The Fontana identity & design agency's research

OUR RESEARCH PROJECTS / SPIN-UP

No spin with SPIN-UP.

This engrossing, far-reaching project resulted due to our research efforts with YellowDesign. Early 2004 we began to define the research project that would try to set the boundaries linking perceived security and design in transit zones of intermodal stations of urban public transport. That's quite a mouthful, but it is quite a job. Ultimately, this resulted in the creation of SPIN-UP methodology, which stands for Security Perception in INtermodal stations for Urban Public transport.

A major concern straight away was that traditionally only engineers and security experts were invited to define the quality of a public space in terms of perceived security. This without consulting design or planning experts, leaving architects to design the environment and structures solely on the client's brief and on their own authority.
This tended to leave out several vital elements. People. The local community. The emotional content citizens live with every day in their environment. Prior research had revealed that in neighbourhoods that can be termed possessing ‘good' social cohesion and diversity levels, the perceived level of security was often quite positive. Yet perceived security did not always match the pre-defined objective of security.

We concluded that since perceived security resides in the heads of people, it needs to be examined at from a social and scientific angle. This idea was backed by UITP and a whole range of operators and authorities in urban public transport in Europe. These included:

- STIB, Brussels
- RATP, Paris
- StorstockholmLokal Trafik, Stockholm
- Sporveier, Oslo
- Jonköping Lanstrafiken
- VVM De Lijn Flanders
- Metro do Porto, Porto
- Istanbul Ulaçim

And also partnering:

- The Flemish Government
- The Cabinet for Equal Opportunities of the Brussels Capital region
- IBM
- Schréder
- and Clear Channel.

With an international team composed of hand-picked experts in anthropology, sociology, psychology, as well as designers, video and photographic artists, architects, urban planners and engineers, Fontana developed a research program that would change the perception of public space, moving beyond the CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), a theory coined in the early 70's.

We introduced the concept of design and human engineering of public space, which was named SPIN-UP Research and results For the 21st century.

And as with everything we do, we always aim for intelligent solutions for sustainable results.

PICTURES

Some of Fontana identity & design's photo D-base is avaible on

If you register as a Fontana contact on Flickr, you can have access to our pictures.

Our albums on Flickr are composed of pictures of public transport environments in different cities.

DOWNLOADS

SPIN-UP / English Version (PDF Size: 1,3 MB)

SPIN-UP / French Version (PDF Size: 1 MB)