About the sites
1. The CAMP site of Costa Mesa
2. North Financial District of San Francisco
Links to Google Slides
Part 1: Three ideas to enhance the overall design of the sites
Part 2: Two options to build a self-parking system on the CAMP site of Costa Mesa
Part 1: Three ideas to enhance the overall design of the sites
Idea one: Self-parking on the CAMP
Parking at CAMP has always been a challenge. The deficiency of the parking arrangement has turned away a lot of potential customers. Our first idea is to turn valet parking into self-assistant parking using an existing parking app “ParkMobile”. In addition, based on interview survey, most people do not like the idea of valet parking as they shared their concerns about having a stranger to possess their car keys while being away.
Self-assistant parking is very common in busy places. The CAMP has always been overly popular and lack of good parking system. Replacing valet with self-parking meters could help the site to direct traffic more effectively.
The city can put in meters to set up a self-parking system on the site. The apps works with most meters that takes credit cards.
Using an existing app “ParkMobile” which has grown tremendous popularity among mobile apps enhances people’s experience when visiting busy sites. The free app makes it easy to find and pay for parking without running back to feed the meter. And visitors can reserve spots ahead of time for events. With more than a million spots and 3,000 locations across North America, we can integrate CAMP’s parking system to work with the mobile app by asking the city for special zoning for parking.
Idea two: Eco-friendly kids zone on the CAMP
Most of the children’s places in Costa Mesa are designed to be indoors. The outdoor campground setting at The CAMP provides a touch of nature unique to this site that can encourage children to play and experience nature. Currently the retail campus lacks kid friendly spaces. We propose to the Orange County Urban Development special zoning for parks a kids play area at The CAMP where kids can roam in the outdoor setting without leaving the urban area. The play area can be eco-friendly to fall in line with the mission of The CAMP, and can promote kids’ learning to support the city’s development.
Idea Three: Ally intervention in North Financial District of San Francisco
Part 2: Two options to build a self-parking system on the CAMP site of Costa Mesa
Option 1:
Setting up a self-serving parking system on the CAMP site to make parking more effective and to enhance people’s experience when visiting the busy site of CAMP.
Managing your Parking via self-serving meters
Moving in the park-it-yourself touch screen meters in the valet parking areas, to allow people manage their parking from the screen. First 2 hours are free, and after that the visitors can reserve the hours based on their anticipation of their time of visit. This is one option for those who do not want to download parking app to reserve time and manage their parking from their phone.
Managing your Parking via Mobile app
Integrating the self-serving parking system into mobile app to allow visitors to manage their time for parking before their visit. A lot apps offer free services to make it easy to find and pay for parking without running back to feed the meter. And visitors can reserve spots ahead of time for events.
Option 2: The CAMP Counselors
Hi friends!
I loved your approach to these sites as you went very conceptual as well as very precise. I think the counselors are an extremely interesting approach, as it changes the space and the act of parking completely. You’re creating a service out of this interaction and I think that was an extremely interesting idea. How do you imagine this being implemented? Would these people be hired by the city, or by the center? And how would they be representative of the center? I think looking at how these people would juggle the needs of every business there is another interesting problem as well!
I also like the idea of using the app for parking for reasons that Sofanah brought up. Some people might not want a totally social experience when parking, and I think you’ll end up having to tackle changing the entire social construct of that activity into something completely different. I think that’s an incredibly interesting design problem, however! How can you help people navigate this new paradigm of interacting with the space? How can signage, instructions, and the counselors ease this transition? How can they new method still pull from familiar mental models of the space, and of the action?
Great job conceptualizing both of these! I look forward to seeing your approach!
Hi both,
In an assignment of imagine anything it be interesting to try and flush out idea #2 which has never been tested. Some experiential components to consider:
– Assume people mean well and discover ways that encourage people to limit the time their car is parked. A not so great experience would be towing a car once the time limit is up. It’s very similar to a shared resource issue (think overfishing). How can we proactively get individuals to move it themselves and not “abuse” this shared resource?
– How might we make it feel as though patrons were lining up for something else rather than a parking spot? Consider letting patrons place food orders with CAMP counselors while waiting for a spot to open up or the counselors could make simple purchases/returns.
– In thinking about it end-to-end what are some engagement principles you want the counselors to follow? Is it best to provide guidance rather than strict protocol on how to engage those waiting for parking? As a principle example, Trader Joe’s actually has a policy where employees are encouraged to help customers over restocking or any other responsibilities.
I enjoyed reading about the milk and cookies idea. Certain Hilton brand hotels already provide you a warm cookie upon check in. No matter what direction you take it I think there’s plenty of room for creativity.
I do love the idea of having an attendant/CAMP counselor to keep you company. I personally don’t mind because I always talk to strangers like I’ve known them forever, but how do you create an experience for people who might not want the face to face contact. Other than bringing food, could there be more interesting ways to engage?
I was thinking the frustration comes more from the anxiety of waiting rather than the boredom. Maybe it’s something like a special station you could listen to on your radio that plays meditative music.
I have to say, I kind of like the camp counselor idea because it engages people with the space and each other!
It would definitely be more difficult to implement and you’d have to figure out how to avoid making the experience annoying or invasive, but I think that the idea of making those human connections and helping people feel welcome in the space outweighs the potential negatives. I’d be curious to see ideas for implementation, including the kinds of experiences and conversations you’d want people to have. Could these interactions be extended throughout the space, not just while waiting for parking?
How amazing would it be if people looked forward to coming to CAMP (even if they had to wait for parking) because they knew they’d have great interactions from the first moments they entered, and feel completely at home there?
Hello Kathlyn and Ruilin! This is a super cool idea. I recently visited the CAMP with a few friends and I was attempting to convince them about Valeting the car, but they refused because they did not like having someone drive their car, wait for someone to get the car, and tip for something complementary. This is an actual problem at this space and you guys did a great job identifying it.
I love both options you presented and will say I am leaning more towards the first one than the second mainly due to my own personal issue of not really wanting human interaction if I’m frustrated with the lack of parking spots. I could simply valet the car if needed. I love the idea of cheering people up and making waiting less frustrating and boring, but I’m not sure of how feasible this option might be.
I think the first option is more “realistic” in that you’re tackling a huge problem of people staying too long at the camp. They might be less inclined to stay 4 hours if that meant they had to pay. I do like your approach of making the first 2 hours free, but how would you enforce that in the space though? I guess it would be possible to have them enter in their license plate # when they park and start the timer then. I had some questions about the mobile app in regards to how the user can reserve a spot. What would stop another person from simply parking there and not moving their car? Is there any sort of feedback that one might notice prior to parking and looking at the meter?
Overall, I think you guys have a solid idea and your choice of problem to tackle is spot on. You have some really great options and I personally think that option #1 seems more “realistic” than options #2, although #2 is very creative. Good job!