Malaysia UNDP 2014

We were asked by the United Nations Development Programme Malaysia country office to come give a workshop in spatial ethnography to senior civil servants and business leaders from the Southeast Asia region. Original SLABbers, Tiffany Chu and Courtney Sung, did a creative job facilitating the workshop and training based on their experience in Ho Chi Minh City in 2010.

The workshop was novel in getting participants out of the hotel conference room and in to the streets to learn about how vending works in Kuala Lumpur. Participants were amazed at how much could be learned through spatial ethnography. To read more of their comments, click the Evaluation of workshop post.

This meeting was a part of a series of meetings in order to develop a strategy for small and medium enterprise development in the region.
The distinguished group of participants in the workshop were senior civil servants and business leaders.
Original SLABbers Tiffany Chu and Courtney Sung, who had done fieldwork for the Sidewalk City project in 2010 in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, facilitated the workshop and training.
They came up with creative ways to engage the participants and get them sharing.
Out of the hotel conference room and into the streets!
Participants talked with small enterprises to learn about their operations.
SLAB emphasizes the importance of fieldwork because the spatial situation is integral to understanding what goes on in the city.
After the field exercise, groups processed what they had learned.
And presented their findings and questions.