Visualizing Climate Change With Virtual Reality at Climate Resilience Centers. by Team Climate-Smart
Please find below the
Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' comments
The judges appreciated the excellent improvement from the first round. There is a much clearer articulation of Virtual Reality technology at the ARC Centers.
They liked the development of the seed group in Boulder. Nicely done, including the Stakeholder section. The Time Line is well done and seems realistic. Excellent use of Pinterest! Suggestion: you might like to get super granular with your launch plan. Don't take on too much. Focus on early wins.
It's a good idea to use 3D visualization, and disseminate that widely. But does it need separate ARCS? There are already lots of museums and events where this could be welcome new content. To the judges, it's still unclear who will make the 3D materials - and their role in the 'ARCS.'
The ability to make climate change real, tangible and personal aligns with current key challenges. Virtual reality centers could attract individuals, but the images need to include solutions, not just impacts. How are visitors being encouraged to engage beyond the visualization?
The authors state this process 'will encourage the participation of ALL of the nations climate change stakeholders in the design process' but don't give details on how.
How will the actual ARCs be funded? How are college students, even advanced ones, going to be able to do the work to truly understand their audience's mental models, values, etc (necessary to actually get the public to go to an ARC if it was built and then to be receptive to the message). Have you / will you develop materials to train them on this? Who is building the virtual reality system? Again, great idea, but the judges felt the proposal needs to address these questions of feasibility.
Semi-Finalist Evaluation
Judges'' ratings
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Judges'' comments
This is a very thorough and exciting proposal! The use of VR has great potential in reaching a diverse group of people and engaging them in new and exciting ways. However, the VR concept gets a bit lost as we read through it: make it your unique talent throughout the proposal.
Partnerships will be critical to solve for your ambitious goal of "foster[ing] the creation of a new 'class' of civic facility (buildings) purposefully designed and dedicated to address climate change on a broad public scale." Buildings are costly and take time to develop. Immediate possibilities include the new Climate Museum in NYC and the Andlinger Center at Princeton University. Perhaps the ClimateARCs can be domiciled and supported in alignment with regional networks such as the Resilient Cities initiative; or a university system. (Later on, you identify the University of Colorado Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, which sounds like a marvelous idea. Are they your number one sponsor? Do you know them yet? If so, we suggest you say so; if not, then work on them to make this happen.)
The key selling point here is the use of VR. We’d focus on your expertise here. Document it. Then sell your services to a partner institution that doesn’t have this capability.
We like the idea of a design competition and think that will be popular. If you are successful at getting architectural students to develop climate friendly buildings for AR, who is the audience? How do they go from a small group of students to a general population? Do you have any solid connections at the entities and institutions you mention? (E.g. universities, ULI, Google, NOAA.) Identifying interested partners is a critical next step and one that will be an excellent, edifying market test for you. The Examples of Architectural Design Competitions is great. Again, we’d be interested to know whether you have approached any of these organizers, and with any luck?
This is a great statement. It’s a bit buried! You might consider refining it and using it as a tagline, and/or further ahead in the proposal: “Imagine cities without hospitals, fire stations, or schools. Unthinkable. Years from now, it will be just as unimaginable that we would function without Resilience Centers.”
You note that "as the ARC leadership group evolves, it is anticipated that it will form an Advisory Committee, Board Of Directors, and a Mentorship Committee that includes a broad nation-wide representation.” We would go right ahead and begin assembling these groups. They’ll be interested and can begin to advise you right away.
Is Pinterest your primary (and only) social channel? You might want to consider this carefully. Does Pinterest showcase your VR prowess? If not, what will?
In general, this proposal could benefit from greater clarity, focus, and articulation of expected impacts. Measuring expected impacts is key to any form of successful climate change communication innovation.
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