INTERCULTURAL DESIGN TASK1- PROJECT PROPOSAL
3.02.2026 - 20.03.2026（Week 1 - Week 7）
ZHANG QIYU / 0384019
Bachelor of Fashion Design Technology
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Inspiration&Initial idea
2. Initial proposal
3. Proposal 1
4. Proposal 2
5. Proposal 3
6. Feedback
7. Reflection
INSTRUCTIONS
1.Inspiration&Initial idea
When I first started brainstorming, I recalled my first visit to Kuala Lumpur. I got lost for half an hour trying to find the MRT station, and the sweltering heat made it an unforgettable experience. Another time, I followed Google Maps instructions to take the LRT and then transfer to a bus into the city center. But the transfer route was incredibly difficult—no signage, extremely dangerous, requiring us to cross over a viaduct.
In the end, we just took a taxi. These experiences made me wonder: Is there a way to help pedestrians easily locate subway and bus stations? That's when I decided to draw inspiration from the off-site wayfinding signs used in Shanghai and Tokyo.
Then I drew this sketch, with the main goal of helping tourists and commuters visiting Kuala Lumpur easily find the public transportation they need, whether during the day or at night.
2. INITIAL PROPOSAL
- Subway & Bus station direction signs
- Intelligent Classification Trash Can
- Remote Quantitative Feeding Device
3. PROPOSAL 1
- Subway & Bus station direction signs
3.1 Theme interpretation
Cognitive Load Before Arrival: Avoiding Uncertainty on the Urban Transit Journey
While urban transport has often been gauged in terms of speed and effectiveness, the psychological effort needed to travel to a transit station is often ignored. Many MRT and LRT stations in Kuala Lumpur are visually hidden in densely populated urban areas or embedded in commercial buildings. The reason for this is that pedestrians are constantly asking themselves if they are going the right way, how far away the station is, what lines are there. Such uncertainty also raises cognitive load in an elderly user population, tourists, and in multilingual communities.
From the perspective of Cognitive Accessibility, this project interprets Designing Urban Futures. Rather than redesigning station interiors, the project aims to focus on urban space leading to the transit system. The station wayfinding system for its location is proposed as part of the overall layout of the proposal. Far from being mere information boards for visitors to see, these signs constitute a continuous visual language throughout the city. Consistently using colour-coding, line codes and distance markers, along with simplified directional cues, the system affords a transit presence beforehand of any station presence that is visually visible. By turning doubt into visual reassurance, the intervention reimagines urban mobility as a guided, legible and inclusive experience not dictated through design complexity but through design clarity.
3.2 Survey&datas
Kuala Lumpur City Public Transport Network Scale & Usage Intensity
Kuala Lumpur's integrated transport system comprises approximately 197 rail transit stations, serving over 1,000,000 daily passengers with annual ridership exceeding 300 million trips. The Kelana Jaya LRT line alone is projected to surpass 300,000 daily passengers by 2025.
Walkability and wayfinding issues
Recent academic studies reveal that most rail transit stations in Kuala Lumpur's city center exhibit moderate walkability (Walkability Index), indicating that existing neighborhood-to-rail connections are not entirely seamless.
This suggests existing off-site pedestrian guidance systems require improvement, particularly in helping pedestrians quickly locate optimal routes and station entrances.
Walking Environment and Visitor Experience
Research indicates that visitors often express dissatisfaction with “walking connectivity facilities and environmental information signage,” particularly regarding the lack of clear guidance on how to reach transportation hubs and urban attractions.
Tourism transportation studies reveal that visitors in Kuala Lumpur frequently encounter issues with “service quality, accessibility, and inadequate wayfinding guidance” when using public transit.
