Empowering Surabaya Creative Communities and Start-Ups through Human-Centered Design

Objective - Creative communities have the potential to increase a city�s social, economic, and touristic values. Despite
their evident existence in Surabaya, these communities lack support in terms of public spaces and exhibition facilities
with suitable designs that could accommodate their unique activities and communicate their aspirations to the public. This
research-design project aims to prove the social and economic benefits of the human-centered design process by
implementing various human-centered design approaches in the interior design of creative community spaces (CCS) so
that they can accommodate the unique activities of existing creative communities and serve as assembly points for
entrepreneurial or start-up groups.
Methodology/Technique � Two teams of interior designers were tasked to design a community space and exhibition
facility for two creative communities in Surabaya. A combined method based on different human-centered design
approaches of applied ethnography, participatory design, co-design, contextual design, emphatic design, and lead user
approach was conducted through six stages of design process consisting of: Empathize, Point of View, Define, Ideate,
Prototype, and Test.
Findings & Novelty - The results of this research-design project are novel designs of community co-working spaces and
exhibition facilities based on the unique human values, hobbies, and characteristics of the creative community that proved
the social and economic benefits of human-centered design in the practice of interior design. Through the design of the
creative community spaces yielded, interior and building designers can promote the activities and aspirations of existing
creative communities such that they may, in turn, contribute to the development of Surabaya�s social, economic, and
touristic values.