Italian Business Design Project

While spending a month in Italy, Kristin got to fully immerse herself in Italian culture. Taking that experience into consideration, she was to create a contemporary space within an existing space in Rome and come up with a business for it. Being that public transportation is large part of everyday life for people in Rome, Kristin had the idea to create a series of bus stop shelters since they are currently nonexistent. The only thing that currently signifies a bus stop in Rome is a sign that shows what buses stop there.

Kristin's proposal for this project is to create open air indoor bus stops throughout Rome because currently, there is hardly anything other a sign for the bus stop. At some stops, there is currently a small overhead covering and benches.That sounds decent but the overhead covering isn't nearly large enough to cover the amount of people waiting at the stop and the benches are maybe about five inches wide so they are very uncomfortable to sit on especially for long periods of time.

Her idea is to solve this problem by creating a more comfortable and enjoyable experience for users of the buses. The bus stops would be open air and include seating, fans, to help beat the summer heat, bathrooms, a small café, and a newsstand. The amenities included at each bus stop depend upon its size and the amount of people that use the stop. For example, the smaller bus stop at Pizzeria di Simone in Trastevere would just include seating and protection from the weather. At this stop, she noticed there are not a lot of people there waiting for the bus, therefore it wouldn’t include many amenities because of the low volume of users. The bus stop at Largo di Torre Argentina is a medium size bus stop and there is usually a decent amount of people here. Therefore, this would be the middle sized bus top of the set. It would include seating, fans, bathrooms, a newsstand, and a small café to accommodate users. The third type of bus stop would be the largest and considered the hub. An example of the stop would be at Roma Termini. bus stops here, there would also be bus stops like the one at Pizzeria di Simone throughout the bus stops.

One of the realities of the current locations of the bus stops is the poverty. Public spaces like this can attract that poverty and those homeless can take the advantage of the space as a place to spend their day, which can turn away other users. Although everyone should feel welcome in these spaces, Kristin wants to avoid this problem. She thinks if she creates spaces that look and feel nice, maybe it would drive away the attention. Another reality of the city of Rome is that it’s slightly dirty. This is possibly due to their current economic situation but, it hides how environmentally conscious they are. The majority of their cars are very energy efficient and everyone separates their trash in order to recycle as much as possible. To show this consciousness, she wants the bus stops to be green spaces and be as eco-friendly as possible.