Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro

Global DesignAn intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro

Thamya Rocha

The content of this book was made within the framework of the research project: Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen, as the Master Thesis (Master of Arts) developed in case of completion of the Digital Media Master Program, an international program of study offered by four institutions: School of Arts of Bremen, University of Bremen, University of Applied Sciences Bremen and University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven.

Global Design An intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen

Thamya Rocha

2011

Advisors:

Prof. Peter von Maydell (HfK Bremen)

Prof. Dr. Annette Geiger (HfK Bremen)

To Mauro, Vanira, Thalita and Thaysa

Global DesignAn intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro

Contents Introduction 04

1 Methodology 08

1.1 Research 10

1.2 Interview—MartíGuixé 18

1.3 Thesis 24

2 FieldResearch 30

2.1 Food 32

2.1.1 Rio de Janeiro 35 Documentation 35 Analysis 60

2.1.2 Bremen 67 Documentation 67 Analysis 94

2.1.3 Implementation 98

2.2 Vending 116




2.3 Mobility 186




Conclusion 246

Outlook 250

Final considerations 252

Endnotes 254

Listofreferences 256

Listoffigures 258

4 5

Introduction

Streets are an extremely rich environment. People circulate on the public ways, they move from one place to the other, go shopping, eat and even spend their leisure time. But is it the same everywhere? Do different cultures have their own needs and habits in the streets? What could design professionals learn from this?

This book is a guide that exemplifies how it would be possible to analyze global contexts through design methods of research. Heterogeneous techniques of field exploration, like interviews or simple chit-chatting, photographing, research on newspapers and local literature, collection of materials and notes, all together are techniques used to help on getting meaningful information from different social environments. Those methods, combined with a sensitive and empathic approach, endorse the effort to get the understanding about people’s reality and necessities on the streets in a global sense of research.

Analyzing extreme cultures is a way for revealing and exploiting contradictions that can raise valuable information to design, as Gui Bonsiepe explains in the article Are virtues an antiquated concept? ‘Respect to otherness’ is one of the virtues that the designer would like to see inherent to design production on this century, leaving to the past the exploratory and harmful globalization on which developing countries are seen as ‘exotic’ references for new trends and exploitation [1]. The comparison between different habits, lifestyle and objects present on distinct environments can provide a better comprehension about human necessities on the global context. As McDonough and Braungart clarify, getting to know other realities can certainly enrich and broaden the understanding about people’s needs and our own, the shock of cultural diversities extend viewpoints and can stimulate innovatory changes [2]. On their book Cradle to Cradle — remaking the way we make things, an extensive study on eco-effective ways of changing design production system into a status of respectful coexistence between people and the natural world, they defend that maintaining the diversity of the world we live in, during the designing stage of production, is also a way of prolonging the lifetime of the products.

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It is common practice in applied arts, to plan research for new projects based on travels to other countries. From that experiences it is possible to collect new references on materials from different cultures and to have learning experiences from new creative processes. Unfortunately, in some cases, those international investments mean merely exploitation towards new environments, where people have as purpose just discovering new pointless deviates in design or fashion. Luckily, there are people that act differently, like the project Spagat! Design Instanbul Tasarimi. This initiative combined pictures, local literature, and testimonials to explore the rich collection of design production from Instanbul, Turkey — an important cultural center between Europe and Asia —, revealing the multi-faceted lifestyle and design scene from the city. Max Borka and Marta Herford lived in Istanbul for a period of a hundred days and the objects collected together with the knowledge learned during this time served as material for an exhibition and a book about the experience [3].

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen explores aspects that are characteristic of each culture, Brazilian and German, in order to create a consistent basis for research on services, behavior changes, cultural aspects and on global markets when related to street scenarios. The research brings up the daily lives scenes of both cities, exposed through pictures and statements of ordinary people. Design and marketing professionals can follow into design experiences of projecting, testing and prototyping, profiting of broader possibilities for discussion and new insights for new procedures.

For focusing the research, three main aspects were selected as guidance: Food, Vending and Mobility. Among other important characteristics of the public ways, those aspects were chosen for carrying social and cultural aspects that characterize in an efficient manner the German and the Brazilian contexts. Each topic passed through the following steps of research: Documentation, Analysis and Implementation. The Documentation was the ‘flâneur’ moment, sometimes a detective work or even stalker. This was the moment for observing, discovering, taking pictures and gathering information concerning the lifestyle on the streets of the two cities. On the Analysis, the material collected for each city is evaluated and, along with synthesis schemes and diagrams, it provides new perspectives and insights. On the Implementation, aspects present in one city are chosen, and transformed in experiments to be tested in field in

“The Flâneur is almost always ingenuous. He stops to watch the street fights, he is the eternal outsider at every ball, he wants to know the cake sellers’ story; he is simply in wonder of it all. And knowing every street, every alley, every cul-de-sac, knowing a part of their story as one knows the story of one’s friends (or the part they tell), he ends up with the vague idea that the whole spectacle of the city was specially made for his personal delectation.” [4]

the other location, in other cultural environment. Together with the observation and documentation, the Implementation was the moment for experimenting concepts and ideas in the field, already with the purpose of gathering some feedback and analyzing the reaction of people about the situations they were exposed.

When considering design, there is a lot to observe and learn with the comparison between daily life aspects of distinct cultures, especially when talking about such a rich environment as the street. But how to turn those potential ideas into actions that will make some difference? How to build this bridge between the lives of people and the ones that project the world of objects and services that they interact with? This book is an attempt on exploring ways to build a connection between them. It aims to promote variate insights and generative possibilities for design outcomes that would be possible through the research methods that are presented. With documentation and the realization of experiments on field, this guide explores design research and projecting methods for enriching and innovating the effort of the ones working with global contexts.

1.Methodology

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1.1 ResearchGlobal Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen organizes resources that can be used to realize a work of research and sketching on design research field, for exploring global contexts. Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, and Bremen, in Germany, are the environments chosen for this study on the way people live, the habits they have, how they do things and how they relate themselves with the objects around them.

The two cities, from two different cultures, will be presented by their everyday life scenes on public ways that were documented during equal research periods spent in both. During this time the most important experience was to get in contact with both realities and document through photography, recordings, and the collection of materials, everything that seemed interesting or peculiar during that time. The work demanded constant curiosity about the street life scenes and empathy with people interviewed, making it possible to always have diverse and sharp input.

Getting to know other cultures by documentation of travels is a refresher that turned into routine for some design offices. The purposes of those

times out of the office, also called sabbaticals, are to experience new environments and gathering inspiration on new projects. Stephan Sagmeister is one of the designers known for the sabbaticals he takes from his office in New York. Every seven years, he stops all the production and for one yearlong period he connects himself to other working reality, one searching for self-realization and constant inspiration. This way, the graphic designer integrates himself to the local life of the place he chooses to go, getting to work with artisans and other professionals of the chosen places. From those travels Sagmeister develops experimental and personal projects, and collect material and experiences that will serve as inspiration for future projects. [6]

“The first sabbatical year worked really well for me. What came out of it?

– I really got close to design again.

– I had fun.

– Basically everything we have done in the seven years following the first sabbatical, came out of thinking in that one single year.” [6]

Photos: Karim Charlebois-Zariffa

“Talkative Chair – The text of this chair simply refers to a diary entry written while sitting on our balcony in Bali where the chair itself would ultimately be placed.” [5]

[Fig. 1.] [Fig. 2.]

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Some people have different focus and prefer to utilize their international travels for researching on different contexts and developing further work of dissemination of the research and of the visual material collected. Willing to do a detailed overview on the design scene and lifestyle in Istanbul, the project Spagat! Design Istanbul Tasarimi gathered a rich variety of materials for its documentation: pictures of street scenes and of the urban life environment, objects of the everyday life of people, habits and scenes that are part of local life; everything is there. Showing socio-economic aspects, and cultural examples together with an analysis of the past and the contemporary design scene, the project allows everyone to have a better understanding on design and life in Istambul [3]. The research Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen will, as Spagat!, explore the social, cultural and economic aspects of Rio de Janeiro and Bremen, and will show with its research that the understanding of the context is mandatory for the work of the designers and other professionals interested on design, marketing and services markets.

On the same direction, but here more market-oriented, there are designers that are careful with the cultural aspects that are reflected through design on a global scale. Droog, a design office in Holland, shows concern in the relation between design and the social, economical and cultural aspects of different contexts [8]. Between 2009 and 2011, the office created an internal group called Droog Lab, a special force for dealing with contemporary global issues like global demographic and economic shifts, latest scientific developments,

On the images below, some spreads of the book Spagat! Design Istanbul Tasarimi. On the book it’s possible to see an extensive researh about the city’s lifestyle, culture and design.

“Make a design in the image of your beloved Istanbul, a layered city in which so many parallel worlds, present, past or futuristic, constantly interweave. Make your design be the bridge between opposites that have always been held to be irreconcilable, such as the abstract and the sensual, nature and mathematics or the archaic and futuristic.” [7]

[Fig. 3.] [Fig. 4.] [Fig. 5.] [Fig. 6.]

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changing societal attitudes and emerging lifestyles. The Lab, inspired by those aspects that happen globally, works on ways to confront them with local and specific solutions. They believe that the more they focus for getting solutions, the more qualities the project will have for helping on other cases of the same issue. The specialists of Droog consider those global issues as emerging possibilities of new realities to come, and that can improve design on a global level [9].

The concerns of Droog Lab on studying international contexts make them travel to specific localities for going deep on research. Also, an important aspect of Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen is that, in order to get accurate input for the collection of particularities of the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Bremen, the documentation and observation were all done in the places of interest. Observing freely the life of people, paying attention to the small details as well as to the big picture, understanding how they do things and why they do them, showed itself as a great help on understanding the reality about others’ lives and their contexts.

One professional that defends that designers should work with markets that they are familiar with is Jurgen Bey. Having worked with Droog and currently in Studio Makkink & Bey, the designer develops projects on architecture, interior and product design and has already projected for some parts of the world. He believes that joining professionals from various disciplines for working together can broaden the perspectives and the comprehension of the framework related to the projects. Experts from different areas and backgrounds together in a work of exchange during the design process, generate mixed and organic methods on bringing solutions for our equally hybrid and mutating world [10][11]. This way, taking as inspiration the experiences showed on Bey’s projects, this research gets close to real world and takes in consideration heterogeneous input of information, from diverse natures, in order to have the most complete understanding as possible.

