Design Thinking for Urban Studies – Reflection on Storytelling 

 Challenge     As a student who ’s studying Sociology and Urban Science , the objective of my thesis is to   investigate slums around the developed countries ( mainly East Asia ) , learn about their   similarities and differences , and build a model that could be applied to those struggling   communities . The time for the thesis is limited ( 3 months ) and there ’s not enough budget for   conducting field research in several countries . Therefore , I ’m looking for efficient strategies   that could successfully identify the common factors that those towns display under the time   and budget constraint . Interviewing experts ( working in the Urban Redevelopment Division   in European cities ) was one of the methods that I chose to gain insights . In order to deduct   meaningful conclusions from their opinions , I have to explain the situations of Japan and   South Korean slums to them succinctly and effectively .     Selection     I chose Storytelling as I thought it could be a very effective way to explain the situations ,   especially considering the fact that Urban Studies ( that deals with people ’s relationship with   their surroundings ) is the field that I ’m mainly dealing with . As the lecture said , “ Storytelling   says it ’s not about the lists of things we have to do , it ’s about the connection that we give to   people about a piece of information that we ’re trying to share . ” In that aspect , storytelling   could do a fantastic job not only explaining Asian slums but also making connections   between their surroundings and my research .     Application     I first noticed that Local Administrations there ( City Hall , Ward Office , etc . ) have published   several “ biographies ” of the slum inhabitants in order to preserve the towns ' history . By   reading through them , I was able to create two figures - A South Korean woman in her 80s   who settled down in the slum during the Korean War and a Japanese young man who ’s living   in a rapidly aging town - that effectively conveys the living conditions & historical   importance of those slums . During the interview , I introduced the interviewee to the two   figures , explained their stories , and detailed the problems that they faced in their daily lives   ( poor infrastructure , aging population , etc .. ) and asked for his insight . The expert , who was   working in Düsseldorf , then talked about his city ’s history and the redevelopment process in   the ‘ 80s , and explained how the transformation of his city could be applied specifically to the   slums that I ’m researching . He understood the circumstances very well and explained that   Germany and Japan / South Korea shared a lot of common characteristics that could be solved   by governmental policies .     Insight & Approach     So , I was surprised by how effective the strategy was ! Just as the lecture and several books   on storytelling said , I did realize that people , in fact , think everything in stories . I believe that   storytelling conveyed my point very well ; by making figures , the conditions of slums could   be vividly told . It changed my approach on Sociology / Urban Science , as it made me focus   more on people ’s stories and less on statistics . 

 Given the circumstances , I do believe that Storytelling is the most effective design thinking   activity that I could use at the moment . Other tools , such as Mind Mapping and Learning   Launch , could be used while summarizing the insights that I earned by doing interviews and   researches and trying to come up with a solid conclusion . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Design Thinking for Urban Studies – Reflection on Storytelling 

 Challenge     As a student who ’s studying Sociology and Urban Science , the objective of my thesis is to   investigate slums around the developed countries ( mainly East Asia ) , learn about their   similarities and differences , and build a model that could be applied to those struggling   communities . The time for the thesis is limited ( 3 months ) and there ’s not enough budget for   conducting field research in several countries . Therefore , I ’m looking for efficient strategies   that could successfully identify the common factors that those towns display under the time   and budget constraint . Interviewing experts ( working in the Urban Redevelopment Division   in European cities ) was one of the methods that I chose to gain insights . In order to deduct   meaningful conclusions from their opinions , I have to explain the situations of Japan and   South Korean slums to them succinctly and effectively .     Selection     I chose Storytelling as I thought it could be a very effective way to explain the situations ,   especially considering the fact that Urban Studies ( that deals with people ’s relationship with   their surroundings ) is the field that I ’m mainly dealing with . As the lecture said , “ Storytelling   says it ’s not about the lists of things we have to do , it ’s about the connection that we give to   people about a piece of information that we ’re trying to share . ” In that aspect , storytelling   could do a fantastic job not only explaining Asian slums but also making connections   between their surroundings and my research .     Application     I first noticed that Local Administrations there ( City Hall , Ward Office , etc . ) have published   several “ biographies ” of the slum inhabitants in order to preserve the towns ' history . By   reading through them , I was able to create two figures - A South Korean woman in her 80s   who settled down in the slum during the Korean War and a Japanese young man who ’s living   in a rapidly aging town - that effectively conveys the living conditions & historical   importance of those slums . During the interview , I introduced the interviewee to the two   figures , explained their stories , and detailed the problems that they faced in their daily lives   ( poor infrastructure , aging population , etc .. ) and asked for his insight . The expert , who was   working in Düsseldorf , then talked about his city ’s history and the redevelopment process in   the ‘ 80s , and explained how the transformation of his city could be applied specifically to the   slums that I ’m researching . He understood the circumstances very well and explained that   Germany and Japan / South Korea shared a lot of common characteristics that could be solved   by governmental policies .     Insight & Approach     So , I was surprised by how effective the strategy was ! Just as the lecture and several books   on storytelling said , I did realize that people , in fact , think everything in stories . I believe that   storytelling conveyed my point very well ; by making figures , the conditions of slums could   be vividly told . It changed my approach on Sociology / Urban Science , as it made me focus   more on people ’s stories and less on statistics . 

 Given the circumstances , I do believe that Storytelling is the most effective design thinking   activity that I could use at the moment . Other tools , such as Mind Mapping and Learning   Launch , could be used while summarizing the insights that I earned by doing interviews and   researches and trying to come up with a solid conclusion .
### Output: 