2022 ASLA COMMUNICATIONS AWARD OF HONOR: Talk Tree to Me: Facilitating a Complex Conversation Around Trees in Detroit / Spackman Mossop Michaels

评审团评价该项目是“吸引公众参与的创新方式……尤其是在一项计划还处于不为人所知且充满不确定性的初期阶段”。项目旨在呼吁人们关注树木在城市地区所发挥的作用，并促进与环境有关的复杂而微妙的对话。
– 2022年评审委员会

The jury declared it an “innovative way to engage the public…especially during those early days of isolation and uncertainty.” The project sought to call attention to the role trees play in urban area and to facilitate a complex and nuanced conversation about the environment.
– 2022 Awards Jury

来自 ASLA 对gooood的分享。
Talk Tree to Me: Facilitating a Complex Conversation Around Trees in Detroit | Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

项目陈述
PROJECT STATEMENT

“与我谈树”（Talk Tree to Me）项目探索了互动聊天机器人技术的使用，以独特的方式吸引了底特律市民的参与，使树木成为对话和参与的渠道。作为“底特律设计月”（当时正值疫情封锁期）的户外展览，来自12位底特律市民的话语和想法与河滨沿线的12棵树相互配对，人们可以通过手机上的自动聊天机器人与树木进行互动。

之所以将树木作为该项目的概念框架，主要是为了呼吁人们关注树木在城市中所扮演的角色；为公众提供一种参与户外活动的新方式；以及探索该项目是否有潜力去促进与环境有关的复杂且微妙的对话。

“与我谈树”是一次对公众参与技术的探索，这种技术既满足了社交距离的要求，又具有亲密无间的感觉——公众可以像平时与亲朋好友交流的方式一样，通过文字对话来表达他们对于社区的想法，从而提供一种与公众情绪更加贴近的即时记录。

Talk Tree to Me explores the use of interactive chatbot technology to engage Detroiters in a unique way, with trees being the conduit for conversation and engagement. As an outdoor exhibit for the Detroit Month of Design—during the height of the pandemic lockdown—the words and thoughts of 12 Detroiters were paired with a collection of 12 trees along the riverfront. People interacted with the trees via an automated chatbot on their cellphone.

Trees became the conceptual framework for the project for a number of reasons: to call attention to the role trees play in a city, as a way to engage the public while outdoors, as well as to explore the potential of the project to facilitate a complex and nuanced conversation about the environment.

Talk Tree to Me is an exploration of public engagement technology that is both socially-distanced and intimate—where the public can express thoughts about their community in the same way they communicate with friends and family, via text conversation: ultimately providing a more intimate snapshot of public sentiment.

▲“与我谈树”：在底特律展开关于树木的复杂对话。该项目是为底特律设计月而进行的互动设计，旨在探索社区与树木之间的复杂关系。Talk Tree to Me—Facilitating a Complex Conversation Around Trees in Detroit. Talk Tree to Me is an interactive design project that was installed for the Month of Design—a month-long design festival in Detroit – that explores the complex relationship between communities and trees. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

项目说明
PROJECT NARRATIVE

项目概述

“与我谈树”（Talk Tree to Me）是为“底特律设计月”而开展的互动设计项目，为期一个月的活动在2020年9月疫情期间举办。该项目由景观和规划公司Spackman Mossop Michaels (SMM) 及其合作伙伴“底特律河滨保护协会”以及“塞拉俱乐部密歇根分会”合作完成。该项目可以被看做是一场城市生态寻宝游戏，同时也是一场互动性的展览。底特律的居民在这一整个月中游览了河滨各处，通过短信与12棵树木进行了互动。这些树木均是底特律常见的树种，它们被编写进自动聊天机器人技术，能够与当地居民的现实想法和问题进行互动。

理念

树木让城市变得更加宜居。它们制造荫凉，捕捉碳元素以缓解气候变化，同时还能净化水质。树木可以防止洪水泛滥，为鸟类和野生动物提供栖息地，也为我们制造可以呼吸的氧气。它们能够缓解人的压力、改善健康状况并创造经济增长。它们是存储记忆的场所，是社区聚会的空间，也是富有凝聚力的社会生活的象征。

