Master degree thesis in Product service system design: SunRide

Design and implementation of a sustainable mobility PSS in Cape Town

Scuola del design Corso di laurea magistrale in Product Service System Design Relatore: Carlo Vezzoli Correlatori: Fabrizio Ceschin, Claudio Dell’Era, Paolo Landoni Tesi di laurea specialistica di Emanuela Delfino e Silvia Remotti A.A. 2010-2011 Data di discussione: 24 Aprile 2012

“Always remember that the future comes one day at a time�

Dean Acheson

Abstract - English The aim of the thesis is to design and implement a sustainable mobility system for Cape Town context primarily allowing people with physical disability to have access to the mobility but at the same time providing also to residents, commuters, tourists a low emission transportation alternative. The results obtained are the design of a concept and the design and implementation of two socio-technical experiments as fundamental phases for the carrying out of the concept.

The thesis is based on Mulo System, a family of light working vehicles for urban contexts powered by solar, electric and human power. Mulo system is also an open project promoted by DIS (Design & Innovation for Sustainability) that can be developed in collaboration with universities in different contexts, as well as local companies, NGOs and administrations: the common and shared goal is to diffuse sustainable mobility systems.

The thesis’ work consists in the development of a detailed concept and in the design and implementation of a transition path with the aim of introducing and diffusing the product-service.

The project became reality thanks to the collaboration with some local institutions: the university, a company that produce aid for disabled and other NGOs. A part of the incubation phase was followed with the objective of creating the proper condition to introduce the project into the society. During this stage the vehicle’ production was ended and new actors were involved with the creation of important collaborations.

Secondly, the experimentation phase was detailed and it led to the development of two socio-technical experiments in two different areas of Cape Town.

The two experiments consist the creation of two mobility services for the transportation of disabled and elderly people and afterword also of the tourists within the selected areas.

The aim is to test the product service system and to create visibility around the project, raising the interests of other actors.

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Abstract English

The two students designed individually the different objectives the pilot project is meant to act.

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Silvia Remotti designed the function as a LAB, in order to test, learn and improve the PSS innovation on different aspects (technical, economical, usability aspects, as well as the environmental and socio-cultural ones). In particular the student tested the vehicle, designed and presented the service, collected feedbacks from the users and the service providers in order to learn and improve the vehicles’ usability and the structure of the service.

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At the same time, Emanuela Delfino designed the function of WINDOW of the pilot project to raise interest on the innovation project, build-up synergies with existing similar initiatives and attract new potential partners. During this phase the student created “an open gallery� to allow new potential users and partners to visit the experiment, to get more information about the project and to see the intermediary results. Furthermore a launch event was organized in order to create visibility around the experiment with the goal to scale-up and spread the innovation.

In general, the pilot project has been designed also as AGENT OF CHANGE, to introduce and diffuse new ideas and knowledge to the community stimulating a change of perspectives, beliefs, habits and routines. The ideas spread by the pilot project are based on the sustainable mobility and more in general on the sustainable growth as solution to the economical and social problems of the developing contexts.

Abstract English

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Abstract - Italian Gli obiettivi della tesi consistono nel progettare e implementare un sistema di mobilità sostenibile per il contesto di Città del Capo che permetta principalmente a persone con disabilità fisiche di avere accesso alla mobilità, fornendo allo stesso tempo un’alternativa di trasporto a ridotto impatto ambientale per residenti, pendolari e turisti. I risultati ottenuti sono la progettazione di un concept di progetto e la progettazione ed implementazione di due esperimenti socio-tecnici come fasi fondamentali per la messa a punto del concept.

La seguente tesi è basata su Mulo System, una famiglia di veicoli leggeri da lavoro a pedalata assistita da energia solare ed elettrica destinati ad ambienti urbani. Mulo system è anche un progetto promosso dal DIS (Design e Innovazione per la sostenibilità) e rappresenta un “open project” che può essere sviluppato in diversi contesti tramite la collaborazione con università, imprese locali, ONG e amministrazioni: lo scopo comune è quello di diffondere sistemi di mobilità sostenibile.

Il lavoro di tesi consiste nello sviluppo di un concept dettagliato a pieno regime e nella progettazione e implementazione di un percorso volto a introdurre e diffondere il prodotto-servizio. Il progetto si è potuto sviluppare grazie alla collaborazione con alcune istituzioni locali: l’università, un’impresa che produce ausili per disabili e alcune associazioni no-profit.

E’ stata messa a punto una parte della fase di incubazione del progetto, con l’obiettivo di creare le condizioni adatte ad introdurre il progetto nella società. Durante questo stadio è stata portata a termine la produzione del veicolo e sono stati coinvolti nuovi partner con i quali si sono create significative collaborazioni.

In secondo luogo, è stata approfondita la fase di sperimentazione, che ha portato allo sviluppo di due esperimenti socio-tecnici in due aree distinte di Città del Capo.

I due esperimenti consistono quindi nella creazione di due servizi di mobilità per il trasporto di disabili o anziani e, successivamente, anche di turisti all’interno delle aree prescelte. Lo scopo è quello

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Abstract Italian

di testare il sistema di prodotto-servizio e creare visibilità attorno al progetto sollevando così l’interesse di altri attori.

Le due tesiste hanno progettato singolarmente i diversi obbiettivi che l’esperimento socio-tecnico deve compiere.

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Silvia Remotti ha progettato la funzione di LAB con la finalità di testare, imparare e migliorare l’innovazione del sistema su diversi aspetti (aspetti tecnici, economici, e di fruibilità, così come gli aspetti sociali, culturali e contestuali). In particolare, la studentessa si è occupata di testare il veicolo, progettare e presentare il servizio, raccogliere i ‘feedback’ degli utenti e dello staff coinvolti nel servizio, con il fine di comprendere e migliorare l’effettiva funzionalità del veicolo e la struttura/organizzazione del servizio stesso.

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Contemporaneamente, Emanuela Delfino ha progettato la funzione di WINDOW del progetto pilota allo scopo di sollevare interesse sull’innovazione, creare sinergie con iniziative simili già esistenti in loco e attirare nuovi potenziali partner. Durante questa fase, la tesista ha ideato una “open gallery” in grado di ospitare nuovi potenziali utenti e attori e dar loro la possibilità di conoscere a fondo l’esperimento, ottenere informazioni riguardo il progetto e apprendere i risultati intermedi. Inoltre, è stato realizzato un evento di lancio del prodotto-servizio con lo scopo di dare maggior visibilità, diffondere l’idea di innovazione e promuovere un suo possibile ampliamento anche in nuovi contesti.

In generale, il progetto pilota è stato ideato anche come AGENT OF CHANGE, ovvero come agente di cambiamento per introdurre e diffondere nuove idee e conoscenze alla comunità stimolando un rinnovamento di prospettiva, di opinioni e di abitudini. Le idee diffuse dal progetto pilota sono volte alla mobilità sostenibile e più in generale alla crescita sostenibile come soluzione ai problemi economici e sociali di un ambiente ancora in via di sviluppo. L’approccio progettuale adottato è innovativo: le due tesiste non si sono concentrate solamente nella definizione di un concept ma anche di tutte le fasi necessarie per l’introduzione del progetto nella società, secondo una struttura dinamica e in continuo adattamento.

Abstract Italian

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Index PART I: Theoretical background Chapter 1. Product-Service System innovations: a promising

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approach to sustainability 1.1 What is a sustainable PSS?

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1.2 How to design sustainable PSS?

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1.3 Can sustainable PSS be a promising concept for low-income

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and emerging contexts?

1.4 Why sustainable innovations are not so diffused?

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1.5 Which are the barriers that hinder radical innovation?

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Chapter 2. The societal embedding of sustainable Product-

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Service-Systems 2.1 How can a radical innovation be introduced/diffused?

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2.2 Transition management and Strategic niche management

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2.3 Transition paths to introduce and scale-up sustainable PSS

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concept 2.4 What is a socio-technical experiment?

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2.5 How socio-technical experiments can be fostered?

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2.6 How socio-technical experiments can contribute to transi-

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tions?

Chapter 3. Sustainable mobility

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3.1 Introduction

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3.2 Mobility in low-income contexts

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3.3 The importance of mobility for socio-economic development

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Chapter 4. The role of strategic design in supporting the intro-

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duction and scaling-up of sustainable Product-Service-Systems

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4.1 Designing transition paths

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4.2. New design approaches and tools

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Index

PART II. Mulo project Chapter 5. Project background

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5.1 Mulo system (Sistema per la MobilitĂ Urbana da LavorO): the

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vehicle and the service 5.2 Mulo system as an open project by DIS Unit of Research of

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Politecnico di Milano Chapter 6. Mulo in Africa

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6.1 Three master degree theses about Mulo in low-income con-

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texts: Zambia, Burkina Faso and South Africa 6.2 Kanga project: the first concept that lead to the formalization

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of the concept vision

PART III. Cape Town sustainable mobility project: 2009-2010 Chapter 7. Initial Pss concept vision

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7.1 Formalization of the initial concept vision

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Chapter 8. The incubation: first phase

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8.1 Identification of actors to be involved

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8.1.1 Promoters

8.1.2 Sponsors

8.2 Start-up workshop for activation of the Cape Town mobility

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project 8.3 Identification of implementation barriers 8.4 Define roles and the action plan

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PART IV. Cape Town sustainable mobility project: 2010-ongoing

Index

Chapter 9. Design methodology

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9.1 Design phases

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Chapter 10. Cape Town context analysis

129

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10.1 Mobility situation with a focus on disabled accessibility 10.2 Socio-economic issue

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Chapter 11. Current PSS concept vision: SunRide

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11.1 Introduction

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11.2 Design of the PSS concept vision

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11.2.1 Stakeholders and users involved in the PSS

11.3 Back office: interaction between main service provider and

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intermediate users

11.3.1 Main service provider: partnership BEN+ Shonaquip

11.3.2 Economic hypothesis from the BEN+Shonaquip

perspective

11.4 Front office: interaction between intermediate and final users

11.4.1 Intermediary user 1: Bicycle Empowerment Centres

11.4.2 Economic hypothesis from BEC perspective

11.4.3 Intermediary user 2: Awol Tours

11.4.4 Economic hypothesis from Awol Tours perspective

11.4.5 Intermediary user 3: The City of Cape Town

11.4.6 Economic hypothesis from the CoCT perspective

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11.5 Coordinate Image

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Chapter 12. The incubation: second phase

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12.1 Broadening of the project network

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12.2 The vehicle production process: a key role

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12.2.1 Actors involved and material supplied

12.2.2 Problems and barriers encountered

Chapter 13. The socio-technical experiment in Bridgetown

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13.1 Strategic analysis

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13.1.1 Geographical and ethnographical features

13.1.2 PSS users

13.1.3 PSS providers

13.2 Design

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13.2.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a LAB

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Index

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13.2.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a WINDOW

13.3 Implementation

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13.3.1 Presentation of the service to the users

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13.3.2 Introduction of BEN bikes pedicab and test of

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13.3.3 Introduction of the Mulo prototype

13.4 Evaluation

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13.4.1 Test of the service with pedicab

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13.4.2 Collection of feedback

Chapter 14. The socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill

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14.1 Strategic analysis

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14.1.1 Geographical and ethnographical features

14.1.2 PSS users

14.1.3 PSS providers

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14.2.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a 14.2.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a WINDOW

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14.2.3 Economical hypothesis for the sustainability of the experiment

14.3 Implementation

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14.3.1 Introduction of the PSS in the community

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14.3.2 Test the vehicle with the PSS providers

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14.3.3 The launch event

14.4 Evaluation

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14.4.1 The launch event

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14.4.2 Vehicle test

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14.4.3 Feedback collection

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LAB

Index

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13.4.3 Lesson learned

14.2 Design

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14.4.4 Lesson learned

Chapter 15. The socio-technical experiment as a Lab

265

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15.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a “Lab”

266

15.2 Technical test and improvements

267

15.2.1 Test of the vehicle at Shonaquip

15.2.2 Test of the vehicle at Lavender Hill

15.3 Existing policy, regulative frameworks and infrastructures

15.3.1 Existing policy and regulative frameworks

15.3.2 Existing infrastructures

15.4 Societal and cultural acceptance issues

15.4.1 The experience in Bridgetown

15.4.2 Working with Fagodien in his BEC and

taking part to the Infundo cycling club

15.4.3 Meeting with the local NGO’s and

associations

15.5 Feedback collection

15.5.1 Contextual interview at the drivers

15.5.2 Questionnaire at the users

15.5.3 Interview at the service organizer

15.5.4 Interview at the technician

15.5.5 Results and evaluations

15.6 Experiment evaluation

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15.6.1 Pss technical aspects and usability

15.6.2 Sustainability

Chapter 16. The socio-technical experiment as a “Window” and

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281

286

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“Agent of Change” 16.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a “Window”

16.1.1 Create visibility around the experiment

16.1.2 The design of the experiment launch event

16.1.3 Create synergies with other projects/initiatives

16.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as “Agent of

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change”

16.2.1 Influence and affect contextual conditions in order

to favour the societal embedding process

16.3 Main results of the experiment with the functions of “Win-

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dow” and “Agent of Change”

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Index

Chapter 17. Designing and fostering the scaling-up

315

17.1 Future objectives and next steps

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PART IV. Conclusions Chapter 18. Project considerations

325

18.1 Adopted design attitude and involvement

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18.2 Evolution of the PSS concept vision

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18.3 Description of the main achieved results

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Chapter 19. Experience considerations

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19.1 The experience as a professional and personal growth

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19.2 As a case study for strategic designers

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References

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Vocabulary:

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Glossary

List of involved stakeholders

List of abbreviations

Acknowledgements

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Appendix 1

Feedback collection package

Appendix 2

Interaction Table Storyboard

Appendix 3

Index

Journey of the Cape Town sustainable mobility

project

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PART I: Theoretical background

Chapter 1.

Product-Service System innovations: a promising approach to sustainability

1.1 What is a sustainable PSS?

Over the last few years, starting with a more stringent interpretation of sustainability, the attention has partially moved to design for eco-efficient system innovation, therefore to a wider dimension than that of the single product (Stahel 1997; Hockerts 1998; Goedkoop, van Halen, Riele, Rommes 1999; Lindhqvist 2000; Cooper 2000; Brezet 2001; Charter, Tischner 2001; Manzini, Vezzoli 2011; Bijma, Stuts, Silvester 2001; Zaring 2001; Mont 2002; UNEP 2002; Scholl 2006). A wide debate on the definition of eco-efficient system innovation took place between design researchers and they decided to use the term Product-Service system. A Product service system (PSS) is a specific type of value proposition that shifts the business focus from selling products to offering a combination of products and services jointly capable to fulfil a final customer satisfaction (Goedkoop et al. 1999; UNEP 2002). In other words a PSS can be described as an integrated system of products and services delivered by a network of stakeholders, and designed to be competitive and satisfy customer needs.

To clarify this concept we can take the example used in a UNEP publication (UNEP, 2002): given the “satisfaction� in having clean clothes, we do not need only a washing machine but also water, detergent and electricity (and the service that supply them), and maintenance, repair and disposal services. In the case of a traditional product sale, the producer of the washing machine has an interest in reducing material and energy consumption during the production phase (as well as the producer of the detergent and the one of the electricity) but he has no direct economic interest either in limiting consumption during use or reducing the impact of the resulting waste in the environment. So when we talk about system innovation, it is meant an innovation that involves all the different socio-economic stakeholders in this satisfaction system: the washing machine and detergent producers, the 18

PART I > Chapter 1

water and the electricity suppliers, the user and those responsible for maintenance and disposal. A perfect solution linked to the satisfaction of having clean clothes is the Pay-per-Use solution offered by Ariston (an Italian appliances producer).

In this example Ariston, rather than selling a washing machine, provides access to it enabling clients to have their clothes cleaned. The company provide to the users a washing machine delivering it to their home (the washing machine is not owned by the customers), electricity supply (not directly paid by the customer), maintenance, and end-of-life collection. The costumer payment is based only on the number of washes he does. Basically, rather than the “traditional” forms of sales, ownership, consume and disposal, this value proposition is focused on delivering a particular satisfaction, in this case “having clean clothes”; and this satisfaction is delivered through a mix of products (owned by Ariston) and services.

Within this business model Ariston is not economically stimulated in accelerating the replacement of washing machines in order to increase sales. Rather the company is interested in reducing as much as possible the washing machine energy consumption in order to reduce operational costs and maximise profits, and in designing and providing long lasting, reusable and recyclable washing machines in order to postpone the disposal costs and reducing the costs for the manufacturing of new washing machines.

Life cycle (system) resources optimization: product function-based Discrete resources life cycle (system) optimization: phase- resource optimization: based (e.g producer) product function-based

Discrete resources optimization: phase-based (e.g. producer)

[e.g. washing machine] [e.g. washing machine, function: cloth washing]

Figure 1.1-1 Stakeholders in a product life cycle: discrete vs. system resources optimization

PART I > Chapter 1

Wide system resources optimization: solution based

[e.g.detergent]

[e.g. maintenance service]

[e.g. solution = to have clothes washed]

Figure 1.1-2 Stakeholders in a products and services life-cycle mix: discrete vs. wide system resources optimization

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These innovative PSS could lead “to a system minimization of resources, as a consequence of innovative stakeholder interaction and related converging economic interests” (UNEP 2002). PSS innovation can be seen as a possible choice for companies to separate resource consumption from its traditional connection with profit and standard of living improvements; to find new profit centres, to compete and generate value and social equity while decreasing total resource consumption. PSS innovation is potentially a winwin solution: winning for the producer/providers, the users and the environment (Vezzoli, 2006).

Figure 1.1-3 PSS: a winning solution (adapted from UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics)

As a government, you are concerned about maintaining a sound economy and a healthy environment for all

As a company, you think about environmentally favourable ways of enhancing growth and competitiveness of your business

As a citizen, you want to make responsible purchase decisions and improve your quality of life without adversely affecting the environment

PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEMS: A WIN WIN SOLUTION Government promotes more sustainable production and consumption patterns.

Companies provide a service instead of tangible products

Consumers buy a service to fulfil their needs instead of buying a products

We don’t have to assume that PSS is synonymous of low environmental impact: it does not guarantee environmental improvements. As stated by UNEP (2002) PSSs only have the potential to do so. PSSs in fact offer a promising concept to move in the direction of sustainability; but this potential can be exploited only if PSSs are properly designed, developed and delivered (Ceschin, 2010).

Figure 1.1-4 Product Service System scheme (adapted from Ceschin 2011)

stakeholders network

product/s

service/s

need/s satisfaction

customer/s

A PSS is a system of products and services, produced and delivered by a network of stakeholders network, and designed to be competitive and satisfy customer needs.

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PART I > Chapter 1

In order to be eco-efficient, a PSS should create economic and competitive incentives to decrease and optimise material and energy consumption for all the actors of the network.

Secondly, all the products belonging to the PSS should be properly designed and developed with a low environmental impact in the various phase of the life cycle. The configuration of new stakeholders’ interactions constitutes the starting point towards achieving certain environmental results, but it is only with the proper design of the products associated with the PSS that these results can be actually achieved.

Starting from these considerations an eco-efficient PSS can be defined as a PSS “where the economic and competitive interest of the providers continuously seeks environmentally beneficial new solutions” (Lens, 2011). Eco-efficient PSS is not always a sustainable PSS. In order to be sustainable, we have to include also the socio-ethical dimension.

The socio-ethical dimension can be classified in three socioethical groups: benefits for customers, for the value chain, and for the society at a whole. These three socio-ethical aspects in a PSS allow to: improve quality of life, enable a responsible/sustainable consumption, increase equity and justice in relation to stakeholders, integrate weak people (e.g. kids, elderly, differently able, etc.) and marginalized people (e.g. unemployed, illiterate, etc.) in the value chain, increase in local employment and a consequent dissemination of skills, create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs, improve social cohesion, empower and enhance local resources.

Figure 1.1-5 Product sales versus PSS (adapted from UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics)

PART I > Chapter 1

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELLING A PRODUCT VS A FUNCTION Traditional product sales (selling tangible goods)

Innovative alternatives: product service system (selling tangible goods)

Consumer buys a vacuum cleaner to clean house

Consumer rents a vacuum cleaner to clean house

Consumer buys a service from a company to clean house. (Company determines best equipment and methods based on consumer’s needs )

The consumer owns, uses and stores vacuum cleaner.

Consumer is responsible for maintenance and the quality of the cleaning.

Company retains ownership of vacuum cleaner and is responsible for maintenance.

Consumer is responsible for use and quality of cleaning

Company retains ownership of vacuum cleaner and is responsible for maintenance.

Consumer is responsible for use and quality of cleaning

Initial investment for consumer could be considerable

Consumer costs are spread out over time

Consumer costs are spread out over time

Consumer ultimately disposes of vacuum cleaner and buys replacement

Company responsible for disposal and has incentives to prolong use and product recyclability

Company responsible for disposal and has incentives to prolong use and recyclability of cleaning equipment

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1.2 How to design a sustainable PSS? The design and development of sustainable PSSs need the implementation of a new design approach. This is essential in order to move from product thinking to system thinking, and breakdown the business as usual attitude (Manzini et al.

