alan

As a group we have completed the framing together which is in the form of a poster and a voice over script that consist of both our context, concept and methodology and is submitted by our team leader through turnitin. Here is my personal reflective statement:

Finally our project “speculative future of Auckland 2038 has come to an end. This 12 week journey can only be described as a roller coaster ride as it has a lot of ups and downs. We were told that our initial idea to improve Auckland public transport wasn’t good enough and required improvement. Thanks to our lecturer who guided us and gave us a new direction on this project that we should review the past and predict the future of Auckland transport 20 years from now.

With the continuing growth of Auckland population and potential satellite towns being developed in the North, West and South Auckland, we have designed a new innovative transport system network in Auckland. At the further stage of project design we notice that tertiary students and staff are a large group of Auckland transport users or commuters. So we include into our project to build a new tertiary academy island, which will be near the inner harbour. The idea is to take the entire Auckland tertiary academic institutes from the Auckland city and move them to the island. This will help to free up congestion and improve traffic flow. The adding of this new element, a floating island, into the project has become a big challenge for us. Personally I think it has exceeded far beyond our expectations.

As mentioned before this is considered one of the biggest projects we have ever done, to make sure that we use every week efficiently we have followed a visual timeline that was created beforehand. The timeline follows 3 weeks of researching, 2 weeks of prototyping and the remaining 7 weeks for implementing, improving and finalization. Besides, each member of the project team has definitely contributed a lot to make this project happen.

In this project my assigned role is the 3d modeler. I have had some experience with 3d modeling before and am responsible of using Google SketchUp to model the satellite towns that consist of business office buildings, residential complex and some of the railway tracks. I am also the main writer in charge of writing the narration/voice over for our future Auckland 2038 project. The most challenging part of my role is definitely modeling the 3d models. Since they will be used in animation, scales and measurements must be accurate such that the 3d models in animation look as realistically as possible. I was able to clear the hurdles through learning tutorials online, intensive practice and hard work.

Here are my team’s working progress, we are almost done. The animation is coming along really well and shows the re-planning and development of Auckland in 20 years times through our prediction. And a new rail system network that helps to better and improve Auckland public transport.  

My role as the assistant 3d modeler has finished, I have spent the next couple of days trying to write out a voice over script that will be added into the animation. It explains the context, concept as well as the purpose and value of this project “Speculative blueprint of future Auckland (2038)”.

Here is the link of the voice over script which Im still working on:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15LWSBFQzdC_zIxB8qCeQVPEGP7SDvKde/view?usp=sharing

Studio 6 Future Worlds: 3D Models completed #10

Studio 6: 3D Modelling #9

The making of the last satellite town has also been completed. This will be located in Manukau, South Auckland. The layout of the satellite town has been restructured by Harry our main 3D modeler, due to team leader’s request. Me (Alan) and another member have assisted by modeling majority of the buildings. 

Studio 6: 3D Modelling #8

As the secondary 3d modeler I was in charge of creating Satellite towns for our project. So, over the mid semester break I have been working on the 2 Satellite town in SketchUp that will be located or built in North Shore Albany and Waitakere. Above are screenshots of the 3d models at its side and top views.

I created the urban planning of the satellite towns based on five concentric ring within each other. I believe this sort of design looks modern and fits in well with our future Auckland, in 2038. An intersecting railways was also added in, that goes between the whole cities to give an idea of how our new public transport system works. I have also modeled the building of each satellite town are unique and of different shapes so they can be easily distinguished. 

Studio 6: Planning #7

Today we gathered our research and posted our work on the wall in studio. As a group we spent the whole afternoon discussing and analyzing the assumption we individually made supported by our research on what will Auckland be like in 2038 and whether or not public transport is still an issue. During the discussion everyone's prediction was extremely detailed and well thought out, so we decided to combine our ideas together. 

Through this it has lead us to our final prediction of Auckland 20 years from now there is likely a potential of Satellite town being built that consist of Central Business District (CBD) and residential area around Albany (North), Waitakere (West) and Manukau (South). Ports of Auckland will be moved to the Manukau Harbor in order to cope with the future freight. In the night there will be no people in the city, in the morning all the people will come from North, West and South area to the city. 

With the increase in population growth and high density in Auckland 2038,  transport is still a major issue and will only get worse over time. We also notice that tertiary student and staff is a large group of transport users so we will create a floating island near the harbor and take all the tertiary academic institute in the city over there to free up the traffic flow in major cbd and also re plan a new railway system to connect pretty much all of Auckland and new areas to improve public transport. 

Here is a google doc link to our research that lead us to our final prediction and concept idea.

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/193H3xmPGE-C5Dmvs9LJF_UlmpJtBQFSmG7uS66pB_GQ/edit?usp=sharing

At the same time we have also been thinking about what sort of creative technology tools to present our speculative future of Auckland and its improved public transport. We believe the best fit for this project is creating a short 3d animation with voice over to give an overview of our concept idea. 

