Week 5 - stories of the future

On Tuesday morning, Erika gave us a lecture about storytelling and placemaking/peacemaking. This is an important tool  especially in ethnic communities because stories and traditions are often lost throughout generations. Felicia Lowe showed us some of the projects that she had been working on throughout her career. We got to experience a VR video of the poems that were left on the walls of Angel Island. I thought it was incredible to incorporate the stories of those who have gone through Angel Island into digital art.

In the afternoon, we visited the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) building. We were given a tour of the building and got to see the cool green technology that was implemented. They also talked about San Francisco’s water system and the upcoming improvements they plan to do for the wastewater facilities.

On Thursday morning, Deland led a brainstorming exercise on imagining the future of Chinatown. We tried to incorporate transportation into the picture but I would say we were mostly pessimistic about the future. However, this was perfect for the afternoon activity at SPUR. The afternoon activity was like a brainstorming exercise except based on pictures that were posted up. It really got us to think about how to plan for the future in extreme ways. 

​- Maggie Dong