin Barber, who is an American political theorist, wrote in his book “Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age” (1984), that: “Community grows out of participation and at the same time makes participation possible.” (Barber, 1984: 152) These words were written in a context of politics, but they are very important and relevant, while talking about local communities as well. As we can see, these two 24 sectors are dependent on, and define each other. The important thing about the participation in community is, that while members are more involved in the process of making decisions and creating their neighbourhood, they are taking more care of and identifying with it. Hill (1994) mentioned in a statement that being a part of a community can exercise ours skills of citizenship. Making decisions, solving problems and being responsible for them are the things which members of a community have to deal with. The same problems, but in the wider range, are included in the duties of citizen. That is why having these experiences in a smaller area, for example in a local community, can teach how to deal with it in a bigger scale. Besides that, participation is also useful in many different situations in our lives, which makes it important to practice whenever there is the possibility. 2.2.4. Conclusion Everywhere in outdoor places we can notice social activities. Some of them are very simple like just seeing or hearing something, while others may be more complex. All of them, even the basic ones are important, because they create connections between people. This kind of interaction is more random and not so deep. It may happen with people who already know each other or with strangers we meet during the day. We notice closer relationships and connections in local communities. A common area of living creates common conditions, interests and daily issues. These things help to keep the community together and make social relationships stronger. The most important activity in the local community is participation, which creates a feeling of fellowship and improves it. 25 Principles of NatureClimate Characteristics” (2011) are underlining, that all factors which create differences in the meaning of colours are creating “the culture of colour” which consist “semantic, emotional and aesthetic informations” of it (Tomic; Maric, 2011: 316). The meaning of one colour may be very different from one person to another according to the epoch, the geography, traditions, history and culture. Tomic and Maric also distinguished three main categories as having an influence on the creation and evolution of the culture of colour “naturalclimatic (...), psychological and historic-cultural” (Tomic; Maric, 2011: 316). 2.4.3. Semiotic of colour As mentioned before, colours are very strong symbols in terms of semiotic. Because of the world in which we are living, we are used to match colours to things we see around us without even thinking about it. This occurs in our subconsciousness. One simple example, are the colours used for the street signs. They are warning us, stopping us and telling us about something. This is the reason why we connect yellow with warning and red with danger. Christopher Day in his book “Spirit and Place” (2002) gives examples of the most basic connotations, which people have because of the nature which surrounds us. Red is fiery and anxious like fire. Blue is refreshing and cooling like water. Green is calming and relaxing like grass, while yellow lighting is warming like the sun. These are connotations we have because of everything we see daily and everything we have become accustomed to. On the other hand we have to be conscious, that “reading” colours depend on the culture, profession, age and environment where people were born, grow up and live (Day, 2002). For example colour will be reading and understanding in different way by an artist or designer, than by a mechanic or someone who is working in constructions. Still we can find bigger differences when taking culture into 32 account. Death — for example, in the Western society is represented by black, while in the Eastern society death is coloured in white (Birren, 1950). 2.4.4. Influence of colour on human body Good influence of colours on the body has been known for years. This knowledge has its roots in the ancient tribes from Egypt, India and China. “Chromotherapy is a method of treatment that uses the visible spectrum or colours of electromagnetic radiation to cure diseses” (website: http://marmapoints.org/healing?start=21) Each colour can affect different part of the human body and its state of mind in different ways. Rudolf Arnheim in his book “Art and Visual Perception. Psychology of the Creative Eye” (1974) mentioned Charles Fere who at the beginning of the 20th century showed that light in specific colour has a different influence on our muscle strength and on our blood circulation. As such in sequence from the lowest to the highest point blue, green, yellow, orange and red are causing an increase to muscle strength and acceleration in blood circulation. Kurt Goldstein became interested in this field. About twenty years after Fere, he carried on an experiment with a patient who suffered from imbalance. When the patient was dressed in red, it was very hard for her to maintain her balance. When she was dressed in green, it was a much easier process. Goldstein also established, that different colours can have different impact on the human body. Some impact can open us and direct us to the world which surrounds us, and others can close us from the outside world and make us concentrate only on ourselves (Arnheim, 1974). Faber Birren in his book about psychology of colour, recalls a Jaench experiment, which shows the emotional matter of colour. The results of this 33 experiment tell us, that people who prefer warm colours are more open to the outside world and can easily integrate into new societies. They are warm people with warm feelings and they are more concentrated on objects than subjects. People who prefer cold colours demonstrate exactly the opposite characteristics. They are more orientated in their indoor world, less associated with society, or filled with cold emotions and rather subject oriented (Birren, 1950). Rudolf Arnheim in his book “Art and Visual Perception. Psychology of the Creative Eye” (1974) also agreed with these results as he described very similar behaviour in people with preference to warm or cold colours. While remaining on the topic of psychology of colours, it is important to question how is it possible that some specific feelings are evoked in our mind as we see a certain colour. According to Faber Birren (1950) , the main tool in receiving colours is our brain followed by our entire organism. This has much more influence than aesthetic and immaterial aspects on a human being. Pleasure, displeasure, excitement or anxiousness are all feelings sent from our eyes to our brain where the information is read and spread through the rest of the organism. 