Team Role has also been assigned:

Alan - Assistant 3d modeler and writer/editor 

Harry -  Main 3d modeler 

Sunny - Team leader, Working on Animation

Our team leader has assigned task for us to do for these few weeks. Individually we are to research and look back at Auckland throughout the years, find a trend between them and each of us will make an assumption/prediction of Auckland 2038 and what would be the problem of public transport during that time.

keywords too look into:

Population growth

Density change

New house location (housing plan)

Satellite town

Here are some of the research I found + my assumption/prediction

Auckland population growth

“Auckland is New Zealand’s most populous region. It is home to more than 1.65 million people, accounting for more than a third of New Zealand’s population. Auckland’s population is also growing rapidly: since 2000, it has grown at an average rate of 1.9 per cent per annum.”

“Between 2011 and 2016, Auckland’s population increased by 154,700 (+10.6 per cent). Auckland’s population growth rate more than doubled in this period, from 1.2 per cent in 2011 to 2.8 per cent in 2016.”

 “Auckland’s population growth is forecast to continue, reaching 2 million residents by 2033. By 2045, 40 per cent of New Zealand’s total population is projected to reside in Auckland.”

Reference:

Auckland Tourism,Events and Economic Development. (2017, October).  Auckland growth monitor, a snapshot into Auckland’s economy and place on the world stage. Retrieved from https://www.aucklandnz.com/sites/build_auckland/files/media-library/documents/AucklandGrowthMonitor.pdf

 Auckland Population Density

Population density 1991–2006

“The parts of the Auckland region with the highest population density are in Manukau city and Auckland city, and in particular central Auckland. In 1991 there were four area units with a population density of more than 4,000 people per square kilometer. By 2006 there were 26 area units with a population density this high. The Auckland CBD has seen the largest increase in population density, due to the population more than doubling every five years between 1991 and 2006.”

Population density 2011–31

“Auckland region population will grow substantially through to 2031. As the population increases, especially within the urban area, so does population density.”

“The medium-variant projections are one possible scenario of where people will live and what the region might look like. These projections show that by 2031 there could be more than 110 area units having a population density greater than 4,000 people per square kilometer. The Auckland CBD will continue to have the highest population density – increasing from 4,600 people per square kilometer in 2006 to possibly over 13,300 people per square kilometer by 2031.”

“In addition, higher density would spread to other parts of Auckland and Manukau cities, as seen by the increasing number of darker areas on the map.

“The darker areas on the map also indicate there could be parts of North Shore and Waitakere cities having major population growth, and hence significant increases in their population density in the future.”

http://archive.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/Maps_and_geography/Geographic-areas/mapping-trends-in-the-auckland-region/population-density.aspx

That bright red spot above the city center is one of the is the result of thousands of people shifting into the area and stats NZ estimate that the growth has been continuing with the population of the city center now over 40,000, up from just 5,000 in 1996.

The bright red around Albany, Henderson and Botany will represent large swathes of suburbia being being developed on greenfield lands.

https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2016/03/16/auckland-population-change-heat-map/

Alan Assumption / Prediction

In week 3′s presentation I wasn't there with my team due to having a small procedure on my foot. However, my team members told me that the feedback they got from the lectures was that we narrowed down our idea way too quick, and have already planned ahead rather than taking a step back and thinking about the problem these ideas could have. Our concept of a non interchange bus service and bus distribute bus system to improve Auckland future public transport would not work even with supported research/evidence due to the fact that it will take years to develop. Even when finished it may not be suitable for that time frame.

Our lecturer gave us a new direction and suggested that we should think more about the future of Auckland and its public transport. Also, dig deep in the past to predict the future to make a prediction.

For this week I have been doing some general research on our project idea “Future of Public Transport”. Since I am a student and pretty much need to use the public transport everyday to get to University, I must admit I feel ashamed knowing very little about it, so for starters I thought it would be a good idea too look into the current situation of public transport of Auckland at the moment.

According to NZ herald getting around Auckland city using public transport is considered a massive nightmare for many users because of;

Non reliable buses and trains that dont come often

High cost for people to take public transport - A report on Mapping the World's Prices 2017 stated that Auckland public transport is the 3rd most expensive in the world averaging $175 per month to get around Auckland City.

Bus services/Bus stops not close enough

These mentioned above are related to reliability of the AT public transport system.

Here is also another article I found listing a number of reasons why Auckland public transport is such a disaster.

Auckland’s transport system is a complete mess, everyone knows that. However, Auckland Transport, NZTA, and the government is not thinking about solutions in the short term. Solutions to large problems are always delayed or are ignored altogether.

Around the suburbs, many commuters complain on social media about the number of full buses driving past them. Regular train commuters to city knows all about stopping to wait for a rail line into the terminal to come free, because currently there are only 2 rail lines that goes into Britomart station. Basically suggest that there is not enough rail way lines/tracks that goes to the CBD area

The politicians and transport agencies have underestimated how Auckland grows. They have neglected to future proof their plans by allowing for growth. 