Like Spagat!, Sagmeister, Droog and Jurgen Bey, the concerns for cultural, social and economic aspects are the basis for the stages of this research. The particularities found on Rio de Janeiro and in Bremen are taken in consideration and respected, each characteristic is considered possible start-ups for new possibilities on research. Though the projects cited before were the main reference for Global Design: an intercultural

“The global condition demands culturally, politically, socially and environmentally conscious design – in other words, what the Lab considers relevant design. Included within this, is the human dimension, with all its subjectivity, notions of beauty and meaning, and desire for high quality experiences. Through its content and Methodology, the Droog Lab will aim to produce globally relevant design.” [9]

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analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen, some differences will appear when considering the methods of research adopted. When compared to Droog Lab, for example, that uses as start up for its projects the issues that affect, at the same time, distinct places of the world, on this work the first step was selecting the contexts for realizing the research. After choosing for the Brazilian and German cities, the focus was on putting in practice methods of research that would help on gathering and organizing the documentation and providing resources for analysis and the generation of insights for future projects. Like the project Spagat! the documentation and analysis are the moments for providing the ones that are reading this work with the necessary tools for getting their own impressions and making, together with the schemes and stories on the book, their own analysis on this cross-cultural research.

In addition to documenting and analyzing aspects of the German and Brazilian culture, this project organized design experiences with actions of culture exchange. The challenge, in this case, is to promote learning experiences about other realities while keeping the respect for the original particularities of both contexts. Martí Guixé is part of a group of professionals that regards for cultural aspects while producing for distinct markets. Guixé prefers to work with systems and

protocols that give people instructions of actions, for them to develop their products on the way it best fits the environment they belong. Even when making objects, he puts the function in first place and aspects like shape and colors go to its minimalistic representation, since they can be cultural barriers for broaden coverage on the global market [12].

Differently from the other professionals, Martí Guixé keeps distance from the physical aspects of the projects and tends to go deeper on research of systems and instructions, leaving for the ones that are using them to make any cultural or aesthetic adaptation. The methods adopted by Guixé represent one possibility on design production that helps on keeping the respect for cultural and social differences that happen on distinct contexts and markets. Instead of making a product that would be specific for one environment, he leaves some aspects open, so it can be used by a broader audience.

When comparing designers that work with global contexts on their projects, it is possible to notice that they have particular methods. One important aspect defended on this research is that regardless of the focus or methods, if a designer works developing new physical objects and systems or more iconographic and design research, the respect for different realities and cultural identities must remain.

The two pictures on the left exemplify a design project made for global contexts. “Pool interprets the Basin as a new typology; Pool is squared, metallic, refuses the idea of a conventional basin which is pre-visualized in the standard baths, and in that way behind its own limits can be easily placed in exteriors, offices, ateliers, bars and in public and private and in mostly any context, and also due to its inherent qualities and its white color, in contemporary bath ambiances.”[13]

“Experiment, doubt and a hodgepodge way of thinking are crucial to disclose hidden values and stories. This new potential unlocks all the possible qualities to constitute new cultural bearers.” [11]

[Fig. 7.] [Fig. 8.]

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1.2 Interview with Martí Guixé

One of the main interests of Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen was generating experiences for promoting cross-cultural learning between Germans of the city of Bremen and Brazilians from Rio de Janeiro. The idea was organizing for the ‘Cariocas’, people from Rio, the opportunity to experience aspects of the daily life of ‘Bremers’ and at the same time, to observe how the ‘Bremers’ would feel like about living a little bit of the lifestyle of the ones from Brazil. For sketching those ideas and putting it in practice, some methods were utilized. During the whole process there was special attention to the learning output — the experiments were supposed to be valuable not just for this research, but also for the life of people involved on it.

For a broader input on multicultural creative process before the implementation of experiments, an interview was conducted with Marti Guixé. The encounter was an opportunity to ask Guixé — an important reference in design for global issues — about his methods of research and processes of working, on how to work with projects that circulate around the world and still, keep the respect to the particularities to different cultures.

FirstPart

The first questions of the interview with Martí Guixé are related to relevant topics to the research like flexibility on design products and respect to cultural particularities on projects.

QUESTION1

Thamya: While developing your projects, do you consider the possibility of errors on the final product? Specially when it is on market and in use?

There is an Italian designer, Ezio Manzinni, that argues that an important aspect to design projects would be ‘error-friendliness’ that

is the capability of products, physical or not, to absorb errors and still, be able to be adapted [15]. Considering that they are made for human beings and for being used in a world that the unexpected can always happen, do you plan a certain level of flexibility for your products?

Martí Guixé.: Of course, on all the projects I have done, every time the result is completely different. People do different things, completely unexpected things and if you work more on systems or platforms you can’t know what will happen. So it is something that you already incorporate in the final result, considering that my product is a system it will produce different results.

I also use tools and with those tools you don’t know what people will do, they can destroy something, they can do something, but my product is not the thing that they do, but the tool. It can be a platform, a system, or a protocol.

T.: So would you say that it would be 100% ‘error-friendly’?

M.G.: No, because error has probably this idea of good and bad. And error, why would it be an error? It is not really an error. If you have a wall for which you allow people to write things, you can’t say: “Oh! It’s an error!” If someone was writing unfavorable things about a brand, why is this an error?

QUESTION2

T.: On your projects you express concern on changing the way people think about their habits, and on the relation they have with the objects of everyday life. Raising questions and provocation by making them reflect about their perspective of life.

During the research for this work, locals where observed while moving around on streets, they were commuting, vending, having fun or eating. For people that are commuting or vending timing must be fast and if any unforeseen thing happens they have to quickly find a solution for it. It there is a car accident and the traffic jam starts, they start walking or order quickly a motorcycle taxi for continuing their way. If there is risk of flood they have to go to work or leave it before the rain starts to get strong. Street vendors have also to be connected to costumers necessities and local trends. If celebrities of the soap operas start to use orange

“Referring to the design of socio-technical systems, the concept of error-friendliness tells us two fundamental things. The first one is that it is necessary to accept the idea that each material and human fact implies the manifestation of errors, and that it is necessary to act according to this. (…) The second is that it is necessary to see in the errors a constitutive mark of the quality system, meaning its flexibility and its capacity to be renewed.” [15]

“Adhesive tape with golden frame pattern, enabling you to rapidly set up a personal museum” [16], the ‘Do Frame’ is a project of Martí Guixé for Droog.

[Fig. 9.]

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earrings instead of hair ties, they have to quickly change their goods. If it starts to rain, people at the streets won’t buy anything else but umbrellas.

With industrial production, it is rare to have the possibility of such spontaneity during the process of designing. Considering that on your products it’s possible to notice the concerns of being contemporary and innovative and that them usually demand some new ways of interaction or perception for use, how do you measure or determine the acceptance of the market? Do you have this concern?

M.G.: No it is difficult to follow. For example, in shops you can follow it because afterward people tell you about what happens. More than that, considering products, it’s difficult to do. Well, once, when I made the ‘Do Frame’ tape for Droog, somebody found a car that had the window broken and repaired with the tape around it, this person sent me a picture of it. This is an example, but it’s very difficult to know what they will do. For me it makes no sense to follow it.

T.: On your process of creation you try to be free from the physical aspects of products. You prefer results that are based on platforms and systems. How do you deal with technological aspects on your creation process?

M.G.: I am very interested in technology. My work is not about technology, but it is related to information technology. If I work with open systems and platforms it is because I am fascinated about internet and all this platforms and systems, in a way that I try to use them in my work.

QUESTION 3

T.: On this research, while documenting the daily lives of people in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen it was possible to realize that, after some research, there was much more volume of material collected from Brazil then from Germany. I noticed that it was, in some way, proportional to the amount of problems that the people have to deal on their daily lives. In Rio the government can’t afford to keep the minimum conditions to people like housing, education and security. This situation forces people to search for alternative solutions on their own for being able to live their lives.

On your working process, do you observe society? Do you take in consideration people’s daily lives and the problems they usually have to face? Does it has any relevance on your work?

M.G.:I agree that if you visit societies that haven’t been very industrialized, somehow they don’t have things. I spent some time in Cuba and worked there with Ernesto Oroza. They don’t have things, they are used to mixing. If they need a motor for something they will re-appropriate a bicycle motor for another purpose [Figs. 12, 13 and 14]. It is somehow very ecological and also interesting.

Of course that I can imagine that in Germany it doesn’t happen like that. I think that the role of art in problem-making is very interesting for those countries, making people think about everything. Art would be very important for provocation, but I can imagine that in other places like Brazil, art is more dissipated between the thousands of things that people are doing.

‘Rikimbili’ is a bicycle adapted with gasoline pump water resulting on fumigation devices or gasoline engines chainsaw. Those pictures are part of the research done by Ernesto Oroza in Cuba. [17]

On the images below, some examples of the creativity of the street vendors of Rio de janeiro.Since 2009 the plastic buckets turned into a hype need on the tables of the ‘Cariocas’, not just used as a cleaning tool, the bucket means ‘cold beer’ in Rio de Janeiro. Corn husks are the default napkins used for eating the Korn prepared by the street vendors. Novelty on the Summer of 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, the plastic swimming pools for kids were rented and sold by vendors to refresh the ones sitting on the hot sand under the sun on a 45°C weather.

[Fig. 10.] [Fig. 11.]

[Fig. 12.] [Fig. 13.] [Fig. 14.]

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SecondPart

On this part of the interview Guixé commented about the material documented and the analysis done for Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen.

Considering the documented material for the Vending topic, he made an observation about the German ‘Sperrmüll’, things that people want to get rid of and leave for the garbage collectors:

M.G.: In Barcelona people also leave at the streets the old furniture that they don’t want anymore, and there are the ones that collect it. There were times that people were collecting things and even got collector’s pieces in the garbage. There were people from France that were traveling to Barcelona and they could even collect pieces from the seventies.

Comments done about the project itself:

M.G.: I think that you can discover much from that way, seeing Germany from your Brazilian perspective and not just seeing Brazil from a German perspective. Seeing from outside allow you to discover many things. I think that it is important to think about attitudes more than about objects, why do they do what they do and, in what conditions they do it. From this attitude, you can develop things.

In Germany, you will never find Italian food, but the interpretation of Italian food, which is what Germans like. It has to do with the interpretation, which is what matters. If you find those things, you can come up with a lot of possibilities.

OUTCOMEOFTHEINTERVIEW

The conversation with Martí Guixé enlightened some new perspectives considering research methods on design and on the identification of new possibilities for the development of design experiences. Some valuable considerations for the Implementation stage of the work were highlighted during the interview. Especially when considering the experiments that would be done in both cities, some new aspects proved valuable and were taken in consideration for improving the results of the intercultural experience.