2.4.5. Unconscious impact of colours Colour does not just have an influence on our body but also on our mood and our psyche. Some colours may make us anxious, while some others can suit and relax us. Receiving and understanding colours takes place in our brain, then the feeling is spread to the rest of our body. This process is mostly an unconscious process as the majority of people never thinks about it. Movies are good examples of how colours can have great influence on people as they remain unaware of it. All colours in movies are very carefully analysed so to bring a suitable atmosphere and build certain emotions in the observer. 34 Fig. 2| The Virgin Suicides| Sofia Coppola| 1997 In analysing the movie of Sofia Coppola “The Virgin Suicides” from 1999, we see five teenage sisters under the strict supervision of their parents. They are kept at home all the time, which according to their parents is good, because it will protect them from the outside world. From the beginning of the movie, we already notice the strange and unhealthy yellowish green walls in the livingroom showing us in pale blue light the metaphor of the obsessive parents. They do not want to let the light come through the window inside their house. Pati Bellantaoni, in her book “Jeśli to fiolet, ktoś umrze. Teoria koloru w Filmie” (2009) is quoting the cameraman of Coppola's movie Ed Lachman who explained that girls' rooms were full of pastel coloured and blue items, which symbolized immaturity and childishness. At the same time it showed how the teenage sisters were perceiving boys — with innocence. The most tragic moment in that movie shows the appearance of red, which is the warning before the suicide of all the sisters. Another interesting scene at the end is the party where it shows a strong theme of suffocation. The party took place one year after the first suicide attempt of one of the sisters, which was the moment of spreading poison in a symbolic way. During the party we can notice people wearing decorated gas mask, walking around the green water pool, located in the 35 central point of the garden. Green smoke in the air, green cocktails and dessertseverything seems spoiled or poisoned. As we can see, in this movie, as well as in many others, colours do play a very important role. Colours do create special atmosphere, which helps the viewer to get more into the movie and seize the feelings being portrayed by the producer (Bellantoni, 2009). 2.4.6. Colour in urban space More than ever, colour is playing a significant role in the urban landscape. Throughout the world we can notice an increase in the use of colour as an important space-creating tool in pure architecture, as well as in art in the urban space. According to the research made for the purpose of this paper (Appendix 1) along with questionnaires from inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Lomba in Porto (Appendix 2), people do like to see colours in their urban space. Colours make them feel more happy, give them more energy, and encourage them to look more carefully at their surroundings. Obviously, colour has to be well matched to the architectural and social functions of the space. For example, one can see a diversity of different hues in the city centre where a concentration of shops and tourist spots exist. However in the suburbs where there are houses, the areas do not offer much visual diversity for their inhabitants. The lack of colours is truly significant. According to Tomic and Maric: “The factors that affect forming of the coloured structures in public urban space are: -Relation of the form and the colour of the public urban space -Naturalclimatic characteristics 36 -Perception of the public urban space form through cultural identity of the surroundings.” (Tomic; Maric, 2011: 317) In terms of colours in the urban space, this statement is important, because colours are strongly connected to the context in which they are used. Colour as an individual factor is not the same, as it is presented in the aspect of a surrounding. Presence of all factors may evoke new meanings and make people feel different according to their space. 37 3. Description of related projects In this chapter examples of projects, which introduce colour in the public space and/ or involve society are going to be presented. At the end of this section, a summation of all of them and underlining the most important issues of projects are going to be shown. They are concentrated on these two aims: colour and society. 3.1. PARK(ing) DAY The ‘Park(ing) Day’ was created by a design studio Rebar from San Francisco in 2005. Since then this event takes place every year on third Friday of September at many places all over the World. The main aim of this idea is to make people think about their urban landscape, to show that they have a power to do changes making these places more suitable for their users. During this day, some of parking lots are re-design into social areas. It can be a place just to stop and sit down for a cup of coffee to relax, read a book, talk with people, play some games or do exercises. Each of them has some special activities. The Picture below (Fig. 3) shows Park(ing) Day in Munich in 2014 created by the Green City organization. While I was interviewing a one member of this organization - Judith Fahrentholz, in Munich on 25th of February 2015, I gathered lots of interesting news and information about the event organisation. The purpose of this institution is to increase awareness of inhabitants about the lack of the nature in urban space and ecological lifestyle. The Green City as a Park(ing) Day organizer in Munich gathered people, who wanted to join to the event by creating their own parking lots. Some of participants had a clear view of what they would like to design and others used help to Green City members. In final result the place of intervention was full of parking lots used in many different ways. Some of them contained playgrounds dedicated kids, the others DIY (do it yourself) workshops, a small 38 outdoor cafes or grocery shops. As Judith Fahrentholz said, usually Park(ing) Day in Munich consists of twenty participants with different design for each parking lot. (Appedix 1Interview with Judith Fahrentholz, a member of Green City Munchen) Fig. 3| PARK(ing) DAY| Green City| 2014| Munich In my opinion this project is a very good example of a public space creation. Bringing colours and nature in urban landscape is an excellent idea. It contains three vital components that people need in public space: colour, nature and leisure activities. These things will make people stay there a bit longer, instead of just passing them in a rush. This is a nice example of how the simple structures may create a place where people can gather and be nicely outstanding among urban landscape. I reckon that this kind of action is very important, because it makes people feel more comfortable in the cities. 