YARD is a tool for engaging with communities to design and validate public space interventions. It provides a new way to engage the public to co-create better places through augmented reality (AR): YARD lets users choose and place objects into real space, building virtual scenes to plan and test design interventions that improve the quality of the public domain.

1. Make it real with

2. Credit: Catalytic Action

3. 3
YARD is a tool for engaging with communities to
design and validate public space interventions.
It provides a new way to engage the public to
co-create better places through augmented
reality (AR): YARD lets users choose and place
objects into real space, building virtual scenes
to plan and test design interventions that
improve the quality of the public domain.

4. 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was sponsored by Arup Community Engagement. The
Community Engagement programme supports Arup’s work with
marginalised and disadvantaged people around the world and
plays an important part in our firm-wide contribution to the global
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Community engagement has
been a leader in coordinating Arup’s efforts to support our clients and
partners in each stage of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
YARD builds upon the Proximity of Care Design Guide, which Arup has
developed in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Our sincere thanks to Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), Catalytic Action
and Civic.
ARUP TEAM
George Beane, Sara Candiracci, Pedro Contrucci, Kevin Cressy, Katie
Dobberstein, Henry Harris, Naomi Li, Spencer Robinson, Roman Svidran
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Please contact
Sara.Candiracci@arup.com
George.Beane@arup.com
A video demonstration showing YARD in action
is available on the Arup Vimeo channel:
https://vimeo.com/486911411

5. 5
Contents
Why we Developed YARD 6
Working in Vulnerable Urban Contexts 8
Vulnerable Urban Populations 10
Public Space in Vulnerable Urban Contexts 12
Covid-1916
User Research 17
Target Users and Use Cases 23
User Guide 25
Going Forward 33
References 35
Appendix: Asset Catalogue 36

6. 6
In 2019, Arup’s Advanced Digital
Engineering (ADE) team developed
a proof of concept of YARD, a
public engagement and research
tool powered by augmented reality.
YARD allows users to place objects
into the space to co-design and
communicate their ideal public space.
Designers can then supplement
this information with conversations,
interviews and facilitated workshops
to better understand what types of
interventions residents would like
to see in their neighbourhoods.
Why we developed YARD
Since then, through Arup’s work with
the Bernard van Leer Foundation
as part of the Proximity of Care
Design Guide—and based on ongoing
discussions with the Norwegian
Refugee Council, UNICEF, UN-
HABITAT, the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC), the International
Rescue Committee (IRC) and others—
we have identified a demand for
new tools to help design better
public space interventions in
vulnerable urban communities.

7. 7
Responding to this demand, Arup has
adapted YARD for use in vulnerable
urban contexts (VUCs)—areas that
typically lack high-quality public
space and could benefit greatly from
new tools that support the co-design
of placemaking interventions.
This multi-disciplinary partnership
combines Arup’s technical expertise
in the fields of software development
and user experience design from
Arup Virtual and Visualisation and
Advanced Digital Engineering, with
Arup International Development’s
experience working with partners
in the humanitarian development
sphere. The collaboration brings
together each group’s skills and
experience to understand and design
for the unique needs of organisations
working in vulnerable contexts.
Our work is motivated by two
distinct but related challenges:
First, the global COVID-19 pandemic
has heightened existing challenges
to people living in VUCs. Due to
a combination of environmental
conditions, economic vulnerability,
and limited access to social
safeguards and safety nets, the
residents of low-income urban
neighbourhoods and informal
settlements are particularly
vulnerable to the spread of the
virus. Second, within vulnerable
communities, women, caregivers and
youth are often at increased risk.
These groups are often more exposed
to harmful social and environmental
conditions, and yet have fewer
protections or coping mechanisms
to help manage those risks.
Insufficient or poorly designed
public spaces can make both
challenges worse, exacerbating
the conditions that increase
population vulnerability in VUCs.
On the other hand, the current crisis
also points to an opportunity for
building better public spaces. Well-
designed interventions, developed
through a sensitive and participatory
process, can bring long-lasting
impacts for the quality of life for
all residents, and focused benefits
for vulnerable groups such as
children, women and caregivers.