城市的树木也令人感到麻烦。它们令车道和人行道产生裂缝，使树叶和树枝掉落到屋顶和排水沟里，有时还会倒下并毁坏房屋。它们会堵塞城市的基础设施和街道，破坏电线，因维护问题而导致居民与城市间的矛盾，或因财产损失引发邻居之间的争吵。当树木枯萎，又会给人带来无望和失落的感受。

社区与树木之间的关系是复杂的。除了价值和成本这些“有形”的问题，树木还与身份特性、种族、财富和正义等更广泛的文化叙事产生联系。在城市层面，树木与政治自治、权力、控制和关爱等观念错综复杂地交织在一起。甚至在同一个邻里中，树木也常常被视为阶级、人格与政治的象征。“与我谈树”的目的是将树木本身作为载体，促进与底特律的树木有关的对话。它并非是要以一种确定的方式回答这些广泛的问题；相反，它的目标是开辟一个对话空间，鼓励人们停下脚步去关注城市中的树木。在2020年全球疫情爆发初期，“与我谈树”作为一个完全基于户外空间和技术的项目，为底特律居民提供了相互交流的机会，并以一种安全健康的方式创造了一系列有意义的对话。

互动

SMM邀请了12位来自不同背景的底特律居民（年龄从10岁至60岁不等）成为底特律河滨的12棵不同树种的“代言人”。通过一系列长达30分钟的访谈，参与者们提出了各种问题，并为他们所代表的树木设定了可以通过短信与公众进行讨论的话题。

在树木和受访者配对完成后，将会根据访谈记录的内容来设计交谈的语句，使每棵树都拥有自己的动态对话内容。这些树木发出的提示和问题都直接从访谈中取材，例如，一棵黎明水杉的念白来自一名叫Rayshaun Landrum的底特律居民：

黎明水杉：很奇怪，有时候旅行的时候我会想到，在一天开始和结束的时候，我怎么会处于两个完全不同的地方？这会让我觉得一切都不真实。我们又如何知道每天经历的一切是否真实？
发信人23：是个好问题。感觉就像黑客帝国！
黎明水杉：噢，我欣赏你的角度。我想只有看得见、摸得着的东西才会让人感觉真实。

虽然对话通常都围绕着树的主题展开，但有时也会引发更加广泛的讨论。并不是每一个来自树的问题或回答都与树有关。有时候对话会关注生活在底特律的意义，或者只是谈谈喜欢做的事情。这些树木成为了底特律居民之间的对话渠道，同时也促使着人们去思考他们在底特律的生活。

河滨桦：做做头脑风暴……底特律能用这些闲置的空地做些什么？
发信人24：拆掉混凝土，把它变成城市里的森林。
河滨桦：我们不能在所有的空地上都建房子，必须保留下来一部分。我们必须为野生动物圈定保护区域或者安全港。
河滨桦：你会为保护环境做哪些事？
Texter24：没做过什么。我甚至从来不会循环利用，感觉挺糟的。

这些对话还会包括与特定树种相关的有趣事实。这些“树木知识”揭示了它们的积极和消极属性以及对周围社区的影响，从而引发出一场更活跃、更直白的对话。

银杏：树木知识：银杏树是落叶植物，秋天时树叶会变成美丽的亮黄色。银杏树有雌雄之分。还有，雌树的果实闻起来很臭！
银杏：你会想去爬树吗？
发信人18：我小时候最爱爬树了。

过程

SMM通过TextIt聊天机器人程序编写了每一棵树的对话。在这些对话中，树会根据用户的反馈自动做出回应，并根据发信人选择的回答方式将对话引向不同的路径。这种可变性让发信人可以与特定的树木进行多次不一样的对话。

为了让底特律社区更好地参与进来，SMM还创建了网站（www.talktreetome.com）来传播项目的目标、地点、参与者简洁以及关于如何与树木进行互动的说明。在为期一个月的互动过程结束后，活动成果将被分享在网站上，广大受众可以随时看到底特律市民的想法和见解。