39 3.2. playLAND This installation was made by young architects LIKEarchitects from Porto in July 2014 in Paredes de Coura. The installation consisted of three pieces located in different parts of Paredes, creating spaces for kids to play, as well as shade and rest areas. The materials used were beach buoys in three colours: orange, green and pink, which were fixed in three different shapes creating kinds of shelters in the public space. However some of the buoys were independent, which gave the possibility for children to play directly with them, and had created, as authors had said “a human scale lego” (LIKEarchitects website)3. Fig. 4| playLAND| LIKEarchitects| 2014| Paredes de Coura The beach buoys, whose original use is connected with water, change their context and became a kind of building material when placed in public spaces with the intention of re-use as a kids play area. Their lightness, bright colours and 3 http:<//www.likearchitects.net/#/projects/playland/> 40 shininess in the sun light introduced a new atmosphere and contrast within the urban landscape which gave these objects a new meaning. All these features made people who were occupying these spaces had a new experience with the place they already know, and produce new feelings. This installation shows how objects, taken from their usual use may fulfil the urban landscape crating new sensations and giving the experience of the place in a new way. Manipulations of the objects, that are taken out of their usual contexts, and placed in the new one, are great possibilities to stop thinking about them in a sad way. It makes people thinking about different alternatives of usage. At this point the beach buoys that have the connotations with sea, pools and beaches and we know how to use them in those cases. Apparently they appear in the urban landscape. At the first sight this view may look unfamiliar, but adopting it to these new circumstances is quite easy. What is more, as we can see in this project, they fit in there, and they are fixed together in the construction have a new meaning. This project also shows, how colourful the object from outside of the familiar use makes people curious about it, and how provoke a willingness to be a part of it and play with it. These kinds of interventions are good for children, because they make them think about the objects in the wider scope, which may develop their brains. But it gives also some benefits for adults that use to assign specific objects to the specific situations and places. By looking at this installation we can see, that objects might be used in many different contexts and at different places. 3.3. Boy with a Kite This mural painting was made by artists from Netherlands, Haas&Hahn (Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn) in 2007 in Vila Cruzeiro in Rio de Janeiro as the first trial in putting colours in this very messy and monochromatic place. Painting the 41 Fig. 8| Vidame and Look the Wird| 2014| Porto These kinds of interventions are important in every city. This is a great opportunity to create network and make contact within inhabitants and give them possibility to see some street art at the same time. Nowadays many people neglect a cultural life. They do not have time to go to the cinema, theatre or museum. Hectic and high speed frenzy lifestyle can be really overwhelming and in this case street art is a good chance for them to stay in touch with art. Events like these create an open air museum with the free access for all of the inhabitants. Even if this kind of event does not involve people directly, it gives them the opportunity to observe the process of painting and encourage them to be more curious about surrounding in which they are constantly live. I believe that after this experience people will be more conscious about their environment and more aware of the meaning of art. 48 3.7. Ogród Wilda (Wilda Garden) Ogród Wilda (Wilda Garden) is an action organised by Generator Malta organisation in Poznań, in 2014. Generator Malta is a social organization, which was created by Malta Festival Poznań (which is the International Theatre Festival Malta, and is an annual event since the 1991) and aimed to create a stronger connections in the local communities in Poznań. The aim of this intervention was to use some fallow lands in the city to create a place where inhabitants could spend their free time and do some activities together. Thanks to the process of creating it and then, gathering there people from that area, created a stronger community. Fig. 9,10| Ogród Wilda| Generator Malta| 2014| Poznań During my conversation with Marta Adamska7, a landscape architect, who was an intern in this action she explained to me the process of creating this place, which 7 Meeting with Marta Adamska took place on 2oth of February in Poznań in order to gather information about the project Ogród Wilda in which she was an intern 49 was very complex. At the beginning it was concentrated on talks with inhabitants what they would like to have and how they want to see this space. The next step was a try to achieve their goals. The important thing is that inhabitants of this place were the main creators and took an active part along all the process. Thanks to this they had an opportunity to know neighbours and create a stronger relationship in their local community. The process of creating was not the end of it. After that, when the space was ready, a lot of activities took place in there. People have been gathering together to play games, have a barbecue, listen to the concerts of local bands or sing Christmas carols next to Christmas tree. The important sector of this process was also the fact, that materials which were used in the space were simple things, which do not cost a lot and are rather recycled. This project is a strong idea in terms of community, humans’ interactions and reusing things in order to create something. As Marta Adamska said, the fact that the place appeared thanks to people, makes them feel more connected to it and surely, taking care of this, what they created. This project was not just a one year experimentit has had its continuation in this year (2015) as well. 3.8. Analysis of related projects Looking at these examples, we can notice, that nowadays people see more frequent the importance of creating things/ objects/ spaces not only for themselves. The role of participants can be very different. In Push Porto festival, people are mainly observers of all the processes of creating and do not have much influence on what is going to be made. In Favela painting, they are a part of the process, but more concentrated on work itself, than in the creative part. Events like Green Your Lunch or Ogród Wilda, invite participants directly to create and produce. Different role of social context we can see in the project for PARK(ing) DAY and playLAND, 50 which do not invite people to participate in the process of producing, but create the spaces, for people to play with and spend their time in there. Obviously, all of these roles are somehow important, and rise the awareness in people' minds, that they are a part of their environment, and their presence has an influence on it. The second important issue is changing the surrounding. All of these projects show a process of introducing some new elements or colours in urban spaces. In projects PARK(ing) DAY and Ogród Wilda there are colours connected to the nature which in the cities we can notice lack of, or just colourful object for people to interact with, like playLAND. All these examples show that inhabitants of cities need colours, nature, art and some social events. It should be kept in mind, that making any kind of intervention uses colours in public space, needs a good research about the connotations of this colour in terms of religion and culture. Culture not only in a global sense, but also in a context of the history and experience of people, who are living in the neighbourhood of the place of intervention. Great example of this, is Favela Painting, where inhabitants seeing blue had connected it to the police and prison which did not evoke positive feelings in them. Simple conclusion of this chapter is that there are two ways of making an intervention in the public space. One has more aesthetic values and it does not need much research in social level. The other one is one, which is based on the social context. It is made with and for people. In this kind of intervention contact with participants should be the most important part of the process. 