8. 8
Working in Vulnerable
Urban Contexts
Vulnerable urban contexts (VUCs)
are subject to ongoing shocks
and stresses that threaten lives,
livelihoods and the maintenance
of social, physical, political and
economic systems. VUCs often
have compromised access to urban
services, including water, sanitation
and hygiene (WaSH), energy and
transit infrastructure. They are
characterised by dense living and
working conditions and, in many
cases, environmental risk from
pollution with limited safeguards
to ensure health and safety.
Through Arup’s work with the
Bernard van Leer Foundation, we
have identified two classes of VUCs
to engage with in this project:
1. Informal settlements are areas
where residents lack legal tenure.
UN-Habitat describes an informal
settlement as a residential
area whose inhabitants face
three primary deprivations:
• Inhabitants have no security
of tenure vis-a-vis the land or
dwellings they inhabit, with
modalities ranging from squatting
to informal rental housing.
• Neighbourhoods usually lack, or
lack access to, basic services
and city infrastructure.
• Housing may not comply
with planning and building
regulations and is often
situated in geographically and
environmentally hazardous areas.
The absence of legal tenure and
compromised access to urban
systems affects public health and
safety, and exposes residents to
exploitation, eviction and crime.
Despite these challenges,
migration to informal settlements
is typically driven by the promise
of economic opportunity, often
with future generations in mind.
2. Refugee settlements are urban
areas where refugees settle in
unclaimed properties or join pre-
existing informal settlements.
These settlements generally arise
in response to armed conflict,
political unrest, natural disasters,
resource shortages, or other crises,
and tend to accrete near national
borders closest to the crisis.

9. 9
By definition, refugees migrate
under duress. Whether from another
region or nation, refugees are often
exposed to obstacles not faced
by indigenous residents. These
obstacles may include exploitation
or discrimination, diminished social
support networks, vulnerability to
crime or violence, and precarious
legal status. Such obstacles may
lead some refugees to separate
from larger refugee communities,
to facilitate their integration and
disassociate themselves from the
stigma of seeking refuge. While many
refugees cluster in clearly identifiable
areas in their host city, it is also not
uncommon for refugees to be fairly
distributed across the city, rather
than in a specific geographic zone.
The neighbourhood of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya (Source: Sara Candiracci)

10. 10
Vulnerable urban populations
Roughly 30% of the world’s
urban population live in informal
settlements or urban slums, including
more than half of city residents in
sub-Saharan Africa and around a
third of South Asian city residents.1
As cities continue to grow—the
World Bank estimates that the global
urban population will more than
double by 2050—so too will the total
number of residents living in VUCs.2
VUCs, which are characterised by
limited access to basic services, poor
housing conditions and increased
population density, are associated
with a range of public health
challenges. These include higher
rates of respiratory conditions and
communicable disease transmission,
increased incidence of water-related
illnesses and higher risk from hazards
such as flooding or fire.3
VUCs are
also associated with higher rates of
some mental health disorders.4 5
Inequalities in the type and
quality of services available
to residents exacerbate these
public health challenges in VUCs.
Informal settlements and refugee
communities often lack medical
health professionals, as well as
the spaces and equipment needed
to properly serve large at-risk
populations. Environmental factors
such as noise and air pollution,
poorly managed solid waste and
sanitation and heavy vehicle traffic
are directly linked to poor health
outcomes. On the other hand,
ameliorating elements such as access
to green spaces, which have well-
documented physical and mental
health benefits, are often lacking.6
Within VUCs, some groups are
more vulnerable than others.
Women, girls and youth often face
a mix of social and environmental
challenges that prevent equal
access to economic opportunity and
basic services, and which increase
risk for poor health. Children
are disproportionally affected by
environmental challenges due to their
physiological vulnerability and lack
of awareness or coping mechanisms
to deal with environmental
threats. Not surprisingly, a growing
consensus among researchers
and practitioners suggests that
young children are among the most
vulnerable of those living in VUCs.

11. 11
Those most affected by planning
and design decisions for VUCs are
largely excluded from the decision-
making process. Government,
humanitarian organisations, and
other design professionals often
devote insufficient attention to the
specific needs of these groups—
and in particular, ignore the needs
of caregivers and young children,
Working with communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Source: Arup)
for whom a safe and healthy urban
environment is crucial for healthy
physical and mental development.
Cognitive evolution from birth to
age five sets the stage for all future
development, including core skills
acquisition, establishment of healthy
attitudes and behaviours, and
flourishing of mature relationships.

12. 12
Public space in
Vulnerable Urban Contexts
Public space in VUCs serves multiple
functions as sites of recreation
and informal marketplaces, venues
for communication and religious
exchanges, communal infrastructure
like drainage and electricity, and as
extended household spaces where
people cook, wash and sleep.8
In these contexts, public spaces are
therefore fundamental to the cultural,
economic and social resilience of
the groups that use them. Healthy,
stimulating and quality public spaces
can create cohesive and inclusive
urban settlements by inviting
groups of different caste, ethnicity
and gender to congregate and
socialise. In turn, public space can
ameliorate isolation and loneliness,
facilitate the coming together of
diverse populations, and provide
much-needed recreational space.
To achieve these outcomes, designers
should seek to incorporate the
following design principles9
:
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
Well-designed public spaces are
built upon a sound understanding
of the context and local knowledge,
ensuring that interventions are
context-sensitive and relevant,
and that they do not inadvertently
exacerbate existing inequalities.
Understanding local context requires
designers to think creatively about
context-appropriate devices, methods
and tools for collecting data, and
to challenge their own assumptions
about how people relate to one
another and utilise public space.
Local knowledge can also inform
how public spaces are built and
operated. An understanding
of technical skills and labour
availability, the appropriateness
of local materials and building
traditions, and an understanding
of local financial resources for
operation and maintenance
can ensure interventions are
robust and sustainable.

