Nishan ZHONG

Translatability and untranslatability between different languages, the common and shared minor feelings among people, the relationship between different entities. I am looking for a way to convey these in both poetics and science. I am approaching this with skills of data analysis, infographics and 3D modelling.

I am currently on this journey in MA Environmental Architecture at RCA, exploring the relationship between nature, people, and society in a systematic way of thinking with field investigation and collaboration with academic and non-academic participants.

Since the August 2021 wildfire, DIAZOMA, a government-backed planning commission, has been planning to regenerate northern Euboea’s burnt and remaining forests. However, there is concern that these plans prioritise commercial interests over the well-being of existing residents, ecologies, and economies.

The 2021 DIAZOMA reconstruction plans did not take into account local perspectives. To address this issue, we are unpacking the dense text of DIAZOMA’s planning document into spatial plans and graphics to allow the public to grow their awareness of the plans and form their own opinions about the potential. We hope to provide a collective platform for different perspectives to come together and discuss future scenarios and potential actions in Euboea.

Our design intervention involves creating an online website to facilitate dialogue by incorporating various perspectives through different means—spatial plans, images, video, and text. The website will feature geospatial tools and other forms of media to help people share and reveal information; allowing locals to share their views publicly and make informed decisions about their future.

To allow locals who do not have easy access to the online platform to understand where they are in the Diazoma Plan and engage in dialogue, we have created easy-to-mail booklets that include the glossary of the plan. Residents are also able to download and print documents of specific villages and draw on them by hand. This information is then collected and uploaded onto the online platform. Our collection platform will carry the views of North Euboea residents and together we will design the future.