2001; Manzini and Vezzoli 2003). The new design approach can be articulated in four parts: - a “satisfaction-system” approach: from a single product or service to the combination of products and services capable to fulfil the give demand of satisfaction (Vezzoli, 2010); - a “stakeholder configuration” approach: design the configuration of the stakeholders network and the interactions occurring between them (Vezzoli, 2010); - a “customer-oriented” approach: design the relationship between the customer and the actors producing and delivering the PSS (Baines et al. 2007); - and a “system sustainability” approach: PSS eco-efficient and socially equitable and cohesive (Vezzoli, 2010).

Designers besides having this new design approach should have new main skills to ideate and develop sustainable PSSs (Vezzoli 2007). Firstly the ability to design an integrated system of products and services fulfilling a particular demand of satisfaction; secondly the ability to promote and facilitate new socio-economic stakeholder interactions; thirdly the ability to promote and facilitate participated design between different stakeholders; fourthly the ability to orientate the above processes towards eco-efficient and sustainable solutions.

From a more practical point of view, several methods and 22

PART I > Chapter 1

tools have been developed by the researchers in the last years in order to support the designing of eco-efficient and sustainable PSSs. The most relevant methods come from the results of recently funded European research projects: SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household 1998-2000), ProSecCo (Product-Service Co-design 20022004), HiCs (Highly Customerized Solutions 20012004), MEPSS (MEthodology for Product Service System development 2002-2005), SusProNet (Sustainable Product Development Network 2002-2005) and D4S (step by step approach 2009).

ECO-EFFICIENT PSS: RESEARCHES, DESIGN TOOLS Figure 1.2-1 EcoEfficient PSS: researches DESIGN METHOD AND TOOLS of an and design tools IMPLEMENTATION AND DIFFUSION PROCESS ECO-EFFICIENT (Vezzoli) PSS

SusHouse, Sustainable Household

[Vergragtetal, 2000]

HiCS, Highly Customerised Solutions

[Manzini et al, 2004]

MEPSS, MEthodology for Product Service System development

ProSecCo, Product Service Co-design

TOOLS

[van Halen et al 2005]

- Polarities diagram - Poster

IMPLEMENTED AND DIFFUSED ECO-EFFICIENT PSS

SusProNet, Network on sustainable PSS development

D4S step by step approach

[Tischner& Vezzoli, 2009]

[Tukker&Tischner, 2006]

- Motivation matrix - Storyboard - Opportunity - System Map - Offering Diagram module - Solution elements - SDO toolkit - Diagnosis module - System asses- Interaction table - Implementation ment module

These methods are usually organised around four main phases: preparatory phase (or strategic analysis), exploring opportunities, PSS concept design and PSS engineering.

For example the MSDS, Methodology for System Design for Sustainability (Vezzoli, Ceschin and Cortesi 2009; Vezzoli 2010; Vezzoli et al. 2011) is divided in six different phases: strategic analysis, aimed at gaining the information needed to generate ideas oriented towards sustainability; exploring opportunities, aimed at producing a series of promising strategic possibilities (scenarios); PSS concept PART I > Chapter 1

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design, aimed at developing one or more system concept; PSS design and engineering, aimed at developing a detailed concept required for its implementation; communication, a series of tools aimed to guide the designer in the process towards the development of sustainable PSSs and tools to facilitate the co-design and visualisation of PSSs. Figure 1.2-2 Method for System Design for Sustainability (MSDS)

PHASES

AIM

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT PROMOTERS ANALYSIS OF THE REFERENCE CONTEXT ANALYSIS OF THE REFERENCE STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF THE CASES OF EXCELLENCE DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN PRIORITIES

Obtain the information necessary to facilitate the generation of sustainable ideas.

EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES

Create a catalogue of sustainability designoriented scenarios

DESIGNING SYSTEM CONCEPTS

Determine a one or more system concepts oriented towards sustainability

DESIGNING (& ENGINEERING) A SYSTEM

Develop the most promising concept into a detailed version.

COMMUNICATION

Draw up documents to communicate the characteristics of the system designed.

IDEAS GENERATION ORIENTED TO SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY ORIENTED DESIGN SCENARIOS, VISIONS, CLUSTERS AND IDEAS VISIONS, CLUSTERS AND SINGLE IDEAS SELECTION SYSTEM CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIO & ECONOMIC EVALUATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT (EXECUTIVE LEVEL) ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIO & ECONOMIC EVALUATION

VISUALISATION DOCUMENTS EDITING

These methods and associated tools can effectively support designers and companies in the different phases of the process of ideation and development of eco-efficient and sustainable PSSs (Verkuijl et al. 2006). One big problem emerges on these methods: they put too little emphasis on the implementation phase. This is an important phase that faces several barriers that cause delay in the implementation and diffusion of these radical innovations. Most of the methods do not even mention this phase, while other only provide general suggestions and guidelines (Ceschin 2011).

Most of these methods were born only few years ago in a research context limiting the diffusion of these methods and tools between designers and design companies (the process of transferring knowledge from universities/research centres to companies and designers takes time).

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PART I > Chapter 1

1.3 Can sustainable PSS be a promising concept for a lowincome and emerging context?

The goal of sustainability is a challenge not only for industrialized contexts but also for low-income and emerging ones.

In order to achieve this goal there are different approaches in relation to the different types of contexts (Hart and Milstein, 1999): in industrially matured context there is the necessity to reduce the use of resources needed for the production of products, in emerging contexts is to look how they can get over it and going directly towards sustainable consumption and production system and in the low-income contexts the urgent need is to promote the system of production and consumptions in covering basic needs and providing a consequent basis for a sustainable growth (Vezzoli 2011). In other words “PSS may act as business opportunities to facilitate the process of social economical development of emerging context by passing the stage characterized by individual consumption/ownership of mass produced goods towards more advanced service-economy “satisfaction-based” and low resources intensive” (UNEP, 2002).

Low-income and emerging contexts need to go through a process of socio-economic growth in order to reach a socially perceived quality of life similar to the industrialized one. To achieve this goal, a redistribution of resources has to took place connected to a wider range of responsibilities, such as: the social equity, human rights and freedom, the reduction of poverty and injustice, the improvement of education and employment, the achievement of peace and security, the principles of democracy, the respect for cultural diversity, regional identity and natural biodiversity (UN, 2002). In other words we have to promote “a democratic, socially inclusive, cohesive, healthy, safe and just society with respect for fundamental rights and cultural diversity that creates equal opportunities and combats discrimination in all its forms” (E, 2006).

Sustainable and eco-efficient PSS are really promising for low-income and emerging contexts combining eco-effiPART I > Chapter 1

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ciency with the improvement of social equity and cohesion. Firstly an eco-efficient PSS represents opportunities to respond more easily to unsatisfied social demands; secondly PSS are more correlated on the context of use because they are linked with the final user (a strong network of local stakeholders rather then global facilitate a reinforcement and prosperity of the local economy); thirdly the PSS are more relationship intensive and this increase local employments and diffusion of skills; fourthly they are coherent with the programme of re-globalisation because PSSs develop network enterprises on local base (Vezzoli 2011).

The PSSs developed in low-income and emerging contexts, in order to favour the social equity and cohesion qualification of these contexts together with eco-efficiency, have to be “characterized by the improvement of local-based and network-structured enterprises and initiatives, for a sustainable re-globalisation process aiming at a democratisation of access to resources, goods and services� (Vezzoli, 2011).

In emerging and low-income contexts is not only a matter of appropriate technologies (which is key important indeed), but even of appropriate stakeholders identification and appropriate interactions and partnerships definition among them.

The potential implications for the design are enormous in these contexts but they need to be investigate to confirm or not their validity and consistency, as well as proposing improvements to its content, starting from the given definition of the role, to the approaches, the requested skills and the proposed tools.

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Example of PSS innovation in low-income and emerging contexts: Distributed Solar Energy and electrical devices as an allinclusive package, Brazil Through his work in low-income rural Brazilian contexts aiming at electrification solutions, Fabio Rosa founded both a for-profit corporation, Agroelectric System of Appropriate Technology (STA) and a not-for profit organization, the Institute for Development of Natural Energy and Sustainability (IDEAAS).

Rosa knew that he could lease his solar energy service for close to the same cost as people were spending on inferior, nonrenewable energy sources. The Sun Shine For All developed a basic photovoltaic solar home system that could be rented for US$ 10/month plus an initial installation fee, a little more than what people were already spending on nonrenewable forms of energy.

Fabio Rosa figured out early on that the rural poor are not interested in buying solar panels. What they are interested in is having access to the conveniences that electricity providers, such as effective and safe lighting at night and the ability to listen to the radio or heat shower water. Based on this understanding, in 2001, Rosa began exploring a new business model to provide Brazils rural people with what they needed: energy services, not just solar energy. To that end TSSFA developed a leasing structure whereby customers pay a monthly fee for the use of cost effective solar energy packages.

Figure 1.3-1 The home solar kit PSS in low-income rural Brazilian context.

Figure 1.3-2 Fabio Rosa is a social entrepreneur and author of the Home solar kit PSS.

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1.4 Why sustainable innovations are not so diffused?

From the second half of the ‘90s the theme sustainability is become more and more important and popular. A series of studies and analyses led to a clearer understanding of the dimension of change necessary to achieve a society that is effectively and globally sustainable. In the mature industrial contexts in 50 years we should use 90% less resources than industrialised countries are doing today (Factor 10 Club, 1994; Schmidt-Bleek, 1996; WBCSD, 1996). In order to achieve this goal we have to drastically reduce the consumption of environmental resources. It is clear that finding innovations just on a product level is not enough to obtain these results. Product innovations can improve environmental performances of products but they also often negatively counterbalanced by an increase in consumption levels (Haake and Jolivet, 2001).

Some companies, for examples are economically interested in reducing the energy and material consumption in the production phase, but at the same time they do not have a direct economic interest in extending a product life span as much as possible. Products innovations are not enough; we have to move towards a wider systemic approach that takes in consideration new potential ways of satisfying the social demand of wellbeing. In order to do that we should move from an economy based on the exchange of products to be consumed (e.g. mobility; thermal comfort; having clean clothes) to a functional economy in which products are simply means for providing functions (e.g. mobility; thermal comfort; having clean clothes). The solution for a functional economy is the developments of sustainable and eco-efficient innovations based on the design of PSSs. Also knowing that PSSs are the solutions for the sustainability issue, PSSs are not really diffused into the society because they are often radical innovations.

A radical innovation compared to an incremental innovation is drastic extreme, it has always to manage with a dominant socio-technical regime and its established and stable rules and 28

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networks of actors (Schot and Geels 2008). Sustainable PSS innovations, as we said, are in most cases radical innovation (Tukker and Tischner 2006a) because they challenge existing institutions, customers’ habits and lifestyles, companies’ organizational structures and regulative frameworks and as a result they have high probability to be rejected under mainstream market conditions. Sustainable PSSs innovations usually require a change in the routine behaviours that are daily reproduced by individuals, groups, business communities, governmental institutions, and society at large scale. Radical innovations cannot be implemented in the same way as incremental innovations, which assume the stability of the technological, regulatory and market environment. The incremental innovations is a series of small improvements to an existing product or system that usually helps maintain or improve its competitive position over time. Usually companies that need to continue to improve their products to satisfy new features desired by consumers regularly use incremental innovation within the high technology business. Instead radical innovations, since they usually are extremist and revolutionary, need more time and a strategic process to influence the dominant regime, routines and cultural habits. Researchers are doing a strong battle to introduce and implement PSSs innovation in the companies and the societies. For those companies that do see PSS innovation as key to their future, there are still significant challenges to be faced, not only in developing a promising PSS concept, but also in understanding the contextual conditions in which it is introduced and identifying the best strategies and development pathways to implement and scale-up it in the market.

RADICAL INNOVATION

Figure 1.4-1 Differences between radical innovation and incremental innovation Emphasis

> Focus on developing new products, processes or services that transform the economy of a business Technology > Exploration of new technology Trajectory > Sporadic and discontinuous: revolutionary Risk & Success > Unpredictable and highly uncertain Time frame > Mid to long-term Result > Creates a dramatic change that transforms existing markets or industries, or creates new ones

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INCREMENTAL INNOVATION

> Focus on costs or features improvements in existing processes, products or services > Exploitation of existing technology > Linear and continuos: evolutionary > Predictable and low uncertainty > Short term > Improves competitiveness within current markets or industries

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1.5 Which are the barriers that hinder radical innovation?

We can classify the issues for the implementation of a radical innovation in three main barriers: for the companies, for the costumers and the regulative framework.

For companies deliver products alone is a business strategy easy to manage, instead an eco-efficient PSS is much more complex. For the realization of eco-efficient PSS there is the need to implement changes in corporate culture and organisation in order to support a more systemic innovation and service-oriented business (UNEP 2002), and the need to cope with an internal resistance to extend the involvement with a product beyond point-of-sale (Stoughton et al. 1998). PSS require medium-long term investments and they are associated with uncertainties about cash flows (Mont 2004) discouraging producers from employing this concept (Mont 2002); this happens because PSS causes the changing of system and sources of gaining profit. Another obstacle is the difficulty of marketing the innovation to stakeholders both inside and outside the company or to the company’s strategic partners because it’s hard to quantify the savings arising from PSS in economic and environmental terms (UNEP 2002).

In order to accept a PSS, companies require new design and management knowledge and skills (Ceschin 2011).

For customers the main barrier is cultural: from the value of owning a product and being satisfied by that to an ownerless way of having a satisfaction fulfilled (Goedkoop et al. 1999; Manzini, Vezzoli and Clark 2001; Mont 2002; UNEP 2002).

Especially in business to costumer market, solutions based on sharing and access contradict the dominant and well-established norm of ownership (Behrendt et al. 2003) because the product ownership not only provides function to private users, but also status, image and a sense of control (James and Hopkinson 2002). For the costumers to understand the eco30

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nomic advantages of ownerless solutions is difficult because they have a lack of knowledge about life cycle costs (White et al. 1999).

A big barrier for the radical innovations is the regulative issue: environmental innovation is often not rewarded at the company level due to lack of internalization of environmental impacts (Mont and Lindhqvist 2003). Governments face difficulties in implementing appropriate policies to create corporate drivers to support the promotion and diffusion of eco-efficient PSS (Mont and Lindhqvist 2003; Ceschin and Vezzoli 2010). Traditional policy just provides instruments for targeting product environmental performances (e.g. ecolabelling) and they are not enough for the developing of radical innovations (Mont 2004).

Governments should intervene through specific PSS-targeted policy measures capable (directly or indirectly) to stimulate this kind of innovations (Mont and Lindhqvist 2003; Ceschin and Vezzoli 2010).

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Chapter 2.

The societal embedding of sustainable Product-Service-Systems

2.1 How can a radical innovation be introduced and diffused?

Radical innovations are innovations, which act as new interactions/partnership between the stakeholders of the demand satisfaction system, potentially to be oriented towards sustainable solutions. These kinds of innovations can lead up to new unions between the stakeholders, characterized by ecoefficient system and social equity and cohesion.

Radical innovations require a substantial change in culture (shifts in thinking models and perceptions), practise (changes in habits and ways of behaving and doing) and institutions (changes in regulations and norms). Radical changes have to face different barriers they meet in all the different stakeholders part of the system. For this reason the implementation and scaling-up of this kind of innovations has not only to deal with a technical issue, but also with matter of personal behaviours and habits, mind-sets, socio-economic and governmental contexts.

These factors are often interrelated and reinforced each other, and together they build-up a structure that favours incremental innovations and hinder more radical changes (Weber et al, 1999).

An often-used model for simplifying the complexity of such long-term and multi-actor processes is the Multi-Level-Perspective (MLP). The dynamics of transitions depend on the interactions between three different levels: - the socio-technical regime (meso level) refers to a dominant culture, practices and institutions, normative and rules related to a specific field (e.g. mobility, energy, etc.). Generally regimes are quite stable and resistant to change, because their rules and institutions and actors tend to discourage the development of alternatives; - the niche (micro level) is a protected space “isolated� from the influence of the dominant regime, where radical innovations can be tested and encouraged to grow, and potentially can challenge regime regulations and institutions to change; 34

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- and the landscape (macro level) represents the social, economic and political context in which actors interact and where regimes and niches evolve. It includes socio-economic and political structure but also unforeseen events such as wars or natural disasters.

Transitions take place through the fruitful coupling of developments at all three levels (Rip and Kemp 1998; Geels and Kemp 2000; Geels 2002): changes on the landscape level may put pressure on the regime and combined with an internal instability and malfunctioning of the regime can create windows of opportunities to accept radical innovations. When innovations are getting stable and sufficiently developed in niches, they can take advantage of windows of opportunities and take place in the socio-technical regime and consequently the regime can start to influence the landscape.

Niches are therefore a fundamental part of transitions, but not sufficient. Moreover, even if niche developments can hold great promise, they do not immediately live up to expectations because they are immature when they enter the market and they conflict with the way the society is organized.

In this sense, if immediately exposed to market competition, they have great probability to not survive. For these reasons a protected space should be created, where continuous experiments can bring them to mature (Schot and Hoogma 1996).

Niches can therefore be used as “incubation rooms� for experimenting (Geels 2002), learning, and improve the innovation and establish new social networks in order to gain momentum for diffusion or even replace dominant regime rules (Kemp et al 1998).

An essential condition during the introduction of radical innovations is the creation of partially protected sociotechnical experimentation.

The partly protected environment allows the incubation and the development of the experiment, in other words it allows the innovation to be step-by-step exposed to real-world conditions. A section up ahead better explains the concept of socio-technical experimentation and its potential in contributing to transitions.

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Figure 2.1-1 The dynamic of transitions (Ceschin 2011adapted from Geels 2002)

SOCIOTECHNICAL LANDSCAPE macro level

SOCIOTECHNICAL REGIME meso level

Markets, user preferences Industry Technology

Science

Policy Culture

NICHE INNOVATIONS micro level time

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2.2 Transition Management and Strategic Niche Management Recent developments have focussed on socio-technical transitions and how to facilitate the introduction and diffusion of radical innovations in relation to sustainable development.

According to these theories, an important pre-requisite in the introduction of radical innovations is the creation of partially protected socio-technical experiments; protection that allows incubation and maturation. An emerging pathway of socio-technical experiments can be used as a strategic arena for learning, shaping future expectations and establishing new social networks in order to gain momentum for diffusion, challenge and change prevailing regimes.

Strategic niche management is a tool to understand and manage radical socio-technical innovations and facilitate their diffusion.

SNM is an approach that was developed “to understand and influence the early adoption of new technologies with high potential to contribute to sustainable development� (Schot & Geels 2008). The approach was used to analyze historical case studies (e.g. Hoogma, 2000; Van Mierlo, 2002), and to formulate suggestions for policy makers, firms, or other technology promoters (e.g. Kemp, Schot and Hoogma, 1998; Weber et al., 1999; Hoogma et al., 2002). In most cases, the two applications were strongly related: SNM was used as a research model for historical cases and the cases were used to make policy and formulate governance suggestions.

It is a part of the emerging research tradition on socio-technical transitions and understands radical innovation as a process of niche development against the backdrop of dominant regime(s).

In other words, societal experiments like pilot projects are investigated as a way to create niches. Kemp, Schot and Hoogma (1998) define SNM as: the creation, development and controlled phase-out of protected spaces for the development and use of promising technologies by means of experiPART I > Chapter 2

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mentation, with the aim of (1) learning about the desirability of the new technology and (2) enhancing the further development and the rate of application of the new technology.

The SNM core idea is the experimental projects (such as pilot projects) in partially protected spaces (niches) that can offer a valuable stage for the formation of new social networks; for the sharing of form, function and desirability; and for the creation and organization of a broad social learning process.

The SNM has been proposed to exist out of five steps: 1) the choice of a technology; 2) selection of an experiment; 3) the set-up of an experiment; 4) scaling up the experiment; and 5) breakdown of protection, and a practitioner’s guide has been developed.

According to Hetland (1994) and Hoogma (2000) to create niches is important to define four types of experiments that increase the level of knowledge about the conditions needed to introduce an innovation. Experiments – whether they are explorative, pilot, demonstrative or replicable – are important in creating niches, because they reflect three important evolutionary and sociological aspects of niches. First, the interaction between technology actors (firms, research institutes), societal actors (users, environmental groups), and regulating actors (public authorities) may contribute to integrate the issues of different groups into the design. Second, experiments are often protected from some of the rules that combine the dominant socio-technical regime (evolutionary aspect). Public authorities can make this action of protection and those who can modify the normative such as firms can support the experiment technologically and economically.

Third, experiments are often characterized by high uncertainty and limited structure, especially at the first phases of experimentation (sociological aspect).

In SNM research, experiments are therefore often used as unit of analysis for investigating the development of niches and they are recommended for the creation of niches in policy.