13. 13
FLEXIBILITY
Public spaces should improve
material and safety conditions by
tackling issues of pollution, access to
water and sanitation, as well as social
conflict and environmental, climate
and man-made risks. Groups such
as young children, their caregivers
and pregnant women are particularly
vulnerable to these risks, and they
often require special consideration
or dedicated spaces. The use of
appropriate materials, grading and
signage can improve physical safety,
and improved sight-lines, passive
surveillance and lighting can improve
social safety. Designers can also look
for opportunities to improve cognitive
stimulation through colourful,
moving or interactive elements.
Public spaces must be
accommodating of numerous
purposes, often concurrently.
Designers need to consider the
diverse needs of different groups
to avoid excluding certain activities.
The days and times at which these
activities take place will vary—
hence it is critical to ensure that
Public spaces are especially important for children and other vulnerable groups. Credit: Will Newton

14. 14
an intervention or space serves
multiple purposes. For example, a
crèche can be an adult education
centre in the evenings; an outdoor
play space can host performances or
gatherings for adults; a transit stop
can include market stalls for small
businesses. Multifunctional spaces
offer a wider spectrum of economic,
environmental and economic benefits
to urban settlements. In vulnerable
urban contexts, designing for multi-
functionality also caters to the
incremental upgrades that people
make in the spaces around them.11
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
In unplanned public spaces,
accessibility and usage are relational
and differentiated by intersections
of age, gender or ability. Designing
in accordance with universal design
principles can ensure that spaces
are accessible by all residents,
regardless of these factors. Universal
design accommodates a wide
range of individual abilities and
preferences; it allows designers to be
versatile and to adapt to a changing
or complex context. In doing so,
interventions go beyond a focus on
just the physical environment to the
social structures that unfold within
it. Universal design also makes a
public space easier to understand;
designers can link spaces through
wayfinding elements equally visible
to different groups, considering
different heights and impairments.
NETWORKED SPACES
– Interventions should integrate
existing spaces into the existing
urban fabric, to create networks of
safe and stimulating areas. When
creating or retrofitting a facility or
space, designers may consider the
departure, journey and access routes
as a component of the design. Visual
stimulation and wayfinding can
be introduced through markings,
paintings and high-visibility floor
patterns. Where possible, integrating
these objects with greenery will
create healthier public space that is
more inviting to different groups.
Improving connectivity and
mobility can elevate the safety
and confidence of the community,
increase local vibrancy and provide
more stimulation for children and
other users. Increased connectivity
can also drive economic activity
and improve public safety. The
combination of heavy foot traffic

15. 15
and vehicle traffic is a key challenge
in many vulnerable urban contexts.
Considering pedestrian routes as a
component of the design—including
segregating a child-and-caregiver
friendly shoulder; implementing
grading, material improvements, curb
cuts and signage for prams, children
and wheelchairs; and introducing
traffic calming measures—
encourages access and improves
safety for children, older adults,
and people living with disabilities.
PARTICIPATORY
DECISION-MAKING
A focus on public spaces is especially
important because they are sites of
civic mobilisation and participation.
The specific needs of the most
vulnerable groups in VUCs do not
receive sufficient attention from
government, development and
humanitarian organisations, or
urban practitioners. By occupying
and reconstructing public spaces,
these groups and individuals
can influence the decisions and
environment around them , whilst
forging a sense of attachment and
identity. This collaborative and
multidimensional planning can start
a process of transformation that
turns vulnerable communities into
thriving urban neighbourhoods.
Urban public spaces should be safe and accessible to users of all gender, ability and age. Credit: Arup