51 4. Objective and methodology This project is a working process with a community from the neighbourhood of Lomba in Porto. The crucial aim of it is to improve the strength of community there and to raise their sensitivity for colours. It is also important to show that colours are not only about beauty and aesthetics, but also influence ones mood and body and can provoke a more careful view of ones surroundings. The first step of the project was to gain the trust of the inhabitants of Lomba and create a relationship with them. The following parts were focused on the cooperation with members of community, discussions about the neighbourhood and creating a plan for the final intervention. In order to introduce participants to the theme, discussions about colour were made. The objective was to create a project which would help find answers to my research questions. This project was made together with the inhabitants of Lomba, and was based on adding colours to their surroundings. It is a bottom-up project, which means it is process driven. The process and its impact on people is more important than the final outcome. Table 3| Methodological scheme 52 Methodological part of this thesis is divided in two parts, which are strongly connected to each other: theoretical, and practical one. In the theoretical part is a research of literature which talks about the issues that are the base of this thesis (social space, private space, public space, theory of colours, site specific and community). This was made in order to find out what they are and to better understand: •What is the space? how does it depend on and is changed by the people which are present there? •What is the connection between people and public space? Is it important for them? How sharing a common space helps build relationship. •How do people perceive colours? How colours influence them, especially in the context of seeing them in the urban space. •How can a working process with the community change it and improve the strength of the relationships between people who are sharing the same space and are daily struggling with similar issues (in terms of the space which they share). The research also includes projects which have been made in the past or still exist and are concentrated on the issues of community, colour and public space. The practical part is the process of creating the project and using knowledge which had been gained during the survey in literature. This part is separated into three sections, which are: •Fieldwork, which consist of interviews, experiments about colours and visits to the place; •Production, which is the key moment of this project. This contains workshops which were made with the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Lomba in order to create a clear idea for the project; •Documentation of the creative process, which includes pictures and materials from the workshops and documentation of the final work. 53 One of the main tools for this project was frequent visits and conversations with inhabitants. Conversations can be divided into two main levels. The first ones aimed to create new relationships with people. Small talks while having a coffee, getting to know inhabitants and letting them get to know me. The second ones had been more connected to the project. They were explaining my project and researching about their feelings to colours and their neighbourhood. In order to got some more specific information about some projects which had been already made, I conducted an interview with Judith Fahrentholz, a member of Green City Munich, and had a talk with landscape architect Marta Adamska. Also, I have conducted short interviews about general feelings of colour with inhabitants of different cities. All of the processes of the project, as well as the final result have been documented in photographs. Because I am foreigner in Porto and my knowledge of Portuguese may not be enough to understand participants of workshops, I am going to use translators and ask friends who are Portuguese to go with me to help in detailed conversations with people. At the beginning of the project I had intended to include a set of workshops with inhabitants of Lomba. These workshops had in their purpose to introduce a topic of colours in the public space as well as a brainstorm about the ideas of the possible ways of introducing colours into the space. While the process was developing, the main scheme of the project was changed and workshops were replaced with conversations with, and the proposals of, single inhabitants. 54 Table 4| Schedule of work 55 5. Project 5.1. Context - Social housing in Porto Social housing in Porto is an issue which people have been struggling with for many years. In the second part of the 19th century, a big increase in poverty has been noticed in Porto, especially in the case of living conditions. With the Industrial Revolution, development increased significantly in this area. For this reason, people from the countryside started to come to the city in order to find employment. This created a demand in the development of transportation such as buses and railroads. Fátima Loureiro de Matos in her article “Os bairros sociais no espaço urbano do Porto: 19011956” said that in 1864, the number of inhabitants in Porto was 90,391, while in 1890 it increased by around 64%, which amounts to 200,000 inhabitants (Matos, 1994). When we compare these numbers, one can notice how great the difference. It means also that a large amount of people came to Porto and settled mainly in the area of the old town like Ribeira, Sé, Vitoria and Santo Ildefonso (Matos, 1994). Because of the large density of inhabitants in that area, living conditions became very hard. People who were living there did not pay much attention to basic issues such as maintenance and hygiene. This caused the spread of illnesses. One example of this is the case of the bubonic plague. It started at the beginning of August in 1899 and ended in January 1900. At the beginning, the bubonic plague only hit the working class. Then it spread to the other inhabitants of Porto (Ana Cristina Pereira, Público online, 2010). In Porto, one can distinguish two different kinds of social housing. The first type are the houses in the area of Ribeira and Sé, which were mostly occupied by the migrant workers who came to Porto in order to search for work. The houses in which they lived were old and traditional buildings which were overpopulated. As Fátima Loureiro de Matos called them “the real human hives”. These houses usually had 56 three or four floors and have been characterized by picturesque, but at the same time neglected surroundings aligned by narrow streets (Matos, 1994). The second type of houses is called “ilhas”. They were formed due to the increase in the economic system in the area. It means that when new factories were built, vast amount of workers