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Figure 2.1-1 The role of innovation in system innovation strategies (Ceschin 2011 adaptation from Geels & Raven 2006)

outcomes and new promises by local actors

socio-technical experimentations

enrol new actors

global network of actors

learning

adjust expectations

knowledge, regulations, behavioural norms

accepted visions and expectations

resources and requirements

LOCAL LEVEL

GLOBAL LEVEL

Transition Management Experimenting in niches is crucial for learning about social challenges and stimulating transitions. In the 1990s and 2000s social scientists and policy makers have also developed and applied notions such as ‘Transition Management’ (TM) and ‘Strategic Niche Management’ (SNM) with the goal of developing instruments for governing transitions into socially desirable directions.

Transition management is rooted in complex systems theory. It is presented as a new form of reflexive governance that combines long-term envisioning with short-term action and reflection.

The transition management cycle existing out of four sets of activities: 1) Front runners in government, industry and society are brought together in strategically constructed arenas to envision the future of a certain socio-technical system such as energy or mobility; 2) Through back casting methods more specific transition pathways are constructed, initial networks of stakeholders are broadened, and a transition agenda (plan of action) is derived; 3) Experiments are designed and implemented in ways that fit the transition agenda; 4) a process of evaluating, monitoring and reflexive learning is organised to feedback results into re-envisioning the future.

This instrumental approach has materialised in a substantial number of projects concerned with influencing national, regional and city-level governance processes.

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Also transition management offers valuable insights for the topic of this chapter, as it provides a managerial perspective grounded in practical experiences with influencing governance processes. However, experiments remain largely a black box in the transition management approach; they are considered to be useful in realizing a broader societal transition rather than considering them as processes with their own distinctive dynamics in local and regional contexts.

TM is positioned as a tool for social transitions, while the entry point of SNM is often technical. Nevertheless, in SNM the development and implementation of technological innovations are not seen as a goal as such, but as a means to enable the shift towards new (and hopefully more) sustainable practice. So, the focus in SNM is socio-technical.

In sum, a combination of conceptualization and tools from SNM and TM seems the most appropriate system innovation approach to enable consultants, project managers and strategic designers to manage and orient the societal embedding of sustainable PSS. This approach is based on a formalized structure made-up of phases and steps. A set of tools supports the whole process: orienting tools (to orient decision making and design activities) and visualization tools (to help to formalize and communicate the key elements of a societal embedding process).

This approach should not be considered as a recipe for success, but rather a general framework to support the adoption of an experimental-, reflective-, learning-, and network-based way of doing.

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2.3 Transition paths to introduce and scale-up sustainable PSS concept The strategic process that allow to introduce and scale up radical innovations should be managed as a process in which design, developing, testing and implementing are activities carried out simultaneously. Substantially the learning-bydoing approach should be the philosophy to take in consideration.

The process of introducing and scaling-up radical innovations should be seen as a progressive path of transition, characterised by: Phase 1: the incubation is concerned with setting-up the conditions needed to start the societal embedding process.

The starting point is an eco-efficient PSS concept developed by one or more promoters involved in the process. The first step is to communicate the project concept vision in a clear and effective way, which define the aim of the project, the main innovations and its potential benefits (environmental, economic and socio-ethical). During this phase is important to explore how the concept can be socially implanted, which means make comparison between the present situation without the PSS and the future situation in which the PSS concept is implemented. During this phase actors that can be potentially interested in the concept and actors that can give protection and support to the innovation, have been identified. Through the support of guidelines and visualisation tools, this step produces a first defined draft action plan, in other words the identification of the actions to be undertaken, the actors to be involved and their roles. At this stage the actors previously identified are involved in strategic discussion, meetings and workshops with the aim to collect, compare the different actors’ expectations and eventually adjust both the vision and the action plan. In order to stimulate the discussion, it can be used a set of tools to encourage the participants to discuss the vision as well as the conditions that can favour or hinder the innovation and how strategically inPART I > Chapter 2

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fluence these conditions.

The product of this phase is the definition of a network of actors that agrees on a project concept vision as well as on the action plan.

Phase 2: the socio-technical experimentation in which small-scale socio-technical experiments implemented in real life settings take place with the aim of learning and exploring how to improve the PSS innovation and how to contribute to its societal embedding. This phase begins by designing the experiments using a set of guidelines to organize collective brainstorming workshops and to orient the design process towards the representation of the experiment able to act as Labs (to test and develop the innovation from different aspects such as technical, regulative, usability economical, socio-cultural etc.), as Windows (to raise interest on the innovation project, spread the results and attract new potential actors) and as Agent of change (to influence contextual conditions and favour the societal embedding process, for example stimulating changes in behaviours and practices).

During this phase is important to identify an implementation area, financial and socio-institutional protections, which include the identification of actors to involve in the different experimentation stages. The consultant or strategic designer has the role of supporting the project promoters in observing and evaluating the activities undertaken and translate the results into new actions. This means that through a learningby-doing approach, the analysis can lead to change the experiment, the action plan and the project vision. In broad terms, following this process, different experiments can be repeated in different contexts or testing different functions or activities.

Phase 3: the scaling-up in which the aim is to increase the momentum of the PSS innovation (and the related new practices, behaviours and institutions) and start to influence the socio-technical regime. It is a process that leads the innovation graduating becomes part of the dominant regime in which a societal satisfaction is fulfilled.

At the beginning of this phase is important to identify proper actions to develop and reinforce the path of the experiments.

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promoters to link the PSS innovation to an external and broader context to make it valuable beyond the local scale.

The most important actions at this stage are repeating the experiment in different contexts and creating linkages with projects that deals with similar topics, spreading the results obtained in the experiment attracting the media and public institutions attention and furthermore stimulating the actors to influence the context in order to create the right to conditions to allow the scaling up of the innovation.

Like in phase 2, the evaluation process can lead the consultant to modify the actions to favour the scaling-up, as well as to re-orient the project concept vision, and eventually change the network of actors and the action plan.

The phases should not be seen as strictly consecutive stages, but rather as overlapping and interactive activities.

During the transition process is important to establish and develop a proper network of actors, broad and dynamic, capable to protect, support and encourage the radical innovation.

It is essential to build up a long-term concept vision, shared among the actors involved in the process, which is always a reference goal to achieve during the transition process.

The concept vision, shared between the actors involved, provides a direction to the societal embedding process and to the actors’ actions.

Furthermore the concept vision that can slightly change during the transition process is important because it can be used as guidelines to formulate strategies but also to attract new potential partners and actors to join the project.

Finally, it is fundamental the creation of space for broad learning (about the PSS innovation and also about the different dimensions of context in which the innovation should be introduced), and reflexive learning (about the results of changes in actors’ beliefs, behaviours, practices etc.).

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out imposition, etc.). These conditions and circumstances may not directly (or indirectly) be influenced by companies or small networks of actors. Therefore the process from incubation to scaling-up becomes increasingly more uncertain and less manageable, and more influenced by project-external events and dynamics. However the adoption of an experimental-, learning-, and network-based management approach, can increase chances of success (speed up and increase the possibilities to set up a market niche in which the innovation is commercialised).

Figure 2.3-1 Introduction and scaling-up of radical innovations. Ceschin 2011

The entry point is the project vision [1] that provides a direction to the societal embedding process [2], in which a broad network of actors [3] experiments and learns how the project vision can be met.

[2] Transition path

Incubation phase

[1] PSS concept vision

Socio-technical experiments phase

Scaling-up phase

[3] Actors network

BEC BEC

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2.4 What is a socio-technical experiment?

A socio-technical experiment can be defined a partially protected environment where a broad network of actors can learn and explore (I) how to incubate and improve radical innovations and (II) how to contribute to their societal embedding.

These experiments represent strategic opportunities to develop and bring to mature highly risky innovations (in terms of possibilities of failure) without the direct pressure of the mainstream market selection environment. In other words with the introduction of a socio-technical experiment a set of design activities is collected into an experimental inspired approach. It is not the design as isolated entity that is tested but it is the combination of the design and its users that is tested.

The implementation of socio-technical experiments, to test the technical, social, political and economic configuration of an innovation, and favour its societal embedding, represents a potentially promising strategy for companies who want to introduce and scale-up sustainable PSS innovations (Ceschin 2010a, 2011).

A socio-technical experiment is not a simple pilot or demonstration project developed inside the laboratory of a company, but it is an experiment implemented in the real life context with appropriate protection.

The main characteristics of the socio-technical experimentation are: - Experiments are conducted with radical innovation: innovations that require important changes on different dimensions, such as socio-cultural, technological and regulative. This kind of innovations is also uncertain and difficult to be planned and managed; - Experiments are not conducted inside a company’s lab but implemented in the real life settings. The idea is to bring experiments out of the R&D (Research&Development) settings and develop radical innovations; - These experiments do not include only actors strictly linked PART I > Chapter 2

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to the innovation ideation, but they try to involve a broad variety of actors, involving also users, local administrations, NGOs, consumers groups, industrial associations, research centres etc. The aim is to create a small socio-technical environment where a variety of actors are involved in discussing, co-creating and improving the innovation; - The idea is to protect the experiment from the traditional environment. The main forms of protections are: financial ones (such as strategic investments by companies and tax exemptions) and institutional ones (such as the adoption of specific regulations).

The crucial dilemma of protection measures is to find the right balance between the need to nurture the innovation and the need to prepare it for the selection pressures of a market environment (Weber et al, 1999).

The aim of this kind of experiment is to learn and improve the innovation on multiple dimensions, not only the technical, economic, market demand and usability aspects, but also the political, regulative, environmental, and socio-cultural ones.

Experiments have the role to identify different barriers that can hinder the future diffusion and implementation of the innovation, and understand how to face them.

Furthermore, socio-technical experiments are aimed at stimulating changes in the context and influence present conditions in order to favour and speed up the embedding process (e.g. influence local administrations in adopting policy measures to support the innovation, stimulate potential users in changing their behaviours and routines etc.).

The outcome of the socio-technical experiment is however not an acceptance or disposal of hypotheses, but a new set of reflected hypotheses that sometimes complete new hypotheses not accounted before the experiment. These new hypotheses can then again be explored through new experiments (Hansen 2009).

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Referring to the figure below , socio-technical experiments: [1] are conducted with radical innovations; [2] are implemented in real life settings; [3] involve a broad variety of actors; [4] are implemented in a partially protected environment; [5] are aimed at learning and improving the innovation at many different dimensions; [6] are aimed at stimulating changes in the socio-technical contexts.

SOCIO-TECHNICAL CONTEXT [1] RADICAL INNOVATION

[4] PARTIALLY PROTECTED ENVIRONMENT [5] AIMED AT LEARNING AND IMPROVING THE INNOVATION [6] AIMED AT STIMULATING CHANGES IN THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL CONTEXT

Local administrations

Ministries

[2] REAL LIFE SETTING [3] BROAD VARIETY OF ACTORS

USERS/ CUSTOMERS

POLICY Consumers groups

National governments

Potential customers

Insurance firms Universities

PSS

Banks

product/s

RESEARCH & SCIENCE

stakeholders network

Competitors Researches centres

service/s

INDUSTRY

Industrial associations

TV

Associations Social pressure groups THIRD SECTOR

MEDIA

NGOs

Magazines

Newspapers

Figure 2.4-1 Main socio-technical experiments features.

Ceschin 2011

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2.5 How socio-technical experiments can be fostered?

In order to make the socio-technical experiments successful, it is important to: - Establish and develop a proper network of actors; - Align and converge actors’ expectations, - Create room for broad and reflexive learning processes (Elzen et al. 1996; Kemp et al. 1998; Raven 2005).

Establish and develop a proper network of actors The establishment and development of a proper socio-economic network is recognised as a crucial process to protect, support and foster radical innovations. This network should be broad, including not only the actors more directly linked with the innovation (such as firms, partners, users, etc.) but also other relevant actors from the science, policy and societal domains (e.g. research centres, governmental institutions, NGOs, special interest groups, etc.) (Raven 2005).

In other words it should be a heterogeneous network with relevant scientific, social, economic, politic and cultural actors. A network involving for example those actors that: - can mobilize knowledge, financial and managerial resources to develop such alternative innovations (such as outsider firms) (Van de Poel 2000); - can introduce new designs, criteria, approaches and concept (such as scientists, research centres, universities) (Van de Poel 2000); - can give experiments legitimacy and stability (such as governmental institutions); - have the power and willingness to directly influence the dominant culture, practices and institutions (such as Ministries, policy makers and politicians, etc.) (van den Bosch 2010); - may (in)directly influence the regime because they have an interest in embedding new sustainable practices in society (such as NGOs, societal pressure groups, consumers groups, 48

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etc.) (van den Bosch 2010); - can spread information on the PSS innovations (such as media, opinion leaders, NGOs, etc.); - may support the scaling-up of the innovation (such as potential industrial partners, industrial associations or consortia).

It has to be underlined that the network should be managed dynamically because different stages of a societal embedding process require different network compositions (Weber et al.

1999). For instance some actors may have more relevance in the first phases and disappear in the following ones (e.g. a public administration can be involved only in the beginning in providing incentives and protection to the innovation).

Align and converge actors’ expectations The process of experimenting and embedding radical innovation in the society requires the involvement of many actors from different domains. These actors may hold different expectations about a particular innovation. Therefore it becomes fundamental to manage the diversity of expectations, and their negotiation and alignment (Raven et al. 2008). The convergence of actors’ expectations is important in order to give strategic orientation and legitimacy to the innovation development (Kemp et al. 1998; Raven 2005) but also to attract new actors and resources (Raven 2005).

The creation of a shared project vision can contribute to articulate expectations, formulate agendas and action plans, and coordinate the strategies of the actors involved (Kemp and Rotmans 2004). Future scenarios and visions are in fact crucial in order to attract actors and orient their actions (De Laat 1996; Akrich 1992; Berkhout 2006; Quist et al. 2006). It has however to be underlined that expectations are not fixed (Van Lente 1993; Hoogma 2000; Raven 2005): actors can change their views and expectations, as result of the negotiation processes with other actors, but also in reaction to changes in the external environment. As a consequence it is important to continuously keep a flexible project vision open to refinement and re-orientation.

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mation and apply it to their subsequent actions (Hall 1993).

It is therefore crucial in the process of inducing changes towards the adoption and diffusion of radical innovations, in which new basic belief, behaviours and rules are required (Van de Kerkhof and Wieczorek 2005).

An adequate learning process is considered key important because it enables adjustments of the innovation and increases chances for a successful diffusion (Raven et al. 2010).

An adequate and effective learning process should be: - broad (Weber et al. 1999; Raven 2005; Kemp and Van den Bosch 2008), learning about many dimensions of a problem, not only the technical and economic aspects of the innovation but also socio-cultural, environmental, economical and institutional ones; - reflexive Van den Bosch 2008), there is attention for questioning underlying assumptions such as social values, and the willingness to change course if the innovation does not match these assumptions. Furthermore, literature on transitions to sustainability emphasizes the importance of social learning, a process in which multiple actors interact and develop different perspectives on reality (Leeuwis, 2003).

In transition processes social learning is specifically aimed at ‘reframing’, changing the ‘frame of reference’ (Schön and Rein, 1994) and perspective of actors involved (Rotmans and Loorbach, 2006). An adequate learning process in transition experiments facilitates broad learning about different dimensions of a broad societal challenge, reflexive learning that questions existing ways of thinking, doing and organizing and social learning to develop an alternative perspective on reality through interaction in heterogeneous groups.

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2.6 How socio-technical experiment can contribute to transitions?

In this section are illustrated the three mechanisms through which experiments can contribute to sustainability transitions: deepening, broadening and scaling up (Van den Bosch and Rotmans 2008).

Deepening The mechanism of ‘deepening’ is defined as a learning process through which actors can learn as much as possible about a transition experiment within a specific context. Deepening means learning as much as possible about an innovation within a specific context, through which actors interact and develop different perspective of reality (Röling, 2002, Grin and Loeber, 2007, Wals et al., 2007). The importance of learning in a context different from the regime can also be recognized in the work of Nooteboom (2006), stating, “Emerging novelties cannot achieve their potential under the systemic limitations imposed by existing structures, practices and ways of thinking.” During the deepening process, actors can learn about local shifts in ways of thinking, values and perspectives (culture), shifts in way of doing, behaviours, habits and routine (practices) and shifts in rules and norms (institutions).

In other words the experiments should be used to test and improve the innovation on multiple dimensions (not only the technical and economic ones, but also the cultural, regulative and institutional ones).

It is important to remind that within a socio-technical experiment, the learning process is characterized by the context, because the same experiment in another context, with a different network of actors, different institutions and differences in culture, would partially bring to different results (Van den Bosch and Taanman, 2006). Furthermore the learning process within the experiment is unfinished, because it is limited to the specific context and the small scale of the experimentation (Van den Bosch 2010). Literature about transition hence PART I > Chapter 2

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underlines the importance of variation; the same experiment has to be repeated in a variety of contexts in order to learn as much as possible about societal challenge. A basic notion is that novel sustainable innovations can often not survive in the general selection environment (the regime). The outcome of the deepening mechanism is the development and reinforcement of the set of culture, practices and institutions linked to the innovation.

Broadening Broadening is about conducting diverse experiments in a variety of contexts and linking them to other projects and initiatives. Since learning within an experiment is limited, experiments should be repeated in other contexts, in order to learn about different designs in different settings. Broadening is related to the idea that different experiments, performed at the same time, can build on each other and gradually reinforce themselves (Raven 2005, Geels and Raven 2006). It is important to specify that broadening does not mean repeating without improvement and modification: “each experiment is a new adventure�. The mechanism of broadening, as an intermediate mechanism between deepening and scaling up, can also be recognized in the learning cycle of Nooteboom (1999). This learning cycle explains how through a sequence of learning activities (deepening) in a variety of contexts (broadening) new structures may emerge (scaling up) from novel practices. Within this perspective it is also important to strength synergies with other local similar projects and initiatives. During the process of broadening the deviant set of culture, practices and institutions are tested and extended to a variety of contexts and linked to other existing projects and initiatives.

Scaling-up The last and important mechanism, the scaling-up, means to embed the experiment in the dominant regime, ways of thinking, doing and organising. Scaling-up relates to moving the innovation from a local experimental level to a mainstream level. Scaling up implies that sustainable practices that are initially deviant or unusual become the dominant or mainstream 52

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practice. Through scaling up, experiments can thus influence the way societal needs are fulfilled in a more sustainable direction. In other words, as underlined by Suzanne Van den Bosch (2008), scaling up is less about scaling up products, services or users and more about scaling up perspectives, ways of thinking, routines, legislation, institutions, etc. Examples of key stakeholders for scaling up are actors that have the power and willingness to directly influence the dominant culture, practices, structure (such as ministries, agencies that develop protocols and standards, policy makers, politicians, directors, etc.) and actors that directly influence the ‘regime’ because they have an interest in embedding sustainable practices in society (such as sustainability programs, NGOs, sustainability ambassadors, frontrunners in a sector or policy domain, etc.).

Experiments as Labs, Windows and Agents of change experiment as AGENT OF CHANGE

Scale-up

Figure 2.6-1 Sociotechnical experiments contribution to transitions. Ceschin 2011, adaptation from Van den Bosch 2008.

MOVE FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO MAINSTREAM LINK TO OTHER PROJECTS/ INITIATIVES

Broaden

REPEAT THE EXPERIMENT

experiment as a LAB

experiment as a WINDOW

Deepen

GIVE VISIBILITY

TEST

experiment as a LAB

The three main mechanisms through which socio-technical experiments can contribute to transitions: deepening, broadening and scaling-up. Within this framework experiments should be conceived in order to act as Labs, Windows and Agent of Change.

On the basis of these considerations socio-technical experiments, in order to contribute to transitions, should be conceived in order to act as (Ceschin 2010, Ceschin et al, 2011): PART I > Chapter 2

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- Labs, to test, learn and improve the PSS innovation on multiple dimensions (technical, usability, regulative, political, economical, socio-cultural) in relation to different contexts (in order to learn about different PSS configurations in different settings) (see Example 1); - Windows, to raise interest on the innovation project and the related actors, disseminate results, build-up synergies with existing similar projects/initiatives, and attract and enrol new actors (e.g. new users, potential partners) (see Example 2); - Agents of change, to influence contextual conditions in order to favour and speed-up the societal embedding process.

Experiments should be conceived to introduce and diffuse new ideas and knowledge to the community and stimulate various social groups (users, public institutions, companies, etc) to change their perspectives, beliefs and lifestyles. Experiments should in fact represent a stimulus to induce actors to change their behaviours and interpretative frames (for example, they can stimulate users to change their behaviours and routines, or push governmental institutions to implement proper policy measures to favour the PSS innovation) (see Example 3).

EXAMPLE 1: EXPERIMENT AS LAB SmartBike is a bike sharing system developed by Clear Channel Outdoor and through which users can rent bikes on a per minute basis. The PSS was first implemented as a small pilot project in 1998 in the city of Rennes (France). The experiment gave the opportunity to test and improve the innovation on different dimensions. (1)the service usability: pioneer users were involved in questionnaires and interviews to evaluate the service and propose improvements.

(2) The PSS stakeholders configuration: in order to adjust the PSS value chain and redefine the roles for each stakeholder (Clear Channel Outdoor, local municipality, suppliers). (3) The products involved in the PSS (bikes and bike stations). (4) The political and regulative barriers & opportunities: to understand which policy measures can adopted by local administrations to support the innovation.