16. 16
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates
the importance of safe and
accessible public spaces, especially
for those living in dense, low-
income urban areas, urban slums
and informal settlements. These
areas have emerged as hotspots for
transmission of the virus, in part due
to short supply of adequate water
and sanitation infrastructure.15
Successfully addressing the
pandemic will require a mix of
public health interventions that
may include social distancing,
mask-wearing and periodic ‘lock-
downs’ alongside improvements to
medical treatment, and widespread
inoculation once approved
vaccines are made available.
At the same time, healthy and
resilient public spaces will play an
important role in helping cities adapt
to COVID-19 and future pandemics.
Many of the social and environmental
characteristics that make a
population vulnerable to the virus can
be mitigated, at least in part, through
interventions that target the physical
environment.16
For instance, a lack of
basic water, sanitation, hygiene and
solid waste management services
can be addressed through new
infrastructure such as toilet blocks,
closed sewers and receptacles for
solid waste. Similarly, limited access
to relevant public health information,
can be addressed through informative
bulletins, murals, infographics and
signage in public spaces. New open
spaces provide relief from high-
density living and working conditions
and provide a mix of physical,
psychological and social benefits.
In this way, urban public spaces that
are truly resilient – robust, flexible
and built to accommodate users of
various needs and abilities – can
help cities respond to the COVID-19
crisis while maintaining the heath
and dignity of urban residents.
New tools that encourage a shift
towards participatory, universal and
inclusive design, can help facilitate
improvements in the quality of
urban places, with positive impacts
that outlast the pandemic.

17. 17
User Research
WORKING WITH LOCAL
PARTNERS
As part of our user research, the
design team spoke to representatives
from Kounkuey Design Initiative
(KDI), Catalytic Action and Civic. Arup
collaborated with these organisations
in developing the Proximity of
Care Design Guide, an approach
for designing for early childhood
in vulnerable urban contexts.
The three partner organisations
have a successful track record of
collaborating with local communities
in VUCs to co-design urban public
space interventions, and were
enthusiastic about piloting new tools
that could help them in this work.
KOUNKUEY DESIGN
INITIATIVE (KDI)
Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is
a non-profit design and community
development organisation registered
in Nairobi, Kenya; Stockholm,
Sweden; and California, USA. KDI
partners with under-resourced
communities to advance equity and
activate the unrealised potential
in neighbourhoods and cities.
More specifically, it works with
residents to realise their visions
for healthier neighbourhoods
through the tools of participatory
urban design and planning.
Arup approached KDI to pilot YARD
in Kibera, an informal settlement in
Nairobi, Kenya. Kibera was founded
in the early 1950s in a forest on the
edge of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, but
it has since been entirely enveloped
by the city. Estimates of the current
population range from 300,000 to
over 1 million. National and regional
authorities do not acknowledge the
settlement’s legality, leaving the
entire population without access
to services or infrastructure from
the surrounding city. A significant
majority of Kibera’s population lives
without electricity or an in-home

18. 18
water supply. Furthermore, due to
minimal sanitation services, Kibera’s
streets are heavily contaminated
with waste. Compounding this,
the severe topography of the area,
poor soil conditions, heavy seasonal
rainfall and proximity to the Nairobi
river combine to result in regular
flooding and structural collapse.
CATALYTIC ACTION
In El Mina, Lebanon, we are working
with Catalytic Action, a charity
and design studio that works to
empower communities through
strategic and innovative community-
led interventions. Catalytic Action
adopts a participatory approach to
enhancing community resilience,
where the users are at the centre of
an empowering co-creation process.
The organisation works with the most
vulnerable communities throughout
the Middle-East, Africa and Europe.
El Mina – Arabic for ‘seaport’ - is a
coastal city in the north governorate
of Lebanon. The city comprises a
peninsula surrounded by several
small islands, some of which have
been declared protected natural
reserves. El Mina is home to a
few-thousand refugees, most of
whom arrived from Syria in the
past decade. Its diverse vulnerable
population is reflected in the built
environment, which comprises
several types of shelter including
informal shacks, 1950s social
housing and deprived households
in the historical city centre.
CIVIC
Arup have partnered with Civic, an
international non-governmental
organisation that works with leading
institutions and communities in
six diverse contexts around the
world. Civic forges new connections
between people, ideas, resources
and spaces. In doing so, its overriding
mission is to establish the ‘connective
tissue’ between the different aspects
of community development, in a
holistic and participatory way.
Civic has piloted YARD in Azraq,
Jordan, a small town in Zarqa
governorate in central-eastern
Jordan, 100km east of the capital
city, Amman. Azraq represents the
eastern gate of Jordan, connecting
the country with the Arab Gulf States
and Iraq. It is Jordan’s largest land
crossing, with four million people
crossing every year. Azraq town hosts
a significant number of refugees,