“与我谈树”项目于2020年9月1日启动，和底特律设计月同期进行。每棵树上都放置了标牌，介绍了树种名称、专属的短信发送号码以邀请路人参与对话。人们还可以在网站上查看地图，获取每一棵树的位置，了解其“代言人”的相关信息，以及查阅短信发送号码。这些传播工具能够让社区从多种渠道了解“与我谈树”的对话。

衡量标准

2020年9月，共计有210人与河滨的12棵树进行了交谈，捕捉到的对话包含3960条短信。参与者在这些对话中分享的观点、想法和见解能够让我们更深入地了解底特律人对其社区内的树木所产生的感受，而不是从景观设计师的角度来输出具有倾向性的观点。“与我谈树”活动发生在特殊的时间段，这也让人们能够将其最贴近生活的想法和感受表达出来。

在阅读了从短信对话中获得的素材之后，SMM挑选并展示了一些非常有意思的互动——有的发人深省，有的则充满幽默感。这些内容被呈现在www.talktreetome.com网站上，社区成员可以在互动活动中继续与SMM的员工保持对话，还可以把自己的树苗带回家。

成果和影响

SMM认为“与我谈树”可以成为吸引社区参与的工具，并为底特律及其他地区的新颖对话创造机会。该项目可以根据特定的城市环境对访谈、对话和主题进行灵活调整。此外，它还利用了目前可以通过手机普遍被使用的技术，因而具有广泛传播的潜力。该项目的定位是提供宝贵的研究成果和界面工具，帮助生成并传播以城市增长、设计和包容性为主题的社区声音。

 

▲来自底特律社区的意见：项目团队联系了12位来自不同背景和年龄段的底特律居民。每个人都接受了采访，并由此收集到了他们对树木和城市的想法和观点。在这一过程中，项目团队为每棵树塑造了自己的个性。Input from the Detroit Community. Our team connected with 12 Detroiters from different backgrounds and age groups. We interviewed each person to gather their thoughts and ideas about trees and their city. This process guided the creation of a personality for each tree. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲底特律居民与树的配对：SMM景观公司与“塞拉俱乐部密歇根分会”共同确定了底特律河滨的12个树种，并将其与12位底特律居民配对，后者会接受一次采访，根据其自身与树木相关的有趣特征展开对话。Pairing a Detroiter with a Tree Species. SMM along with the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter identified 12 different tree species along the Detroit Riverfront. Each tree species was paired with one of the Detroiters who was interviewed based on interesting characteristics that linked them together. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲创造多样的对话：采访成为了对话内容策划的基础。每位底特律居民的独特视角都将为对话提供素材。这些内容突出了他们的个人特质以及和树木有关的趣事，鼓励人们围绕树和城市等话题展开更深入的对话。Crafting Diverse Conversations. The interviews became the basis for a dialogue curated by our team. Each Detroiter’s unique perspective informed a dialogue that highlighted their individual personality, interesting facts about the tree species, and encouraged deeper conversation around trees, Detroit, and more. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲在底特律河滨超过1英里长的河段上，“与我谈树”项目所展示的每棵树上都放置了标牌，邀请居民一边漫步一边探索身边的环境。树木的位置也可以在网站（talktreetome.com）上查到。Talk Tree to Me Along the Detroit Riverfront. Trees included in the Talk Tree to Me exhibit were marked along over a mile long stretch of the Detroit Riverfront, inviting residents to simultaneously stroll and explore the area. Tree locations were also displayed on talktreetome.com. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲触觉上的互动：对于居民而言，树木标牌是一个醒目且有效的行动号召。它们在阳光下闪闪发光，并随着微风摇曳旋转，展现出设计与自然之间的迷人互动。A Tactile Interaction. The Tree Markers were a striking and effective call to action for residents. The markers glittered in the sunlight and swayed and twirled in the breeze – all creating a captivating symbol of the interaction between design and nature. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲吸引公众的视觉标牌：树标的设计包含了树种名称（包括常用名和学名）、专属的短信发送号码以及向路人发出的邀请话语。Visual Markers to Engage the Public. Our team designed Tree Markers containing the name of the tree species, both common and scientific, the designated phone number to text, and an invitation to engage in conversation for passersby. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲找一棵树聊天：从2020年9月1日底特律设计月启动时开始，这些标牌被挂在12棵“可以聊天”的树身上，并持续了一个月的时间。Find a Tree to Chat With. Tree Markers were displayed on each of the 12 text-enabled trees for the launch of Detroit Month of Design on September 1, 2020 through the end of the month. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲准备好，与我谈树：整个9月共有200多人与河滨的12棵树进行了交谈。这些对话囊括了近4000条短信，展现了底特律居民在变化时期的感受和见解。Ready, Set, Talk Tree to Me. Throughout the month of September, over 200 individuals talked to the 12 trees along the riverfront. The conversations captured nearly 4,000 text message exchanges that opened a window into the insights and feelings of Detroiters during a transformational time. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲直白的对话：“与我谈树”平台所产生的对话揭示了居民对树木、生活在底特律的意义以及对当下社会和未来的各种坦率且直白的看法。Candid Conversations. The conversations produced by the Talk Tree to Me platform revealed residents’ thoughts unfiltered thoughts about trees, what it means to live in Detroit and many ideas about our current society and the future. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲背后的故事：项目团队使用聊天机器人平台TextIt为每棵树编写了动态的对话。该程序允许树木自动回复发信人，并根据它们的输入内容将对话引向不同的路径。Behind the Scenes of Talking to a Tree. Our team used the chatbot platform, TextIt, to program each tree’s dynamic conversation. The program allowed the tree to provide automatic responses to the texter and take the conversation down different dialogue paths based on the texter’s input. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

