OurMichiganAvenue.org User Research:
Field study
Background
OurMichiganAvenue.org is a project aimed at developing the community in the greater Lansing area through urban development ideas. This website gives a voice to the residents and students residing in the community through a platform where ideas can be submitted and opinions heard through posts and discussion boards.
In the class “Researching User Experience,” I had the opportunity to conduct a field study on Albert Street and Valley Court Park, both located in East Lansing, Michigan. This was a two-person project where we both contributed to a proposal, reflection, and field study interviews and observations with residents of East Lansing.
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Albert Street is located in downtown East Lansing, where various restaurants and shops are located for pedestrians to indulge in. In the summer of 2021, the street was closed to cars in order to promote pedestrianization; several activities including arts and crafts, living music, food trucks, and games were open to the public.
Valley Court Park is community park located on the west side of downtown East Lansing, where a playground is installed. Community events such as the East Lansing's Farmer Market also takes place there.
Problem Statement
I wanted to understand possible improvement ideas East Lansing residents have for both Albert Street and Valley Court Park.
The Process
My partner and I spent 2 hours around Albert Ave. and Valley Court Park downtown East Lansing to talk to people, take pictures, and take note of the surroundings. Our plan was to conduct short-form interviews with five different participants that were willing to speak with us. We collected data by taking notes and with the permission of our participants, recorded conversations on our phones. We also took notes and photographs of our surroundings.
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The entirety of this project was completed in the span of a month. First, we created a proposal for the user interviews in around a week. Within the proposal, we included our objectives, measures, and scope of study:​
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Talk to Greater Lansing residents and visitors to figure out ways to improve the Albert Street and Valley Court Park projects.
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Identify if participants are aware of and are interested in Albert Ave. street closure.
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Find potential improvements that can be made to the projects.
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Conduct interviews, take pictures and take notes
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For our observations, we followed a set of questions on our proposal as a guide. For Valley Court Park, collecting significant observations of how people interact with the space was somewhat difficult because in the time that we spent there only a handful of people came to the park and they were mostly just walking through. Because of this we focused on what we could, like accessibility, and thought of things that could make the space more inviting:
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Access and linkage: Judge the accessibility of the area by its surroundings (visual and physical)
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Does the space function for people with special needs?
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Can people use a variety of transportation options (bus, train, car, bike, ect.) to reach the place?
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Are transit stops conveniently located next to the destinations?
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Can people easily walk to the place? Do sidewalks lead to and from the adjacent areas?
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Comfort and image: is a space comfortable and presents itself well?
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Are there enough places to sit? Are seats conveniently located? (are there shade or sun options)
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Are spaces clean and free of litter?
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Does the area feel safe?
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Uses and activities
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Are people using the space or is it empty?
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Is it used by people of different ages?
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Which parts of the space are used and which are not?
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Are there choices of things to do?
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How many different types of activities are occurring?
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Walking, eating, sports, chess, relaxing, reading, ect.
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Sociability
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Are people in groups? Are they talking with one another?
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Are people smiling? Do people make eye contact with each other?
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user profile
Participants must meet the following criteria to be eligible to participate:
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Must be an adult to participate
questions
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What kinds of activities or developments would you like there to be in this area to make it more inviting to stay?
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Examples: games, yoga, painting, chalk, night markets/street market
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How often do you come to Albert Ave. or Valley Court Park? When you’re here what do you usually do?
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Is this a place where you would bring your friends or family to visit or hang out? Why? If not, what would make it more appealing?
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Were you aware that over the summer Albert Ave. was closed to traffic and a variety of activities were available to do?
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Did you get a chance to come down here over the summer?
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They’re thinking about doing it again this summer, is that something that you would be interested in going to? why?
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What kinds of activities would you like to see at the Albert ave street closure? Live music, food trucks, mural painting, yoga, farmers market.
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Were there any inconveniences that you experienced because of the street closure, ie lack of parking, not being able to access certain businesses as easily? Would you say that these inconveniences outweighed the benefits of the street closure for you personally?
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Do you come to valley court park often? Do you like to come here with friends or family? Why?
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Have you ever been to the East Lansing farmers market?
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How do you feel about the farmer’s market? Do you think that it makes the park feel more lively?
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What other events or features do you think could make the park even better? More seating, more cultural events, and fairs, more art, more activities like volleyball nets and other sports, etc.