19. 19
most of whom are Syrians fleeing
the civil war. In 2010, Azraq town
was one of five areas where Care
International established its urban
Community Centres to respond to
high concentrations of urban Syrian
refugees outside of designated
camps. The town is 30-minutes
from the Azraq refugee camp,
which is run by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and which has a population
of almost 40,000 migrants.
WHY CO-DESIGN?
Co-design is a process whereby project
implementers actively seek, integrate and
react to a community’s challenges, needs
and perspectives. It involves creating
interventions with stakeholders, based
on the understanding that stakeholders
can identify interventions that are
appropriate and relevant to them.
The distinct challenges and experiences of
community members are not always visible,
nor are they always discussed openly owing
to power dynamics or cultural expectations.
In public spaces in particular, groups may be
excluded because of their age, gender, legal
status, socio-economic level, and more.
Where an intervention does not engage
with all community members, it risks
entrenching or exacerbating these
challenges. Conversely, giving community
members the opportunity to tell their
own stories can build trust, strengthen
local ownership and create interventions
that are appropriate, meaningful and that
instil a sense of pride in a community.
In turn, this can create a sense of
responsibility to maintain and use the
intervention, possibly long after the
implementing organisation has departed.
The co-design process allows urban
practitioners to prioritise their efforts
based on community needs in relation
to programme goals, feasibility,
constraints and business plans.
It also enables an organisation or
programme to systematically reflect on
a changing or complex environment,
and to develop lasting solutions.

20. 20
HOW DO THEY DESIGN NOW?
The three partners use a variety of
methods, including formal surveys,
workshops and focus groups.
With community members, they
often use physical materials such
as LEGO and cardboard models
to develop spatial relation, probe
layouts and conceptualise space,
in addition to encouraging freehand
drawing. Sometimes they will use
bespoke board games to encourage
community members to describe
how they walk around in their
neighbourhood, or they will go
on a group walking tour explore
the space. They often employ
axonometric drawings and project
3D models onto the wall to visualise
a design. The goal of these methods
is to enable a common language
amongst the community members,
designers and decision-makers.
The three partners describe a broad
three-step co-design approach:
1. Visioning, which includes working
with residents to understand
and respond to critical needs.
The project vision can take the
form of rough sketches or written
descriptions.
2. Design, through which the
designer and community develop
an increasingly detailed picture
of the final intervention. The
design output should consider
cost, material and other practical
considerations that make sure the
intervention is buildable and holds
up over time.
3. Validation, where the intervention
is presented to the community
for comment and feedback. In
reality, the validation and design
phases often overlap; during
design, the design team often
presents a series of proposals to
the community before validating
a final proposal to build.

21. 21
“For me, YARD would be a great way to get
children to be more engaged. Especially
with children who struggle with drawing,
seeing objects in the space they are thinking
about would be extremely helpful.”
Sara Maassarani, Catalytic Action
El Mina, Lebanon
Credit: Catalytic Action

22. 22
What are their current challenges?
The design team identified three
common design challenges:
1. Resources: It takes time, effort
and resources to plan workshops,
and these can be very chaotic
to coordinate. If designers are
using CAD models, it is difficult
to update the models during the
workshops in real-time to reflect
changes based on community
feedback and share those updates
with community participants.
2. Inclusion: People may be reluctant
to participate in co-design
workshops. Even when broad
participation does occur, there
can be very strong personalities
that overshadow other voices,
and some groups may be left out
based on their gender, age, religion,
language, nationality or another
characteristic.
To make sure the design process
is truly inclusive, it is important
that the participants can see
the impact of their participation.
Facilitators need to be very clear
about expectations and what
interventions will be possible
within the allocated budget and
not over-promise.
3. Communication: communication
mediums, such as 2D plans, can be
difficult for some to understand.
There is often variability in how
well-versed participants are
in understanding plans and
maps. Freehand sketches are
useful for probing, but it can be
difficult to express reality with
a freehand sketch, which can
lead to miscommunication. In
communicating design proposals,
it can be very challenging to
express cost scenarios in a
meaningful way—for example, to
explain that four benches and
one table costs the same as six
benches. Facilitators need to be
very clear about expectations
and what interventions will be
possible/ within budget and
not over-promise. With this,
there may be an element of
distrust from the participants

23. 23
Target users and use cases
A design brief summarises the problem to be solved. Effective design
briefs are developed based on extensive research, to ensure that the
design addresses the users’ critical needs. In this case, engaging with
our project partners helped us identify and respond to key ‘pain points’
and helped us create a tool that was practical and useful to our project
partners. The synthesis of our user research led to the design brief:
How might we provide the community with a common
language and shared understanding in order to interpret
the desires of the community to the designers?
“Simple and visual. This app promises to
grant urban planners, enthusiasts, and even
dilettantes a brand new spatial language
to talk about the urban environment”
Muhsen Albawab, Civic
Amman, Jordan
Credit: Civic