were needed. These workers in turn needed a place to live. To compensate, the owners of the factories created rows of small buildings right in their backyards so to lodge these workers in need. These lines of small houses measured approximately five and a half meters ( 5,5m) wide each. Some could even reach one hundred meters (100 m). This was the place in which the labourers lived. These buildings were constructed of just only one floor. The main entrance opened to a common corridor which lead to the narrow street. Ana Cristiana Pereira, mentioned in the Público, that: “According to Inquérito Geral as Ilhas, in the centre of Porto in 1939, there were about an 40 thousand people living in almost 14 thousand ilhas.” (Ana Cristina Pereira, Público online, 2010). As it became over populated, the authorities of Porto wanted to change the situation, As such, they started to search for a solution which would aid in addressing the problem of unsafe, unhealthy and plain bad living conditions for the inhabitants. One of the first idea to fight the poverty was “Plano de Melhoramentos” in years 1956-1966, which was the plan of expansion of the city. The President at this time, Nuno Pinheiro Torres, constructed 1674 social housing to accommodate the people (Ana Cristina Pereira, Público online, 2010). After the revolution on the 25th of April, 1974 an organization emerged named Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local (SAAL). The aim of this organization was to have open discussions with the inhabitants of social housing and find out about their needs so to be able to build some suitable places where they could live. Unfortunately, 57 Fig. 14| Project Alegria#2 Fig. 15| Project Alegria#2 64 5.4. Description of the final project — rePLACE with colour This project is a bottom-up project. It is a process driven, and the whole process and its impact on people is what matters the most. The crucial issues for the project are colour and community. The place of the intervention is the neighbourhood of Lomba, which is located in the suburbs of Porto. I have chosen this place because of its location and the interaction within the community and the neighbours. Fig. 16| Rua da Lomba, Bonfim, Porto The neighbourhood of Lomba is surrounded by two important streets: Rua de Heroismo and Rua Pinto Bessa, which delineate the district. For this reason, Lomba is not frequently visited by people who do not live there. As one visits Lomba, one gets the impression that all the inhabitants know each other and get along well together. Because of this, someone who is just passing by or just visiting may feel like a stranger. For this project, an established community with a good rapport and 65 understanding was needed. Therefore, the Lomba community was the perfect one, as the feeling of good rapport and understanding was felt right away within the inhabitants. This neighbourhood is a very mixed one. Some houses have been renovated and others have been left in decrepit. The population varies as well from younger to very old people. Many of the inhabitants living in Lomba are struggling with economic problems. This area consists mostly of “ilhas”, which tell us that in the past it was strictly occupied by factory workers. Nowadays some of the “ilhas” are still in use, while some are too destroyed to be inhabited. Fig. 17| Area of intervention 66 As a foreigner in Porto, I feel even more like a foreigner when I am in the Lomba area due to the fact that the community is so tightly knitted. I have decided therefore to make a trial to become a part of the Lomba community. Because I am a foreigner people became very curious about me, asking me various questions regarding my culture and the reason of my presence in the community. They sometimes had difficulties in discussing with me in their language, but they managed to speak slower or also with gesture so to make it possible for us to understand each other. Not being fluent in their language did not stop us from interacting with each other. It even proved itself fruitful as I was able to learn much about this community. Fig. 18| Poster informing about the workshops 67 The language barrier which could have been a difficulty for communicating, proved itself helpful, as we learned from the exchange with each other. I found the people of Lomba very friendly and also very eager to help. At the beginning of this project I used a help of a Portuguese translator in order to easily communicate with the people. After a while, I realized that the process of communication was not only about fluently speaking a language but rather being able to make oneself understood while clearing out all misunderstandings. Fig. 19| Association of Inhabitants of Lomba Upon starting this project, I took five months during which I frequently visited the “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba”. This allowed me to create a relationship with the people, to present them with the idea of my project and work along with them on this same project. I encountered many mishaps and misunderstandings throughout the basic stage of this project. The main trouble was gathering people together for conducting 68 workshops. Since workshops were the main part of my project proposal, it proved to be very difficult a start. I started by using posters to invite people of the community to take part in the workshops. I placed posters of invitation in various places like in the “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba”, as well as in grocery stores and coffee shops of this district (Fig. 18) so to inform the people about my workshops (Appendix 4). The first step consisted in conversations with participants about their neighbourhood. The second step was presentation of the issue of colours in public spaces, the role of colour in the public space and its influence on people. The final part of the workshops was to find an idea for an artistic intervention, which would introduce colours into the surroundings, and finally to create this project together with the people of the community. My ideas did not go as originally planned. Instead of having a set of workshops, I spontaneously started conversations with people who I met in the Association and presented them with questionnaires about their neighbourhood (Appendix 2). I discussed my project and we started making some colour experiments together (Fig. 20). These actions gave a completely different direction to my project and allowed it to run a new course. It also carried itself freely while showing me other possible options to carry it out. During my conversations with the inhabitants of Lomba, some people volunteered to participate in the project and asked about adding some colours on the walls of their houses themselves. 