After the interview, some insights proved themselves valuable for being part of the content related to Vending. For testing aspects of the everyday live of Rio in Bremen, it would be interesting to bring up things that Germans are not used to, for them to experience on the public spaces. One example would be the spontaneity and the impromptu that are usual on the daily lives of Brazilians. Breaking the rhythm that the German people are used to and inserting new elements to it would certainly caught people attention.

Guixé commented that on the everyday life of big cities, especially the ones in the developing world, art ends up dissipating itself between everything that happens on people’s lives. Following this idea, for making the ‘Cariocas’ disconnect for one moment from the stress of the big city and forget about being regularly exposed to violence and other urban issues, the intention was to bring the joy and the tranquility that ‘Bremers’ live every day while moving around the city. This way, making them change their habits for some moments would force them, at some point, to stop and think about their situation and how they lead their lives.

Like art, depending on the context, design has distinct relevance on people’s lives. The understanding of those existing differences was an important learning aspect for this research. For the experiments developed on each city, it became clear that the approach and the design methods utilized for developing the experiments would have to be adapted to each case. This way, with differentiated strategies, the response given by those people involved on the actions turned into valuable information about their own cultural reality and also on their comprehension considering other contexts.

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1.3 Thesis

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen explores the lifestyle and the relation between man and design on the streets of the Brazilian and German cities. Following the three main aspects of research that were observed on the urban scenario of both cities — Food, Vending and Mobility — pictures, impressions and sketches were joined together for better visualizing and understanding them. The research turns up itself as a guide that can be followed by its stories and experiments, providing contextualization to foreign eyes and new insights for future projects on design.

The three topics were chosen because of their potential on revealing social and cultural aspects of diferent contexts. Food, when discussed in global circumstances, inevitably brings up a lot of preconceptions and cliches. If people don’t travel to a city the only information that one can get about the food of this place is from third part, what others saw and what they thought about the food. Vending shows the borderline world of the cities, it is one important index on the social and economic problems that a place can have, since it is characterized by the ones that cannot be part of the regularized labor market but still need to find a way to earn some money. The rhythm of the streets is given by the transport systems and the urban planning of it. In Mobility, the public transportation and the aspects they have to deal with when moving around will be detailed and expose other peculiarities about Germany and Brazil.

On the book, the Documentation joins a collection of images and texts that put in evidence the characteristics and representative particularities from the cities. The scenes were documented on the streets of the German and Brazilian cities and they explore social, economic and cultural aspects of them. Together with texts and testimonials, those images are organized in visual narratives guiding people on their curiosity and interest to better comprehension of those contexts.

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The Analysis organizes material for enriching the first impression acquired with the documentation phase promoting a better comprehension of the aspects in question for cities of Rio de Janeiro and Bremen. The discussions and insights that this part of the research brings are the fuel to the next step, the Implementation. Differently from other studies that stop on organizing and exposing the gathered material and providing inspirational research or trends, this project goes further. It uses design resources for testing and projecting the ideas that were generated based on the pictures and visual stories showed on the documentation stage. It experiments, through field actions, the ideas and possibilities aiming the generation of insights and discussions on global contexts. The field actions promote the exchange of cultures and bring small pieces of the everyday lives of one culture to the other, broadening the experience of all parts involved.

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen aims to question the comprehension of what it means to live in a world that is global and what would be the role of design on it. It doesn’t aim a global product outcome, but preferably, experiencing design methods that would generate provocation and discussion for this research and futures ones. This way, differently from designers that work for the market like Martí Guixé, and keep after the realization of projects some distance from the people that buy their products (interview on section 1.2) this project aims the contact and understanding of the ones that usually buy and use design even if in an ubiquitous way. The main interest is on people from different cultures and their relation with the designed world around them. This way, for the Implementation part of this work, it will be planned one experiment for each theme of the research — Food, Vending and Mobility — and those experiments will consist on actions that will promote possible ideas, projects and dicussions. The feedback that those people will give concerning the experiments contain important information about not just their impressions on other cultures, but about their comprehension of their own live.

Interested to question the relation that people have with the objects that surround them on their everyday life, Dunne & Raby are designers that try, with their products, to confront people with a new tangible reality. The duo follows the principles of what they name ‘Critical Design’ and the pieces, designed by them, generate situations of doubt, provoking people to ask themselves if those objects are for being used

“Critical Design uses speculative design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions and givens about the role products play in everyday life. It is more of an attitude than anything else, a position rather than a method.

Mainly to make us think. But also raising awareness, exposing assumptions, provoking action, sparking debate, even entertaining in an intellectual sort of way, like literature or film.” [18]

or not. Their goal is to make a broader audience to rethink about their ideas and preconceptions on the relation they have with the physical world around them [18].

This atmosphere of question and reflection is what Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen research intends to generate on the experiments. The actions proposed for the aspects researched on the three topics selected — Food, Vending and Mobility — will bring the reflexion on our habits and our relation with the designed world around us through the comparison between cultural differences that exist on the actual global world.

The documentation will show, for example on the Food theme, what people from both cities eat while spending time at the streets, the type of food, and how they do it when moving around. Through the sequence of images it is also possible to see how some types of food are prepared, in which kind of places they are sold and how they are eaten. On Mobility, the research shown provides the familiarization with the transportation, the urban scenario and how people commute on both cities. On the last topic, the Vending section, pictures of the

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ones that work by themselves and try to make some money on the streets of Rio and Bremen will be detailed. Together with the pictures there will be excerpts of what was said by the ones interviewed on the streets, as well as some text from literature and from other designers that are references on this work, all elements together to give a broader input about the lifestyle of both cities.

After gathering the material for the documentation, some aspects present on each context were highlighted. From Food, Vending, and Mobility, the habits and matters that most characterize each city on the three themes were selected for analysis. Sketches, diagrams, and pictures, together with a detailed work of synthesis, enable understanding on the issues exposed, raise questions, and give new perspectives on the cases from Rio and the ones from Bremen.

With the analysis made, it was possible to identify some possible directions for further development and insights that are strong enough to be structured and projected into other reality. On Food, taking in consideration that in the streets of Rio it is possible to find types of food that are totally different from the ones in Germany the idea was to cook those specialties and serve to people from Bremen that have never tasted it before. Without explaining anything about the flavor or how to eat it, a lunch was organized for a group of people to taste the Brazilian specialties and discover by themselves the details about it. What would be their impressions? How would they recept the experiment and the new information about a differet culture?

Street vending is a characteristic that is on the DNA of the streets of Rio. Everywhere you go, if you are walking on the streets, in the car or inside buses there will be someone selling something. Sometimes it can be very providential things and ‘Cariocas’ already count on those people for some situations. What if the city of Bremen could also experiment some improvise and enjoy the benefits of the ones offering solutions to the most spontaneous wishes of people that are walking on the streets? This will be the challenge for the topic of Vending.

While moving around Bremen there are almost no stress on the streets, the transport system works quite well, the urban structure is just great and there are no worries about violence. For Mobility the experience was to bring a little bit of the relaxed, and sometimes, playful lifestyle of ‘Bremers’ to the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is quite a

challenge to make the ‘Cariocas’ forget about the urban problems of Rio, but it is worth a try.

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen presents a detailed research on two different cultures inserted on a global market. Through visual narratives together with texts and testimonials, this guide will familiarize designers and other professionals with the habits of the people that circulate around the streets of the Brazilian and German cities. Following design methods of research and of projecting, the material organized presents the particularities of two different contexts and through good humor and sharp analysis, generate more insights and project possibilities.

2.FieldResearch

2.1 Food

On daily lives of the ones that usually circulate on the streets, there are certainly moments where they stop for eating or drinking something. On the morning, afternoon or night, it’s common to see people having breakfast, coffee or eating some finger-food on their way to work, home or just moving somewhere. It’s possible to imagine that in different places of the world it works quite the same. But, when comparing issues related to food between cities from different countries, what could then be specific of each place?

The food itself would be the first particularity to show specific aspects that are especial from certain cities. What people eat is an important characteristic of cultures and together with the rituals related to it, it turns into a good way of better understanding different social and cultural realities. One challenge about this cultural aspect is dealing with the preconceptions and cliches that are inside people’s mind. Most of the ideas of what and how other cultures eat come from third part and even without tasting or getting accurate information it seems easy to have opinion about them.

What would be possible to learn from those misunderstandings that exist when considering different contexts and their food? On the following pages, this work presents a visual documentation of the snacks, finger food and other preferences of people on the streets of Bremen and Rio de Janeiro. An analysis on the particularities of some popular types of food are made and some observations ended up being important aspects of the next step, the Implementation.

For extending the research, some types of food that are usually seen on the streets of one city were chosen and made for people from other context. With the cross-cultural experience it is possible to observe which reactions and impressions the participants have as well as the new rituals they developed for eating the “unknown” food.

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2.1.1 Rio de Janeiro

Documentation

The food on the streets of RioWhile walking on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, it is possible to see a wide range of food options for ordering and eating on the run. Together with all types of small bars, juice shops, cafes and bakeries that serve diverse types of finger-food and fast-food to go or to eat at the balcony, there are street vendors on the streets that sell anything from beverages to fruits.

The common type of salty food that is possible to find in every food window of the bars on the city is called: ‘salgadinho’. It is a typical finger food that you can eat everywhere while moving around the city. There are different types, which basically consist of a filling surrounded by dough. Depending on the shape and type of dough, ‘salgadinhos’ have different names. They are usually eaten with the hands and with catchup, mustard and pepper sauce.

The ‘Cariocas’ also like to stop on bakeries for drinking coffee — usually strong and short or with milk — with simple bread, sandwiches or sweets. The bakeries in Rio sell the usual fresh bread with coffee, but also warm sandwiches, meals, cakes, fresh juices and lots of sweets made on their own kitchen.

At bars and bakeries it is also possible to find pizzas, hamburgers, french fries and other fast-food that is more international. Some times there are bars that sell only those kinds of foods, but somehow, they are not majority.

Other common option is satisfying the will for eating with the goods that the street vendors offer. On specific points of city or just moving around the streets those people sell candies, beverages, finger-food and even fast-food. In Rio, the offer of things to eat at the streets seem unlimited, the customer just has to choose.

The juice bars are everywhere on Rio de Janeiro and offer all types of juices, sandwiches and ‘salgadinhos’.

‘Salgadinhos’ windows: you just need to look and choose the one that fits your hunger the best. Sometimes it is good to ask if they are fresh.

The ‘empadas’ with chicken filling must have an olive inside.

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Bar Caranguejo (Crab Bar)

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On weekends, the bar Caranguejo sells over a thousand ‘empadas’ – the round ‘salgadinho’ on the picture – with shrimp filling per day.

