2021

Node

a platform leveraging augmented reality to increase public participation in urban planning projects

Node is a concept for a participatory urban planning platform, ​​giving local residents a voice in shaping the communities they live in. Node leverages AR to allow community residents to discover local urban planning projects and contribute their feedback in an engaging, time-efficient way. As a platform that supports flexible and user-friendly forms of giving feedback, Node closes the communication gap between urban planners and community members and makes the public engagement process more equitable.

Role: User research, UI/UX design

Tools: Figma, InVision, UserTesting, ARKit, Reality Composer

Info: Verizon, 10 weeks, with Aichen Guo, Brendon Gross, JD LeRoy, and Ruchi Vora

🔒Case study – please reach out for additional information.

Mobile app map interface showing local urban planning projects as pins with status indicators

Discover Projects

Community members can discover urban planning projects in their area, view the status of these developments, and contribute their feedback.

Mobile app screen showing project details with feedback deadline and community sentiment visualization

Browse Project Descriptions

Community members can learn more about the project, view the deadline for public feedback, visualize the community's overall sentiment, and contribute their own feedback.

AR view showing colorful building blocks that users can place to express community priorities

Share Feedback: Sculpture-Building in AR

In the early ideation and exploratory stages of urban development projects, when urban planners do not have a clear or finalized idea of what the project's end result will look like, community members can speak up about what they hope to see within a space. Through drag-and-drop sculpture-building, community members can allocate blocks corresponding to the areas of the plan they value and further elaborate on their feedback sculpture by sharing their story, allowing urban planners to better understand community sentiment.

AR visualization of a 3D development model with community comment pins floating above it

Share Feedback: AR Development Model

In the later stages of a development project, when urban planners have already created detailed sketches, community members can use Node to visualize these models. Community members have another opportunity to give feedback, as Node allows them to place comments on areas of the model as well as upvote other community members' comments.

Node prototype demo