Auckland transport planning is a mess is that the people responsible for it are profoundly out of touch with the way the world now works. Worse, they lack the wit or imagination to conceive that things might be different in the future. They can’t plan, usefully, because they can’t look ahead. Instead, they focus on solutions that might tidy up the past.

The government has badly underfunded public transport in Auckland and, on top of that, has refused to allow the council to raise money for transport by other means. And it is the government and authorities that believes most strongly that the key to solving congestion on the roads is to build more roads.

References: 

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11498494

https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/104618977/aucklands-public-transport-third-most-expensive-in-the-world

Week 2 , as a team we’ve decided to drop down the idea of underwater city for now and look into the future of public transport. Specifically our objective is to  improve public transport in Auckland

Here are just some of our concept ideas:

Bus distribute bus system system: Using IOT and smart tech system. Every Bus stop is able to scan the number of people currently waiting, which destination they are heading and what time they need to arrive by. Collected data would be sent to the main control station and the system will calculate the best possible outcome and distribute buses around the city to the bus stop with efficiency and reliability. 

Non-interchange bus service: In the near future, passengers will not disembark from the bus to transfer to the other bus. The bus will collect the destinations of the passengers and when the connecting bus is passing by on the same road the passengers will transfer to the next bus and they can complete the transfer without disembarking.

Back at university, after almost a month break, I feel recharged and ready to tackle on my final year in Colab. I am in Pete + Ben studio stream and this first week nothing has really changed in terms of the brief, we are still able to choose anything we want to do with our project and the lecturers will support and guide us. I am continuing with the same group of people I did the interactive garden project with because our chemistry was really good together and the fact that all of us have similar interest. Our biggest problem is to come up with a challenging idea which is always the most difficult part, the good thing is that we are not at a complete lost and have some ideas in mind. At the moment we are thinking of  Pete’s theme “Future Worlds” as we have some experience on it and also with technology advancement evolving everyday who knows what the future will be like, so there is a lot of potential to it in creating a future world. For the concept we are still deciding on either working with underwater city which is a last year project and expand upon that or doing something related to Auckland public transport and see how we can improve it.

Studio 5: Final Setup & Small Reflection  #18

Week 14 I am happy and proud to announce that we have finally completed our project. The interactive garden has been setup in the studio and all the function/feature have been installed, tested out and are working fine. We have also developed a contingency plan in case problems occur during examination, by making a video documenting about the context and concept of this project and also showing all functions working perfectly.  

My journey with my group throughout this studio project can only be described as a roller coaster ride it got lot of ups and downs. But, It was a great experience and I loved each and every moment of it. I would like to take this moment to thank my group members as each of us has contributed well into making this project happen. I would love to work with everyone again sometime.

Studio 5 project: Interactive Garden

Created by: Alan lau, Sunny Lin, Herry Shen and Hugo Chan.

Here is our video documentary that explains the purpose and value of this project and also showing how everything works when engaging/interacting with our interactive garden. 

Studio 5: Interactive LED Panel (completed) + small reflection #17

Finally I have made the interactive part of the LED panel work, but it is not entirely accurate. Here let me explain the process I’ve done to reach to this stage. 

After I finished connecting the sensors on to the Arduino board together with the LED panel, immediately I was facing one of my biggest challenges- to write the code for the interaction. The interaction is that when people walks close to the sensor it will detect the person in front and will then send a signal to the LED panel and trigger it to automatically display names of plants on the screen. The original code that I had written before was very unstable as the sensor would stop working sometimes. Not knowing how to resolve the issue I sought help from Stefan and Kim. They suggested me to try using state machine. Basically a state machine is a model of computation based on a hypothetical machine made of one or more states. Only a single state can be active at the same time, so the machine must transit from one state to another in order to perform different actions. Through numerous online tutorials, getting help from staff and by trial and error I was able to understand the state machine computing model and to incorporate three states in my code; the 1st state event is sensor detecting an object/person standing very close in front of it. Once this is done the state machine then transits to the 2nd state in which the person is to remain in position for about 3 seconds. After this criterion is met the state machine transits to the 3rd state which is to display on the LED panel name of the corresponding plant that the person is standing in front of it. 

I must say using the state machine has definitely improved the performance of the installed sensor but it has a delay that cannot be fixed if I wanted quality, so this interactive LED panel could only be deemed as a proof of concept rather than an actual final outcome. 

Today I visited JayCar electronic store located in New market to purchase a component, which is a much larger LED Matrix Panel than the one I used for testing & prototyping. I got it because It will be much more easier to see by participate from any distance while engaging with our interacting garden. I went back to our studio and begin implementing and assembling the final function/feature of the LED panel.

Since this one is more advanced, and bigger in size, wiring the LED was quite confusing as it required heavy wiring work. But was manageable, after proper installation of the all the wires, I doubled checked each of them was working properly by testing it on a multi-meter which there were no faulty wires and they were fine.

From there I moved on to the small section of programming process where I uploaded the code I had already written beforehand during my prototyping stage and modified it a bit and also changing the display to a different text in this case “Hello world”. As seen with the picture below its working.