Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic spaces has led to a spatial collapse. It may feel like all is lost, but Tricia argues that if we look back to previous moments in history of spatial collapses, we learn that they always produce new ways of thinking that would’ve never been possible before. In each moment, entirely new culture is created. New systems, economies, and tools are born out of the disruption caused by spatial collapse. Pain and creativity are well known bedfellows. Tricia argues that if we want to design services, products, and policies that truly respond to people’s needs, we need to learn how to identify emergent culture. We need to learn how to not rely on outdated data sets. We need to abandon business as usual to thrive in this rapid time of change.
Key Insights
-
•
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a total collapse of spatial boundaries between home, work, and community.
-
•
Historical spatial collapses, like the Renaissance's linear perspective, enclosed lands in England, and 20th century urban blight, all produced emergent cultures and new social norms.
-
•
Linear perspective promoted a singular, colonizing worldview that privileged one point of view as objective truth, leading to misunderstandings.
-
•
The Enclosure Movement forcibly removed millions from common lands, creating urbanization and inventing the modern concept of personal time.
-
•
Labor unions formed to reclaim personal time, establishing the norm of eight hours of work, leisure, and rest—dividing spaces into home, work, and community.
-
•
Urban blight and forced displacement in US cities disrupted communities but also led to the emergence of hip-hop culture through reimagined use of public spaces.
-
•
Perspective collisions happen when designed systems fail to recognize the lived realities of their users, revealing designers' blind spots.
-
•
Relying solely on quantitative data risks missing rapid cultural shifts; thick qualitative data (stories, context) is critical to understanding emergent culture.
-
•
People’s identities are elastic and changing; designers should avoid fixed personas that oversimplify or exclude nuanced realities.
-
•
Post-pandemic work may decentralize from major cities, but risks of digital and geographic exclusion persist, requiring careful inclusive design.
Notable Quotes
"We are all experiencing a spatial collapse, a disruption of our mental models of how we navigate physical and virtual spaces."
"Linear perspective created this myth that we can see reality from a single perspective, which is the source of all misunderstanding."
"Working from home during the pandemic is hard because it’s fun only when you can actually leave your home."
"Factory owners manipulated people’s time so much that workers were afraid to carry a watch."
"Hip hop proves that we can re-animate spaces with highly generative communities that weren't built for us."
"Thick data is the opposite of big data; it’s stories, qualitative, and crucial during moments of rapid change."
"Treat identities as elastic, not as fixed personas, because people’s needs and roles are complex and changing."
"Most organizations are still asking design questions at a global level; we need to be hyper-local now."
"Never be afraid to get into good trouble; start by asking why."
"It’s human infrastructure—community organizing, unions, activists—that saves the day when other infrastructures break down."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Stop saying rest is a luxury or a privilege. It is not. It is a human right."
Zariah CameronReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace
September 23, 2024
"Prioritization is not just for your own work, it’s for teams and whole organizations."
John Cutler Harry MaxPrioritization for designers and product managers (1st of 3 seminars) (Videoconference)
June 13, 2024
"We created our design system called Unity to help scale great app experiences and connect developers and designers."
Nick CochranGrowing in Enterprise Design through Making Connections
June 3, 2019
"Sometimes it’s easier to pitch a change with a smaller group rather than rolling it out to everyone at once."
Deanna SmithLeading Change with Confidence: Strategies for Optimizing Your Process
September 23, 2024
"Germany is at the confluence of several factors that constrain digital services: large population, federal government layers, and strong data privacy concerns."
Magdalena ZadaraZero Hour: How to Get Far Quickly When Starting Your Digital Service Unit Late
November 16, 2022
"Thousands of users were clicking on a text that wasn’t even a link—it looked like one, but wasn’t."
Nova Wehman-BrownWe've Never Done This Before
June 4, 2019
"Machines may identify that higher ice cream sales is associated with higher band ice, but the former is not causing the latter."
Liwei DaiThe Heart and Brain of the AI Research
March 31, 2020
"How are you managing connections across and between projects and communities inside your government during non-emergency times?"
Gordon Ross12 Months of COVID-19 Design and Digital Response with the British Columbia Government
December 8, 2021
"Listening to the 10% truth means acknowledging a bit of what they say even if you’re irritated."
Tutti TaygerlyMake Space to Lead
June 12, 2021