▲将“与我谈树”用作虚拟资源：网站（talktreetome.com）为社区提供了一个可以在2020年9月之后继续与项目产生互动的平台。它会展示当月捕捉到的对话摘录内容，以及每位参与者的基本信息。Talk Tree to Me As A Virtual Resource. The website, talktreetome.com, provides for a home for the community to interact with the project beyond the month of September 2020. The platform displays excerpts from conversations captured during the month and an overview of each Detroiter who participated. © Spackman Mossop Michaels

 

PROJECT NARRATIVE

Project Brief

Talk Tree to Me is an interactive design project that was installed for the Detroit Month of Design—a month-long design festival taking place during the height of the pandemic in September of 2020. The project is a collaboration by Spackman Mossop Michaels (SMM)—a landscape architecture and urban design firm in Detroit and New Orleans—and its partners Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. The project is part urban eco-scavenger hunt and part interactive exhibit. Detroit residents explored the Detroit Riverfront throughout the month and interacted via text message with a collection of 12 trees, each a different species common to Detroit, that had been programmed via an automated chatbot technology with the real-life thoughts and questions of local Detroiters.

Concept

Urban trees make a city livable. They create shade, capture carbon to combat climate change, and clean the water. They prevent flooding, provide bird and wildlife habitat, and produce oxygen for us to breathe. They alleviate stress, improve health outcomes, and create economic growth. They are places of memory, community gathering spaces, and symbols of cohesive social life.

Urban trees are a nuisance. They grow and crack driveways and sidewalks, drop leaves and limbs onto roofs and into gutters, fall and destroy houses. They clog city infrastructure, block city streets, and break electrical power lines. They cause friction between residents and the city over maintenance, arguments between neighbors over property damage, and are symbols of hopelessness and loss when left standing dead for decades.

The relationship between communities and trees is complex. Beyond these “tangible” issues of value and cost, trees are tied to larger cultural narratives about identity, race, wealth, and justice. At the city level, trees are intricately woven into ideas of political autonomy, power, control, and care. Even neighbor to neighbor, trees are often seen as symbols of class, character, and politics. Talk Tree to Me was created to facilitate a conversation about trees in Detroit, using trees themselves as the vehicle of conversation. It does not hope to answer these far-ranging questions in a definitive way. Rather, the goal is to open a space for conversation and simultaneously encourage people to stop and pay attention to the trees in their city. While experiencing the early stages of a global pandemic in 2020, Talk Tree to Me—as an entirely outdoor and technology-based project—facilitated an opportunity for Detroiters to interact with one another and create meaningful conversations in a safe way.

Interaction

Spackman Mossop Michaels (SMM) invited 12 Detroiters from diverse backgrounds, ranging from age 10 to over 60, to become the voices and personalities for 12 trees of different species found along the Detroit Riverfront. Through a series of 30-minute interviews, participants formulated the questions and set the topics their respective tree would discuss with the public via text message.