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EXAMPLE 2: EXPERIMENT AS WINDOW Continuing with the SmartBike example, the experiment implemented in Rennes was also used as a means of communication to raise interest on the innovation project and the related actors. In particular: - it was used to attract the interest of the local public transport company, involve it in discussions and negotiations, in order to develop synergies to stimulate public transport users to adopt the bike sharing system. - when in 1998 the bike sharing system in Rennes was improved and scaled up in a full operative service, Clear Channel Outdoor used it to demonstrate to other municipalities the potentialities of the PSS (e.g. Inviting them to visit the project); crucial in facilitating the diffusion in other cities.

EXAMPLE 4: EXPERIMENT AS AGENT OF CHANGE In the ESCO model companies offer their customers a broad range of comprehensive energy solutions (e.g. energy conservation, energy infrastructure outsourcing, etc.). In order to foster the diffusion of ESCO models in Finland, a network made up of ESCOs, municipalities, financial institutions, a governmental institution and a research centre, was established in 2001. Pilot projects were implemented in order to not only adapt the ESCO models to the municipalities’ needs, but also to learn about the most effective financial and policy measures to support the PSS innovation. As result, after the pilot project, the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry inserted in its action plan for energy efficiency (2003-2006) recommendations on how to stimulate the ESCO models. In addition the Ministry took action to disseminate the ESCO model to Finnish municipalities.

In other words the experiment was also used as agent of change to stimulate governmental institutions and policy makers to: adopt financial and policy measures to support the PSS innovation; and spread information on the innovation at a national level.

In order to move the innovation from the local to the mainstream level is important to continue to make experimentations and link them to existing initiatives. Reinforcing and enhancing this link the innovation is able to develop its stability and start to influence the dominant regime. In other words the innovations starts to influence the regime in terms of expectations, rules and visions, and it is able to stimulate the public institutions in changing normative. The key point of this process is to link the innovation to successful and radical activities in order to make it more credible and relevant beyond the local context. It is of main importance PART I > Chapter 2

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to repeat the experiment in different contexts and create connections with similar projects at a broader level with the aim of: sharing experiences and creating new stimulus with a broader network; spreading the project results and attract media attention at a national level; stimulating strategic actors to influence the socio-technical context to create conditions for scaling up the innovation. Summarizing, at this step, is important to set deep linkages with relevant institutional, industrial and social actors at a national level, in other words with those institutions that have the power of influencing and addressing the dominant culture on taking different decision (such as Ministries, policy makers and politicians), those that may be interested of influencing the regime introducing new sustainable decisions in society (such as NGOs, consumers and societal actors); those that can spread the information about the innovation (such as media and opinion leaders and event..) and those that can support the development of the innovation (such as possible investors and industrial partners).

These activities already take place during the experimentation that is aimed at creating the most comfortable conditions for scaling-up the innovation. Even if during the experimentation is difficult to attract and involve those actors because the innovation is not fully tested, the experimentation phase has to be supported by activities linked with a broader context.

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Chapter 3.

Sustainable mobility

3.1 Introduction to mobility

The concept of mobility refers to time and costs required for travelling between destinations. The traditional concept of mobility denotes efficiency of movement: in view of this, improvements in mobility mean maximizing the utility of moving people and goods while minimizing the cost. Mobility literally makes modern economies possible and greatly facilitates human interactions and living. Personal mobility today stands out as a symbol of freedom and of independence from public transportation constrains (such as set routes and timetables) but above all it stands out as a status symbol, belonging to a certain social class and emancipation. That is why it is difficult to not be dependent on the automobile. This mind set has caused the building of more efficient roads and development of high-speed vehicles in order to move more people and goods in a shorter time. Innovations such as the automobile, the truck and the airplane made the twentieth century the ‘golden age of mobility’ for many countries. Improved mobility of goods and people has contributed fundamentally to the higher standard of living now enjoyed by most people in the developed world. However, only about 12% of the world’s people are now motorized. This has translated into greater energy usage: more air pollution as well as emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to the degradation of our environment. Over the 30% of the world energetic consumption is created from the transportation sector. A big part of this percentage is the road transportation, alimented only by coal and derived. The transport sector cannot continue to grow indefinitely but in order to invert the trend is important to analyze the driver of this growth. The increasing of the transportation sector depends on three main factors: the continuous growth of the distances covered by passengers and goods, the number and the frequency of the travelling and the way they travel. The increasing of distances refers to the market globalization: today every phase of the production proc60

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ess is delocalized and often it happen in different countries.

From the passengers’ point of view, the mobility for tourism and business has increased thanks to the efficiency and development of the transportation. People have to move a lot also due to the fact that they prefer to live in the suburbs, far from the urban centre, and they have to move for going to work and reach the main services. This model of urbanization contributes to traffic congestion of the urban centre and suburbs.

In order to make transportation accessible is important to establish public transportation with multi-modal timetables, and provide transport solutions to favour the movement door to door at any time. It is necessary to introduce passengers transport modalities between mass transport and the personal car: more passengers on the same car and less empty busses.

The most effective strategy to bring the transportation sector within the limits of the sustainability, economical and environmental, is created by the introduction of flexible way of transportation, which means introduction of system of vehicle sharing (E.g. car sharing, car-pooling, etc). The flexible transportation is aimed at satisfy the individual need of transportation to be integrated with the mass transportation (bus, tram, train, underground). There are some macro-trends that influence the demand of mobility, such as: individualism (families are smaller and the people tend to live longer alone, this fact causes the need to have a personal mobility) and globalization phenomena (that means an increasing of products transportation and of movement for business meeting). People are pushed to travel, to go, to work, because they prefer to live out the urban area during their free time. The consequences of the trends mentioned before are that the need and the will of mobility is keep on growing. Furthermore the mobility need is deeply eradicated in the society and at this point is difficult to get along without travelling either for job or for tourism. The growing of cars consumption and road transportation creates high C02 emission and problems of traffic congestion. These problems affect either the environment side (increasing of pollution per km) and the social side (less time that could have been spent in activities), and the economic side (less hours of work). Moreover the number of accident that involves people and cars is increasing out of PART I > Chapter 3

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all proportion and it also causes social and family distress.

This also led to adopt better measure of safety that means increasing of prices and environmental impact. Emissions of CO2 are not the only environmental problem connected with the mobility, but it’s important to consider social problems linked with the health and the acoustic and visual pollution.

The socio-technical regime that allowed the transportation system of the western societies to grow during the past century, can be considered as a game played by these following big actors: - Political authorities, responsible of the construction and maintenance of public infrastructures for public transportation.

- Public authorities, responsible for public transportation management, which recently encouraged private investment.

- Private vehicle producers (cars, trains and busses), free to develop, produce and sell.

- Users usually choose the best solution in terms of budget, time, quality and comfort to satisfy their needs of transport.

If the benefits of mobility are going to be available for a larger segment of the globe’s population over the longer term, the challenges associated with our current means of transport have to be addressed effectively. In short, our mobility systems have to become more efficient, more equitable, more technologically advanced, and less environmentally and socially disruptive, while preserving the many attributes that make mobility desirable.

With the recent trend towards sustainability, people are more aware of the need to conserve our environment. Within this premise, a new “mobility culture” encourages sustainable transport alternatives that minimizes use of fuel and encourages those who have to travel to do so in a way that would limit environmental impact. It has also led to an increasing interest in “virtual” mobility such as telecommunications and the Internet that can connect people to people and people to the markets without the need of physical transportation.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Mobility 2030 report defined “Sustainable Mobility” as “the ability to meet the needs of a society to move 62

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freely, gain access, communicate, trade and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological value today or in the future”.

That definition is strictly linked with the definition of sustainable development as published in ‘the Report of the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future, in 1987: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

There is a need to unpack this definition in order to identify appropriate transport planning strategies. This can be done by establishing a set of principles that provide a framework for policy goals that will change over time, in response to the changing status quo and political priorities. The strategies derived from these principles would not only be about the modes people are using, nor only about transportation. They would involve a range of institutions, services and infrastructure.

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3.2 Mobility in low-income contexts

An efficient and inclusive urban mobility is essential for economic and social developments since it enables citizens to access goods, services, jobs, markets, education opportunities and social contacts. Access to mobility enhances quality of life but growing motorization and unmanaged transport in many cities is also associated with congestion, air pollution, traffic related accidents, waste of productive time and other social and environmental costs.

Half of the world’s population now live in cities and by 2030 this figure is expected to rise to two-thirds. A total of 95 per cent of future urban growth is expected to occur in developing countries, where motorization is rising rapidly and creating major challenges. Generally, transport and mobility can be considered as essential preconditions for achieving sustainable development. However, looking at recent trends in developing countries it is clear that a lack of adequate transport infrastructure and affordable transport services has worsened rather than alleviated widespread poverty and social exclusion and it is a major obstacle to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Cities in developing countries are facing severe traffic congestion and worsening air pollution. Fewer than 20 per cent of urban residents own and use a private car while the majority relies on informal or formal public transport, taxis, walking or cycling. Despite this, cities have the potential to contribute to economic growth and wealth generation of developing nations but the rapid deterioration of the living environments in heavily congested cities and towns threatens to undermine their ability to be engines of growth. Roads unsafe for walking and cycling and the decreasing efficiency and reliability of public transport affect the poor the most but the increasing levels of air pollution and congestion hampers economic vitality and quality of life in general, which has a negative impact on everyone.

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Current trends suggest that few cities in developing countries will be able to afford the investment required for transport infrastructure and services to satisfy either present or future mobility demands. At present, the majority of the investment in transport infrastructure caters to the needs of the users of private motor vehicles, who are still a minority in most African cities. Sustainable urban transport policies have to address such imbalances, which has immediate relevance for alleviating social inequity.

The meeting “Sustainable Mobility for African Cities” promoted non motorized transport options and compact cities as complements to public transport”. It held on October 7th in Dakar, Senegal and it was an action oriented to share experiences and innovative solutions for addressing policy challenges related to sustainable urban transport systems.

Experts on sustainable mobility from International Organizations, NGOs, Private Sector and Civil Society attended the meeting. During this meeting many important issue has been discussed regarding how to enhance access to mobility for the urban poor in the context of sustainable urbanisation.

As mentioned before cities in the developing world grow ten times faster than cities in the North. In many countries, lowincome resident are excluded from access to high quality, safe and healthy urban transport options. Traffic congestion in urban areas leads to increased fuel consumption and loss of productive time. The road safety situation in many cities is currently a more serious issue than crime. During the debate participants pointed out that the promotion of the use of bicycle consists of a complex set of parameters, including technical know-how of planners, behaviour of road users, infrastructure, etc. Unfortunately, in Africa the issue of the status of the bicycle users is an additional component affecting the spread of the use of bicycles. Bicycles are often considered as the “poor man’s” transportation. The graphic below outlines the different parameters affecting the use of bicycles.

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Figure 3.2-1 Aspects affecting bicycle use.

Source: Cycling out of poverty

Status

Ability to cycle

Financial access to bicycles

Road safety

Bicycle use

Availability of bicycles

Infrastructure

Climate & Geography

Recognition of its benefits

There is a need of make a successful campaign in order to improve the image of the bicycle and promote its using in Africa. It is of primary importance to improve and design efficient infrastructure for bicycles, because planners in Africa have been trained to design cities for cars, rarely taking nonmotorized transport into consideration.

Most of the people tent to stick to use cars because they are not aware of the benefit of the other alternatives, for this reason it is important to promote the benefits of bicycle or nonmotorised transport. Furthermore the road safety is an issue that make people choose car instead of bicycle.

For example in Kisumu, Kenya, there are about 21.000 boda-boda (two-wheeled bicycle taxi) riders on the road plus a countless number of matatus, busses and cars. Due to limited space available on the roads this creates a conflict situation between all road users.

Figure 3.2-2 Boda-boda bicycle taxi in Kenya

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Figure 3.2-3 Ordinary traffic in Kenyan roads

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Another important factor that goes against the spread of the use of bicycle and needs to be improved urgently is the image of the use of the bicycle. Cycling should not be looked as an activity conducted because limited financial resources do not allow the use of public or private transportation. Also in China the situation is similar: the use of bicycle is associated with poverty and this has led to an increasing of personal cars. In order to invert this idea, would be very challenging to bring all the people (especially wealthier and public people) back to cycling.

For instance, in Ghana, a group of students of TU Delft in collaboration with a Dutch NGO and a local metal workshop developed new concepts of tricycle for people with disabilities in low income-context. The aim of the project was to support the metal workshop in growing its business in a sustainable manner, developing a new product that integrates the interests of the company and the customers. Thanks to this initiative many disabled people were able to look for a job, instead of begging in the streets, and also many organization are stimulating participation of disabled.

Figure 3.2-4 Prototype of the tricycle developed in cooperation with TUDelft and the local metal workshop Mak-D in Ghana.

Figure 3.2-5 Prototype of the concept developed to enable user testing in context of use.

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3.3 The importance of mobility for socio-economic development Distance separates people’s homes from places of work, sources of social amenities and points of business. Distance also separates people and companies from their sources of raw materials, from their markets, and therefore it impedes accessibility and competitiveness. Mobility enables people to overcome distance. Transport and communications infrastructure are necessary for socio-economic development because they provide essential links between centres of production and markets in economic sectors such as agriculture, industry and tourism. Transport facilitates the flow of goods and people along import-export corridors linking coastal ports and landlocked countries. Transport is a key infrastructure sector that acts as a stimulus to economic growth and is an important element of strategies for poverty reduction, regional and national development. Improvements in the transport infrastructure would also reduce transport costs and make the goods consumed by the poor in the countryside more affordable and their produce more competitive. Furthermore, the provision, expansion and maintenance of transport infrastructure create employment that can reduce income poverty, while easier access to services such as health facilities and schools improves overall quality of life. The role and benefits derived from mobility are summarized in the figure below.

Figure 3.3-1 Mobility as a driver of economic development.

Source WBCSD, 2004.

Access to basic services

Access to information Justifies where to invest

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Movement of people

Create employement

Mobility

Enhance distribution of goods and services

Enhance development Improve well-being

Achieve objectives Achieve objectives

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The automotive sector recognises its role. Investments in vehicle technology, intelligent transport systems and cleaner production processes have already played a significant part in cutting emissions and improving safety. However, it is clear that the interdependent challenges of matching economic growth with environmental improvements and improved social responsibility can only be fully realised through a more collaborative approach. People hardly renounce to enjoy the benefits of personal mobility and the economic prosperity that new vehicle brings and continue to pursue solutions that minimise the cost of motoring to society and the environment.

Sustainable mobility not only concern using low carbon emission vehicle, but instead look for alternative solutions of transportation, such as car pooling, car sharing, bike sharing, bike + train and reflect on the necessity of moving (John Thackara, In the Bubble).

Motor vehicles deliver what we take for granted in modern society. Today, four in every five-land journey are made by car. In industrialised countries, 71% of freight is moved by trucks and light commercial vehicles bringing us the things we rely on daily, from food and clothes to fuel and office supplies.

The multi-modal mobility can be empowered through a localization system of vehicles, passengers and goods. For instance, software like “just in time� developed for supermarket, which is an inventory system where raw materials are delivered right before they are needed on the assembly line and finished goods are manufactured just before they are shipped to customers. This system attempts to reduce the number of movement and to eradicate waste of all kind.

In particular in developing countries, as mention in the chapter before, the development of mobility is very important in order to bring to an economic and socio-cultural growth.

And it is important to help the developing countries to develop in a sustainable way, even if the cities in these countries are growing faster than in the cities in the north. The importance of a co-design between developed and developing countries is to make them grow, addressing them to use renewable energy as much as possible and not making them PART I > Chapter 3

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make the same mistake the western countries did. Mobility is one of the most important factor for economic grow, but it is also a dangerous instrument which is contributing to damage the environment. Western countries nowadays are trying to compensate for having exploited the resources of the whole planet, shifting to renewable energy and looking for alternatives to consumption, but there is still a long way to go. Developing countries has to be warned to shift directly to sustainable development and not to cover the same path of the western countries.

Mobility is the key of a country development, it allows people and goods to move, it creates employment, it gives access to basic services like sanitation and social activities, it enhances communication and cultural exchange; mobility is essential and for this reason it has to be improved towards a more sustainable way.

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Chapter 4.

The role of strategic design in supporting the introduction and scaling-up of sustainable Product-Service-Systems

4.1 Designing transition paths

“An experimental-, learning-, and network-based management approach represents a promising strategy to increase the probability to successfully incubate, test, develop and bring to mature eco-efficient PSSs� (Ceschin, 2012). Strategic designers that want to act as effective agents of change they have to be aware of the mechanisms and dynamics that regulate the implementation and diffusion of this kind of innovations and how it is possible to guide and orient them.

Their role in the transition towards sustainability is not limited to the proposal of eco-efficient concepts, but the designer should also indicate the pathway (transition path) for the implementation and diffusion of such radical innovations. In order to design and develop appropriate pathways, designers should also understand the contextual conditions in which PSS concepts are introduced. Several methods and tools have been developed to support strategic designers in ideating and developing sustainable PSS concepts but if they want to act as effective agents of change they have also to know the mechanisms and dynamics that regulate the societal embedding of this kind of innovations and the modalities through which it is possible to guide and orient these processes (Ceschin, 2012).

A broader design scope Strategic designers face with a new broader design scope: the ideation of sustainable PSS concepts should be joined with the designing of appropriate transition paths to gradually incubate, introduce and diffuse these concepts. The design scope should be extended to the design of the transition path that we can explain like a sequence of steps that can bring to gradually improve the PSS innovation and promote its societal embedding (incubation, socio-technical experimentation and niche development & scaling-up). At the same time, designers have to keep in consideration the identification and 74

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involvement of the actors that can support the societal embedding process in the various steps of the transition path. traditional design scope for strategic designers

new design scope for strategic designers [2] Transition path

Figure 4.1-1 Sustainable PSS societal embedding.

Ceschin 2011

Incubation phase

new design scope for strategic designers

[1] PSS concept vision

Socio-technical experiments phase

Scaling-up phase

[3] Actors network

BEC BEC

If we look to the societal embedding of a sustainable PSS innovation, the entry point is a project vision [1]: a PSS idea or concept developed to overcome a societal/business challenge. This project vision provides a direction to the transition path [2], in which a broad network of actors [3] experiments and learns how the project vision can be met. The transition path is based on the implementation of socio-technical experiments, the development and empowerment of a niche, and the scaling up of the PSS innovation. The transition path is characterised by dynamic adaptation: what is learnt by actors brings to a continuous and mutual adjustment of the transition path, the long term vision and the actors network itself.

A bifocal design attitude Strategic designer, designing transition path have to focus not only on the concept vision but also on all the actions to be undertaken during the different steps of the transition path.

Designers need a bifocal design attitude in order to focus both on the long term goal (the achievement of a future concept vision) and the short and medium term actions to be undertaken in order to orient the societal embedding process towards the long-term goal.

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M

ERM RT-T SHO

Figure 4.1-2 Designers perspective. Ceschin 2011

[1]

LON

G-T

ED

IU

M

[2]

-T

ERM

ER

M

PER

SPE

[3] PE

PER

RS

PE

SPE

CT

CTIV

E

IV

PSS concept vision

E

CTIV E

Incubation phase

Socio-technical experiments phase

Scaling-up phase

time horizon

Strategic designers are asked to focus on different time perspectives: the long-term one 1 (designing of the PSS concept vision), and the short2 and medium-term 3 one (designing of the steps to be undertaken to orient the societal embedding process towards the achievement of the project vision).

A broader design attitude In order to be focused on creating the most favourable conditions to facilitate and speed-up the societal embedding of the PSS innovation, designers should have a broader strategic design attitude. When radical innovations enter in the market are always immature because they have to survive in a dominant socio-technical regime with its established and stable rules and networks of actors. Sustainable PSS innovations are in most of the cases such revolutionary innovations.

It is not possible to implement a sustainable PSS innovation simply asking a company to change its business model alone, because changes in the socio-technical context are most of the times required. Strategic designers should focus also on the contextual conditions that may support or block the societal embedding process. Strategic designers should adopt a broader strategic attitude oriented at influencing the sociotechnical context (i.e. by involving those actors that could affect administration practices and institutions; by stimulating changes in actors’ behaviours and practices) for creating the most favourable conditions to support the societal em76

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bedding of the PSS. The transition path is seen as a process aimed not only at testing and bringing the PSS innovation to develop (thanks to the feedback coming from the socio-technical context), but also on influencing the socio-technical context to favour and promote the societal embedding of the PSS (thanks to the strategic attitude oriented at stimulating changes in actors’ behaviours and institutions).