69 Fig. 20| Experiments with colours Participants in my project were daily visitors of the “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba”. Interacting with them consisted the main part of this project. From the large group of participants, I found three people who became strongly attached to my project: Henrique, Mr. Ricardo and Mrs. Maria Jose. I created this part of my project on the houses of these three home owners and participants. I made different colourful designs that matched the specific houses, then I presented them to these three home owners. After discussions, they chose a design of their liking, then I proceeded on painting one outside wall of their house with their chosen design. Before painting the wall, the owners were asked to sign an authorisation allowing me to do this project. I had to present this signed document to the authorities of Lomba (Appendix 5) showing the permission of the home owners to me. With the help of my questionnaires (Appendix 2), I gathered that the inhabitants of Lomba wanted to have more visitors in their neighbourhood. In order to encourage 70 passers-by to visit this place, I proposed to paint the pavement in something colourful. The sketches showed colourful lines connecting the hidden part of the district to the main street part of it. All the shapes that were chosen for painting the walls consisted of geometrical designs in different colours. These geometrical shapes and bright colours came directly from me. They are a reflection of myself and do represent my personal project. The specific arrangements and combinations of colours reflect the inhabitants of each particular house that was chosen for this project. Besides, each design was made specifically for each house. Each image was connected to the surrounding area through each detail, and the finished walls showed exactly the preferences of each home owner. Fig. 21| Plan with locations of chosen houses 71 These connections and reflections give these painted walls a strong “site specific” character. The paintings are connected not only to the place as a site, but also to the community of Lomba, which took an important part in the overall project. I am very grateful to the inhabitants of Lomba. Through their help, I was able to acquire much knowledge about their surroundings, and also gather important information about their feelings regarding colours in general. 72 Part of the Heroismo street The goal of painting the Heroismo Street was to add bright colours to the street so to encourage passers-by in coming into the neighbourhood of Lomba and discover this part of the city. Colourful lines on the road are the link of this hidden neighbourhood to the Heroismo Street. Besides, lively colours do make the entrance to this neighbourhood brighter and more welcoming. For this part of my project, I created a few proposals shown in Appendix 6. Fig. 22| Painting for the Heroismo street, Porto 73 shadows on the wall made by the window overhang. The overhangs’ triangular shape was the starting point for the other triangles that continued down to the bottom part of the building (Fig. 31). Fig. 30| House of Mrs. Maria Jose, Travessa do Lomba, Porto Fig. 31| Painting for house of Mrs. Maria Jose, Travessa do Lomba, Porto 80 During my interaction with Mrs. Maria Jose, communication appeared to be a problem. Soon after asking her for her signature for the release of an authorisation to the authorities, she showed great surprise that I was going to be painting her house. She stated that she liked the pattern shown to her but was unsure that her husband would agree to it. Besides, she mentioned that she was going to refurbish her house in a few months, and that painting her house in bright colours for my project at this time, might make it more difficult for her to cover it up with white paint. Therefore, her house remained in my project, but did not get painted. This example shows that communication has its own complex nature. It is very easy to be misunderstand due to miscommunication not only from the point of language barriers, but also from lack of covering all the grounds necessary to present a project to its participants. Being aware of communicating properly and clearly can truly help in working with people from various background and different places. When one is aware and try to adapt to these various conditions, it makes communication easier. 81 House of Henrique Henrique was the first and the most involved participant of this project. I have met him many times to discuss the issue of colour in Lomba. Together we tried to find a proper pattern for a wall of his house. He tried to give me examples of what he wanted me to create for his house. Fig. 32| Henrique's house Fig. 33| Questionnaire The first idea was from the game “Noughts and Crosses” (Jogo do Galo). He presented me with a small drawing, shown in the figure below (Fig. 34). 82 Fig. 34| Noughts and Crosses His other proposal was the idea of having ladies washing clothes in water painted on the wall. It was a nice idea, but my intention was not to make murals but to paint something more abstract which would remain part of my particular project. I have designed various drawings for Henrique's house (Appendix 9), and he finally chose one of them. The final design we agreed upon was based on the idea of water, but I represented it in an abstract way (Fig. 36). To do so, I used different sizes of triangles and various tones of the colour blue. Painting the bottom part of the building made it more lively. 83 Fig. 35| House of Henrique, Lomba Street, Porto 84 Fig. 36| Painted house of Henrique, Lomba Street, Porto 85 Fig. 37| Process of painting Henrique's house 86 Association of Inhabitants of Lomba Building of Association was included to the project at the end of its process. While the houses were being painted, the president of the Association, Mr. Ricardo asked me if it would be possible for me to include the headquarters in my project. I proposed come designs to him, offering him some colourful shapes and figures. He chose one and suggested that I made the building look livelier and more fun. This particular wall consisted only of four long beams separating windows and doors in between them. There, I decided to make triangular shapes in colours that were previously used on the other walls. For this matter, the Association, which was the main place where I have met the participants in my project became a connection of all of its pieces. Fig. 38| Building of “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba”, Vera Cruz Street, Porto 87 Fig. 39| Painted building of “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba”, Vera Cruz Street, Porto Fig. 40| Process of painting building of Association 88 6. Conclusion The aim of this project was to build a relationship with the inhabitants of Lomba while introducing colours into their neighbourhood. This project's main concerns were: 1|To see how the community works together by establishing a common goal in maintaining and developing relationships to make it stronger. 