Usually, the bakeries in Rio produce their own breads, cakes, snacks and sweets.

Antonio! Show your thighs to the lady!

Some bakeries are open 24 hours and offer breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner.

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Waiter, please bring me quickly Good coffee with milk that isn’t warmed-over, Bread with butter really hot, A napkin and a glass of very cold water. Close the door on the right very carefully Because I am not willing to be exposed to the sun. Go ask the customer by our side What was the outcome of the soccer match. [19]

‘Cariocas’ have no idea how spoiled they are. As most bakeries have ‘old school’ manual coffee machines, customers usually order the coffee by color: light, dark, medium, more dark than light and so on.

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Sugar cane juice is very popular downtown. It is made with a special machine that presses the cane extracting the juice out of it.

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Where are you going to take those pictures? Germany? Don’t they have this there?

‘Pastel’ being prepared in front of the customers.

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Analysis

Food in Rio, the ‘salgadinhos’ typology The most characteristic food that can be found on the streets of Rio de Janeiro is, with no margin of doubt, the ‘salgadinhos’. Differently from others fast-food options that have foreign origin or are well known worldwide, the Brazilian finger food is quite exclusive.

As there are many types of ‘salgadinhos’ this analysis describes the main concept of this food dissecting some examples of it. Most of the ‘salgadinhos’, have geometric forms — they are supposed to hold the filling and normally have a format that make it possible to eat them with the hands. The size is generally determined by those conditions.

The same kind of ‘salgadinho’ can be made with different types of fillings. Some food shops are specialised in ‘empadas’ or ‘pasteis’ and so on. What is interesting is that with one type of filling, you can make more than one type of salgadinho, it’s only necessary to change the dough. Each one has a different dough-making process — some are quite simple and others take more time.

The ‘bolinho’, is a polemic ‘salgadinho’. Jokes usually come when people eat it, such as “Oh, ‘bolinho’? What did you have for dinner yesterday?”. Because of the way the filling inside is mixed with the dough, it looks like it was made with yesterday’s leftovers.

The ‘salgadinhos’ are quite popular in the city and satisfy everyone and every pocket. They are usually sold on combos with juice and it’s possible to see people eating them for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner.

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2.1.2 Bremen

Documentation

Food you find in the streets of Bremen In the streets of Bremen most of the shops where it is possible to stop and grab quickly something to eat are fast-food bars and bakeries. The last ones are quite popular in Bremen and, from morning to noon, there are always people stopping by and ordering. The customers just have to chose the bread or sandwiches they want to take and wait for the coffee from the machine.

The bars that sell fast food are quite popular and sell different types of food. Some are specialized in Turkish food and sell ‘Döners’, ‘rollos’ and ‘falafel’. There are the ones that just sell pizzas or hamburgers and the ones that sell the German specialty, the ‘Bratwurst’. In some cases there are the bars that try to satisfy all the customers and offer from ‘Döner’ to pizza and ‘Bratwurst’.

Among the fast-food examples, there is one that is quite particular from Bremen, the ‘Bremer’, that is a kind of fish burger. The ‘Bratwurst’ is a long sausage, usually eaten together with a small bread that is 1/3 the size of the sausage, and the one that seems to be the most popular, the ‘Döner’ is a sandwich of meat cut in very small pieces together with sauce and salad inside a bread.

At Bremen’s main station it is possible to find fast-food from all around the world.

The ‘Döner’ places start the day with the meat spit full, at night it is possible to see the difference.

French-fries are very popular in Germany. ‘Kiosks’ (the bars located on the streets) usually sell them with ketchup and mustard.

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There are ‘Kiosks’ selling the German ‘Bratwurst’ everywhere on Bremen.

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There are a lot of different systems for adding ketchup and mustard on the Bratwurst and Sandwiches. This one imitates the process of milking cows.

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Take a picture! Take a picture of all this food here, I cooked everything!

At this bar it’s possible to buy ‘Döner’ and meals and it has a window open to the street, so customers can order from outside.

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I will hold this big knife for your picture! ‘Te amo!’

Döner Bar

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‘Döner’ Bar

One ‘Döner’ will never be like the other. This sandwich usually vary according to the bar.

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Also sold on the ‘Döner’ bars: “Börek with spinach, goat cheese or meat. Small: 1,00€ Big: 2,00€”.

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Sweets on foreground and the famous German breads on background on this typical bakery.

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Fish sandwiches

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“Whereas in the Ford economy, the masses were served by many people working to make one, uniform product, in the Starbucks economy, the masses are served by few people working to make thousands of customized, personalized products.” [21]

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Analysis

Food in Bremen, you have to look inside the bread Comparing the types of food found while moving around the streets of Bremen, it is possible to notice that the street food of the city consists basically of a piece of bread cut in the middle and filling. Even with different names — ‘Döner’, ‘Bremer’, ‘Rollo’, hot-dog, ‘Falafel’, sandwich and hamburger — they all follow the same principle that is bread with filling.

The filling, most of the time, must be a protein: meat, fish, chicken, or cheese. Salad can be found in some cases, from one slice of lettuce to a sizable salad with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, or other vegetables. The type of bread usually varies and can significantly change the aspect of the food like, for example, the rollo that its super thin bread remembers a pancake and after the filling is inside it’s rolled until it gets a cylinder form. The most popular type of bread used is a small salty white bread, although different types of Turkish bread, Italian ‘ciabatta’ and different types of German whole-grain breads are also very popular.

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2.1.3 Implementation

From Rio de Janeiro to Bremen: ‘salgadinhos’

Location

Bremen, Germany. The event was realized at Café Lu, the student’s cafeteria located at the University of Arts of Bremen.

participants

Number of people involved: six

Nationality: Germans

Occupation: students

Age: between 21 and 29 years old

Short description

The participants were asked to give their impressions about a specific type of Brazilian food, popular in Rio de Janeiro.

Observation

Only people that were never in Brazil and didn’t know its typical food joined the experiment.

The experimentIn Rio, people are used to eating ‘salgadinhos’ on their way to work, home and on lunch break. This typical Brazilian food is quite different from the food you find on the streets of Bremen. The size, the textures and the flavors have almost no equivalent in Germany.

WouldpeoplefromBremenlikethistypeoffood?Howwouldtheyreactwheneatingandtastingit?

To answer those questions, a lunch was prepared with two types of ‘salgadinhos’ and it was served to a group of Germans that never tasted them before. The ones selected to try the food sat down at a table with just the food itself. At a separate table, there were dishes, cutlery, napkins, sauces, salad, bread and juice. This second table had things that people from Rio usually use while eating the ‘salgadinhos’, but also things they do not use, things that Germans might like to use or eat together with this ‘new’ food.

Nothing was said before people got their first look at the food, nothing about the flavor nor about how to eat it. Before starting the process, they have already given some opinions based solely on the appearance.

They look like something sweet, maybe because of the paper.

It could be a meat pie.

It looks dry and it seems that it has cheese and ham inside.

They look like Turkish sweets.

‘Empada’

‘Coxinha’

It looks like ‘Polenta’ and it’s probably red inside.

Looks like it’s fried but I’m not sure if it’s salty or sweet, it looks like it has sugar around.

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After some bites:

The filling of the ‘empada’ is chicken? Really? I thought it was fish!

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Question: Which way would be better to eat? How do you think people eat it in Brazil?

They are probably sold on the streets, with small carts that they push by hand or even holding trays on their shoulders.

It is better to eat both with the hands.

Don’t take the ‘empada’ out of the form!

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I can’t imagine how they would eat it walking fast on the streets, without sauce.

With the bread it would be possible to eat with the salad.

The salad irritated me, somehow it doesn’t belong.

Q.: How much do you think it would cost?

The ‘coxinha’ is cheap, because it is fried.

The ‘empada’ can be more expensive because it has butter.

‘Coxinha’: 3 for 2,00€. ‘Empada’: 1,00€, not more than that!

Not that cheap, because of the time and work it probably demands.

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The OutcomeThe people involved with the experiment were engaged and quite confortable on tasting and testing all possible ways to eat the Brazilian food. Before the degustation, the impression they had on the appearence of the food brought references of Turkish, Spanish, French and Indian food. Some specialities remembered were: ‘jalapeños’, the French ‘patisserie’ and ‘samosas’ (see pictures on the following page).

At the start of the ritual they ate the ‘coxinhas’ and ‘empadas’ in totally different ways when compared with people from Rio de Janeiro. During the experiment they ate some units of both types of ‘salgadinhos’ and tested different ways of eating them: with or without sauce and salad, using cutlery or not, and so on. In the end, they came up with opnions on how the ‘Cariocas’ would eat the food that was presented. Most of them guessed exactly how the food was prepared and eaten in Brazil. They have even chosen the coxinha as the favorite of both, just like the ‘Cariocas’.

Some of the observations were the following:

It was interesting to see that they started eating the two ‘salgadinhos’ in a way that Brazilians don’t usually do — in a plate with salad. After eating some units, they concluded that it would be better to eat it just with their hands, adding sauces sometimes (just like people from Rio!).

Other curious thing is that the bread was also proposed as a side, and nobody touched it. One of the reasons why the bread was put there is because in Southern Brazil, a region known for its large number of people of German descent, people put the ‘salgadinhos’ inside bread to eat them. This way, there was some expectation that they would at least try to eat the bread with the food. On the contrary, the only reference made to the bread was in the end, when one of the invited people said the bread could be a good idea because then she would have been able to add the salad and the ‘salgadinho’ inside, eating all together.

In Germany you will never find Italian food, but the interpretation of Italian food, and that is what Germans like. It has to do with interpretation, this interpretation is what matters.[interview on section 1.2]

This food is more like popular food, it shouldn’t be expensive.

It’s probably eaten at streets, bought in simple bars or with vendors selling them on small cars.

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They don’t eat it with salad and they eat it with the hands.

With the end of the experiment the participants could learn about the kind of food and eating rituals that people from Rio have while on their busy daily lives. They could certainly add this experience to their knowledge on others global references.

The participants were an important contribution for the research. Through them it was possible to document opinions and reactions of Germans about a new eating experience and dealing with new rituals, textures and flavors. In general, they were interested in understanding how people in Rio eat the food they were tasting, and while eating, it was possible to notice that they were testing ways to be comfortable and enjoy the food.

The process was probably the same, when the participants tried the international references that they mentioned during the experiment — the ‘samosas’, ‘jalapeños’ and the French ‘patisserie’. More important than giving previous knowledge about what the food is or how to eat it, analyzing the experiment it seemed necessary to create a comfortable atmosphere for the testers, offering some things that they are already used to, and make a comfortable start-up. This cozy atmosphere made them open to experience new contexts and understand foreign realities by their own.

