Cardiff Design Festival

Brief

We were approached by Local Transport Projects Limited (LTP) and Cardiff Council to help consult with the public on the development of a draft strategy plan for cycling in Cardiff centre. We were asked to approach the project with two core goals in mind. Get as wide a response as possible to the plan that LTP would produce. Raise general awareness of cycling within Cardiff.

Result

As well as the shop we designed an online survey which was a recreation of the interactive elements in the city centre consultation. We ran a mini marketing campaign both on and offline, we involved local cyclist groups and offered free bicycle maintenance workshops for the public. - Local media coverage - Over 1,000 people visting the online survey - 50 vox-pop interviews - Thousands of flyers handed out - Theatre performance piece "Brilliant! Very inventive, eye-catching and thought provoking - I don’t come in to town very often so I’m glad I came in" "Great to see that the public’s opinion is asked for. Cardiff’s cycle network really needs improving, looking forward to using the new network." "Well thought out way of getting peoples thoughts and priorities on the proposed cycle routes – very imaginative and fun, very helpful people too."

Solution

It was clear that we would have to engage with the public through a number of different media platforms. Firstly we decided that we need to take the plan to the public. We therefore took over an empty shop on one of Cardiff's busiest streets. We opened for two weekends with a late night Thursday, asking people what they thought of the plan and taking them through an interactive survey which allowed them to engage with the strategy and allow us key insights which we could feed back to LTP.

Project website

http://ark-lab.co.uk/