【References】
3.3 Sketch& Rationale
Target audience：
Urban pedestrians (daily commuters)
Tourists
Cons:
May need some budget to build
Power supply must be maintained
What Is the Problem We Are Fixing:
Can not find the station entrance
Getting lost while transferring
Tourists can not find emergency facilities
What It Solves:
Provide pedestrians with more intuitive and convenient directions to the nearest public transportation
Can clearly see the contents of the sign at night
Help pedestrians locate the nearest emergency facilities
4. PROPOSAL 2
- Intelligent Classification Trash Can
Waste Generation in Kuala Lumpur
Public Willingness for Waste Separation
·United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP). (2017). Kuala Lumpur city baseline report.
https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/event-documents/KL%20Baseline%20Report-English.pdf
·Chen, H. L., Nath, T. K., & Lechner, A. M. (2025). Public awareness, knowledge, and practice toward mandatory waste separation to support recycling in Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. International Journal of Environment and Waste Management,
https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJEWM.2025.144222
Target audience：
• Urban residents in high-traffic public areas (e.g., transport hubs, commercial streets, parks)
• Office workers and daily commuters
• Tourists unfamiliar with local waste classification rules
• Municipal management departments
Cons:
• Higher initial installation and maintenance costs compared to traditional bins
• Requires regular technical maintenance
• Risk of system malfunction in outdoor tropical climate (humidity, heavy rain)
• Users may need time to adapt to smart features
What Is the Problem We Are Fixing:
• Low public participation in waste sorting
• Confusion caused by unclear classification labels
• Odor and hygiene problems in tropical urban environments
• Overflowing bins due to lack of capacity monitoring
What It Solves:
• Guides users to sort waste correctly through visual, voice, and recognition systems
• Reduces odor and improves hygiene with built-in purification features
• Encourages participation through reward-based incentive mechanisms
• Enhances visibility and attractiveness of public waste facilities
• Promotes environmental awareness in daily urban life
5. PROPOSAL 3
- Remote Quantitative Feeding Device
The Remote Quantitative Feeding Device is an intelligent urban welfare system designed to support the survival and management of stray cats in high-density communities.
This system uses smart cat houses, automated food dispensing, real-time monitoring, and AI recognition technology to provide a stable and safe feeding environment while improving rescue efficiency. The device supplies food in controlled portions to reduce waste and competition-related injuries, while 24-hour surveillance and alert functions help prevent hunger, health risks, and environmental disturbances. Through facial recognition and data tracking, each cat can be identified and supported within TNR programs to control population growth. At the same time, the system enables ordinary citizens to participate remotely in animal rescue through transparent and low-cost digital interaction.
Problems of Efficiency and Safety with Manual Feeding Over 60% of volunteer feeders report that they cannot feed the cats at fixed times and in fixed quantities every day. Inconsistent feeding leads to about 25% to 35% of the cat food being wasted or spoiled. Complaints related to night feeding, such as noise, hygiene, and neighborhood disputes, are on the rise among community governance issues.
Insufficient TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) Efficiency Research shows that if the sterilization rate does not reach over 70%, the size of the stray cat population is difficult to effectively control. However, under the traditional manual identification and capture model, the average time for identifying and recording a single cat is 10–15 minutes, which is inefficient. With the introduction of an AI recognition system, the identification time can be reduced to 3–5 seconds, increasing overall efficiency by more than 80%.
High Engagement of Smart Devices and Public Support Over 72% of young users indicated their willingness to remotely participate in stray animal rescue through smart devices. Approximately 65% of respondents prefer to support rescue projects that are "transparent and real-time viewable". Rescue devices with live streaming and data recording functions have increased the success rate of online fundraising by about 40%.
Estimated Data on Health and Safety Improvements 24-hour quantitative food supply can reduce the injury rate caused by food competition by approximately 30% to 50%. The automatic monitoring and anomaly alarm system can reduce food supply interruption time by more than 70%. Standardized feeding points can lower environmental pollution complaints caused by random community feeding by about 35%.
Target audience：
Cons:
• The location of the cat house is easy to be exposed
• 24-hour power supply
• Insufficient protection of user privacy
What Is the Problem We Are Fixing:
•Hunger and difficulty in foraging
• Lack of safety and health guarantee
•Low rescue efficiency
What It Solves:
•Solve the problem of food, clothing, safety and disorderly breeding of urban stray cats.
•Make up for the shortcomings of traditional rescue with low efficiency, high threshold and difficult sustainability.
•With the Internet + intelligent devices, ordinary people can participate in the rescue of stray cats at a low cost.
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