24. 24
SUGGESTED USERS
AND USE CASES:
Use cases describe multiple
scenarios in which a tool might be
applied. They help designers ensure
their product is flexible and can
be applied in multiple contexts
and by different types of user.
Arup developed four use cases that
mimic how a user might deploy
the app to facilitate participatory
design. These scenarios describe how
urban designers and practitioners—
including development and
humanitarian professionals, NGOs
and community groups—might
use YARD to support their work:
1. In a workshop setting: Through
the user research, we learned that
it can be challenging for some
community members to express
themselves due to language
barriers, lack of confidence,
creativity blocks and opinionated
voices in the room. YARD enables
users to visualise and design
their ideal public space and then
share a tangible output with the
group, easing potential blockers.
2. One-on-one with a community
member: Through user testing,
we found that the conversations
that the YARD tool spark can
be just as valuable as the visual
output. When working 1-on-1
with a community member, the
facilitator can use YARD to prompt
questions to better understand
the intent of the design vision.
3. Used individually by design
professionals: An architect,
engineer or urban planner can
use the tool on their own for
visioning and planning: YARD
enables the visual placement of
assets, serving as an innovative
and iterative design tool.
4. With key decision-makers: An
urban practitioner might use
YARD to communicate a vision
with local authorities or decision
makers. The output of YARD,
the final documentation of the
AR placement, is a powerful
way to communicate design
ideas to decision-makers.

25. 25
User guide

26. Download instructions
26
IOS
For iOS we will distribute the app
to you via an app called TestFlight.
Please download TestFlight from
the App Store first. Once you have
TestFlight downloaded, we will be
able to ‘push’ YARD to your device.
You will receive an email from
TestFlight with the subject, “Arup
has invited you to test YARD”.
Alternatively, you can download
TestFlight and then open using a
link provided by Arup. TestFlight
should load with the option to
accept and install the YARD app.

27. 27
ANDROID
For Android, we will distribute
the app to you via WeTransfer.
Before downloading the file,
please ensure you have allowed
Chrome to install unknown apps.
To do this, go to Settings Apps
and notifications Chrome
Advanced Install unknown apps
and toggle on the ‘Allow from this
source’ setting (you can revert this
setting once the app is installed).
When this step is complete, you can
download the file from WeTransfer.
Once it is downloaded, select
‘Open’ and then ‘Install’.

28. How to use the app
28
GETTING STARTED
Go to the location in which you with to use YARD.
YARD works best in well-lit, open spaces.
Open the app. Once the camera is showing the scene in front of you, start
moving your device around slowly so that the application can detect the
planes (ground) on which to place AR objects. You should see a grid of
white dots appearing on the ground around you. When the dots cover a
large enough area, you are ready to get started placing your objects.
It can be helpful to rotate your phone around in this step to help
the plane detection. If you walk around, the device recognises
a larger plane, giving you more space to place assets in.
With this Beta version of the app, please be patient! Your phone screen
may freeze or slow down momentarily when placing an item.

29. 29
HOW TO PLACE OBJECTS
To place an object use the menu in the lower left. The icons at the top indicate
various categories of objects that can be placed in the space around you.
1. Select the object to add to your scene from the list by tapping it
once. This should bring up a blue ‘X’ on your detected plane.
2. Move your device around until the ‘X’ is in the
location that you wish to place the object.
• There are two poster assets that can be placed on a wall. To
detect the vertical plane, scan the wall, in the same way you
scanned the ground. White dots should appear on the wall
3. Tap anywhere on the scene to place. The asset will always
face the user. To change
the orientation of the
object, walk to a new
position and select and
place the object.
Use the toggle in the
top right corner of the
screen to change whether
the grid of white dots
is displayed or not.

30. 30
TOGGLING VIEWS
YARD lets users toggle between two different views: a rendered
view that shows objects with materials, and a schematic view that
depicts objects in a white colour, without materials applied.
The two views were developed based on feedback from partners, who indicated
a need to use the app in the initial “visioning stage”--where a generalized view
of objects may be more useful to show a space in an undefined manner--and
also to show more realistically rendered objects in the streetscape. The two
views give users additional flexibility to select the best view for them based on
their particular needs and how far along the designer is in the design process.
Use the buttons in the
bottom right corner to
swap between simple,
white renderings of the
objects and more realistic,
colourful ones. (1) will show
the colourful renderings
while (2) will show the
simple white ones.

31. 31
HOW TO MOVE OR DELETE AN OBJECT
• Tap on the object in your scene to select it. This should
highlight the item and give you 2 red buttons.
• Select the red button with the 4 arrows. This should bring up a
red ‘X’ on your plane, similar to the turquoise one earlier.
• Move your device around until the red ‘X’ is in the
location you would like to move the object to.
• Tap anywhere on the scene to place the object in the new location.
• To delete an object, select the button with the red ‘X’ on it. Your
object should be immediately removed from the scene.
• To clear all assets from the scene, press the
refresh button in the top left corner.
To save your design, please
take a screenshot using
your device’s screenshot
functionality. On most
devices, you can also
record your screen in
order to capture a video.

