Andres Adrian Muñoz

Challenging perception of CicLAvia to show their community impact

CicLAvia is a massive event that hosts around 50,000 participants every event. Because of the open street characteristics of the event, it's hard to keep track of or generate documentation to track success. Especially from those other participants that aren’t using bikes as a means of transportation. The Public Image of the organization tends to mislead the audience to believe the event is a bike race or a bike-oriented program and because of this, there is poor integration from the communities where the event takes place. Business owners complain about the road closures and neighbors seem hesitant to participate if they don't own a bike.

Open Streets events have a huge positive impact on the society where they had taken place. Case studies from other countries have shown multiple positive vectors of change such as lowering the crime rate, improving public relations among the community, and increasing the popularity of alternative methods of transportation. All these positive traits that are successful in other countries seem to be slowed down in LA because of multiple reasons but mainly because of the lack of awareness that the locals have about the activity. Strict public policies within the US, Open street activities often represent a huge cost for the city involved. because of this, the event can’t be reproduced on a regular basis and within the same neighborhoods, this limit the popularity of the activity among the communities visited.

The team agreed that Documenting people’s emotions and feelings could help shift the perspective of the event from a bike-driven activity into a more community-friendly space. Shifting the public image of the organization into a more welcoming space for all kinds of activities can help show the idea of exploring the city in alternative ways. Success will happen one way or another but the only variable that can be manipulated to speed up the process is the popularity of the activity among the Angelinos. Making emphasis on the welcoming aspect of the activity can increase the acceptance rates inside the neighborhoods. We propose creating a series of emotional videos using footage obtained from different activities that take place during ciclavia. Our team will approach participants with carefully designed questions to lead to authentic responses. Quotes and expressions can be used later to set the public image of the organization.