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Thank you for your time, Is there anything else that you would like to say?
Challenges
One challenge that we both faced was finding participants to take part in the interviews. We did not want to be too invasive so we avoided going into businesses for the most part, but a lot of people passing by were in a rush, so they would either blow us off completely or in one case, have to leave mid-way through the interview to get to where they needed to be. Nevertheless, we were able to get a good amount of interviews by asking as many people as possible to participate.
Additionally, my partner and I are both introverts so going out and talking to random people on the street pushed us both out of our comfort zone. Luckily we were able to meet with one of our more extroverted classmates and she was able to show us the ropes, which made us both more comfortable conducting the interviews on our own. This made this section of the field study a lot less daunting, and we were able to get a lot of good data for our improvements which otherwise would not have been possible through observation alone.
What I Learned
One of the biggest lessons that I learned from conducting interviews out in the wild is that you need to be flexible and that no two interviews are going to look the same. Unlike the regular interviews where people were asked and scheduled to participate, we were kind of ambushing people so we did not know how much time they had to speak to us, or if they were even familiar with the things that we were talking about. For example, some of our participants were students and did not live in East Lansing during the summertime for the Albert street closure, or they were not familiar with valley court park. In these instances the questions that we prepared about these projects specifically no longer really made sense to ask since they were not familiar with the projects. I think we were able to navigate well when this happened, but it was definitely different from a more formal interview.
Findings
We used this data to suggest 4 improvements on the Our Michigan Ave website. We did this by going through the data we collected and looking for patterns that we saw, like more activities, less of an emphasis on car travel, and more on pedestrian walkability. The biggest challenge here was combing through the data that we collected and finding valuable pieces of information that would enhance each of these projects in a meaningful way.
Albert street improvement ideas:
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Shut Down Albert Ave twice a month for social gatherings- All of the street interviewees who were present during the previous closings of Albert Avenue over the summer enjoyed the events. Shutting down Albert Avenue more often than only the summers would help to create a place for social gatherings. Similar to Stroget street, which started off as being closed to cars, eventually became one of the most popular and busiest pedestrian streets. In cities, pedestrians should become the top priority and to do so would require pedestrianization of streets. This would require public spaces dedicated to pedestrians to enjoy events or for relaxation and socialization. The closing of Albert Avenue would do just that. During its closing, similar activities in the past year such as live music, games, and art should remain, in addition to food trucks and farmer markets. This would create a social space for residents and students of Greater Lansing that is not dominated by cars.
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Public Dancing Events- On Albert Avenue, there are a wide variety of shops to enter and restaurants to eat at. However, the area is lacking physical events that allow for residents of Greater Lansing to enjoy that consists of more than just shopping and dining out. Cities should be diverse in the activities it offers. Some interviewees we came across expressed their love of dancing–from ballroom and salsa to batcha and hustle. One aspect that makes the pedestrianization of streets successful are the sports and recreation infrastructure. With the addition of public dance events or lessons, it would create a space that invites people to be more active. This could also be an opportunity for dances from different cultures to be displayed as well. Overall, this would be beneficial to the welfare of residents, as well as the overall creation of social spaces that would add to a stronger connection within the community.
valley court park improvement ideas:
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Introduce a Skatepark- Since the area surrounding the park in Valley Court Park is made up of a lot of grass and empty land, something that could help fill the space is the addition of a skatepark. With Lansing made up of many college students, a skatepark would help to create more diversity in available activities that students could partake in. For example, Jackson Heights is not only diverse in its languages and cultures, but it also incorporates a variety of events such as dancing and music. Adding a skatepark would add to the diversity of the park itself, since there are only standard park equipment such as a swing, slide, and climbing gears. Furthermore, instead of skateboarders having to resort to skating in places such as parking garages, they can have a nearby designated spot. This would also provide an attraction for residents and students to watch.
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Use of Green Space- There’s a lot of green space near Valley Court Park, which provides an opportunity for building social spaces where the people of Greater Lansing can connect with each other. Since parks generally appeal to children more than any other age groups, adding things like concession stands and holding events like farmers markets and food trucks would create a more inviting space for both residents and students. Furthermore, people would use the space for picnics and a general hangout spot. The idea of visible life is an important aspect of making an attractive city. With food trucks and street markets, the people selling the food would be on display. The ability to see the things that are going on would help make others feel connected, which would lead to a city full of life.