Oct 21, 2024
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10
MINUTE READ
A refreshed Field Kit, open to the public
Three years ago, a seed was planted: what kind of tool might help bring L.A. County’s infrastructure to life?
Nurturing this idea required collaborating deeply with community-based organizations, government agencies, and engineering firms to understand how they plan infrastructure today — and dream into new possibilities. Together, a new kind of infrastructure was envisioned — one that honors place, grows participation, embodies justice, fosters resilience, and regenerates life. This is living infrastructure.
Close collaborations with over 50 organizations across L.A. County resulted in the newly refreshed Living Infrastructure Field Kit—a co-design tool and accompanying learning resources that help communities plan and fund multi-benefit projects.
With deep gratitude to our beta partners, and their time, expertise, and input, the Field Kit has come to life. These organizations and communities have used the Field Kit to evolve their ideas into high-quality funding proposals for much-needed projects in L.A.
Today, the Field Kit is freely available to anyone in L.A. County
Over the past six months, the Field Kit has been refined across four primary areas:
Making data actionable
Combining data layers with lived experience
Supporting thoughtful design choices
Promoting continuous collaboration
Making data actionable
The most detailed data layers available for L.A. County now live within the Field Kit. They are presented with context, methodology, and beauty, making it easier to understand what that data means for your project.
Previously, beta partners used the Field Kit to access a curated set of data layers for site selection, project design, and grant writing, but the data was hard to interpret or too abstract to inform design on a project site.
Now, when you create a site, you’ll see a new site profile on the righthand side of your screen. This profile reveals a trove of insights to guide site selection and design, including a ranked list of opportunities.
The site profile on the right ranks opportunities to improve your site based on highly detailed data sets.
Clicking on each of these data points brings up an immersive view of the site. The Field Kit’s data science team worked with leading universities and engineering firms to develop and curate the most detailed data layers available for cooling, water supply, and over a dozen other areas. The new layers reveal the heat impacts of a single tree, trace the flows of upstream runoff to your site, and go back in time to see what historical habitats once existed.
A layer showing a highly detailed representation of the average temperature during a heatwave.
A layer showing the volume of stormwater runoff flowing to each location above and below ground.
A layer showing the estimated distribution of historical habitats.
Combining data layers with lived experience
The Field Kit’s data only tells part of the story. To fully assess the needs of a community, you need to integrate your data, too. The beta Field Kit included a feature called stories, which allowed community members to submit project input during workshops. Field Kit users loved the ability to gather data about community needs but found stories cumbersome and limiting in terms of the breadth of information they wanted to document.
The new observations feature lets you easily annotate the map with community insights and field notes. The result is a simpler view of the needs and opportunities for your site.
Of course, you can export your findings as needs assessment reports or raw data for further analysis. And you can keep them around for reference while you’re designing.
The site profile on the right ranks opportunities to improve your site based on highly detailed data sets.
Supporting thoughtful design choices
The Field Kit strives to make infrastructure design accessible to everyone while also evolving how people think about infrastructure. Along with simple tools for designing project sketches, the Field Kit also includes educational resources. In beta, testing revealed that partners wanted access to learning materials at their fingertips while they sketched. And they wanted to know how they could best address their communities’ particular needs.
Once you create a site and review your list of site opportunities, you can pin the ones you want to keep track of while designing your project. You’ll also see a new guidebook button scattered throughout the tool, allowing you to access remedy recommendations, design tips, video case studies, and other resources.
You can pin each benefit and access guidance for how to improve it in your project.
The redesigned library of remedies allows you to easily browse, search, and filter design components. When you click on a benefit in the site profile, you’ll also see a list of recommended remedies for improving that benefit.
The remedy library allows you to find and add design components to your site, exploring benefits and costs.
While designing, your project’s estimated benefits and costs will update in real-time. It’s now simpler to understand these numbers and compare them across different design scenarios.
Creating multiple design scenarios allows you to compare the costs and benefits in the site profile.
Promoting continuous collaboration
The Field Kit facilitates ongoing and real time collaboration, virtually and in person.
Sketches are designed to support this continuous co-design. You can now invite collaborators to view and edit sketches, and any changes they make will update in real-time. Collaborators can also leave and respond to comments, allowing for a more seamless feedback exchange.
Inviting collaborators allows you to sketch alongside your team and stakeholders.
Exchanging comments allows you to iterate on your designs with stakeholder feedback.
The Field Kit boosts grant applications by enabling you to download and share your project design through sketch exports, now enhanced with new data to make your proposals more compelling and impactful.
The project proposal export includes a site map and overview of remedies.
The project proposal export includes an overview of estimated benefits and costs.
What’s next?
Please enjoy the refreshed Field Kit, and use it to bring L.A.’s infrastructure to life. As you design, know that feedback is always welcome. Click the “?” icon in the tool anytime to connect or ask for help.
More updates are on the way, with the intention of deepening understanding of place, community, and possibility. Sign up for the Field Kit newsletter to stay up to date on new features and learning opportunities.
Note: The screenshots in this article represent a fictional project.
Ready to start co-designing?
The Living Infrastructure Field Kit fosters a collaborative approach to project design.
It is freely available in L.A. County.