2|To show people how their surroundings can influence their outlook, via the use of colours. At the beginning, I had planned various workshops about colours in the public space. After discussions with visitors of the “Association of Inhabitants of Lomba” and individual proposals of the inhabitants, I changed the original plans of this project. This project was a very personal project for me. It was the first time I made a project that had such a strong social aspect to it. This was not an easy task, especially because of the differences in the culture and the problem in communication and language barrier. Through this work, I came to see that the designer of a project is very dependent on the participants of the same project. The reason is that projects involving various participants in different places, can be difficult to control. However, the use of this large amount of participants made this particular project more powerful, as it gave me a greater sense of accomplishment. It translated as a grass root project. In other words, a project made for the people and also by the people. This project also showed how communication along with common goals can be fundamental in creating a strong community. Through this project, I was able to gain the trust and cooperation of people who at the beginning were complete strangers to me. “rePLACE with colour” involved a participation of inhabitants of Lomba in Porto. These people, while being open and friendly, they were not eager to take part in the workshops I planned for this project. This necessitated me to introduce 89 Amelia Tomczak| 26 years old| Kraków, Poland 1. Where do you live, in the centre of the city or suburbs area? •In suburbs area of bigger city. 2. Are there many colours around? •The characteristic types of buildings contain mainly grey and faded colours without much of difference between. 3. While you are spending time in public spacewalking on the street, drinking coffee in outside caféare you looking around yourself? •Yes, its always giving me the biggest pleasure to observe ambient around and analyse it. 4. Do you like to see colours in public space in the place you are? Why? •Yes, it is mainly for making a place more vivid, with lots of dynamic. In my opinion it is something that cheerish people and make them more interested in place they currently are. Colours also encouraging, to explore more places around and make people remember specific objects. 5. While you are thinking about colours in public spacesare you thinking more about the centre of suburbs of the city? •Definitely a centre of the city. It is where people are spending most of the time and look for attraction while visiting the centre. 6. Do you think that suburbs are more grey than places in the centre of the city? •From what I managed to see, centres of the cities are more colourful There is bigger amount of colourful places, murals that attracts people there. In suburban area, there is no focus on this aspect. 96 Appendix 2Questionnaires with inhabitants of neighbourhood of Lomba 97 98 99 100 Appendix 3Interview with Judith Fahrentholz, a member of Green City Munich, 25th of February 2015 How does the PARK(ing) DAY works in your case? Are you an organization which is gathering people who wants to take part in this event? •We are the organization so we do care about the authorization from the city hall and we try to find participants who will take part in it. Are you designing the paring spaces, or if someone wants to take part in it, is designing it by itself? •No, it is like people are coming to us and saying like for example “oh I would like to make a playground for a children” and then we say “oh it is cool we don't have anyone who is doing that, so, yes please, do that”. Sometimes people are coming to us and saying “we want to take part in PARK(ing) DAY but they don't know how, can you please help us? We don't know what to do in our parking lot “ so then we sit together and help them to design their parking lot. Are they mostly people who are somehow connected to the design, architecture, landscape architecture and so one, or they like the idea of the event so they want to take part in it? •No, no. Actually, all the people who take part in a PARK(ing) DAY don't have any connection with “design field”. Ok, and why Green City organization decided to take part in this international event, which is a PARK(ing) Day and when was the first time, when you took part in it? The first time I think was in 2007 or 2009, but this is one of the questions I have to look out. Yeah, and why we decided? Because one of our main missions for Munich is to make it greener and to give back the space to the people. Because a lot of space is taken for the cars and all the traffic, and we want to give it back for people who live here, in a city. Are people eager taking part in this event? They join you a lot? •Well, there are two types of people, firstparticipants, which are small shops or small initiatives, organizations, here in Munich. Of course we have to write a lot to them, that we get about twenty participants, but then it is very easy for us, we don't have to make a lot of marketing, because once we promoted, and once people came a lot to take part in it. And they are the other participants, who are people, who step by, who came to see it, and yeah, that depend very much of the place where is the PARK(ing) DAY. We tried a lot where it runs the best and last year we found a very good place and we will do it there once again. Is it more in the city centre or...? •Yeah, that one was more in the city centre. It's a street called Sendlingerstrasse. This is 101 a small street, with a lot of shops, and one part of the street is already e pedestrian zone, and the other part is free for cars, so cars can drive there and park there, and then there is a little space for people to walk. Since Green City works in Munich, we want to make this other part, this all street as a pedestrian area. That is why last year we made a PARK(ing) DAY there, to show people how the street would look like. And we hope that one day in the future it will be like this. Yes, would be nice. What do you offer to people who are creating parking lots with the Green City organization? •Well we propose them advice, the whole organization, we said to them, “you don't have to care about anything, just come on that day, bring your stuff and create your park”. We had some meetings before, but that depends a lot on which kind of people they are. Some are very independent, they just say, “hey we make a playground” and we say “yeah, that's great” and the others really don't know, so they need more advices, and we talk with them and help them. And people which are passing your parking lots? What kind of attractions are you offering them to invite to step by and stay a bit? •There are very different places. In some you can just sit and relax and enjoy the sun, and some have more action. For example last year we had a little do it yourself parking lot, where people could make stuff with stamps, and so one. And others, where they had little speeches, or wanted to make a members of organizations, so that depends. They are very different, and some people just go through and don't mind, but others they are very surprised and happy and take part in it. For me this event is touching two main issues. One which is to put in the urban landscape some nature and colours to create a nice public space, and another which is connected with society. To create places for people to stay and make some new connections with strangers. Do you think that one of them is more important then another? •I think it comes together, because all the projects, which Green City does in Munich always have a social part. We want to improve the environment in Munich, but it always has a social part. For example community gardens, or we have a clothes swap parties, where people can bring all stuff and swap it with other people, so it is always very social. We think that environmental improvement only can be successful if people are involved and if it's socially accepted. While I was making an research for my master thesis, I've read the sentence of Vito Acconci, which was