‘Samosas’

‘Jalapeños’

‘Patisserie’‘Samosas’ and other types of fried finger-food

[Above: Fig. 15., below: Fig. 16.]

[Fig. 17.] [Fig. 18.][Fig. 19.]

2.2 Vending

The streets can be a very attractive environment for the ones that need to make money and find on non-regulated work, possibilities of earning their income. With a constant movement of people of all social classes and backgrounds, the public spaces have potential clients of all types and offer the most diverse opportunities during most part of the day.

On the next section the diverse vending activities usually seen on the cities of Bremen and Rio de Janeiro are detailed. At a first moment, in the documentation section, the alternatives developed on the streets of the cities are exposed on its diversity. In the Analysis some special cases were chosen and detailed on its methods of work or types of goods.

Those people that work on the streets shows us important economic, social and cultural aspects of their cities. Exploring those aspects can provide a better comprehension about the vendors, the collectors and so on, together with the customers and their relation with the environment. On activities like selling goods on the streets, the vendors have direct contact with a great number of clients every day. They have to understand the necessities of those people as well as to develop good selling techniques for the amount of sold products that they have to achieve every day. Otherwise, they have no money to take home.

In the end of this chapter — the Implementation section — one possible way, among many others, of exploring some aspects of the “street vending wisdom” will be tested.

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Documentation

Vending activities on the streets of RioWhile walking on the streets of Rio, you can see people selling all kinds of things. Is it starting to rain? Look around and you will easily find someone selling umbrellas. Is there a two-hour line to enter the soccer stadium? Relax, buy a beer with the guy selling beverages next to you and maybe also a new flag of your team.

On the streets, the vendors usually sell accessories and clothing items like belts, earrings, watches, glasses, leggings and so on. Objects for home — such as dishtowels, brooms, plungers and other small items for kitchen and bathroom — are also sold. Small electronics, pirate CDs, toys and kitschy objects are also sold by vendors and, like the others, can be sold on the sideways or among the cars stopped on traffic jams.

Food is a popular good sold by street vendors. Home made cakes, sweets, snacks or industrialized candies and beverages can be seen everywhere. Usually on self made small cars, or in boxes hold by hands, but sometimes in small trucks and pickups that announce the product with loud speakers.

The beach is also a point where lots of vendors sell goods. From fruits to hamburgers the vendors carry Styrofoam boxes, personalized containers, or even Tupperware and baking trays. Sharing the clients that are at the beach enjoying their leisure time, there are also the ones that sell bikinis, skirts, accessories and toys.

Every place seems to be a potential point for vendors to sell their products. Restrictions for the goods to be sold and the techniques of selling seem to be nonexistent, there are also no limits for creativity and invention on street vending.

Man selling vultures , the mascot of Flamengo, the popular Brazilian soccer team. A perfect Sunday for ‘Cariocas’ is when they go to the

beach and, afterwards, to the soccer stadium to watch a match.

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Man selling bikini tops, the strapless kind that leave no tanning lines.

Man selling boiled corn on the cob.

Mobile sweets window, selfpropelled car for selling cakes and other home made speciallities.

Man with kid selling lychees along the sidewalk. They stop everytime a customer asks.

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Popcorn vendors are usually found in front of cinemas or schools.

‘Saara’ the popular and overcrowded commercial center at the city center has streets vendors everywhere.

Bicycles like that one are used for selling beverages, snacks and delivering services.

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Man offers moving services with his pickup parked on the street.

Pickup parked on the street vending pineapples. Sometimes the drivers move around with loudspeakers announcing their goods and saying funny jokes.

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Even being hard work, it isn’t as dangerous as being drug dealer. It’s better

than stealing. As a street vendor I don’t need to deal with guns. [22]

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Analysis

Opportunism and creativity in the vending activities on the streets of Rio de JaneiroIn Rio de Janeiro, it is possible to identify some particularities on the distinct types of informal commerce. In most cases they are forbidden in the city, so the vendors that participate always have to mind the police.

One popular type of informal commerce is selling products according to the opportunity. If it starts to rain, vendors will sell umbrellas. If there is a game at Maracanã (the biggest stadium in Rio) they will sell beers outside. When there are free concerts at the beach, they sell beers and collect cans.

Other common strategy is selling goods on sidewalks. Usually, the products are exposed on a plastic sheet on top of a piece of cardboard supported by a wooden or cardboard box. It is a cheap and practical system; vendors can easily just leave the box on the street if they see the police control coming. There are also the vendors that prefer to walk and move around to sell their products. Those usually use bikes or special self-propelled cars to be more free and carry their goods. Some can manage to have loyal customers that know the days and time they pass by.

There are also the ones that walk around selling at the beaches and on public transportation like buses or trains. Some develop very special systems and techniques for selling their products and conquer the clients. They carry their products using solely their hands and arms, but can also use boxes, sticks, bags or other creative systems. Those street vendors have to catch the attention of the customers to sell their products. They surely need a high dosage of smartness and creativity on every workday.

One problem that those vendors have to deal with every day of work is that informal commerce is forbidden on the city. The government has particular units and techniques to control it, making unexpected

actions to try to catch people that occupy the streets selling goods. But even with the work of the police it is still possible to see at the beach, on the sideways, along the traffic jams, at the streets and on public transport, lots of people working selling legal or illegal, self made or resale products.

Those street vendors also generate controversial feelings on the ‘Cariocas’, the people from Rio, and are usually criticized on local newspapers. The other side of the critics and the illegality is that the street vending turned itself into an opportunity of earning money and is also an option for consumption to the ones that are moving around on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

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On the neighborhood with the highest number of elderly people this woman dressed in white, like nurses’ uniform, wait for customers willing to measure their blood preassure.

Man selling popcorn.

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Cans on the stick are the menu for the beverages.

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Wanna check? Corel, Autocad, Norton, Office? There’s Dictionary: English, Portuguese, German, French! Wanna check it out? [23]

The abandoned boxes are a sign that there were street vendors on this spot.

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Empty chairs, forgotten craft papers and boxes on the sideways: signs of street vendors.

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Women choosing bikinis from vendor.

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2.1.2 Bremen

Documentation

Vending activities on the streets of BremenIn Bremen it is strictly forbidden to sell any kind of product at the street without an official permit. Thus, in the city is really rare to see examples of informal, unsanctioned commerce of any kind.

Exceptions include big events in the city, like the Bremen Samba Carnival or soccer games. For these events away from the eyes of the police, you can see a few people selling beer, soccer teams souvenirs or even ‘Pretzels’.

The ‘Bremers’, people from Bremen, developed their own way for earning money and keep their status under the law. One example is a technique used to grab the attention of clients, instead of contracting people for distributing flyers on the city, some shops park bikes on strategic points with propaganda of their shops.

The most common activity done on the city for earning some money would be the bottle collectors. It is pretty common to see the people that collect empty bottles and cans on the street, for which they can have some money for each piece. Young and old people, men and women, they all walk around the city, searching on the sidewalks, on the garbage and on the parks for a new ‘Pfand’ (the deposit you get back for each returned empty bottle). For being able to carry a considerable amount of bottles, the collectors use backpacks, plastic and garbage bags and even shopping carts.

Other interesting case in the city is the ‘Spermüll’, furniture that people want to discard. On a specific day of the week determined by the government, people can leave this unwanted furniture on the street for

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waste collectors to take them away. Members of the community then take some for their own houses, and others collect these objects from all around the city and sell them secondhand.

As a first impression, it is possible to think that Bremen has no vending or other kind of parallel activities happening on the streets. It is necessary to spend some time observing the routine of the city to notice the cases and particularities of the people that manage to make money within the law limits.

“In Benares or in Amsterdam, in London or in Buenos Aires, under every differing sky, in every sundry clime, it is the street that is the refuge of the poor. The wretches do not feel completely deprived of the help of the gods as long as, before their eyes, one street opens into another.” [24]

This man created an alternative way for collecting empty bottles: he uses a suitcase.

Before soccer matches it is possible to see some vendors on the streets near the stadium.

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This man is collecting empty bottles and cans, the last ones he keeps inside plastic bags.

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The collectors find the empty bottles on the sidewalks, streets and inside garbage cans.

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‘Sperrmüll’

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Analysis

Earning money within the lawIn Germany, to sell any kind of product on the street, you have to ask for government authorization. In big cities like Berlin, you can see some interesting cases, — like the ‘Bratwurst’ selling men, that practically dress up as grills. In Bremen, however, this is quite rare.

Besides the fact that there are rules restricting street vending, the German government has a social system that supports people with low economic status and unemployed. If, for any reason, a person is not working, they are provided with at least the minimum to survive. This way, the ones collecting empty bottles or selling beers are most likely looking for extra money without having legal problems, so they do this within the law limit.

Collecting bottles is an activity that works quite well in the city. People drinking beers or any other beverage that comes in bottles throw them in the streets’ garbage cans or on the sidewalks, and the collectors come to pick them up. After collecting a certain amount of bottles, they go to a supermarket or to any other exchange place and get money back from each bottle they return — this deposit you receive back is called ‘Pfand’. The small beer bottles usually cost 0,08€ and the plastic ones for water, 0,25€. Some shopping carts full of empty bottles can surely give some help on the monthly expenses.

One of the special cases that appeared during the research was the one of a person going through the bars at night and selling salty bread with filling. In Bremen, the beers and cocktail bars don’t usually sell food, and the most one can find is potato chips and peanuts. This person found a good niche for his/her product and has no competition.

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“Empty bottles? Here you can give it back!”

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From Rio de Janeiro to Bremen: Personal weather forecaster

Location

Bremen, Germany. The experiment was planed to happen on the streets of Bremen.

participants

People involved: two representatives of a retail chain considered a potential sponsor for the experiment: one is the public relations officer and the other is the sales manager responsible for Northern Germany stores.

Short description

The experiment was a a try to implement in Bremen a typical activity present on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

Observation

The completion of the experiment was dependent on the acceptance and help from two representatives of the retail chain chosen for adopting the idea.

The experimentInformal commerce is pretty common on the streets of Rio. It is possible to find almost everything to buy, as if people could guess what your needs are, at the moment you move somewhere.

In Bremen you don’t see people selling food or objects at the streets. If a storm suddenly starts and people are in the middle of their way to any place, they would have to, for example, look for shelter or for a shop that would sell umbrellas.

What if a person selling umbrellas appears in a street of Bremen just in the moment that the rain starts?