32. Troubleshooting
32
If you don’t see the blue cross
appear, this could be because….
• There isn’t enough light. Please
try in a more well-lit area or
at a different time of day.
• The plane is not flat. Please
try using the app in an area
with open, flat ground.
• Your phone is pointing at a point
outside of the detected plane.
You can only place objects on
the grid of white dots, move
your phone so that the grid is
central to your view and you
should see the blue X appear.
• You don’t have an object
selected. Check that one of the
objects in the lower left menu
is highlighted. If not, tap on
the object you want to place
again and the blue X should
appear on the detected plane.
• You are trying to place one of
the two posters on the ground.
These can only be placed on the
vertical plane (wall). Similarly, you
are trying to place an asset that
is not a poster on the wall. The
two posters are the only assets
that can be placed on the wall.
If you cannot select the placed
object, you may be too close to
it. Please try stepping back.
For any questions or
comments, please email
katie.dobberstein@arup.com

33. 33
Going forward
Once our partners had an
opportunity to test YARD in their
own project sites, we met to
discuss what they thought worked
and what could be improved upon
going forward. On the whole, the
feedback was positive, suggesting
a clear demand for the tool.
Still, our conversations with the
three partners helped Arup identify
a set of priority issues for future
phases of the app’s development.
These include both technical
challenges related to the software
design and deployment, and non-
technical challenges that relate to
workshop facilitation and design.
Future research and development
may be supported by organisations
working in the fields of urban
planning, urban design, international
development, humanitarian aid and
public health, among others. Based
on feedback from initial outreach
to our project partners, we think
there is significant interest in using
YARD within the humanitarian aid
and development sector. Many of
the suggested improvements and
next steps described in the table
below would also be beneficial to
potential clients operating outside
this sector, including private urban
planning and architecture firms.
The Arup ADE team will further
develop YARD by leveraging the
ADE Idea Development Funding
stream. Work will continue with
feature updates, demonstrations
with potential customers,
exploring alternative use cases
and developing sustainable
business models with clients.
We look forward to working with
new partners and clients to
better understand how YARD can
help support the work of urban
practitioners around the world.
The table on the following page
lists some proposed changes and
additions to the app based on
observations from field testing,
conversations with partners
and survey responses.

34. Going forward
34
Theme Issue Description
General
Considerations
Expanding
compatibility
The app works well with compatible devices but some users
had trouble using YARD on smart phones with smaller screens
or older versions of the Android operating system.
The Arup development team has already made some
updates to improve screen responsiveness based on
this feedback, and will investigate further to ensure the
app is usable on as many devices as possible.
Improving surface
detection
The app sometimes had difficulty reading vertical
surfaces (blank or white walls) to place posters, or
finding horizontal planes for placing objects.
The team is exploring how the app detects surfaces so that assets can
be placed on all kinds of surfaces, including sloping or rocky ground.
UI/UX
Design
Moving and
rotating assets
Most users found placing, moving and deleting objects to
be intuitive. Several had difficulty rotating objects in space,
however. Though the orientation of objects can be changed
by reorienting the mobile device, edits to the interface will
allow users to rotate objects while remaining in place.
Ensuring clear
language
Although all of our pilot users were able to understand the
object menu, we recognise that language can simplified or even
eliminated to accommodate non-native English speakers/readers.
New Assets Growing the
menu of objects
Our local partners identified a number of common assets
that could can be added to the object menu to help
communicate design ideas with local residents.
Urban
Furniture
Play and
Child-Friendly
Covid-19 and
Public Health
Other
Assets
-- Lights
-- Planters
-- Seating
-- Road
crossing
-- Walk and
bike paths
-- Slides
-- Merry-go-
rounds
-- Informative
posters and
graphics
-- Murals
-- Kiosks and
vendor stalls
-- Water and
wastewater
infra-
structure
New Features Saving and
exporting scenes
Our partners saw benefits in saving scenes, including the location
of objects so they could be referenced at a later date, and exported
as images (JPG or PNG), 3D models or 2D drawings (DWG).
Importing Assets All of our partners expressed an interest in adding their own
objects—3D models from SketchUp, Rhino or other modelling
software—and to see these rendered in existing streetscapes.
Showing
object cost
The cost of objects is an important consideration in deciding
which design interventions are appropriate for a place. For
future versions of the app, the team will experiment with
showing an indicative cost as “play money” for each object
to help residents plan their public spaces with an eye to real
costs for building and maintaining proposed interventions.