SOCIO-TECHNICAL CONTEXT

Figure 4.1-3 Contextual conditions. Ceschin 2011

Banks

Ministries

National governments

POLICY ACTORS

Competitors

Local administration

USERS/ CUSTOMERS ACTORS

INDUSTRY Insurance firms ACTORS Industrial associations

Consumer groups

PSS concept vision

[1]

feedback coming from the sociotechnical context are used to refine and improve the PSS innovation Incubation phase

Universities RESEARCH &SCIENCE Research centres

Socio-technical experiments phase

Societal pressure groups THIRD SECTOR Associations NGOs

[2]

stimulus to influence changes in actors’ behaviours, in order to create the most favourable conditions for the PSS innovations

Scaling-up phase

Media (TV) MEDIA Media (newspapers)

Media (magazines)

A strategic attitude should be adopted in the designing and management of societal embedding processes. In this sense the transition path should be aimed at: getting feedback from the socio-technical context for improving the PSS innovation [1], and simultaneously influencing changes in the socio-technical systems in order to create favourable conditions for the PSS introduction and diffusion [2] .

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4.2 New design approaches and tools A broader system approach A broader strategic design attitude requires a broader system approach. Strategic service system designers are used to adopt a system design approach that is oriented not only at the PSS offer but also at the socio-economic stakeholders to be involved in a PSS and at the relations among these stakeholders.

But when we speak about societal embedding processes, strategic designers have to focus not only on the PSS value chain but also on the socio-technical context in which the PSS should be introduced. The actors to be involved in the societal embedding are not only the ones that are more directly linked with the innovation but also other relevant ones linked with the socio-technical context (e.g. research centres, governmental institutions, local administrations, NGOs, special interest groups, media, etc.). The focus is to establish a broad and heterogeneous network of actors, with economic, politic, cultural and social linkages. It is really important to establish and develop a broad socio-economic network in order to protect, support and foster radical innovations.

An experimental and learning based approach Sustainable PSS innovations are innovations that satisfy a societal need in a different way from other innovations. It is complex to deal with such a complex and uncertain innovations because the process to embed these innovations cannot be based on a pre-conceived and fixed solution, but on an experimental and learning based approach. The introduction and the scaling up of a radical innovation should be seen as a path based on exploring, searching and learning about: the most appropriate characteristics that a radical innovation should have in order to answer to a societal/business challenge; the most appropriate strategy to create the conditions for contributing to its societal embedding. A good contribution to the societal embedding of a radical innovation is the 78

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design and the implementation of protected socio-technical experiment. These experiments are set-up in environments protected from the market competition and they involved a variety of actors. Socio-technical experiments can be used as a strategic opportunity for experimenting, learning, exploring favourable conditions for the introduction and the diffusion of the innovation. The socio-technical experiments are able to scale up the PSS from the local and protected level to a global level. Strategic designers have an important role in designing the socio-technical experiments because this is the first step for testing the PSS innovation that could be potentially bring to a gradual societal embedding of the PSS innovation. Strategic designers can apply three main mechanisms for bringing the societal embedding of a radical innovation thought the contribution of socio-technical experiments. The first mechanism is the deepening that is based on learning from the experiment in a specific context; the second one is the broadening based on the repeating the experiment in other contexts or connecting it to other functions; and the third is the scaling-up based on the embedding the experiment in the socio-technical regime. It is so possible to visualize the socio-technical experiment that can be act as: labs, to test and improve the PSS innovation on many different dimensions (technical, usability, regulative, political, socio-cultural etc.); windows, to raise interest on the innovation project and the related actors, disseminate the innovation results and attract and enrol new actors (e.g. new users, potential partners etc.); agents of change, to influence contextual conditions and favour the societal embedding process (e.g. by stimulating changes in actors’ behaviours and practices to protect and support the PSS innovations) (Ceschin 2012).

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Figure 4.2-1 Experimental and learning based approach. Ceschin 2011

SOCIO-TECHNICALEXPERIMENTS

Scale-up

experiment as AGENT OF CHANGE

MOVE FROM EXPERIMENTATION TO MAINSTREAM LINK TO OTHER PROJECTS/ INITIATIVES

Broaden

REPEAT THE EXPERIMENT

experiment as a LAB

experiment as a WINDOW

Deepen

GIVE VISIBILITY

TEST

experiment as a LAB

An experimental and learning based approach requires a flexible and dynamic management attitude. The project vision during all the phases of the transition path is continuously adjusted as a result of what is learnt by actors during the process, in particular during socio-technical experiments. The vision adjustments bring also to the correction of the transition path and the network of actors involved in the process.

Strategic designers have to deal with a dynamic process that is characterized by the mutual adjustment of the long-term vision, the transition path and the actors network. They have to adopt a flexible and dynamic approach to deal with these continuous adjustment and re-direction of the project.

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Figure 4.2-2 Reorientation of the transition strategy.

Ceschin 2011

[2]

[1]

re-orientation of the concept vision

adjustment of the transition strategy as a consequence of the vision reorientation

PSS concept vision Second version

PSS concept vision Third version

Incubation phase

Socio-technical experiments phase

Scaling-up phase

PSS concept vision First version

A flexible and dynamic management attitude should be adopted by strategic designers. In fact, the project vision is not a static outcome to be achieved, and the transition strategy is not a fixed road map to be covered.

What is learnt by actors during the societal embedding process is used to adjust the project vision [1] and, as a consequence, to re-orient the transition strategy [2].

New required design capabilities Design sustainable PSS concepts and transition paths to support and facilitate their introduction and scaling-up, require innovative design capabilities from the strategic designers involved.

First, strategic designers must learn to translate a PSS concept vision into a transition strategy. Define the sequence of steps needed to bring a radical innovation at its societal embedding: in other words they have to design the transition path. The most important and critical phase to design is the socio-technical experiment: this phase is crucial for exploring and learning how to improve and redesign the concept vision and enable the societal embedding. Strategic designers have always to combine the identification of the concept vision with the strategic identification of the steps for the achievement of the vision itself.

Second, strategic designers must learn to identify the correct network of stakeholders to be involved in the various phases of the societal embedding process. A dynamic network of actors is needed because for each phase of the transition path, the network of actors has different compositions. The designer PART I > Chapter 4

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has to open his view to a broader system approach and think also about the actors that have the power and motivation to directly influence the dominant regime (e.g. Ministries, policy makers and politicians, organisations), and the actors that indirectly may influence (e.g. NGOs, societal pressure groups, media). “Strategic designers should be able to act as networkers (capable to establish bridges and links between different actors), and as negotiator/facilitators (capable to manage controversies and conflicts within the network)�

(Ceschin 2012).

Third, strategic designers must learn to facilitate the building up of a shared project vision and action plan between the involved actors. Strategic designer should be able to involve, negotiate, co-create alternatives between the stakeholders network on the project vision and the transition path. The designers required skills of: communication because they have to be able to organize the complexity of the information and translated it in effective communication activities between the stakeholders; negotiation because they have to encourage and stimulate the actors in taking part in strategic conversations managing the diversity of their expectations.

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PART II: Mulo project

Chapter 5.

Project background

5.1 Mulo system (Sistema per la MobilitĂ Urbana da LavorO): the vehicle and the service

Figure 5.1-1 The modular logic of MULO system.

MULO System (system for Urban Mobility for Labour purpOses) is a family of light working vehicles for urban contexts powered by solar, electric and human power; it is characterised by a modular logic: a basic platform that can be combined with different modules. The family of vehicles was conceived to fulfil several mobility functions related to working activities in urban areas (for example freight transportation in the city centre, people transportation in the city centre, green areas maintenance, etc.). Â

Figure 5.1-2 MULO for [a] transporting people [b] green area maintenance [c] delivery services [d] hawkers.

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[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

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Mulo System has been designed by Fabrizio Ceschin for his master degree thesis defended in April 2006 at Politecnico di Milano. The first version of the vehicle was prototyped in August 2006 by the high school IPSIA “A. Ferrari” Maranello in collaboration with DIS (Design and Innovation for Sustainability) Politecnico di Milano research unit.

In September 2006 the vehicle took part in the Levante project, a non-competitive race dedicated to innovative low emissions vehicles, from Rome to Maranello (591 km).

Figure 5.1-3 MULO riding the race from Rome to Maranello.

Figure 5.1-3 MULO riding the race from Rome to Maranello.

The project has been recently awarded with the Special Mention in the “Well-Tech, Technology for Wellness” 2011 in the category Quality of life.

Figure 5.1-4 Mulo system WT Award 2011 - Quality of life

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5.2 Mulo system as an open project promoted by DIS of Politecnico di Milano The Department of Innovation for Sustainability of Politecnico di Milano fosters Mulo project as an open project that can be developed and adapted in collaboration with universities in different low-income contexts, as well as local companies, NGOs and administrations. The common and shared goal is to diffuse sustainable mobility systems through the activation of various pilot projects or socio-technical experimentation, intended as “lab” and “windows” (i.e. agent for sustainable change). For instance the projects that has been activated in Zambia, Burkina Faso and South Africa had, in broad terms, the common aim of developing a sustainable mobility system with different functions adapted to the different context and situation. The strong idea is the cooperation with universities and local manufacturers in order to share the knowledge and collaborate in the developing of the project for a specific context and with the local material and technologies available.

Furthermore this collaboration gives the opportunity to the manufacturer to grow both professionally (competences) and economically.

The system aims at giving job opportunities and satisfying the needs of mobility in specific context. It is also important that the manufacturing of the vehicles takes place locally for not being like many projects for developing countries that have been produced in developed world and then just placed in the needy context expecting that it work. The importance of cooperation and co-participatory design allows the design team to understand better the need of the user in the context, giving them the opportunity of growing: as the philosophy say “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime”.

DIS is adopting the system sustainability approach, which means designing the stakeholder interactions that continuously look for both socio-ethical and eco-efficient new beneficial solution. The criteria used by DIS to design system 90

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for social equity and cohesion are: improve employment and working conditions; increase equity and justice in relation to the stakeholders; enable a responsible and sustainable consumption; favour the integration of the weak and marginalized; improve social cohesion; and empower local resources and knowledge.

DIS Unit of Research of Politecnico di Milano promotes the Mulo system as an open project which means giving the opportunity to develop a sustainable mobility service system and give knowledge consultancy without charging costs as normally businesses do. The experience as partner coordinator of LeNS enabled to create a wide network of universities in the world that share the same goal of design for environmental sustainability but also for social equity and cohesion.

Figure 5.2-1 http://www.lens.polimi.it/

The LENS - Learning Network on Sustainability - is a 3 years project (Dec/2007 - Dec/2010) funded by the European Commission (Asia Link Programme, EuropAid), involving 7 design schools in Europe and Asia. LeNS is an action of human resources and curriculum development, aiming at the promotion of a new generation of designers (and design educators) capable to effectively contribute to the transition towards a sustainable society. LeNS ambitions to promote a new shared and articulated disciplinary ground on Design for Sustainability focused on Product-Service System Innovation, through a series of exchange activities and pilot courses at the partner institutions. The platform produces an open learning e-package, a modular package of teaching materials (texts, slide shows, audio, video, etc) and tools for designers that design educators worldwide are able to download (free of charge), modify/remix and reuse (copy left). In this perspective LeNS has been launched also in Africa in September 2009 and South America in October 2009. This open network allows designers to also design for different contexts worldwide, receiving feedback and suggestion from the people who are living in the context selected.

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Chapter 6.

Mulo in Africa

6.1 Three master degree theses about Mulo in low-income contexts Building upon this experience, under the UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) umbrella three master degree theses were promoted by the Unit of Research Design and system Innovation for Sustainability (DIS) to explore the potentialities of the vehicle MULO in low-income and emerging African contexts.

In particular the focus of these three theses was to design sustainable PSSs, based on the MULO vehicle, in three different contexts: - FARKA, a PSS for drinkable water transportation in Burkina Faso in collaboration with Polytechnique De Bobo-Dioulasso (2007-2008); - RASMIZ, a PSS for vegetable’s transportation in Zambia in collaboration with University of Zambia (2007-2008); - KANGA, a system for disabled students’ transportation in Cape Town, South Africa in collaboration with Cape Peninsula University of Technology (2008-2009).

Politecnico di Milano

Polytechnique De Bobo-Dioulasso

University of Zambia

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

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These theses were developed in loco, in collaboration with the local universities and in direct contact with potential users and other interested actors.

The third of these theses, the one developed in the South African context, raised the interest of some local actors. In particular Shonaquip (a company producing and commercializing wheelchairs and mobility aids for disabled people) shown the will to develop and implement the designed PSS. An informal partnership involving Shonaquip, Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), was therefore established in June 2009, with the goal to develop, implement and scale up the PSS concept.

Figure 6.1-1 Rasmiz the vehicle developed for the transportation of vegetables in Zambia,

by Maurizio Bazzi.

Figure 6.1-2 Farka, the vehicle developed for the transportation drinkable water in Burkina Faso, by Livia Martucci.

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6.2 Kanga project: the first concept that lead to the formalization of the concept vision The concept vision of the Kanga project is a sustainable, long lasting and branching system design for the transportation of learners with disabilities in suburban areas around Cape Town, South Africa. The project was aimed at helping out with the “Education for All by 2015” campaign and designing locally based solutions for the excluded people. The project foresaw a network of actors to build a sustainable public transportation system, with the priority of transporting disabled students to go and come back to the school in the suburban areas of Cape Town. Some local based organizations that are dealing with education and transportation have been the main actors of the system and the cooperation between the universities (Polimi and CPUT) had played an important role for the definition of the project’ specifications. Since this thesis had been part of the UNIDO project Faculty chair of Innovation, coordinated by DIS of Politecnico, some financial supports have been raised in order to support the developing of the project. The original Mulo vehicle (designed by Fabrizio Ceschin, April 2006) has been redesign and adapted to transport people with disabilities and the redesigning process has been done involving local industries in order to use the resources and the technologies locally available. In sum, during the field research trip in Cape Town in the beginning of 2009, the student, Hazal Gumus, was able to make a deep field research on the mobility needs in those contexts and above all she was able to find some local partners and raise their interests on the project. In particular Shonaquip (a social enterprise company producing and commercializing wheelchairs and mobility aids for disabled people) shown the will to participate at the production of the vehicles and to develop and implement the designed PSS. Furthermore she was able to also create a connection with some local CBOs (Impact Direct Ministries and Rlabs) that help the local community to face serious problems of drugs and alcohol addiction, 96

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crime and gangsterism. This concept developed in the thesis resulted as the starting point for the Cape Town Sustainable Mobility System.

Building upon this initial concept an informal partnership involving Shonaquip, Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), was therefore established in June 2009, with the common goal to develop, implement and scale up the PSS concept. The network of actors identified (with DIS of Politecnico, as the project coordinator) started in July 2009 the orientation of the PSS concept and the project vision, taking in consideration the specific needs and characteristics of Shonaquip. The aim of the firsts informal meetings was to shape the project idea and convert it in a set of visual artefacts in order to clearly communicate the PSS innovation and its potential benefits for each different kind of stakeholders and eventually new interested ones.

Figure 6.2-1 Hazal Gumus field trip January 2009

Figure 6.2-2 Kanga: the redesigned vehicle to adapt it to the transportation of wheelchair users

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PART III Cape Town sustainable mobility project: 2009-2010

Chapter 7.

The initial PSS concept vision

7.1

Formalization of the initial concept vision As mentioned before, the starting point of the project was the PSS concept developed by Hazal Gumus for her master degree thesis. On the basis of her initial PSS concept, in July 2009 Polimi started to adapt the PSS concept to the specific needs and characteristics of the main actors involved, and formalise the project vision. The aim was to adapt the project idea and translate it in a set of visual artefacts capable to clearly and effectively communicate the characteristics of the PSS innovation and its potential benefits to different types of actors. This activity was undertaken in interaction with Shonaquip and CPUT. A set of consolidated tools was used by Polimi to support this activity: (I) the offering diagram, to visualise which customers needs are fulfilled by the PSS; (II) the interaction table, to visualise how the PSS providers deliver the service and how the customers get their satisfaction from it; (III) the system map, to visualise the structure of the value chain; (IV) the sustainability diagram, to visualise the environmental, socio-ethical and economical benefits.

The project vision consists of a mobility system, based on light vehicles moved by solar, electric and human energy, to connect disabled people homes to the nearest public transport stops, or to the local schools, hospitals etc. in the city of Cape Town. The vehicles producer (Shonaquip) is also the service provider. It maintains the ownership of the vehicles and offers an integrated mobility service (on a pay-per-function base).

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(I) The offering diagram of the PSS concept (see Figure 7.1.1). It synthetically visualises the main offers delivered by the PSS: a mobility service for the transportation of disabled people in the suburban areas of Cape Town, and a mobility service for the transportation of tourists in the city centre.

Figure 7.1.-1 Offering Diagram of the initial PSS concept vision

(II) The interaction storyboard of the PSS concept (see following pages). It visualises the sequence of actions to be performed by stakeholders to deliver the PSS, and the ones to be performed by users to get their satisfaction from the offer.

The storyboard shows four interaction lines (the first two related to the main users, and the other two related to the PSS providers). The upper part of the picture visualises one action (image plus textual description).

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USER 1 - People phisically challenged USER 2 - Tourists and people that need to move in the city centre PRODUCERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

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A partnership between CPUT and Shonaquip is set-up. The aim of the partnership is to implement a mobility service for phisically challanged people.

The partnership designs the system, the service and the product (in collaboration with Polimi and Ipsia, and in case with some Italian companies).

Shonaquip manages the purchase and production of components, and the vehicles assembly. They will keep the ownership of the vehicles.

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USER 1 - People phisically challenged PRODUCERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

USER 2 - Tourists and people that need to move in the city centre

Family of disabled student communicates to the service provider the mobility needs of the student.

Shonaquip explains to the Reconstricted Team how to mantain and use the vehicle. The Reconstructed team in fact will manage the service.

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The Reconstructed team manages all the data using a database.

Moreover it works as a service hub for people who want to work as drivers.

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Student, but also elderly people, are transported to the school, hospital, or wherever they need.

There should be no fee for them. Maybe there could be a contribution coming from the schools and or the hospitals.

PRODUCERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

USER 2 - Tourists and people that need to move in the city centre

The students transportation is managed by the Reconstructed team, and done by hired drivers.

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Vehicles can be also use to transport people and tourists within the city centre. This service could represent another source of revenue.

The students transportation is managed by the Reconstructed team, and done by hired drivers.

Student, but also elderly people, are transported to the school, hospital, or wherever they need.

There should be no fee for them. Maybe there could be a contribution coming from the schools and or the hospitals.

Vehicles can be also use to transport people and tourists within the city centre. This service could represent another source of revenue.

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USER 1 - People phisically challenged USER 2 - Tourists and people that need to move in the city centre PRODUCERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS

When vehicles are not used they can be used to produce electric energy, that could be sold to the local energy supplier. This could represent another source of revenue.

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Shonaquip takes care of the maintenance and repairs of the vehicle, as well as the reuse of components and recycling of materials.

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Chapter 8.

The incubation: first phase

8.1

Identification of actors to be involved The identification of the network of actors involved was really important for the development of the project. At the beginning it was decided to identify just a small and restricted group of actors, the ones strictly linked with the project of Hazal Gumus. With the time and the events, the group of actors was extended to a wider variety (municipality, public transportation companies, etc…). A series of tools (actors map and actors table) have been used for understanding the relationships between the different stakeholders. The tools have been an easy way to make explicit actors’ roles, expectations, convergences and conflicts, interests and power. We can divide the actors involved in two different categories: the project promoters, the ones that supported the developing of the project and the project sponsors, the ones that financially sustained the production of the first prototype.

8.1.1 Promoters: Cput, Polimi, Shonaquip, Impact Direct Ministries, Rlabs CPUT (Cape Peninsula University of technology) is the technical university of Cape Town, the only university of technology in the Western Cape province. Mugendi M’Rithaa, Industrial Design Lecturer at CPUT, gave an important contribution to the project. He was the key actor for the connection and the involvement of all the stakeholders’ network.

Mugendi M’Rithaa assigned the task of redesigning the vehicle to one of his master student, Guillaume Du Toit. He decided to make his master thesis on the Mulo project and the complexity of the coordination and negotiation between the actors involved especially dealing with such a broad network of actors. Guillaume was proposed to develop his thesis on Mulo also because in the meanwhile he was interning at Shonaquip, the social enterprise that was responsible of the manufacturing of the vehicle.

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Figure 8.1-1 CPUT logo and main campus

Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) is the largest technical University in Italy. The Unit of Research Design and system Innovation for Sustainability (DIS) of INDACO department started up the project and continued to constantly give its support to the project. The professor Carlo Vezzoli and the PHD student Fabrizio Ceschin really believed in this project and they never give up. The team of DIS office has designed the components of the prototype and found some funds and sponsors.

Figure 8.1-2 Polimi logo, DIS logo and Polimi design building

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Shonaquip is a company based in Witteboom, Cape Town that produces and commercializes wheelchairs and mobility aids for disabled people. It is a social enterprise, an organization that applies business strategies to achieving philanthropic goals. Shonaquip is committed to improving the quality of life of people with severe disabilities, especially in impoverished communities. Half of the workers in Shonaquip are disabled people that would have some difficulties to find a job outside Shonaquip, especially in a context like South Africa.

Shonaquip provides also clinical services, as well as professional and clinical training for therapists, rehabilitation workers, wheelchair users, across Southern Africa.

