michael Landa

The issue that I have chosen is homelessness. The issue of homelessness is an issue that not only affects my neighborhood, but also affects the City of Los Angeles. What homelessness looks like in my neighborhood consists of tents being set up on the sidewalk along with trash and fast food wrappers next to them. We all know that homelessness is not sustainable and cannot continue. Homelessness falls under the category of social sustainability. What is social sustainability you might ask, My partner and i decided that to us it means “it's the idea of equality among a community. There is no labeling or judgement based on a person's race, sexuality, or class. Aspects of social sustainability include equity, corporation, democracy, and human rights.” Overall this is what we believe it is and that it not the homeless fault but they aren't contributing to and benefitting from the structures and services provided by the governing bodies. The system of homeless shelters is working but there is just not enough for the huge population of homeless we have in los angeles. This relates back to this pillar of social sustainability, as contributing members of society we have to help out people that are in a bad place. My project, specifically my map encourages people to donate to shelters so that they can get more money and help out more homeless. Overall through my ARCGIS map findings i found homeless shelters do help out the homeless people but there's just not enough across LA. So donating to those charities will really help give new money to be able to provide to the homeless and maybe open new shelters.
That is where my chime comes in place. I hope the chime allows people to not forget about the homeless. Most people just walk past them or avoid them, but I want my chime when people see it to at least think about the situation that the homeless are in. Even if 5% are touched by my wind chime and 5% of those 5% donate to a charity that would be the purpose of it to bring awareness to the homeless. The way I will achieve this is the chime will be placed in neighborhoods where people live near the homeless. It would be made out of materials from an ideal home on one side and on the other side it will hang what a homeless persons living would include. My chime will be very artistic and one half is painted white and the other half an assortment of colors. The white side represents the purity of living in an ideal life and not having to struggle knowing where will you sleep at night, It will include common household pieces. Next the other half will have ideal pieces of a homeless person's life, The items will include ripped cloth and other undesirable items to you that are very important to a homeless person. The objects on my chime are meant to evoke a feeling in the person viewing it. I would like the person to see my chime and think to themselves “what is normal life”. To most normal life is having a place to live/shelter, but for a homeless person sadly this is not true. I assume most people will just walk by the chime, but if it is able to inspire only a small percent of the community that is the goal of the chime. Overall the wind chime will not solve the problem of homelessness,but it most definitely can help by bringing awareness by using art and hopefully getting some people to donate.
Overall my chime and map will be able to maybe help those who are homeless are in need of a shelter. If people see my chime and are compelled to donate then it will greatly help the homeless. The pillar of social sustainability comes into play because we are all contributing to society it's our issue as well, and we should help the homeless. I hope to change any person's mind in this topic and get them to feel for the homeless people. I believe when people see the chime they will be saddened by this issue but be more aware and ready to donate and help. Lastly i hope that the issue of homelessness is fixed soon and to anyone reading this please help and donate. There is a link on my ARCGIS map. Thank you