ASU Poly Parkitects
Ashlar Pratt (Undergraduate - Applied biological sciences) Luke McCrum - (Undergraduate - Criminology & Criminal Justice) Kenzie Gibson - (Organizational Leadership) Jaylen Morris - ( Art (Art Studies)) Daniela Silva - (History Poly and DPC) Luke Samuelson - (Appl Business & Tech Solutions)
What's the Problem?
Will I make it to class on time? That's the question many commuter students find themselves asking daily as they search for the ever elusive ideal parking spot. ASU's Polytechnic campus has a system in place to help address this problem, with designated parking lots for each type of parking pass, organized by colors and numbers. During peak hours, though, the system can be overwhelmed and students find themselves in a stressful search for parking. Some might even resort to alternative parking, resulting in citations and fines.
But First...
How did our team get here?
Our team decided to choose this idea because it was an issue we all could relate to. A number of us have gotten citations, and all of us have experienced the struggle of finding a good spot to park on campus. Even with our different grade levels and varying schedules, it struck us as a truly impactful problem.
When filling in our empathy map, we wanted to push the limits of our own experiences and explore the thinking of other students.
This was challenging for our group, but our mentor advised us to think of any other person, so we decided to think of our LEAD coach, as we took on this new perspective. Ultimately, we found that frustration and stress were the most prominent emotions for a student dealing with our chosen problem.
Defining a better solution to the problem
Our team looked at solutions from a number of different angles. In thinking about how we could help improve the existing system for our campus, we considered changes ranging from adding parking spaces to dividing lots by visitors versus students. We even thought about ways to better incorporate public transportation systems or rideshare services to help alleviate some of the pressure on parking.
The Prototype
Last but not least, the final step for our team was to create a prototype of our solution. For this, we decided to create a parking garage out of Legos and place it on a campus map drawing. For the location of the building, we decided it would be best to build it where the abandoned dormatories are. This would allow students to park close to the main facilities on campus, and would take advantage of a location that is no longer in use. Our team really enjoyed this process, and it was a great opportunity to learn more about problem-solving and critical thinking before entering the AAC LEAD Showcase for our semester.