Figure 8.1-3 Shonaquip logo and factory workers

Impact Direct Ministries (IDM) is a non-profit community based organisation operating in South Africa with the main operational base in Cape Town since 2001. For many years its members served the local community through projects related to substance abuse, youth development, work with seniors citizens etc. Their mission is to fulfil our responsibility through care and compassion, poverty alleviation and community development. Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs) is a global movement and registered Social Enterprise that provides innovative solutions to address various complex problems. It creates an environment where people are empowered to make a difference in the lives of others. The RLabs “main hub� is in Athlone, Cape Town but have activity in Europe, Asia and Central Africa. CPUT suggested involving these actors because they could have played an important role in the implementation of the pilot project (as service managers) and 112

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because of their links with the communities living in suburban areas of the Cape Town.

Figure 8.1-4 Rlabs and Impact Direct logos and members

IMPACT DIRECT MINISTRIES

8.1.2 Sponsors: Solon, Ipsia A. Ferrari, Polimi and Shonaquip SOLON is one of the largest solar module manufacturers and a leading supplier of photovoltaic systems in Europe. SOLON has contributed to the project by supplying the photovoltaic panel for the vehicle.

IPSIA “A. Ferrari” Maranello is a technical high school focus on the design and the production of vehicles’ prototypes.

IPSIA A.Ferrari has also assisted in findings sponsorships for some components of the vehicle. IPSIA A.Ferrari has also assisted in findings sponsorships for some components of the vehicle, in particular the electrical components such as the electric motor and the controller supplied by Elektrosistem.

Politecnico di Milano and Shonaquip have been not only promoters of the project but also sponsors: Polimi financed some mechanical components (bicycle components: wheels, breaks, shock absorbers, pedalling system etc) of the prototype and Shonaquip financed the frame structure of the vehicle and employed its workers to manufacture the prototype.

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8.2

Start-up workshop for activation of the Cape Town mobility project In September 2009 an important meeting/workshop took place in Cape Town, involving the actors previously identified to review and co-design the different elements of the project.

The workshop/meeting was divided in two days.

The first day was focused on discussing and adjusting the project vision. The team from Milan started illustrating the project vision and a draft action plan. The other participants were asked to be active in the interaction with the keynote speakers; in particular they were asked to give a critical analyses of project vision in its different aspects (technological, political and socio cultural) in order to identify possible problems and solutions and to think about context opportunities and barriers. A collective discussion between all the participants was really important and it brought to the adjustment and refinement of the project vision at the end of the first day. It was decided to extend the mobility service even to elderly people (for example offering mobility services from their homes to the nearest public transport stops, or to local hospitals etc.) and to add other mobility linked with the municipality like green area maintenance and post delivery.

The stakeholders defined their role: Shonaquip would have produced the vehicles keeping the ownership but providing the service and Rlabs and Impact Direct Ministries declared their interest in becoming the service manager of the PSS. During the second day, a fundamental discussion on the action plan brought to the redefinition of the transition strategy. From the discussion was agreed the implementation of a socio-technical experiment in Bridgetown, the suburban area where Rlabs and Impact Direct Ministries are based in Cape Town. The small pilot project was focused on a service for the transportation of the elderly people around the district to be later extended to other suburban areas of Cape Town, and then coupled with a service for tourists’ transportation in the city centre. During the meeting was discussed also the new

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requirement for the vehicle that should have been adapted to the specific user need and local materials and technologies.

For the workshop has been prepared a series of graphical tools in order to formalise the PSS vision. They took lot of time in term of preparation but they have been considered really effective for the understanding of the key information also with the stakeholders that come from different background.

These tools give also the starting point of discussion and debate. The only problem encountered was the collection of insights and ideas. Polimi researchers wrote down ideas and insights during the discussion, but in this way the comments/ ideas provided by each participant were not visible to the other actors limiting the possibility for participants to give their suggestions. The workshop was successful also thanks to the involvement of a broad variety of actors who comes from different background because it allows to focus on different dimensions of the problems. Different background means more difficulties in the coordination and the managing of the discussion among the actors. There was the need of a network manager who act as negotiator able to manage conflicts within the network and as networker able to keep the links between the actors.

All the actors adopted a broad system approach that was really effective for the developing of the ideas: participants didn’t focus their attentions just on the actors already in the project but on all the relevant other actors such as local NGOs, municipality, etc‌ This approach gave to the participants the possibility of focusing on how influence the context in order to favour the PSS innovation (e.g. the suggestion of including the municipality in the project).

Figure 8.2-1 Stakeholders discussing during the workshop

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8.3

Identification of implementation barriers From the workshop come out a series of barriers: the main issue was linked to the lack of economic resources necessary to finance the prototype vehicle production and the pilot project. Another problem related to the production of the vehicle was that in South Africa there is a lack of companies that produce solar panels and lithium batteries. These two components had to be imported from Europe. Shonaquip wanted to finance the construction of the prototype but it was not able to cover all the expenses. In order to solve that, in October 2009 Polimi looked for some sponsorship that would be interested in finance the project: it made some presentations to some Italian companies that were really interested on it and they decided to provide a sponsorship to cover the required economic resources. Also Shonaquip got some donations for the developing of the prototype from Mugendi M’Rithaa, CPUT lecturer, who was the responsible of the coordinator between the Italian and South African stakeholders and he truly believed in the project opportunities. Politecnico di Milano managed to provide the remaining needed economic resources.

Another problem that emerged was that the local regulation did not allow the use of human powered vehicles for public mobility services. In order to solve this problem it was suggested to establish connections with the Cape Town municipality and in particular the Transport Department because they have the legislative power to change that law and move towards a more sustainable mobility development.

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8.4

Define roles and action plan

On the basis of the workshop results the action plan was adjusted: a small pilot project focused on a service for the transportation of the elderly people of Bridgetown area was drafted. This service would be later extended to other suburban areas of Cape Town, and then coupled with a service for tourists’ transportation in the city centre. In order to reach this achievement, for each actor it was assigned a task: Shonaquip was in charge to manage the production of the first prototype that had been redesigned by CPUT in collaboration with Polimi.

CPUT was the key actor that links, keeps in contact and updates all the stakeholders.

Rlabs with Impact Direct were in charge of managing the pilot project in Bridgetown in collaboration with Shonaquip.

Polimi had the role to look for financial resources for the pilot project. The first step for the starting of the pilot project in Bridgetown was to make the first prototype in Cape Town.

After looking for sponsorships, Polimi in collaboration with Shonaquip and CPUT started in February 2010 the process of redesigning the vehicle in order to respond to the local needs (user needs, technological constrains, local aesthetic preferences). The department of DIS (Design and Innovation for Sustainability) got a significant support also from the high school IPSIA “A. Ferrari” of Maranello. The technical drawings were ready in July 2010 and in September 2010 started the construction of the prototype at Shonaquip.

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Figure 8..4-1 Render image of the vehicle redesign

The vehicle had to be redesigned to be adapted to the specific functions of transporting wheelchair users, and people with physical disabilities, which means to be bigger and more accessible. Furthermore it had been adapted to use the locally available materials and technologies and finally to fit to the local climate and geographical conditions.

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PART IV Cape Town sustainable mobility project: 2010-ongoing

Chapter 9.

Design methodology

9.1 Design phases

Pss innovation is fundamentally different from incremental innovation that is concerned with exploitation of existing business process and technology. The introduction of PSS business models can bring substantial change in the existing markets and society. The methodology for implementing these innovations is focused on designing and selling an interconnected system of products and services. Strategic designers should think “outside the box� and actively use visualisation, analysis and stakeholder management in their design process.

During the design of the socio-technical experiment the strategic designers applied a methodology based on six phases: - Strategic analysis - Exploring opportunities - PSS idea development - PSS development - Preparing for implementation - Implementation All the phases were carried out in an open exchange process between all the stakeholders and supported by visualization tools (system maps, offering diagrams, storyboards).

Strategic analysis The strategic analysis had the objective of building a thorough and systematic understanding of the South African society. In particular it has been analysed the context Cape Town: the geographic features, the infrastructure system, the public transportation, the regulation system and the cultural aspects. This analysis generated a common understanding of the behaviour of the overall system and defined orientations for the next actions and steps to enable the design of a successful socio-technical experiment.

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Exploring opportunities The exploring opportunities phase had the objective of looking at possible innovative solutions for the socio-technical experiment. During this phase it has been developed a series of scenarios related to the possible use of the vehicle in Cape Town. All the ideas proposed were not improvement of products or services but entirely new offers that have not existed before. An important tool that has been used for better explaining the ideas generated to the other stakeholders was the offering diagram (to visualise which customers needs are fulfilled by the PSS offer). Through an image the PSS idea have been presented to the other stakeholders; it was a simple way to introduce the new scenarios.

PSS idea development The strategic designer started the design in details of the most promising PSS idea according with the decisions taken with the other stakeholders. The idea upgraded from a general description and visualization to a more precise version.

The designers built-up and formalized a project vision shared among the actors and social groups involved in the project (what the project network wants to achieve). It has been developed a detailed system map for representing the PSS system made up of stakeholders, flows and infrastructures involved in the PSS delivery.

PSS development The PSS development phase started from the defined idea and brought the project to the detailed version necessary for its realisation. The project managers defined a detailed design for each experiment’ dimension and they also elaborated the specifications for the socio-technical experiment implementation. It was really important to integrate the input of the stakeholder in the design process: their suggestions were really helpful because they know better the context. It has been developed a more detailed stakeholder system map (precise system organisation for each PSS action) and offering diagram.

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125

Preparing for implementation After defining the detailed design of the socio-technical experiment, strategic designer started to prepare the implementation process. The designers translated the vision into an action plan to support and favour societal embedding of the PSS concept (how the vision could be achieved). The first step was the preparation of a detailed presentation that has been presented personally to the South African stakeholders. The objectives of the presentation were: presenting the PSS at its full operative phase and presenting the transition path for its implementation with a focus on the organization of the socio-technical experiment. The tolls used in the presentation for the visualization of these ideas were: offering diagram, system map and a detailed storyboard (one for the service at its full operative phase and one for the pilot project). The tools have been really important for making the audience understanding even if the topic was a bit complex.

Implementation The implementation phase has been the hardest one because it was full of unforeseen issues. This phase is based on implementing the actions identified in the strategic plan (do what planned). During this phase the strategic designers had to face with cultural, politic, religious, economic issues that could not being predicted. Strategic designers often had meeting with the stakeholders for discussing about the problems encountered and the possible solutions. During this phase some stakeholders quitted the experiment, other wanted to quit but they withstood. New actors were involved and new connection created. It has been understood that people determine the success or failure of a project far more then processes or technologies. In the implementation phase it was also important the activities related to monitoring and evaluating the transition process, and identifying the adjustment to be carried out (learn from activities undertaken). On the following chapters it has been explained more in details the phases of the implementation, the problems encountered and the solutions founded.

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Summarizing the activities undertaken during the journey can be divided in two main phases: - the incubation aimed at setting up all the conditions required to start the societal embedding process - and the socio-technical experiment to test and improve the PSS innovation and support its diffusion.

The next steps of this methodology will be the implementation of the socio-technical experiment in other contexts and then the scaling up of the innovation until it becomes steady in the market.

As it has been said in the chapter 4, this methodology requires new competencies and a new design approach based on an experimental, learning and network management.

Figure 9 -1,2,3 Implementation phase a] presentation of the PSS to the community, b] production process, c] product testing

a]

b]

c]

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Chapter 10.

Cape Town context analysis

10.1 Mobility situation with a focus on disabled accessibility Transport systems are essential to the functioning of smoothrunning cities and a critical facilitator of the mobility and access needed to support a healthy economy. This is particularly true for Cape Town, which has experienced an annual increase of 3% in traffic volumes over the last ten years.

Cape Town, as a host city of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, leveraged significant investment in its transport infrastructure, in particular improvements in public transport and Non Motorised Transport (NMT).

The mobility system in Cape Town city centre improved a lot thanks to the great investment for the World Cup 2010, while in the low-income suburban areas it is quite unreliable.

Mobility in Cape Town takes various forms, including walking, cycling, private car, rail, commuter bus, mini-bus taxi, bus rapid transit as well as other options.

The most diffuse mean of transport for short distance transportation is the mini-bus taxis.

The gap in the public transport system is filled by the many private taxi operators. In Cape Town what we call taxis are the mainly white coloured minibus-vans which may transport up to 16 people. Taxis are slightly more expensive than buses and trains, but you can hail a taxi from everywhere.

There are huge taxi stands at most of the shopping centres too. The main pick-up point is near the train station. But these taxis often will stop and wait for more passengers to come with you until the minibus van is full. A must is to have the exact change for the trip.

Security issues regarding cars, which were not roadworthy, were discussed openly in public. Recently the minibus taxis seem to be much safer than even the past years, when there were many old minibuses on the roads.

Due to constant checks by the Traffic Police on the main taxi routes and government incentives to get rid of old cars, these 130

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unsafe taxi minibuses disappear slowly from Cape Town’s streets.

However it is safe, for foreigners, to take a minibus taxi only on one of the more central routes and not to go without a local guide into a township area.

Figure 10.2-1 Mini-bus taxi, Cape Town 2011

Figure 10.2-2 Mini-bus taxis at the taxi rank, Cape Town 2011

Instead the Metropolitan buses services like Golden Arrow buses are much safer and are even improving but their travel net is not very extensive. The routes cover most of the Cape Town suburbs, but the services are not very reliable.

The travel schedules however are often enough only estimates of arrivals. So you have to be prepared to wait at the bus shelters or at sign-posted bus stops. Sometimes you will find route maps at the bus stops.

The public transport is affordable transportation for the local commuters, as it is subsidized by the government.

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Figure 10.2-3 Golden Arrow metropolitan buses at the, Cape Town 2011

A more reliable Metrorail network links Cape Town with the Southern Peninsula and the Western Cape.

Travelling to the Southern Suburbs should be safe enough during daylight and if you keep to busy compartments. However it is better not to display laptop, or valuable goods to not attract criminals but rather hide it in a backpack.

Figure 10.2-4a Metrorail in Wynberg Station (Annual Report 2006/07)

Figure 10.2-4b The new Cape Town Central Station, Cape Town 2011

A new transportation system for the city was developed and launched officially during the World Cup 2010 and subsequently implemented in the following years.

The Cape Town Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) system is a bold initiative to transform the public transport sector by dramatically improving the customer’s experience thereof.

This initiative will seek to integrate all of the current transport modal options into a coherent package. Among the modes to 132

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be integrated are: Metrorail services, road-based services on trunk routes, conventional bus services, minibus taxi integration, feeder bus services, improved pedestrian and bicycle access, metered taxi integration and park-and-ride facilities.

The principal way in which the City of Cape Town will transform the road-based public transport services is a concept known as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). BRT is a high-quality bus-based transit system that delivers fast, comfortable, and cost-effective urban mobility with segregated right-of-way infrastructure, rapid and frequent operations, and excellence in marketing and customer service.

BRT has virtually all the performance and comfort of a modern rail-based transit system but at a fraction of the cost – typically four to 20 times less than a tram or light rail transit system and 10 to 100 times less than a rail system.

BRT has been successfully implemented in Latin American cities, such as Curitiba, BogotĂĄ and Sao Paulo, as well as Brisbane, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Rouen, Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, Nagoya, and Taipei. BRT has become a global phenomenon synonymous with quality public transport.

The central defining feature of BRT is its focus on customer service. Dedicated, median bus ways provide customers with dramatically reduced travel times. Because the vehicles move quickly in peak hour, more people are encouraged to switch from private car use to public transport, which makes the whole system far more viable. The dedicated lanes also reduce operating costs so that fare levels are quite affordable.

Figure 10.2-5 BRT MyCiTi at Civic Centre, Cape Town 2011.

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133

As in all the cities in the world, there are private taxis, which, in Cape Town are relatively affordable. They cost around R10 per km.

Figure 10.2-6 Dial-a-Ride service in Cape Town metropolitan area

Serious mobility problems are related to people with physical disabilities, both for who live and move in the City centre and particularly for who live in the low-income suburban areas, townships, where besides lack of transportation they are also quite poor and they cannot even afford to hire a private taxi.

There is a service that is still not enough for all the people in need of mobility, the service is called Dial-a-Ride.

The service is an accessible transport service for people for whom other forms of public transport are not suitable as a result of their special needs.

People, who live in the municipal area of the City of Cape Town and cannot use other forms of public transport because of a visual impairment or a physical disability, can make use of the Dial-a-Ride service.

Figure 10.2-7 Dial-a-Ride service in Cape Town metropolitan area

Instead in the township areas the people with physically impaired, have serious problem of mobility, to have access to 134

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Figure 10.2-8 Person with one leg and crutches uncomfortably and unsafely waiting for a lift on the wayside.

basic services, hospital, school, market, church or even get a job. For this reason they are often marginalized and they have to get off with some not easy solutions in order to survive in the society. Most of the people in the townships move by public transportations or they are obliged to walk and if they are lucky they use the bicycle.

Table of transportation prices in Cape Town area e.g. of same distance: Cape Town - Woodstock (3,5 km) R10 = â‚Ź 1 Mini-bus Taxis R5 Metropolitan Golden Arrow Buses R 3,3 Metrorail R 3,5 BRT MyCiTi R5 Private Taxis R 35 Dial-a-Ride R4

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135

10.2 Socio-economic issues

By UN classification South Africa is a middle income country with an abundant supply of resources, well developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange, that ranks among the top twenty in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centres throughout the entire region. Advanced development is significantly localised around four areas: Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and Pretoria/Johannesburg. Beyond these four economic centres, development is marginal and poverty is still prevalent despite government efforts. Consequently the vast majority of South Africans are poor.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world. A decade of continual economic growth has helped to lower unemployment, but daunting economic and social problems remain. The average South African household income decreased considerably between 1995 and 2000. As for racial inequality, Statistics South Africa reported that in 1995 the average white household earned four times as much Figure 10.2-8 Cape Town township.

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as the average black household. In 2000 the average white household was earning six times more than the average black household. The affirmative action policies have seen a rise in black economic wealth and an emerging black middle class.

Refugees from poorer neighbouring countries include many immigrants from the DRC, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and others, representing a large portion of the informal sector. With high unemployment levels amongst poorer South Africans, xenophobia is prevalent and many people born in South Africa feel resentful of immigrants who are seen to be depriving the native population of jobs, a feeling which has been given credibility by the fact that many South African employers have employed migrants from other countries for lower pay than South African citizens, especially in the construction, tourism, agriculture and domestic service industries. Illegal immigrants are also heavily involved in informal trading. However, many immigrants to South Africa continue to live in poor conditions, and the South African immigration policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994.

Other problems correlated with the economical issue are crime, corruption, and HIV/AIDS. The gangsterism is one of the biggest problems of the Cape Town area, especially in the coloured community. Everything started with the apartheid’s end that made things worse. With overmatched police constrained by numbers and resources, the gangs in Cape Town’s poor neighbourhoods have grown in brutality and sophisticaFigure 10.2-8 A group of young gangster in Cape Town.

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137

tion. Well-armed, they have moved into lucrative rackets such as drug dealing, gun-running and money laundering.

The young living in the Cape Flats (a loosely connected chain of townships which holds some of the most desolate and violent communities in all of South Africa) found new families in the gangs. Most of them finish their life in prison, other they get killed and the strongest ones manage to change their life. Changing life is not easy also because they will struggle on finding a job opportunity: the tattoos that they have on their body show their gangster’ past turning away all the employers. Without finding a proper job they will lose the hope of having a respectable life and they will enter again in the gangs.

Figure 10.2-8 Graffiti in the Cape Flats.

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Chapter 11.

Current PSS concept vision: SunRide

11.1 Introduction

As illustrated before, a PSS idea or concept has to be developed to overcome a societal/business challenge. The project vision provides a direction to the transition path and the societal embedding of the PSS. In the process of designing the transition path it is important to adopt a bifocal design attitude. An attitude that lead strategic designers to focus simultaneously on: - the long-term project goal: the achievement of a future scope in which a sustainable PSS innovation is part of the normal way in which a societal need is fulfilled (project vision); - the short-medium-term actions: to be undertaken in order to orient the societal embedding process towards the longterm goal.

Building upon the initial PSS vision developed by Polimi (see Chapter 7) and the research and activities conducted on field, SunRide, the complete and detailed PSS concept vision, was developed and it is currently considered the goal to achieve during the whole transition process.

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11.2 Design of the PSS concept vision

Initially the PSS concept vision consisted of a mobility system (based on light vehicles moved by solar, electric and human energy) to locally connect disabled and elderly people homes to the nearest public transport stops, local schools, hospitals, church and post office in the low income-suburbs of Cape Town. Furthermore the concept idea has been broaden to other type of transportations in order to make the service economically sustainable with the creation of profitable businesses such as the transportation of tourists or commuters around the city centre.

The partnership between the vehicles company manufacturer (e.g. Shonaquip) and the local NGO (BEN bikes) represents the service provider: they keep the ownership of the vehicles and offer an integrated mobility service (on a pay-per-function base). The interested companies pay a monthly fee for the rental of the vehicles and Shonaquip with BEN bikes are in charge of the maintenance of the vehicles.