Once the trees and interviewees were paired, a conversation dialogue was designed from the interview transcripts to create a dynamic conversation for each tree. The prompts and questions each tree asked are derived directly from the interviews. For example, the prompt from the tree—a Dawn Redwood in this instance—was taken directly from the interview with Detroit resident Rayshaun Landrum:

Dawn Redwood: It’s strange, when I travel sometimes, I think about how you can be in such different places at the beginning of the day and the end. It makes you think, is this all even real? How do you know if this is all real what we experience every day?
Texter23: Good question. Very matrix!
Dawn Redwood: Oh, I like that perspective. I think it is the things you can see and touch that make things feel real.

While the conversations generally revolve around the theme of trees, the space was opened for a wide-ranging conversation. Not every question, or response, from the tree is about trees. Sometimes the conversations focused on what it means to live in Detroit, or simply favorite things to do. The trees became the conduit for a conversation between Detroiters about trees, but also about what it means to live in Detroit.

River Birch: While we’re brainstorming… what could Detroit do with all the vacant land?
Texter24: Tear up the concrete and let it become a urban forest
River Birch: We can’t just build on all of it, some of that has to be preserved. We’re going to have to designate sanctuaries or safe havens for wildlife.
River Birch: What are you doing to contribute to the environment?
Texter24: Not much. I don’t even have recycling and I feel pretty bad about it

Included in these conversations are interesting facts about the particular tree species. These “Tree Facts” shed light on both positively and negatively viewed attributes and impacts on the community around them to initiate a more dynamic and candid conversation.

Ginkgo: TREE FACT: Ginkgo trees are deciduous, and the leaves turn a beautiful bright yellow in fall. Ginkgos also have separate male and female trees. The fruit of the female trees is very stinky!
Ginkgo: Are you willing to climb a tree?
Texter18: One of my favorite past times as a kid

Process

SMM programmed each of the tree dialogues through a chatbot program called TextIt. The conversation provides automatic responses from the tree based on user interaction as well as alternative paths for the conversation to flow based on how the texter chooses to answer. This variability allows a texter to have multiple unique conversations with a given tree.

To engage the Detroit community, SMM created the website, www.talktreetome.com, to convey the project’s purpose, location, participant bios and instructions on how to interact with the trees. It also became the platform for sharing the results at the close of the month-long interactive period, so that the thoughts and insights from Detroiters could be readily accessible to a broad audience.

Talk Tree to Me was launched on September 1, 2020 in collaboration with the start of Detroit Month of Design. Tree markers were placed on each tree which contained the name of the tree species, the designated phone number to text, and an invitation to engage in conversation for passersby. A map was also located on the website identifying each tree’s location, the Detroiter who was the voice of the tree, and the number you could text. These marketing tools allowed for the community to encounter Talk Tree to Me through multiple channels.

Metrics

Throughout the month of September 2020, 210 individuals talked to the 12 trees along the riverfront. The captured conversations consisted of approximately 3,960 text messages exchanged. The ideas, thoughts and insights shared in these conversations presented an incredible opportunity to understand more about how Detroiters feel about the trees in their communities that is free from the biases that Landscape Architects may bring to the conversation. Given the timing of Talk Tree to Me, these conversations captured some of the most intimate thoughts and feelings around the collective experiences faced throughout a transformative year.

After reviewing the material captured through the text message conversations, SMM selected and highlighted surprising interactions – from thought-provoking to joyful – and presented what was gathered both at www.talktreetome.com and at an interactive culminating event, where community members could continue the conversation with SMM staff and come home with their own tree sapling.

Outcome and Impact

SMM believes that Talk Tree to Me can become a tool to engage communities and create opportunities for novel conversations around Detroit and beyond. The project offers the flexibility of tailoring the interviews, conversations, and topics for a unique urban environment. It also leverages the now universal technology available through mobile phones to have the potential for expansive reach. The project is positioned to provide invaluable research and an interfacing tool that will help form a community voice around growth, design, and inclusivity in our cities.

More: ASLA；Spackman Mossop Michaels