saying, that nowadays, because of the development in technology, people don't have a need to talk with the others in the public space. Do you agree with this statement? •No, I don't think it is like that. I think that these two things come together. We see that 102 people more and more are involved online in campaigns, we ask them things on facebook, we ask them “do you know any building that has a green wall” for example, and we see that people involve themselves in that issue, they interact in social networks with us, but also we have so many requests from the neighbourhoods who want to support, who want to help in a special issues. From the first time, when Green City took part in PARK(ing) DAY, you do it regular, every year, right? •Yes, we do this every ear now. Can you notice an increase in the amount of participants in PARK(ing) DAY which you create? •Actually no, but I don't know why...maybe because I think we only can accept a certain amount of people. I think we never had more than 25 participants. Ok, but talking about participants, which are passing by your parking lots and joining you in these event? Are there more every year? •No, I think this was the same. Only that last year we had that space more in the city centre, of course there are more people, but the year before, I think it was always the same. Are you changing place of the PARK(ing) DAY every year? •Yes, we change a place every year. Do you think that events like PARK(ing) DAY, as well as some art installations, basically the objects, which are not really connected with the urban landscape but are putting there, are making people thinking more about their surrounding? •Yeah, we are convinced, that it helps people think more about the surrounding. That's one of our concepts, that's one of our basics how we work. We want to surprise people. For example we also have a project called “Wandering trees” , which are small trees about two meters, and they are in a little pot which we are caring from one street to one street and they stay a couple of weeks on one street, and then people see how the street would look like if there were trees. This is one of the basic concepts of our work, we want to surprise people and make them think about how the city would look like if we change it together. Obviously Green City is mainly connected with plants and trees, but do you work sometimes with some other materials? •Not so much. Our purpose is to work with plants, but we have also one project every year, called street light festival, actually two times a year one weekend. This festival is taking place in two streets, which are very busyLudwig and Leopoldstrasse, we close them for the car traffic and open for the people to walk, to visit shops, because we have a little shops there to see what could happen on the street, and it's a festival, with 103 music in the evening and during the day with activities for kids with a lot of street food, and with a lot of....yeah we have like a bike contest and a street soccer, and stuff like that. Of course there are not so many plants, because street is so huge so it's hard to do that, so there is more about elements. The city hall is eager to help you in organizing this events, which are you doing, or it's not so easy to got their permission to organize some actions in the city? •It depends, my colleague said it gets harder every year to have a permission, but that's more bout security, every year it have to have more people who are responsible for a security for fire, to avoid fire, so that's why it gets harder to have a permission. Well it also depends, because the city hall in Munich is very huge, so it depends on who you have to work with. Some people are very open, you know like we have little ministries in Munich and there is one ministry for environment and health and of course with these people we work better and the people who are responsible for, I don't know...avoids of fire are harder. So it really depends. Does Green City have every year new actions, or you rather have some which you are repeating every year and you are not creating the new ones? •We have some, which we repeat every year, like PARK(ing) DAY, or “Wandering trees” and....well there are not so many new every year, or more smaller events. Last year we had a little lecture, for a Munich author, who was a pedestrian, he like to walk through the city and he wrote about it. And we use him and his book to make people think more about walking. For that we've made an lecture in city centre...well that was one of our new event, but most of them we repeat every year. Do you have a lot of lectures and meeting where you are educating people more in theoretical way about an issues connected with their environment, or there are mainly some actions and events? •Yes, we also do a theory things, for example we have a discussion, that we repeat four or five times a year, and it's always about mobility issues, for example about public transport, about all the issues about mobility, and that's more theory . Often there are people in the auditory which are from the city hall for example from ministries. So people who are involved not in actions, but who want to hear some theory. You mentioned before that one project which you've made was a community garden, can you please tell me a bit more about it? •Yes, sure. Was it the idea of Green City to start doing them? •Yes, but there are some more in Munich, so I don't know, if we were the first ones, because there are so many in Munich. 104 The first garden, I told you about, is called “Eatable City”, it was city, who asked us if we want to do it. Because in Germany there is one famous city who started that project, it's called a..... , they were first one with the eatable project, and Munich said, hey we want to have a little copy of that project, so they asked us, if we want to do that. And second garden, actually I don't know, because it already existed when I came here. And the third one in neighbourhood called Giesing, there...yes....it was us who started it, together with the other organization. And the “Eatable city” has mostly fruits or vegetables? •Both. And who is taking care of that place? Are there some people who are in charge of it or inhabitants of it's neighbourhood? •It's more people who live there. Of course we have people here, who are doing a newsletter, who create some events with people, like barbecue, and stuff like that, but basically, people who are living there. Do people have a respect to that place? They don't destroy or overuse it? •No, they have a respect. We had a little problems with overused, but it was due to false communication, there was a communication problems, but I think now it's better, they soled it out . Thank you very much for your time and your answers. •It was a pleasure, thank you too. 105 112 Appendix 8Examples of paintings for house of Mrs. Maria Jose 113 Appendix 9Examples of paintings for house of Henrique 114 115 116 117 118 Appendix 10Letter to the authorities of Bonfim 119 Bibliography: | Acconci, Vito.- Art and The Public Sphere: Public Space in Private Time. Art and the public sphere, William Mitchell. United States of America: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. | Arheim, RudolfArt and Visual Perception. Psychology of the Creative Eye. 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