The concept vision can be well explained through the use of the offering diagram (see Figure 11.2-1). The offering diagram visualises with a synthetic image the main offers delivered by the PSS. BEN bikes in partnership with Shonaquip (or another production company if Shonaquip would not be part of the PSS) will sign agreements with other companies (such as touristic companies, public transportation companies) interested in renting the vehicles for improving their services.

These services will give access to mobility to people (also people with disabilities) both within the city centre and the townships (the poorest suburban areas).

In order to better understand the services that can be offered by the PSS, an Interaction Table Storyboard has been created to have a complete overview of the PSS actions (see Appendix 2).

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BEN + Vehicle company (e.g. Shonaquip)

Companies and associations: e.g. BEC, Awol Tours and Municipality

GIVE ACCESS TO MOBILITY TO

Tourists

around the TOWNSHIPS

Disabled

Elderly

Commuters

around the CITY CENTRE

Figure 11.2-1 Offering diagram

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145

11.2.1 Stakeholders and users involved in the PSS at its full operative phase Main Service provider: Partnership composed by BEN & Shonaquip

Intermediate PSS Users: - Bicycle Empowerment Centres (2 selected from the 14 established in the province)

- The City of Cape Town In particular the transportation department that design the mobility system in the city centre.

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- Awol Tours It is a touristic agency that promotes responsible tourism in respect of the environment, and provide a more interactive and depth experience getting in contact with locals people.

Final PSS Users: - Elderly and disabled people All those people that are marginalized because unable to move independently especially in low-income context areas.

- Commuters All the people, workers, students and locals that need to move for short distances in the city centre and in the townships.

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147

- Tourists

Drivers and Service employees: - Marginalized and unemployed people A further aim of the concept vision service system is to include and provide job opportunities to marginalized people in order to re-integrate them in the society. Particularly in the townships, the economic situation of many local residents is extremely precarious and approximately 30 % of the province’s population is unemployed. There is a large disparity in income between locals and foreigners and a high rate of homelessness, HIV and criminality characterize social life in many parts of the region.

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System map of the project at its full operative phase Vehicle rental Payment Pay-per-use agreement

Vehicles and maintenance Payment for vehicle rental Service agreement

Transportation Payment for transportation Request of transportation

BEC

Bicycle workshops

Locals

(with priority to elderly and disabled)

Payment for the service

+

Local associations

The same model is applied to 2 BECs in the Cape Town area

Township tour

Service agreement

Transportation Payment for the service Township tour request

Vehicles and maintenance

Production & Service Design Partnership

Payment for vehicle rental

Request of city tour

Service agreement

Payment for the service

Awol & Tours Touristic Agency

City tour

Cab within city centre

Vehicles and maintenance

Payment for the service

Payment for vehicle rental

Request of transportation

Service agreement The City of Cape Town Municipality

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Tourists

149

Locals & Tourists

11.3 Back office: interaction between main service provider and intermediate users 11.3.1 Main service provider BEN bikes and Shonaquip make an agreement for creating a partnership. The financial investment is split in half between the two stakeholders but Shonaquip will be responsible of the production process and BEN bikes of creating partnerships with the other companies and of the management of the PSS. Before starting to produce BEN bikes will present the PSS to different companies and the ones interested will sign a contract of vehicle rental. Shonaquip will provide the transportation of the vehicles to the companies interested in the service and it will provide the technicians for the maintenance and the repair of the vehicles all the times it will be necessary. The system map in the next page visualises the connections and actions between the stakeholders that constitute the PSS value chain. The arrows represent the interactions between the stakeholders, in term of action, material, information and financial flows.

The storyboard (in the following pages) visualises the sequence of actions to be performed by the stakeholders involved to deliver the PSS and the ones to be performed by users to get their satisfaction from the offer. The storyboard shows five interaction lines: the blue represent Shonaquip (the production company), the red BEN bikes (an NGO that promotes the use of the bicycle in the Cape Town suburbs), the green Awol Tours (a touristic company of the city centre in partnership with BEN bikes), the orange the City of Cape Town (Cape Town public transportation department), and the cyan the BEC (Bicycle empowerment centres promotes

by BEN bikes in the Cape Town townships). The upper image represents the ongoing action supported by the textual description.

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151

System map - Main service provider perspective

Vehicles and maintenance Payment for vehicle rental

BEC Bicycle workshop 1

Service agreement

BEC Bicycle workshop 1

+

Vehicles and maintenance Payment for vehicle rental Service agreement

Awol & Tours Touristic Agency

Vehicles and maintenance Payment for vehicle rental Service agreement

Production & Service Design Partnership

152

The City of Cape Town Municipality

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1.

Shonaquip and BEN make a partnership to develop the SunRide mobility system

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

2.

BEN, as representative of the partnership, presents the mobility system to interested companies and institutions

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

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153

3.

BEN makes a rental agreement with the interested companies and they agreed on the conditions of use PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

4.

Shonaquip produces the vehicles required by the interested companies

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

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5.

BEN & Shonaquip deliver the vehicles to the companies selected and illustrate the optimal way of using them.

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

6.

In case one of the companies selected, e.g.

Awol Tours has a problem with the vehicle, according to the agreement, can call Shonaquip to fix it

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

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155

7.

The Shonaquip technician go to Awol Tours to fix the problems related to the vehicle maintenance

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

8.

Shonaquip technician repairs the vehicle

PARTNERSHIP ACTIVATION

INCLUDED SERVICES

SHONAQUIP -

The manufacturing company

BEN Bikes AWOL TOURS

“There is a problem with the vehicle”

City of Cape Town BEC

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11.3.2 Economic hypothesis from the BEN+Shonaquip perspective Data Summary Partnership BEN + Manufacturing company

Service management

Vehicle production

+ Vehicle cost 1st year/per unit Vehicle cost 2nd year/per unit Vehicle cost 3rd year/per unit

40000 Rand 36000 Rand 34000 Rand

N° vehicles in 5 years

9

Service manager/month N° Service manager Salary manager/vehicle

5000 Rand 1 555.5555556 Rand

1 Vehicle maintenance/month Technician/month N° Technician

500 Rand 5000 Rand 2

Salary Technician/vehicle

1111.111111

Rand

Full operative phase project - Business Model Ben Bikes and Shonaquip will keep the ownership of the vehicles gaining money from the rental service to the intermediate users (Awol Tours, BEC, City of Cape Town).

The total costs to be covered all the years will be the vehicle maintenance, the salary of the technicians and the service organizer. At the beginning, in the first two years they will have also to cover the cost of the vehicle production as a starting investment. The BEC investment is not profitable because the rental price is lower compared with the ones of the other two stakeholders. The NGO BEN bikes will invest part of the profit from the other two services in this project for the improvement of the township transportation’ system. The small profit of the BEC goes to BEN Bikes.

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2 BECs COSTS

Vehicle production

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

80000 Rand 12000 Rand

0 12000 Rand

0 12000 Rand

0 12000 Rand

0 12000 Rand

Technician salary

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

Rental to BECs Profit of BECs

19200 Rand 13680 Rand

19200 Rand 13680 Rand

19200 Rand 13680 Rand

19200 Rand 13680 Rand

19200 Rand 13680 Rand

TOT PROFIT/year

-85786 Rand

-5786 Rand

-5786 Rand

-5786 Rand

-5786 Rand

Balance

-85786 Rand

-91573 Rand -97360 Rand -103146 Rand -108933 Rand 0 0 0 0

Vehicle maintenance REVENUES

n째 vehicles/year

Awol Tours COSTS

Vehicle production Vehicle maintenance Technician salary

2

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

80000 Rand

0

0

0

0

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

26666 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

Service manager

13333 Rand

Rental to Awol Tours

120000 Rand 120000 Rand

120000 Rand 120000 Rand 120000 Rand

TOT PROFIT/year

-12000 Rand

68000 Rand

68000 Rand

Balance

-12000 Rand

69333 Rand

150666 Rand 232000 Rand 313333 Rand

REVENUES

n째 vehicles/year

2

The City of Cape Town COSTS

Vehicle production Vehicle maintenance Technician salary

13333 Rand

0

13333 Rand

68000 Rand

0

0

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

0

0

66666 Rand

66666 Rand

Year 2

80000 Rand

108000 Rand 0

26666 Rand

68000 Rand

13333 Rand

0

Year 1

12000 Rand

13333 Rand

30000 Rand

30000 Rand

66666 Rand

66666 Rand

30000 Rand

30000 Rand

Service manager

13333 Rand

33333 Rand

Rental to CoCT

72000 Rand

180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand

TOT PROFIT/year

-60000 Rand

-58000 Rand 50000 Rand

Balance

-60000 Rand -118000 Rand -68000 Rand 2 3 0

REVENUES

n째 vehicles/year

158

33333 Rand

33333 Rand

50000 Rand -18000 Rand 0

33333 Rand

50000 Rand 32000 Rand

0

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Summary Year 1

COSTS

Vehicle manufacturing

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

-240000

-108000

0

0

0

-36000 -80000

-54000

-54000

-54000

-54000

-120000

-120000

-120000

-120000

-26666

-46666

-46666

-46666

-46666

Contract with 2 BECs

32880

32880

32880

32880

32880

Contract with Municipality

Vehicle mainteinance Technician/s salary Service manager REVENUES

Contract with Awol T

72000

180000

180000

180000

180000

TOT profit per year

120000 -157786

Balance (1+r)^n

120000 4214

120000 112214

120000 112214

120000 112214

-157786 1

-153572 1,1

-41358 1,21

70856 1,331

183070 1,4641

-157786

3830

92738

84307

76643

PV NPV

99733 Rand

0,1

Rand

Considering the costs of the production of 9 vehicles, spread in 3 years (6 vehicle in the first year and 3 in the second year) and its relative revenues and maintenance costs, it will need around 3 years and half to cover the total costs and start to make profit.

Pay back time

200000 150000 100000 50000 0

1

2

3

4

5

Year

-50000 -100000 -150000

PROFIT per year BALANCE

-200000

The economic estimation has been made without considering possible financial sponsors/investors that can totally or partly cover the vehicles production costs, in this way the Break Even Point (and the revenue) may even occur the first year.

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159

11.4 Front office: interaction between intermediary and final users 11.4.1 Intermediary user 1: Bicycle Empowerment Centres The BEC are centres that promote the use of the bicycle in the poorest Cape Town’ suburbs. BEN has established fourteen bicycle workshops in the Western Cape, by supplying containers (converted to workshops) and stocking the workshop with bicycles and tools (either new or used). BEC project managers are trained by BEN in business management as well as bike maintenance. All existing BECs are now independent of BEN, but the partnership continues through ongoing training, bicycle supplies, joint events and support. The transportation system is really weak in the township and too expensive for most of the population. For the short distances, SunRide is a good alternative to the minibus taxi that usually doesn’t transport disabled people. The service provided by the BEC is mainly the transportation of local people around the area as a private taxi that can be booked personally at the container or via telephone calling the service manager. An additional service is the renting of the vehicle to the local NGOs for the transportation of its members around the area. BEC and NGO stipulate a pay per use agreement: all the time the NGO would like to rent the vehicle they pay a constant fare. The third service is the transportation of tourists around the township thanks to the agreement with touristic companies such as Awol and Tours.

The storyboard (in the next pages) shows four interaction lines: the yellow represent the tourists, the purple the local passengers, the violet the local NGO and the cyan the BEC (Bicycle empowerment centres). The upper image represents 160

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161

Production & Service Design Partnership

+

Payment for the vehicle rental

Service agreement

Vehicles and Maintenance

Service agreement

Tourists

Bicycle workshop

BEC

Payment 4/5 of the tour (200R per person)

Vehicle rental

Pay-per-use agreement

Payment for the rental

Payment for transportation

Request of transportation

Transportation

Transportation around the township

Payment of the tour

Request of township tour

Transportation to the BEC

Local associations

Locals

(with priority to elderly and disabled)

Tourists

NGOs members transportation

Transportation around the area

Township Tour

1.

BEN makes a rental agreement with the BEC manager and they agreed on the conditions of use

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

2.

The locals (with priority to elderly and disabled) can book the transportation via cellphone

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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3.

Other passengers pass by the BEC container and they personally book the service

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

4.

The driver goes to pick the passengers at their home helping them in case of disabled or elderly

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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5.

The driver carries the passengers to their destination

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

6.

BEC proposes to local associations the mobility service, with or without driver

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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7.

The local association uses the vehicle for transporting their members or goods. They can drive it by themselves or they can ask for a driver at the BEC PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

8.

Awol Tours sets up a partnership with the BECs to organize township tours for tourists

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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9.

Tourists arrive in the township and start the tour riding the solar taxi.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

10.

Tourists enjoy the tour guided by a local driver who show them the local culture

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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11.

The 2 selected BECs agree to exchange the tourists to offer them the opportunity to visit 2 different township accompanied by 2 different local guides PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

RENTAL TO NGO TOWNSHIP TOUR

BEC PASSENGERS NGO TOURISTS

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11.4.2 Economic hypothesis from the BEC perspective The service provided by the BEC is mainly the transportation of local people (with a priority to people with disabilities) around the area as a private taxi that can be booked personally at the container or via telephone calling the service manager. An additional service is the renting of the vehicle to the local NGOs for the transportation of its members around the area, stipulating a sort of pay per use agreement.

The third service is the transportation of tourists around the township thanks to the agreement with touristic companies such as Awol Tours.

Data Summary

Price

n째 days/month

n째 people

Elderly and Disabled

168

Tourists

NGOs

* 481920 disabled people in Cape Town * 4528 n째 disabled Lavender Hill * 745 disabled using similar service per day in Cape Town 745:481920 = X: 4528

* 24 tourists going to bicycle township tours with Awol & Tours/ month

X= 7 people/day

24 tourists/month

* 30 working days/month * [30 - 4 (tourists)] - 4 (NGO) = 22 days/month

* 2 vehicles in 2 BECs * 2 tours/day * a tour for 3/4 people * 6 people/day * [24 tourists/month]: 6 people/day = 4 days/ month

* For weekly errands = 4 days per month

4 days/month

4 days per month

* 5 Rand/person public taxi fare * 4-16 Rand/person price for Dial-a-ride service * 5 Rand/person for SunRide service

* 300 Rand/person Awol Tours for a 3-4 hours bicycle township tour * 250 Rand/person Chisana bus township tour

* 250 Rand/day rental price of another vehicle+petrol * 100 Rand/day for SunRide vehicle

5 Rand/day

200 Rand/person

200 Rand/person

22 days/month

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The data in the table above refers to the data collected in the township of Lavender Hill where the pilot project is meant to run. It has been evaluated that other two BECs are located in townships of similar characteristics (similar in dimension, ethnographic and geographic features).

Business Plan REVENUES/month

COST/month

Vehicle rental

800 Rand

N° vehicle

Elderly & disabled

1

Tot cost

800 Rand

Driver salary

700 Rand

N° driver

2

Tot cost

800 Rand

N° service manager

Township tour 1

Tot cost

800 Rand

Rent to NGOs

3000 Rand

Tot COSTS/month

Rental

Driver salary Service manager REVENUES

Elderly and disabled Township tours Rent to NGOs

Year 1 9600 Rand

Year 2

price/person

5 Rand

revenue/month

770 Rand

n° people/tour

3

n° days/month

tot people/month

4 12

price/person

200 Rand

revenue/month

2400 Rand

n° days/month

4

revenue/month

400 Rand

price/day

9600 Rand

Year 3 9600 Rand

100 Rand

3570 Rand Year 4 9600 Rand

Year 5 9600 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

9600 Rand

9600 Rand

9600 Rand

9600 Rand

9600 Rand

9240 Rand

9240 Rand

9240 Rand

9240 Rand

9240 Rand

28800 Rand

28800 Rand

28800 Rand

28800 Rand

28800 Rand

1

0 6840 Rand

0

6840 Rand

0

6840 Rand

20520 Rand

27360 Rand

34200 Rand

16958 Rand

20555 Rand

23359 Rand

4800 Rand

4800 Rand

6840 Rand

TOT PROFIT 5 years

6840 Rand

13680 Rand

PV

22 154

16800 Rand

0 6840 Rand

NPV

tot people/month

Tot REVENUES/month

N° vehicles TOT PROFIT 1 BEC (1+r)^n

7

n° day/month

1400 Rand

Service manager

COSTS

n° people/day

1

6840 Rand

80150 Rand

1,1

12436 Rand

4800 Rand

1,21

4800 Rand

1,331

4800 Rand

1,4641

Each BEC is economically sustainable and all the extra profit goes to the partnership BEN bikes+Shonaquip.

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11.4.3 Intermediary user 2: Awol Tours Awol and Tours is a touristic company based in the touristic part of Cape Town (Waterfront) that organizes group or private tour in Cape Town and suburbs. It is in partnership with BEN bikes because they already use some bicycle provided by BEN for their bicycle city tour. They also organize township tours with the bicycles of BEN. The SunRide vehicle would be perfect for the people who want to getting up close and personal with the city and its inhabitants but without pedalling a bike. The driver of the vehicle would be also the tour guide. From the system map is possible to see the interactions and the main actions between the stakeholders. The services provided by the agency are mainly two: the city centre tour and the township tour. For the city centre tour, the tourists ask to the agency for the transportation and they pay back a standard ticket for three hours tour with a tour guide. For the township tour instead, the agency sign an agreement with the BEC promoted by BEN bikes: Awol and Tours will be in charge of sponsoring the tour, finding the tourists and bringing them with a minibus taxi to the township, and the BECs will ride the vehicle (that will be already there because used for transporting local people) and organize the tour in the township. It is really important to have a local guide in the township for the personal security and for having the possibility to explore better the township.

The storyboard (in the next pages) shows three interaction lines: the yellow represent the tourists, the green Awol and Tours and the cyan the BEC (Bicycle empowerment centres). The upper image represents the ongoing action supported by the textual description.

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Production & Service Design Partnership

+

Payment of the agreement

Service agreement

Vehicles and Maintenance

Awol & Tours Touristic Agency

Service agreement Tourists

Payment 4/5 of the tour (200R per person)

Payment of the tour

Request of township tour

Transportation to the BEC

Payment of city tour

Request of city tour

Transportation and tour guide

BEC

City Tour

Township Tour

1.

BEN makes a rental agreement with AWOL Tours and they agreed on the conditions of use

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

2.

Tourists get attracted by SunRide mobility system and decide to get more information about city tour

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

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3.

Awol Tours agency proposes to the tourists to enjoy a SunRide guided city tour

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

4.

Tourists enjoy the guided city tour on the solar vehicle

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

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5.

Awol Tours set up a partnership with the BECs to organize township tours for tourists

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

6.

Awol Tours contacts the BEC manager to check the availability and book a township tour for some tourists

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

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7.

Awol Tours transports tourists from the city centre to the township (about 25km) by minibus (or other means of transport)

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

8.

Tourists arrive in the township and start the tour riding the solar taxi

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

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9.

The tourTourists enjoy the tour guided by a local driver who show them the local culture

CITY TOUR

TOWNSHIP TOUR

TOURISTS

Booking AWOL & TOURS BEC

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11.4.4 Economic hypothesis from Awol Tours perspective The services provided by the agency are mainly two: the city centre tour and the township tour. For the city centre tour, the tourists directly contact the agency to make three hours tour with a guide paying a specific fee. For the township tour instead, the agency signs an agreement with the BEC involved in the system, and basically Awol Tours advertise the tour to the tourists, and the transport them with a minibus taxi to the township, and the BECs will ride the vehicle (the same that they usually use to transport local people) making them visit characteristic places and culture. It is really important that a local person guides the tourists in the township also for the personal security.

n° of vehicles

Price

n° people

Data summary

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Tourists in the City Centre

Tourists in the Townships

* 180 = n° people doing city tours by bicycle with Awol Tours/month

* 40 = n° tourists going to bicycle township tours with Awol Tours/month

50 people could use SunRide/month

24 people could use SunRide/month

* 300 Rand = price/person for bicycle tour by Awol Tours

* 300 Rand = price/person for minibus+bicycle township tour

350 Rand price per person using SunRide

250 Rand price/person (50R Awol Tours - 300 BEC)

* 5 = average n° of people/ day

* visit to 2 BEC located in different townships * 1 vehicle each BECentre

2 vehicle needed to satisfy the demand

2 vehicles needed

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Business Plan COST/month Vehicle rental N° vehicle Tot cost

Driver salary N° driver Tot cost

5000 Rand

3000 Rand 6000 Rand

Driver salary Service manager Transportation to BEC REVENUES

revenue/month

350 Rand 17500 Rand

n° people/month

24

revenue/month

50 Rand 1200 Rand

The township tour costs 250R per person: 50R goes to Awol Tours and 200R to the BECs

1

350 Rand

4

Tot cost

Rental

50

Price/person

2

n° transport

COSTS

Township tour

1000 Rand

n° people/month

Price/person

10000 Rand

Transport to BEC

Tot COSTS/month

City tour

2

Service manager/month n° service manager

REVENUES/month

1400 Rand

18400 Rand Year 1

18700 Rand

Tot REVENUES/month Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

120000 Rand 120000 Rand 120000 Rand 72000 Rand

72000 Rand

72000 Rand

120000 Rand 120000 Rand 72000 Rand

72000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

12000 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

16800 Rand

City tours Township tours

210000 Rand 210000 Rand 210000 Rand 210000 Rand 210000 Rand

N° vehicles TOT PROFIT/year

2

14400 Rand

14400 Rand

3600 Rand

2

3600 Rand

2 3600 Rand

14400 Rand 2 3600 Rand

3600 Rand

TOT PROFIT 5 years

3600 Rand

7200 Rand

10800 Rand

14400 Rand

18000 Rand

PV

3600 Rand

3272 Rand

2975 Rand

2704 Rand

2458 Rand

(1+r)^n NPV

1

15011 Rand

14400 Rand

1,1

1,21

1,331

14400 Rand 2

1,4641

For running the service the total costs to be covered per year are of 220800 Rand: in these costs is included the rent of the vehicles, the drivers salary, the service manager salary and the transportation of the tourists to the BEC for the township tour. The total revenues of 224400 Rand, comes only from the city tours tickets and the township tours ticket. The total profit per year is of 3600 Rand that goes to Awol Tours. The service is economically sustainable and creates profit from the first year.

