On April 6+7, 2019, on UC San Diego campus Warren Mall, over 200+ students, neighbors, designers, technologists, and media-makers will come together for the Pepper Canyon Mobility Hub Designathon, an event developing proposals that will support the transformation Pepper Canyon Trolley Station at UCSD campus, currently under construction, into a dynamic, multimodal mobility hub. The event is produced through a partnership between The UC San Diego Design Lab, SANDAG, UC San Diego Campus Planning, the UC San Diego Young Planners’ Society, Sixth College Culture, Art, Technology program, and UC San Diego Urban Planning Program. Non-profit and corporate sponsors include LimeBike, the San Diego Zoo’s Tech to Reconnect, Lyft, GoGo squeeZ, and Suja Organic. The finalist presentations and mixer will be open to the public and media on Sunday evening from 6:30-9pm.
The goal of the designathon is to explore and expand mobility between the trolley station and the campus at large. Projects will include ideas and proposals for urban plans, tech and data solutions, and services and programs that support mobility and experiences at the station and the surrounding UC San Diego campus. Possible topic areas include micro-mobility routes and docking stations, passenger pick-up points and flows, services such as charging stations, artistic augmentations, food and delivery pick-ups, apps and digital signage, and light and sound solutions, to name a few. Both pre-existing teams and individuals are welcome to register; the Design Lab will facilitate matching to help create teams pre-event.
To assist participants, resources including video tutorials and overviews from campus planning, SANDAG, and the Design Lab will provide a toolkit of plans with which teams can familiarize themselves before the event. Over twenty professional mentors will support the teams process through expertise in engineering, design, transportation, and planning throughout the event. Expert judges — Antoinette Meier (SANDAG), Michèle Morris (UCSD Design Lab), Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell (UCSD Urban Planning), and Raeanon “Rae” Hartigan (UCSD Campus Planning) will distribute $5000 in Cash Prizes to the best proposals. Winning teams and other proposals which show promise will have the option to continue their work through an independent study at UC San Diego during the fall quarter. LimeBike will sponsor the event through in-kind rides for participants to visit observation and development sites throughout the weekend, and host a joyride on Saturday evening for all participants. Free food will be provided as part of the set up on Warren Mall for the duration of the event.
Designathons are large scale events that build upon the competitive and collaborative nature of hackathons–intensive, immersive events where interdisciplinary teams develop smart sociotechnical solutions in response to real world challenges. Designathons mobilize the human-centered design techniques utilized in the UCSD Design Lab, including observation, problem-definition, prototyping, user-testing, iteration, and storytelling. The first Design+Hackathon was hosted by the UC San Diego Design Lab in partnership with the MIT City Science Group around the theme of People-Centric Mobility in September 2018.
The event is open to anyone, including undergraduates, graduate students, high school students, neighbors, designers of all kinds, engineers, technologists, media-makers, planners, future users, and accompanied youth are all invited to participate. Fully-formed teams, partial teams, and individuals are welcome to register. Registration by March 26 @ 5pm is required to participate. Info-Session (in-person or digital) required, spring date and virtual resources to be posted March 26th.
Video Resources:
HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN w / Don Norman
SANDAG MOBILITY HUBS w / Marisa Mangan
UCSD CAMPUS PLANNING w/ Rae Hartigan
JUDGES
Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell is a faculty member in the Urban Studies and Planning Program where she directs its new real estate and development major. She has degrees in architecture and urban planning and focuses much of her research on housing and community development in underserved neighborhoods.
Raeanon (Rae) Hartigan is a Principal Planner in the UC San Diego Campus Planning office. She focuses on projects at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the University Center, Pepper Canyon Neighborhood, and East Campus as well planning issues related to housing, mobility and health and wellness. Prior to joining the Planning office in 2007 she worked as an Urban Planner for a local architecture firm. She has served on the Ocean Beach Planning Board and holds a Master of Science in International Affairs from Florida State University and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Cal Poly Pomona. When she’s not working she enjoys being outdoors with her family.
Antoinette Meier is a Principal Regional Planner in the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Department of Operations. She serves as the manager of the Transportation Demand Management program and is responsible for leading innovative transportation programs and services that reduce traffic congestion and improve mobility for the San Diego region. Antoinette is spearheading efforts to advance shared mobility and integrate emerging technologies into regional transportation plans, projects, and services. This includes leading the establishment of the San Diego Regional Proving Ground and development and implementation of a Regional Mobility Hub Strategy. Prior to joining SANDAG, Antoinette managed community and economic development programs in both the San Diego region and the City of Seattle. She has a Masters Degree in City Planning and is an AICP certified planner.
Michèle Morris is passionate about human-centered design, strategic leadership, and high-impact innovation, all drivers in her current positions as the Associate Director of the DesignLab, UC San Diego, founding board member of the Design Forward Alliance, and principal at HardPoint Solutions consulting firm. For over 20 years, she has provided strategic, operational, and training support to organizations and executives around the world, to include serving over a decade in the United States Secret Service. Michèle is an accomplished instructor and facilitator, serving multiple leading institutions including Stanford’s d.school, The Design Academy and USD’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies.