Considering the aspects above, the idea of an experiment that could simulate this situation on the streets of Bremen started to be organized.To surpass any strange feeling that could be generated on people by seeing any illegal seller at the streets, the first step was finding a known brand that could embrace the idea.

A retail chain of Germany was contacted, chosen because the umbrellas they sell are quite known in Bremen. An appointment was made and after a conversation with the sales manager responsible for the shops on Northern Germany and the public relations officer of the brand, it was possible to have some interesting feedback:

1. They explained that for any kind of action done at the streets, the drugstore has to ask for the authorization of the Government. And that, because of all the bureaucracy and laws involving the urban space, means almost like a prohibitive action to them.

2. There are also strict rules for selling products outside the shops, for example, in front of the shop doors. In some cities in Germany just some groceries are allowed to do that.

3. The shop had already tried to do a sales action with a famous model on a street of one of the main stores of the retail chain, but the authorization was denied by the government. There were some issues considering security of big group of people concentrated in one small street.

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The aspects exposed by the two store representatives showed that it wouldn’t be that easy to convince them to try some alternative ways for selling their goods in the streets. The German laws and bureaucracy seemed to be prohibitive for them to invest on actions of small proportion.

During the conversation and while showing them pictures of informal work in Rio de Janeiro the two representatives made some observations:

But, who controls all the quality and safety of these food and products?

Man selling home made cakes on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

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Two minutes after discussing about the pictures of the informal commerce in Rio de Janeiro we saw this scene in Germany:

“Polished shoes, until it shines.”Oh my! This kind of situation

you would never see in Germany! It looks like slave work!

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I understand… those people are doing their best for feeding their families

You know, in Germany we have rules. We have rules for everything. And I like it!

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Then one day, I was reforming the bathroom. The worker responsible for it

asked me: ‘Do you need the receipt?’ And then I said: ‘No!’ And it was much cheaper!

The OutcomeThe representatives of the store weren’t convinced on doing the experiment of selling their umbrellas outside the shop. They didn’t want to make the effort to try, within the law, to make the strategies applied by the street vendors in Rio part of their selling techniques. The rules existing in Germany seemed to them almost like impossible barriers to be crossed. Still, it seems that there would be some hope. Their comments on the examples of informal commerce in Rio and their opinion on illicit activities in Germany showed that their will on being legal or illegal can easily change as well as their understanding of what “non-regulated work” means .

With some more effort and new arguments, the strategy used by the informal workers on Rio de Janeiro could be proved as an interesting alternative for the business and the economy in Bremen. With some adaptations and some work to bring those activities to a legal status some of its creativity and spontaneity could be wisely used in the city. This is a cultural exchange that can show itself valuable, specially when considering the benefits that it could bring to revitalize the small job offers in the market. Those jobs are important for lots of people, from students to the unemployed.

2.3 Mobility

For going to work, shopping, partying and many other activities, people have to move around and use the public ways. By foot, car, bicycle or public transportation they get out of their houses and share the physical space with other people, strangers or not.

People that don’t know each other are in the same traffic jams, streets, under way, sidewalks and this way are facing the same events and problems. Bremen and Rio de Janeiro have both a complex system of public transportation and a considerable number of people using private vehicles. The urban planning between both cities is different as well as the transport system and especially the people that populate and use them, what make eah place to have its own rhythm.

This part of the research guides the reader through the similarities and differences between these two different urban contexts, with special focus on mobility issues. Do people from Rio de Janeiro and people from Bremen face the same problems while moving around the city? Do they react the same way?

On the next pages, the images organized will show aspects of both cities promoting a better comprehension of the particularities of each one. Afterwards, some points will be highlighted and discussed on the Analysis section, in order to give more information about issues that couldn’t be so clear or comprehensible through the pictures that were shown.

Following, the Implementation section explores aspects present in one culture that could help the other on improving their quality of live on the everyday situations that happen while on public urban spaces. Characteristics that are specific from one scenario that have potential for being absorbed on other contexts and to generate valuable feedback were selected. They were adapted for the “cultural transfer” and organized in a way that other global context can experience it, incite discussions and new insights on design.

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Documentation

Mobility in Rio de JaneiroIn Rio, people move around using buses, taxis, vans, private cars, and the Metro. The last one also includes a system of special buses and bikes. The Metro line has a limited number of stops and covers just a small area of the city, this way buses and vans are important alternatives for most of the people. The bus drivers in Rio are known for their ‘wild style’ of driving. Without traffic jams, they can drive really fast, independently of full buses or having elderly people ‘on board’. Vans can also be risky sometimes and it is common to see full vehicles with people standing up inside them.

Usually, when people go to the stops to wait for the buses and vans, they go without knowing how much time they will have to wait. There are no timetables and there is rarely information about the routes of the vehicles. It is common to see just a sign with the numbers of the lines that drive by the stop and, sometimes, not even that, just a sign saying: ‘Bus Stop’.

Taxis are popular in Rio, independent workers and also cooperatives are spread on the city. It is almost impossible to look at one street without seeing a yellow cab looking for customers. ‘Cariocas’, people from Rio, are also used to having more than one number of taxis cooperatives saved on their cell-phones, for calling any time they would need it.

Traffic jams are a constant in the city, especially during rush hour. Lots of buses, taxis, vans and private cars wait all together in a lazy line. Together with them it is also possible to see streets vendors, selling snacks or small objects along the way.

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One alternative for avoiding the stress of the long line of vehicles would be the bicycles. The ‘Cariocas’, however, usually associate biking with sport and leisure. It is common to see bicycles along the beaches, lagoons and parks, but inside the city the only way to ride is on the pavement alongside cars and buses. Therefore, until now, bicycles are not largely used as a transport option.

Metro

Biking system that works supporting the Metro

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There is nothing easier than taking taxis in Rio. They are everywhere and are easily reachable by phone.

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Vans and buses can be very crowded, what makes the journey dangerous sometimes.

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Most of the times the only information the bus-stops have is the number of the lines that pass there.

Motorcycle is an alternative for places with difficult access.

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Every Sunday the pavement close to the beach is closed to cars and people can move freely on foot and by bicycle.

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Analysis

Good humour is a must have for moving around the cityTo move around the city of Rio, you have to be prepared to deal with things like traffic jams, insecurity, lack of infrastructure, transport and even floods.

Along the busier streets of the city, people could easily walk for fifteen minutes, but making it in cars and buses it can take 45 minutes or more. Through a single path in one district is possible to identify a lot of different bus lines, taxis and vans. It becomes clear, on those kinds of situations that urban planing and traffic strategies would be of great help.

Most of the time people move around with private cars or public transportation. Bike paths are rare in the city and people, avoiding to risk their lives and move around the city together with other vehicles, tend to adopt other transports.

One constant problem in the city is the urban violence. While inside cars and buses or walking on the street, people think about the risk of being robbed. Most of the time, cars have tinted windows that are totally closed and air conditioning that stays on, so that others do not see who or what is inside. On public transportation and on the streets, people take care of what they carry. Jewelry, expensive cell phones or watches are usually objects that everyone hides or they tend to use cheap ones for avoiding any worries in risky situations.

All this care on how to move along in the city and what to wear creates a curious effect: sometimes you can’t identify, just by looking, who is rich or poor. The objects that usually reveal that someone has money are not exposed and everyone ends up using the same clothes and accessories to walk around the city. This phenomenon can be noticed specially on the streets or public spaces like the beach and its boardwalk.

‘Cariocas’ found their way to deal with the urban problems inherent of their city. They have their techniques for not letting themselves being stressed with theft and other dangerous acts that can happen in the city. Together with portions of patience and good humor they also have special help for getting inspired every day: beautiful beaches, lagoons, mountains and green areas that can be seen everywhere on the city.

Elderly people usually hire someone to help them on everyday issues. It is dangerous for them to walk alone because of urban violence and lack of infrastructure on public ways.

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It is rare to see cars without tinted windows.

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2.3.2 Bremen

Documentation

Mobility in Bremen To move around Bremen, people use the public transport system of buses and trains, as well as bikes and private cars. The buses and trains carry all citizens: kids, adults, elderly people with walkers, mothers with strollers, and wheelchair users. Their arrivals and departures are fixed in timetables and there are routes available at the stops or on the internet. Everything is planned and predicted so there are almost no surprises on delays or endless waiting for transport.

There isn’t a kind of person specialized in selling tickets on transports. Every person is responsible for their own. They can buy tickets on the main station, on the special machines of the trains or with the bus drivers. Bremen has a system for checking if everyone has a ticket: some people are hired to enter buses and trains and asking for each person’s ticket. Some people are caught on those actions, but usually everyone has a ticket.

It is possible to see people biking all over the city, and even businesses offer bicycle racks for customers. The bicycles are used to commute to work and for shopping, sports, or even taking their kids to school. There are all kinds of bicycle accessories, from fancy decoration and bags to small wagons for the front or back on the bike to carry things or transporting children. There is a special care with the bikers — it is possible to see special public signs guiding them through the city and even indications for touristic paths.

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All the plataforms at the main station have the buses and tram lines discriminated as well as their timetables.

Elderly people with walking cars and mothers with small kids and babies cars can take the buses and trains safely.

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Woman paying for her ticket.

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In Bremen, it is common to see bicycles for kids around.

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Those small cars used together with bicycles can help on carrying kids, but also shopping.

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Analysis

Mobility in Bremen, it’s all about bikes Public transportation in Bremen works quite well. Common problems are just delays in the schedule or when there is some public event at the city or maintenance work on the streets and on the tram lines, which can make traffic a little bit confusing. Nevertheless, the exceptions are announced on the electronic panels and boards on every stop and on the website of the transport company.

For people who move around in private cars, there might be difficulties to find parking spaces or to drive through narrow streets in one or two districts. In general, there are not that many problems to face.

Comparing the transport options of Bremen, it seems that the most popular one is the bicycle. People frequently use them in the city because Bremen is small and has good bike paths all around the public ways. ‘Bremers’ enjoy biking and they try to get the maximum benefit out of it. Going to the supermarket, commuting to work, taking the kids to school, or having fun are examples of usual activities undertaken with the bikes. There are many types of accessory for each activity. People also like to personalize them, by buying special models or adding fancy decorations all around it.

Bremen doesn’t have many urban problems. Cases of pickpocketing on public transportation and on the streets can happen, but the most common issue is bicycle theft. Stolen bikes are commonly sold on the black market. What is curious to notice is that normally there aren’t personalized bikes sold. Taking the decorations out off of the bikes would mean a lot of work to the robbers, and leaving the “funny bikes” as they are would make them recognizable by their real owners.

In general, the city has a good atmosphere on the public ways, no apparent stress or danger on the urban space and on transportation. Together with this relaxed ambiance the city also counts with considerable green areas in downtown what can be a stimulus for walking.

