Observing Carbon
Over a week ago I went on a late afternoon visual survey of our very own Carbon market. It was part of my masteral study on designing co-working spaces. My professor in the subject Application of Cultural Elements in Research suggested that I observe Carbon market first as a starting point in my study.
I am currently pursuing a degree in Master of Arts in Applied Art and Design being offered by Shu-Te University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Cebu as host campus. Considering my background in law, I could cite a number of design principles that cross various disciplines including law, but that would be another story.
We know that culture has an influence on design. This is especially true if you design for local users. Thus, my visual survey of Carbon market was part of my attempt to anchor my current study to the cultural elements of Cebu's indigenous "co-working space": the public market.
Co-working is defined as "the use of an office or other working environment by people who are self-employed or working for different employers, typically so as to share equipment, ideas, and knowledge." Because of the advances in the internet age, the idea of co-working has grown in acceptance in recent years, even among lawyers pursuing solo practice. In Cebu, a cursory search at Google Maps shows around 14 co-working spaces.
My study proceeds on the premise that culture and social demographics both play a critical role in exploring the design of a co-working space, or any work environment for that matter, beyond just the standard form and function. Designers can draw some insights into the kind of user interaction that can take place in such a given space and moment.
So one afternoon, I tried to capture facets of life in Carbon market using my DSLR camera, hoping to draw cultural elements from scenes of local people and their activities. Still vibrant to this day, Carbon market is a showcase of local identity and should be the first stop of any observer wanting to have an inclusive glimpse into local urban life.
A public market can be anything, depending on the culture and economic situation of the community. It can be a place where families live to survive at the sidelines of the economic activity. As a fish vendor counts her earnings, one can feel the pulse of the public market as a hub from which money circulating in the urban economy is being trickled down to marginalized sectors of the economy. Processed goods and food items in sachet packages are displayed in stores, showing the "tingi-tingi" or "menudo" culture.
A stall selling American-style donuts seems out of place in a market filled with local products. But it also shows a cultural preference for imitation brands or cheaper equivalents of famous foreign food brands among the locals. At some corner, men converge over garapons of tuba, one's reward for a hard day's work.
Workers passing by the market noticeably strap their backpacks in front of their body, aware of petty thieves lurking just around the corner. Traffic flow, meanwhile, is dictated neither by any sense of urgency nor by standard rules. In Carbon, vehicles go with the flow in an unplanned road-sharing scheme with vendors, consumers, kargadors, and trisikad drivers.
Amid the seeming chaos of Carbon market is a certain kind of charm -people from all parts congregating in a busy hub of trade for livestock, produce, and other best buys. The organization or "disorganization" of a space like Carbon portrays a sensory character of the cultural elements working in there. That is something that we should study from time to time. Mind you, the problems in our country can be traced in part by our obstinate disregard of the culture we find in places like Carbon in favor of seemingly better foreign ideas and models. As result, we come up with solutions or designs that do not work or leave other sectors behind.
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