35. 35
References
1. Weimann, A., Oni, T. (2019). A Systematised Review
of the Health Impact of Urban Informal Settlements
and Implications for Upgrading Interventions in South
Africa, a Rapidly Urbanising Middle-Income Country.
International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, 16(19), 3608.
2. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/
urbandevelopment/overview
3. Weimann, A., Oni, T. (2019). A Systematised Review
of the Health Impact of Urban Informal Settlements
and Implications for Upgrading Interventions in South
Africa, a Rapidly Urbanising Middle-Income Country.
International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, 16(19), 3608.
4. Bhardwaj, U., Sharma, V., George, S., Khan, A. (2019).
Mental health risk assessment in a selected urban
slum of Delhi—a survey report. Journal of Nursing
Science Practice, 2(1), 116-122.
5. Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health
(UD/MH), “Facts and Figures.” https://www.
urbandesignmentalhealth.com/facts-and-figures.html.
Accessed 20 November 2020.
6. Lee, A. C., Maheswaran, R. (2011). The health benefits
of urban green spaces: a review of the evidence.
Journal of public health, 33(2), 212-222.
7. Sverdlik, A. (2011). Ill-health and poverty: a literature
review on health in informal settlements. Environment
and Urbanization, 23(1), 123-155.
8. Cantada, I. (2015) ‘Public Spaces as Catalyst for Slum
Upgrading’. World Bank Blogs, 24th July.
9. Newton, W. Candiracci, S. (2020) Proximity of Care:
A New Approach to Designing for Early Childhood in
Vulnerable Urban Contexts. Arup Bernard van Leer
Foundation.
10. Zivkovic, J. et al. (2019) Multifunctional public open
spaces for sustainable cities: Concept and application.
Facta Universitatis series - Architecture and Civil
Engineering 17 (2), 205-219.
11. Kamalipour, H. (2020) Improvising Places: The Fluidity
of Space in Informal Settlements. Sustainability
12. Pacheco, P. (2017) ‘Public Spaces: Participation as a
tool to build more democratic cities’. TheCityFix, 22nd
June.
13. Garciá, J. H. (2012) ‘Open spaces in informal
settlements in Bogotá, expressions of attachment and
identity’, in The Role of Place Identity in the Perception,
Understanding and Design of the Built Environment’.
Pages 92-106.
14. Project for Public Spaces (2014) ‘Resilient Cities
through public spaces and placemaking in
urbanization’. 24th September.
15. Golechha, M. (2020). COVID-19 Containment in Asia’s
Largest Urban Slum Dharavi-Mumbai, India: Lessons
for Policymakers Globally. Journal of Urban Health, 1-6.
16. Brito, P. L., Kuffer, M., Koeva, M., Pedrassoli, J. C.,
Wang, J., Costa, F., Freitas, A. D. D. (2020). The
Spatial Dimension of COVID-19: The Potential of Earth
Observation Data in Support of Slum Communities
with Evidence from Brazil. ISPRS International Journal
of Geo-Information, 9(9), 557.

36. 36
Appendix
Asset Catalogue
Asset Asset Category Priority Level
COVID infographic Mural High
Hand washing unit Water / Sanitation High
Water tank Water / Sanitation High
Water tap Water / Sanitation High
Pavilion Other Medium
Toilet block Water / Sanitation High
Basketball hoop Play High
Bench Seating High
Chair Seating High
Children Playing sign Street Medium
Composting bin Waste management High
Decorative pattern Mural Medium
Floor mural Mural Medium
Football goal posts Play High
Football pitch Play Medium
Garden plot Green Medium
Generic shelter Other High
Grass patch Green High
Hand paint wayfinding Mural Low
The project team listed assets to include in the updated YARD app in an
Asset Catalogue, which also noted the level of priority for each asset. High
priority assets were developed as part of the current round of updates to
the tool. Medium and low priority assets may be added in later phases.

37. 37
Asset Asset Category Priority Level
High grass Green Low
Image (e.g. animals, etc.) Mural Low
Information stand / kiosk Other Medium
Market stand / stall Other Medium
Mobile Planters Street Low
Outdoor gym Play Medium
Platform / plinth Other High
Raised bed orchard Green Low
Ramps/Kerb cuts Street Medium
School Zone sign Street Low
See-saw Play High
Shading Other Medium
Sidewalks Street Medium
Speed bumps Street Medium
Speed limit Street Low
Stacked tires Play High
Street light / lamp Other Medium
Swings Play High
Table Seating High
Trees Green High
Wall games Mural Low
Waste bin Waste management High
Waste Skip Waste management Medium
Zebra crossing Street Low