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From Bremen to Rio de Janeiro: KIT D!SFARCE (Disguise Kit)Location

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The experiment took place in the houses of the participants and on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

participants

Number of people involved: five

Number of people that completed the experiment: three

Nationality: Brazilians

Age: between 6 and 65 years old

Short description

The people from Rio will be encouraged to experiment a particular habit of Bremers, adapt it to their context and maybe profit from it.

The experiment

Bremers have a habit of personalizing their bikes. It is common to see fancy bikes around the city. People use tailored accessories and improvised home-made arrangements with colored tapes, flowers, toys, or anything else they find at home. Those fancy bikes usually grab the attention of people because of their colors and fanciness. When choosing between other bikes, they are probably the last bikes a robber would steal.

Because of the urban violence on the streets of Rio, ‘Cariocas’ usually don’t use valuable things to avoid any stressful situation.

But what if the ‘Cariocas’ go on the street with all of their valuables that they don’t want to lose to theft? What if those things were there with them, but no one could see it? If they were disguised?

Using as reference the ‘Bremer’ habit of decorating bikes, the idea on this action is to disguise the loved objects of the ‘Cariocas’, so that they can take everything they want to on the streets together with them.

Some people were selected for the experiment and received a Disguise Kit. The Kit has a short introduction explaining the experiment and encouraging them to take what they would like to the streets, but for some reason wouldn’t have been possible in the past. They received the Kit with some accessories to start the disguise.

As feedback they were asked to send an email with answers for some questions and also pictures of the realization of the experiment.

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The ‘KIT D!SFARCE’

In Rio de Janeiro, the ‘Cariocas’ used the “KIT D!SFARCE” to cover their valuable objects and go out at the street without the need to worry about the possibility of being robbed. The volunteers gently agreed to participate and sent back pictures and comments about the experience and what they felt during the action.

Maria, a six years old girl from Rio, was the first to send her results. She received the Kit and her aunt described her the instructions that she would have to follow.

Aunt: Maria, a friend of mine sent this ‘Disguise Kit’. She developed this for disguising things that we don’t want anyone to steal.

Maria: I got it! Like if I would buy an early present for Father’s Day, but leave it at the store until the right day, so that my father cannot see it and no one can steal the gift!!

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A.: Exactly! What will we disguise?

M.: Our bags!

Maria looked the accessories in the Kit and start to put them at herself...

M.: Then it’s carnival time, I will wear my costume and I will enter the crowd, together with the people, and no one will find me because I am disguised!

(she goes away, dancing and walking together with the imaginary group of people)

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A.: Maria, and the bag?

M.: Oh, it’s true, let’s disguise it so that no one steals it in the crowd!

M.: Now I can wear it!

A.: Maria, let’s try to mix the panda to the bag’s disguise?

M.: We can put it on this swing… Aww… it turned into a nest to the panda! Now no one will steal it!

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Licia also sent back her results for the experiment. She tried to use the Kit in situations of her everyday life: on her morning walks along the beach, while taking her grandchildren to the kindergarten or just walking around her neighborhood.

I’m sorry if I didn’t make it right… but I had fun!

I was expecting to have fun with the experiment. To be noticed by people, I was curious to see their reaction.

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While on the bicycle path along the beach, I could notice some people looking, but not that much.

I think that Rio de Janeiro is a relaxed city, especially at the beach.

A lady asked me if I worked at the party room located on the street!

Licia disguise at the moment a woman asked her if she was working for parties.

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Some volunteers tried to make more discreet disguises, and they also look quite effective. On this example, Vanira tried to disguise her watch and her ring. She thinks that people wouldn’t care about the disguise, but if you notice, her picture was taken indoors.

I think that people don’t really matter if someone is using a disguised object

at the street. They would look but never comment anything.

The OutcomeThe experiment showed that it is not that simple to take the ‘Cariocas’ out of their houses using decorated objects. They consider the colorful decoration that ‘Bremers’ use on their bikes to be exotic and funny.When you think that, in Germany, Rio de Janeiro is mostly known by being the ‘City of Carnival,’ this attitude turns out to be almost impossible to understand.

Walking on the streets of Rio, one can notice that people don’t really like to use ornaments that would make them the center of attention. This could happen when people are using an expensive object — that could catch the attention of thieves — or because of an extra fancy accessory that would make other people on the street look and even make jokes about it.

Carnival is a different situation. This is the time where everybody is walking with costumes on the streets and it is almost like a competition for making the most beautiful or even creative costume. But it happens only during some weeks between February and March. Out of this time, costumes or fancy objects are mostly seen as an exotic act.

Considering the feedback of the participants, Maria’s comments and reaction to the action were quite impressive. She demonstrated total comprehension about the goals of KIT D!SFARCE and without being intimidated — maybe because she is six years old — she started to disguise herself and her bag. On the comments, her younger brother also showed what he understood from the Disguise Kit: he wanted Maria to keep the mustache forever because then she would be safe.

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Maria: “It’s cool that the thieves will think about stealing something and then they will think: ‘Ugh… this wasn’t what I wanted!’”

Celia also got some interesting feedback while experiencing the KIT D!SFARCE. At the moment that she was most disguised, a woman thought that she would be a person working in a house that is rented for organizing parties. For this woman on the street, this would be the only reason for Celia’s ‘costume’. If there was the opportunity to go back and meet this person at the moment that Celia wouldn’t be at her sight anymore, and ask her: “Was the ‘party woman’ using a bag or any other valuable item?”, the answer would probably be: “I don’t know, I haven’t noticed!”

‘Cariocas’, since kids, are used to urban violence and they grow up learning how to move around Rio de Janeiro safely. Therefore, the adults automatically behave in a way to avoid any kind of stressful situation on the streets. The kids in Bremen grow up also having to learn how to circulate in the city, but in a different manner. Inspired by the relaxed way that the ‘Bremers’ walk on the streets, this experiment tried to explore possibilities to make the ‘Cariocas’ forget, for some moments, the stress of the big city and concentrate in enjoying their moments in the city.

Bento, her 4 years old brother: “She was disguised so that no one is able to take her away... I want Maria to keep the mustache on!”

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Conclusion

Imagine one city in India. It can be any city. Now imagine one city in the United States. Doesn’t matter where. Can you think about the urban landscape? And the streets? And about the people? They probably look pretty different from each other. Each city with its own rhythm and urban frameworks: transportation system, public places, buildings and services. Now, focusing on the relation that the inhabitants develop with the environment around them, the aspects can be even more particular. People have different necessities, worries and ambitions. Mainly, they behave differently to keep their daily lives habits.

Understanding foreign realities can be tricky sometimes. Questions like why some cultures make determined choices and not others, or why do they have different habits and so on, need specific knowledge and field research to be answered. In other words, it is possible to assume, even without a deeper analysis, that people’s needs are not the same everywhere. Accordingly, designers and engineers should follow methods of research and projecting that would be specific for attending those particularities.

The actual production of design shows that there is still much to do for broadening our comprehension of the cultural varieties present on the globe. It seems that there is sufficient knowledge on famous brands and designers but not enough information about people’s real necessities. As Dunne & Raby argues, when analyzing designed products themselves, it is possible to tell a lot about their production methods, but only a little about the context that those objects are going to be used or about the people that would buy them [25]. If the basic needs of customers vary from one city, from one culture to the other, the products they consume, physical or not, should be able to attend those distinct necessities.

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen experienced methods to guide professionals on how to get closer to the German and Brazilian cultures. On both cities, the documented material and the developed analysis show that, by getting closer to people’s reality, it is possible to refine the understanding

about their contexts and the relation they construct with the physical world around them. Through visual narratives, pictures and stories that were heard from locals in the field, this research shows the lifestyles present on the streets of both cities. The work is guided through the topics Food, Vending and Mobility, that together offer broad research material on two different contexts, making it possible for other designers to discover new cultural perspectives and identify possible opportunities for projects.

The topics chosen to guide the research on this study were selected because of their relevance on exposing socioeconomic and cultural aspects of global contexts. They are strongly present on the street life of cities in general and it would not be different in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro. In the Food section, the research shows the local preferences considering the eating habits of people. Brazilians with their exponential types of ‘salgadinhos’ and Germans with their different modalities of sandwiches. From this research one could quickly get some nice ideas for starting Brazilian or German bars in any place of the world and maybe start a new fashionable cooking trend, but this research explores other approach. On the experiment realized in section 2.1.3, the food prepared was done exactly the way that people from Rio de Janeiro are used to eat. This gave the participants the opportunity to empirically transport themselves to Rio and try to guess what the people across the Atlantic would do if they were in their place. The participants discussed about the rituals of eating, in which spots this food could be found in the Brazilian city, how it was sold, the prices and even which kind of people would eat it. The experiment brought a broader input to people, about Brazilian food in general. With the salgadinhos, people could understand more about the cultural context in which they are inserted. This experiment would also work for different contexts — the unfamiliarity experienced when in touch with a new type of food might become a rich understanding of other cultures.

On Vending, the research shows in a clear way how socioeconomic differences between contexts can determine diverse cultural aspects. In Rio de Janeiro there are illiterate people, people who never attended school, who did not learn any kind of professional skill, people with disabilities and people who are unemployed — and not all of them have necessarily economical help from the government. Those people have to earn money for surviving and many of them find on the streets

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a way for working on small jobs and taking some money home. That is the reason for the amount of people vending the most diverse products on all the corners of public spaces of the city. Even if they are caught by the police, they came back before long. People from Bremen don’t need to develop those kind of activities, since with the help of the government the unemployed people receive some money every month and are able to live their lives, without luxury, but with food. Besides that, there are rules that ban vending at the streets, what make the ones that want more money to develop activities like collecting empty bottles. It is possible to get some money from each empty unit, what can make them increase their income every month. People from Rio developed lots different techniques for selling their products on the streets, different methods for approaching clients, on exposing the products, dealing with dangerous situations and so on. Those are ways that the population found for escaping the crisis and also the criminality as a working option. Those strategies bring vendors and products closer to the customers. In Brazil, in lots of cases, the goods sold on the streets are from illegal sources and come from contraband, but it doesn’t have to be this way. If those goods would come from official resources that contract those people for putting their brand on the streets, or in public markets, it could be an economically interesting alternative. It would certainly be one new option of small job for different economies in the globe and could give interesting feedback from the market concerning the products that are sold.

People in Bremen and in Rio de Janeiro move around the city basically in the same way, using public transportation like buses and private cars and bikes. The differences between the issues exposed on the Mobility topic appear when the contexts are deeper analyzed. The urban planing and the infrastructure of the public ways in Rio are not efficient. While moving around the city, together with traffic jams and floods, people have to deal with insecurity and criminality. Those aspects usually determine what the ‘Cariocas’ take with them to the streets as well as how they dress themselves. Expensive electronic gadgets, fancy accessories and famous brands for shoes and bags are usually avoided and this is not enough: people must be aware of what is happening around them 100% of the time. In Bremen, people walk around relaxed on the streets, there is no criminality like in Rio, there is no risk of death or chance of going through violent situations. The only stress is when the trains or buses are late or when bicycles are stolen, but this never happens when the owner is on site. Considering

all those aspects, the main interest on this part of the research was finding a way to make people that live in a violent city like Rio feel less worried about criminality in general. Among other creative inventions, the ‘Cariocas’ already developed some ideas like dressing neutral, with ordinary clothes or carrying two wallets, one for the thieves and other one with the higher notes together with credit cards, but still, the tension does not disappear. The KIT D!SFARCE is an option developed for bringing some joy while dealing with the serious stress of cities with criminality problems. It would be interesting to test it in other cities with social and economic aspects similar to those of Rio de Janeiro.

This book can be used in diverse ways and for different purposes. Through its content it is possible to get to know two different contexts, from the cities of Bremen in Germany and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, both worked through single exploration as well as comparative research. People interested on the two contexts can follow through its sections and check the research material that instigates new insights and discussions for design projects. New project ideas can come from the material offered by the book or with the comparison with other global contexts. This research could be adapted for diverse social economic aspects that are present on the street life of any city of the world. Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Rio de Janeiro and Bremen gives the researcher examples on how to develop design projects that keep the respect for the particularities of the globe, showing that design can keep on being global, but for that it should follow methods to respect and maintain the different cultures existent.

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Outlook

The following scenarios are possible uses of the methodology developed in this work. The process of dealing with unfamiliar contexts — observing and analyzing problems and opportunities — can be applied in countless situations, such as these.

RollingwalkersinRio

A brand of rolling walkers is searching for new markets and discovers that the population of Rio de Janeiro is getting older every year. The brand starts to consider exporting their rollators to the Brazilian city. What are the important aspects they should know about Rio before investing in the city?

• Infrastructure on the sidewalks of Rio is bad. The paths of the pedestrians can be irregular and even destroyed sometimes. It is common to see tree roots and holes on the way. Rollators wouldn’t be helpful with the huge obstacles on the streets.

• Elderly people are usually seen as easy targets to thieves.

• Because of the reasons above, it turns out to be safer for the ones that have difficulties or fear of moving around alone to have a person that accompanies them in their walks on the streets.

Bikes’accessoriesforbicyclesinRio

On the last months, the people of Rio organized lots of public manifestations for enlightenment and awareness of the ‘Cariocas’ about the importance and benefits of bicycles for the city.

Designers that produce accessories for bike saw on the Brazilian city a new potential market for their products. What do they have to know about their new market?

• Rio has no bike ways along the pavement, so bikers have to move together with cars and buses.

• The bike ways of the city are usually located along the touristic spots of the city.

• There are thieves all around the city and bikes, along with what they carry, are targets.

PromotionalmarketingatthestreetsofBremen

A German company that organizes staff for promotional events see in the techniques adopted by the vendors at the beach of Rio de Janeiro interesting ways for approaching the clients and also for exposing products. For adopting the new methods, what should the company be aware of?

• The German laws are strict when considering commercial activities in the public spaces. The company should try its best to keep its activities within the limits of the law and successful at the same time.

• Maybe giving products away instead of selling them would be a good option for avoiding too many restrictions. Working with food or beverages could imply even more restrictions because of controlling issues, so working with gifts like clothes or objects could be better.

‘Sperrmüll’inRio

A residents organization of one neighborhood from Rio saw the system that the city of Bremen has for collecting old objects that they don’t

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want anymore. This was inspiration enough to start to research ways for organizing something similar in Rio. What information they have to be aware of?

• They have to remember that big furniture like, for example, sofas that are left on the sidewalks are usually seen as beggar’s ‘home’ or belongings. ‘Cariocas’ wouldn’t like to have those.

• The ‘Sperrmüll’ system in Bremen functions in a determined day and time of the week. Those interested in taking those objects usually have time during the night to go around the area looking for ‘Spermüll’ spots and choosing the objects they want to take.

Final considerations

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro is a reflexion of my daily life experiences as a foreigner in Germany. Being a ‘Carioca’ living in Bremen made it possible for me to identify cultural differences between both cities and complement them with information on social and economic aspects of each context. After years of living in the German city, my ‘Bremer’ comprehension of things also provided me with a different view of Rio de Janeiro when researching in Brazil, noticing and raising questions about things that were taken for granted before.

This research shows that even aspects that are ubiquitous in our daily lives can generate doubt and incomprehension to the ones that are foreigners to the same reality. The perception of this uncertainty of things is necessary and this book shows that there is no mystery in dealing with such cultural issues in design, especially when dealing with global contexts. I hope this book inspires all those interested in cross-cultural issues and works as a stepping-stone for future projects.

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End Notes

[1] Bonsiepe, 2009, p. 76.

[2] McDonough & Braungart, 2002, pp. 144-145.

[3] Borka, 2010, pp. 10-21.

[4] Rio, 2010, p. 55.

[5] Sagmeister Inc., (n.d.).

[6] Sagmaister, 2009.

[7] Borka, 2010, p. 7.

[8] Droog, 2011.

[9] Droog Lab, 2009. pp. 2-11.

[10] Annink & Schwartz, 2004, pp. 176-178.

[11] Makkink & Bey, 2011.

[12] Annink & Schwartz, 2004, pp. 101-106.

[13] Guixé, 2010.

[14] Annink & Schwartz, 2004, p. 105.

[15] Dunne & Raby, 2011, Critical Design FAQ.

[16] Guixé, 2010.

[17] Oroza, 2011.

[18] Dunne & Raby, 2011, Critical Design FAQ.

[19] Rosa & Gogliano, 1935.

[20] Penn & Zalesne, 2007, p. 88.

[21] Penn & Zalesne, 2007, p. 93.

[22] Velho, 2008, p. 200.

[23] Velho, 2008, p. 198.

[24] Rio, 2010, p. 51.

[25] Dunne & Raby, 2011, Interpretation, Collaboration, and Critique.

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List of Figures

[Fig. 1.] Talkative chair 01 [photograph]. Charlebois-Zariffa, K. (2009). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://www.sagmeister.com/taxonomy/term/124#/node/186

[Fig. 2.] Talkative chair 02 [photograph]. Charlebois-Zariffa, K. (2009). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://www.sagmeister.com/taxonomy/term/124#/node/186

[Fig. 3.] Spread 40-1 scanned from Borka, M., (2010). Snapshooter Anna Pannekoek (2010).




[Fig. 7.] Pool [photomontage] Retrieved November 3, 2011 from https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-062XEMwuRDs/TYtw0s-r3vI/AAAAAAAAATg/v89cvOJ4Yb4/pool.jpg

[Fig. 8.] Pool [photomontage] Retrieved November 3, 2011 from https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-062XEMwuRDs/TYtw0s-r3vI/AAAAAAAAATg/v89cvOJ4Yb4/pool.jpg

[Fig. 9.] Do Frame [photograph]. Knölke I. (2000). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://www.guixe.com/products/DROOG_do_frame/do_frame.html

[Fig. 10.] Pellizzon, G. (2010, December, 22). Plastic bucket [photograph]. O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, front page.

[Fig. 11.] Pellizzon, G. (2010, December, 23). [photograph], O Globo Magazine, Rio de Janeiro, p.12.

[Fig. 12.] Rikimbili. [photograph]. ernestooroza.com (2011). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://www.ernestooroza.com/index.php?view=article&catid=36%3Aobjectsofnecessityresearchcollection&id=179%3Arikimbili&format=pdf&option=com_content&Itemid=74, p. 1.



[Fig. 15.] Jalapeno Chile Poppers 1 [photograph]. Lemaitre, R. S. (2011). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://veganchronicle.blogspot.com/2011/04/jalapeno-chile-poppers.html

[Fig. 16.]Jalapeno Chile Poppers 4 [photograph]. Lemaitre, R. S. (2011). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://veganchronicle.blogspot.com/2011/04/jalapeno-chile-poppers.html

[Fig. 17.] Food [photograph]. thediningcar.wordpress.com (2010). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://thediningcar.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/food.jpg

[Fig. 18.] Sausagemeat Plait [photograph]. Meanderings through my Cookbook (2010). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://hopeeternalcookbook.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/sausagemeat-plait

[Fig. 19.] Samosa vendor [photograph]. Dangi R. (n. d.). Retrieved November 3, 2011 from http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/1538968929_43329a4417_b.jpg

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AdvisorsProf. Peter von Maydell (first advisor – HfK Bremen), Prof. Dr. Annette Geiger (second advisor – HfK Bremen)

BookconceptandlayoutThamya Rocha

FontThe Sans by Luc(as) de Groot (Lucas Fonts)

PrintingandBindingStürken | Albrecht (Bremen, Germany)

CopyrightFor reproduction or transmition of any part of this Book, by any means, please, ask for the permission of the author and the copyright holders. All the pictures were done by the author, the exceptions have their respective credits listed on the “List of Figures”. This is an academic work, with no intentions of profiting. People that have rights on any picture and would like it to be taken out of this project are requested to contact the author.

AcknowledgementI would like to thank all my friends that so kindly helped me during the period of completion of this work. Thanks for the help on cooking the experiments and also on eating them, on acting, on making my security while doing field work, on disguising yourselves, on feeding me and, among others, even dreaming with my own thesis!

Mauro Rocha, Vanira Moreira Rocha, Thalita Moreira Rocha, Thaysa Moreira Rocha, Victor Seabra, Joana Filizola, Luyza Pereira, Samara Tanaka, Thiago Lacaz, Luiz Henrique Sá, Josephine Mielke, Thibaud Bucquet, Peter Molko, Rodrigo Carballo, Licia Lameri, Sandra Abido, Maria Montalvão Emanuel, Bento Montalvão Emanuel, Mônica Weitzel, Marcel Dias da Silva, David Black, Ivana Ebel, Joatan Preis Dutra, Luiza Prado, Pedro Oliveira and Café Lu’s team.

A special thanks to Bárbara Emanuel, amazing designer and friend that has always the right words for cheering myself up and keeping my faith in design and humanity.

Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro

Design

Transcript of Global Design: an intercultural analysis of street life in Bremen and Rio de Janeiro