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11.4.5 Intermediary user 3: The City of Cape Town The Municipality of Cape Town, more in specific the department of public transportation of Cape Town is trying to improve the transportation system especially the sustainable transport. SunRide vehicle could be used as a taxi within the city centre for short distances. Five vehicles are sited in five different taxi stops next to the main hot points of the city: the passengers can ask to be transported around the specific area of the city centre and the fare changes in relation to the distance covered. It is cheaper of a private taxi and it is perfect for the short distances.

The storyboard (in the next pages) shows two interaction lines: the purple the passengers (both commuters and tourists) and the orange the City of Cape Town. The upper image represents the ongoing action supported by the textual description.

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Production & Service Design Partnership

+

5 Taxi stops around the city

5 drivers

Request of transportation

Service agreement The City of Cape Town Municipality

Payment for the service

Transportation around the city centre

Payment for vehicle rental

Vehicles and maintenance

Locals & Tourists

1.

BEN makes a rental agreement with the transportation department of the CoCT and they agreed on the conditions of use

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

CITY OF CAPE TOWN PASSENGERS

2.

The drivers are at the taxi stop with the vehicle waiting for the passengers

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

CITY OF CAPE TOWN PASSENGERS

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3.

Passengers (locals, commuters and tourists) arrive at the taxi stop and they decide to use the SunRide transportation in the city centre

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

CITY OF CAPE TOWN PASSENGERS

4.

Passengers are transported to the requested destination within specific areas of the city centre

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

CITY OF CAPE TOWN PASSENGERS

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5.

Passengers reach their destination and they pay the driver for the distance covered

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

CITY OF CAPE TOWN PASSENGERS

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11.4.6 Economic hypothesis from the City of Cape Town perspective SunRide vehicle will be used as a taxi within the city centre for short distances. Five vehicles will be sited in five different taxi stops next to the main hot points of the city: the passengers can ask to be transported around the specific area of the city centre and the fare changes in relation to the distance covered. It will be cheaper of a private taxi and it will be perfect for the short distances.

Data summary

Price

(each vehicle)

km per hour

Locals andTourists

* 2 = average of journey/hour * 2 km = average distance per journey

4 km covered per hour * 10 Rand = price/km in a private taxi-cab * 15-35 Rand = price per person in a share taxi (Rikkis)

n째 of vehicles

7 Rand/km with SunRide (for short distances)

184

* 18 = n째 of people/hour require transportation in the City Centre n째 vehicles needed= 5 5 n째 of vehicles needed to satisfy the demand

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Business Plan COST/month Vehicle rental

3000 Rand

N째 vehicle Tot cost

Driver salary N째 driver

5

15000 Rand

revenue/day

4 km 224 Rand

3000 Rand

rev. month 1 vehicle

6720 Rand

15000 Rand 3000 Rand

n째 service manager

1

Tot COSTS/month

30600 Rand

Driver salary Service manager REVENUES

Transportation service n째 vehicles

7 Rand

km/hour

Service manager/month

Rental

Transportation service price per km/vehicle

5

Tot cost

COSTS

REVENUES/month

Year 1

33600 Rand

Tot REVENUES/month Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Year 5

72000 Rand

180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand

14400 Rand

36000 Rand

72000 Rand

180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand 180000 Rand 36000 Rand

36000 Rand

36000 Rand

161280 Rand 403200 Rand

403200 Rand 403200 Rand 403200 Rand

2

5

5

5

5

TOT PROFIT/year

2880 Rand

TOT PROFIT 5 years

7200 Rand

7200 Rand

7200 Rand

7200 Rand

2880 Rand

10080 Rand

17280 Rand

24480 Rand

31680 Rand

(1+r)^n

1

1,1

1,21

1,331

1,4641

PV

2880 Rand

6545 Rand

5409 Rand

4917 Rand

NPV

5950 Rand

0,1 25703 Rand

For running the service the total costs to be covered per year are of 367200 Rand: in these costs is included the rent of the vehicles, the drivers salary and the service manager salary. The total revenues comes only from the transportation tickets and per year they are of 403200 Rand. The total profit per year is of 2880 Rand that goes to the municipality. The first year there are just 2 vehicles running and both costs and revenues are proportionated. The service is economically sustainable and creates profit from the first year. Even if the profit is not really high is not a big problem because the municipality is a public institution that provide services for improving the life of the citizens more then earning money.

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11.5 Coordinate image

Why SunRide?

SunRide derives from the union between the word sun, which represents a key concept of the project and ride, which wants to explain its functionality. In other words, the name means “take a lift from the sun”, which refers to the power of the sun to enable mobility. Even the slogan “Mobility by your side” aims at clarifying the concept of a mobility system that suits to all, even “slow” users like disabled and elderly.

The circular shape reminds to the sense of mobility, but also to the shape of the sun; while the colours reflects the image of Cape Town, which is a multi - ethnic city, and it wants to have a open-acceptance vision towards “the diverse”.

The logo is designed to identify the mobility system that can be applied to different contexts of use: transportation 186

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of people with disabilities or tourists in the townships or transportation of tourists and locals in the city centre.

The idea is to paint the panels of the vehicle with different colours according to the context of use, in order to differentiate the type of transportation service

C:70 M:15 Y:0 K:0 C:75 M:0 Y:75 K:0 C:5 M:0 Y:90 K:0 C:0 M:100 Y:0 K:0

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Advertising proposals The idea is to create an undifferentiated communication campaign, maintaining the same logo and style, both for the City Centre (wealthy areas) and for Townships (low-income communities). The experience in Cape Town taught us that the poor people who live in the township always make reference to what happen in the city, and they tend to imitate the lifestyle of the “rich ones”. This is also the reason why the service system is designed for “all” without discriminations.

The communication campaign is designed to follow this main concept.

Figure 11.5-1 Advertising proposal for low-income suburban areas (e.g. Lavender Hill).

Need short-distance taxi around Lavender Hill?

The SunRide taxi offers cheap fares and relaxing ride!

Wheelchair friendly, suitable

for all ages and environmentally friendly as well!

For booking call Fagodien Campher 0842414544 or visit the Imfundo Cycles Workshop (next to Lavender Hills Secondary School).

A project promoted by

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For more info call 0800 60 30 40 or visit www.sunride.org.za

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Figure 11,5-2 Advertising proposal for the City Centre of Cape Town.

Take a lift from the SUN and around Cape Town

you’ll have FUN

Short-distance taxi service around the city centre & Touristic tour in the city centre and in the townships

For more info call 0800 60 30 40 or visit www.sunride.org.za

A project promoted by

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and delivered by

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Chapter 12.

The incubation: second phase

12.5 Broadening of the project network

In the mean time Shonaquip was busy in the construction of the vehicle and the first results of the prototype construction were visible, it was decided to involve other actors in the project. A one-day workshop has been organized with the Cape Town municipality, the Transport Department and BEN bikes (Bicycle Empowerment Network). BEN Bikes is an association aimed at addressing poverty and mobility through the promotion of the bicycle in all its forms. BEN establishes Bicycle Empowerment Centre’s (BEC’s) by supplying containers (converted to workshops) and stocking the workshop with bicycles and tools (either new or used). This meeting/workshop has been organized with the aim of constructing potential synergies that could have helped the developing of the PSS. BEN Bikes have been involved because during the World Cup 2010 they had implemented a pedi-cab service for the transportation of tourists in the city centre, and they could become a potential partner for implementing the Mulo PSS for tourist transportation in the city. The Municipality and the Transport Department have been involved because of their direct influence on the transportation regulations and the public transportations’ companies. The City of Figure 12.5-1 BEN bikes logo and members

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Cape Town was attending the workshop (April 2011) with employees from different departments: the Environmental Resource Management department, the Public Transportation department and the Sustainable Transport department.

Besides Cape Town municipality and BEN bikes, the workshop involved also Shonaquip and was mainly organised by Polimi project promoters and facilitated by CPUT. The workshop has been divided in two parts. The first part was aimed at presenting the project in its long-term vision (future concept vision of mobility service around Cape Town) and its short-term action (the socio-technical experiment for the transportation of elderly people in Bridgetown area). During the presentation was underlined the potential environmental, economic and social benefits of the PSS for the various stakeholders and project beneficiaries. The last section of the presentation was focused on the Mulo project strategic positioning in the City of Cape Town, some possible future scenarios and their related main barriers.

The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the discussion between the participants. A debate about the regulative barriers took place and the employees of the Cape Town municipality declared they could have provided their support in the identification of possible solutions. They also discuss about the possibilities to develop the public transportation bus system with the implementation of the Mulo PSS. They proposed possible synergies with the MyCiti IRT system (Integrated Rapid Transit) opened recently in Cape Town and still under development especially in the suburban’s areas.

The service to connect elderly and disabled people from their home to the nearest bus station was considered really valuable in order to complement the public transportation service. Also BEN Bikes showed to be really interested in the project in particular in the PSS implementation of tourist transportation in the city centre. BEN Bikes proposed also to be directly active in the PSS: they proposed to develop a series of socio-technical experiments using as operative centres some of their 14 containers that they established around the western cape. The managers of each centre would have been the supervisors of the local mobility service and the vehicle’s technicians. They were also ready to start a socio-technical PART IV > Chapter 12

193

experiment straight away in one of the centre. In relation to this, we decided to first test the previously established area (Bridgetown) with Rlabs and Impact Direct but we left open the possibility of developing a socio-technical experiment also with BEN Bikes. Both BEN Bikes and the employees of the City of Cape Town wanted to see and evaluate the results of the socio-technical experiment in Bridgetown before starting any collaboration. The blog platform has been shared with all the participants in order to keep them always updated on the projects’ developments especially on the pilot project.

The workshop has been really important on creating new links that has been fundamental for the development of the project. During the implementation’ process of a sustainable PSS it’s important to create new synergies with different actors in particular the institutional stakeholders because they can give an important support in the solutions of the regulative barriers. Linking the project with existing initiatives and creating new PSS opportunities gave a strong energy to all the team to work harder on the prototype construction that was a bit stuck at that time.

On the basis of the workshop results, the project vision and the action plan have been refined and formalised. In relation to the project vision, it was added the service for the implementation of the existing public system, service in collaboration with the City of Cape Town. In relation to the action plan, the main adjustment was the implementation of a possible pilot project in collaboration with BEN Bikes.

Figure 12.5-2 Place of the workshop: City of Cape Town building

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12.6 The vehicle production process: a key role The vehicle production started in September 2010. At the beginning of the field trip [1] aimed at the activation of the pilot project, in February 2011 it has been personally discovered that the vehicle production process was stuck due to unforeseen delays. Shonaquip was not following the agreed deadlines of the vehicle production, for this reason the work has been often supervised in order to give support and to speed up the manufacturing of the vehicle. Unfortunately these delays on the production process created a series of delays also on the development of the service: the pilot project couldn’t start until the prototype would be finished. Rlabs and Impact direct started to get really annoyed concerning these delays and they demonstrated their first signs of disappointment.

To avoid further disappointment from the 15th August the visit at Shonaquip workshop became a daily involvement in order to monitor and participate in the construction of the MULO prototype. These daily visits expedited progress on the project so markedly that the vehicle was ready to be tested on September 2011.

[1] Emanuela Delfino and Silvia Remotti, authors of this thesis, started their collaboration, in October 2010, with DIS of Politecnico to support and develop the PSS Mulo project in Cape Town in loco, from February 2011. The aim of the field trip was the activation of the pilot project or socio-technical experiment, which has been designed to act as a Lab, for test and improve, but also as a Window to involve new promising actors and as Agent of sustainable change in the society.

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12.6.1 Actors involved and material supplied During the production process, different actors were involved: production managers, internal manufacturers, external manufacturers and external knowledge support.

The South African production manager was Guillaume Du Toit, industrial designer master student at CPUT, who since he was doing his internship at Shonaquip he has been proposed to develop his thesis on Mulo project and manage the manufacturing process of the vehicle. He followed the production from the beginning until the end and he organized the work in an operative timetable subjected to numerous changes. His competences of industrial designer were really useful for the solution of unforeseen problems, encountered in the manufacturing process at Shonaquip in Cape Town but not occurred in the Italian one. Some of the unexpected issues were due to lack of manufacturing skills/knowledge or technologies. Mugendi M’Rithaa, responsible of the relations between the Italian and the South African stakeholders and Guillaume tutor, gave him important advices on how to manage the production and thanks to his assistance and supervision the vehicle manufacture get until the end. Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino, correspondents of the Italian team have been working with Guillaume in the managing of the production. In particular they have been assisted the Figure 12.6-1 Shonaquip crew in front of the prototype

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Shonaquip artisans and technicians in the structural design and aesthetic considerations of the MULO canopy in alignment with the colour scheme of Cape Town’s bid for the 2014 World Design Capital, black and yellow, so as to encourage buy-in from policy makers and other stakeholders in the city.

Additionally, it has been designed and assisted the fabrication of the floor panels, the front windscreen and related assembly components.

The manufacturers of Shonaquip were actively involved in the production. The sewing team provided their professional competences in the designing and the realization of the external canopy and the frontal and back seats. The electrical technician gave his support in connecting all the electrical components and the assembly team solved the problems with the juncture of the metal pieces. All the workers had competencies related to the production and the assembly; thanks to Figure 12.6-2 Shonaquip crew working at the prototype production

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their experience it has been solved several problems that the designers didn’t know how to resolve.

Shonaquip was not equipped to produce everything inside the factory. Some production’ processes have been made outside: laser cutting of some mechanical components, metal blending of the external frame and powder coating of all the iron components. An external welder has been paid for about one month for coming daily to Shonaquip for welding the metal part together (both the mechanical ones and the structural ones). Instead all the precision welding has been made outside the factory in a precision mechanics laboratory.

It has been solicited and secured the assistance of an external electrical engineer (Martin Wilson, Master student at the University of Cape Town) who was able to connect and test all electrical components of the MULO vehicle.

Not all the materials have been founded on the local market.

All the electrical components (solar panels, motor controller, solar panel controller, electric motor) have arrived from overseas; instead all the mechanical and structural components have been bought from the local market. Some problems have been encountered during the research of some mechanical parts that a conventional bicycle shop doesn’t sell. The local shop had to order it only for us and this caused a series of delays in the construction.

Figure 12..6-3 First vehicle testing

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SOLAR PANELS (solar power)

FOLDABLE WINDOWS

DRIVER SEAT

WHEELCHAIR SPACE

WHEELCHAIR RAMP

SEAT FOR TWO PEOPLE

FOOT PEDALS (human power)

BATTERY and ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTOLLER

Figure 12..6-4 Vehicle features

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12.6.2 Problems and barriers encountered A series of problems and barriers have been encountered during the production process that caused big delays; sometimes the prospect of giving up everything was really close but luckily it never happened.

First of all there was a lack of competencies of the production company. Shonaquip was not however equipped to deal with a vehicle of such magnitude because they never did something similar. All the competencies related with the mechanical parts of the vehicle were missing and nobody inside Shonaquip could help for it. The testing was therefore quite complicated and challenging.

Secondly, Shonaquip was in a situation of big finance instability. Paying the works done outside the factory became really difficult and sometimes it has been looked for external funding. CPUT helped with the lack of founding but in most of the cases it was Politecnico di Milano that covered those costs; it allocated a certain amount of money to the project MULO that has been used for the production and the development of the socio-technical experiment.

Another fundamental problem was the management of the network of actors. Between the actors there was a big lack of communication: the South African production manager, Guillaume Du Toit, didn’t communicate the state of the work and the problems encountered to all the other actors. So that the Italian team couldn’t understand the delays of the construction process because it wasn’t updated on the project.

The South African production manager didn’t share also the vehicle design modification of the external shape. A co-design attitude was missing: this situation created a series of misunderstanding that made weaker the relationship between the stakeholders. In the network missed also a project leader who controlled and managed all the actors involved in the production process. Without a figure that leads the group, some of the actors didn’t absolve their task creating a series of delays.

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Chapter 13.

The socio-technical experiment in Bridgetown

13.1 Strategic analysis

The first phase of the project, the incubation, ended with the establishment of a project network and the development of a shared a long-term vision and agreed action plan. The second phase, the socio-technical experiment has been designed in order to learn and explore how to improve the PSS innovation and how to favour and support its societal embedding.

In order to do that it has been designed and implemented two small pilot projects; the first one has been developed in Bridgetown, the area where two important stakeholders (Impact Direct and RLabs) were established.

13.1.1 Geographical and ethnographical features Bridgetown is a suburban’s area of Cape Town that belongs to the Athlone district. It is located to the east of the city centre on the Cape Flats (low-lying flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town). The area is essentially a vast sheet of sand, ultimately of marine origin, which has blown up from the adjacent beaches over a period on the order of a hundred thousand years. The area has a Mediterranean climate, with warm dry summers and cool, damp winters. It is generally exposed to a strong wind, both from the NW (winter) and SE (summer). Flooding can be a problem, especially in July and August. Cold wet periods, especially in August and September, can make life very difficult for those living in sub-standard housing.

The coloured community, which has been moved here during the period of apartheid, populates the area. The coloured community forms a minority group within South Africa, only the 8.9% of the total population (census 2001), however they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape. They are generally bilingual, however subsets within the group can be exclusively Afrikaans speakers, whereas others primarily speak English. The Cape Coloureds are a hetero 204

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geneous South African ethnic group, with diverse ancestral links. Ancestry may include European settlers, indigenous Khoisan and Xhosa people, and slaves imported from the Dutch East Indies (or a combination of all). Part of the community is Christian and part Muslim but it has been worked more with the Christian part because Impact Direct is managed by a pastor. The coloured community has been marginalized during and after the apartheid: nowadays, while black South Africans have been the beneficiaries of South African social promotion initiatives, the Cape Coloureds have been further marginalized. The community of Bridgetown remains poverty stricken. Serious social problems include a high rate of unemployment and disturbing levels of gang activity. A wide range of community empowerment organizations (like Rlabs and Impact Direct) work non-violently to combat poverty, crime and health problems and the role of civil society in many parts of the area is relatively strong.

Figure 13.1-1 Group of coloured people in front of their house

Figure 13.1-2 Typical house of Bridgetown

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13.1.2 PSS users: Group of elderly people from Impact Direct Centre The users selected for the socio-technical experiment were the group of elderly people from Impact Direct Ministries.

Impact Direct Ministries organizes twice a week (Monday and Wednesday) meetings and workshops with the elderly people from the area. During these meetings the elderly perform different activities such as craft works, sport, wellness and care of the body. They often go to the centre also for praying and for consulting the pastor about daily problems. Some elderly lives far away from the centre and the pension is not always enough for covering the rate for using the taxi. Sometimes they walk also for one hour for coming to the centre or they might ask for a lift to the neighbours. The group, made up of 30 seniors, is mainly composed by women from the age of 65 to the age of 85. Some of the people had a small disability that didn’t allow them to walk easily. A private vehicle for the transportation of the seniors from their home to the centre would increase the number of elderly people who can participate to the activities that the centre organizes.

Figure 13.1-3 The group of elderly of Impact Direct Centre

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13.1.3 PSS providers: The reconstructed team of RLabs The PSS providers of the service (drivers and service organizers) were the reconstructed team of RLabs: man and women who participate to the course of Social Media for Social Change, organized by Rlabs. This course is offered to young men and women who comes from difficult backgrounds and looking for an opportunity and outlet to not only learn new skills but also to be transformed through the use of innovation. In the past community members who attended included the unemployed, ex-drug addicts, ex-gang members etc.

Some of the skills that will be acquired during this course are: web and information literacy, basic computer literacy, extensive experience on various social media tools, campaigning and basic marketing. Every Friday night this group of people meet together at Rlabs centre (right next Impact Direct Centre) and participate to the social media course; after the lesson they have dinner all together and they share with the group the difficulties that they had to face during the week.

The course is made on Friday night because it is when they usually go out and get drunk with the friends. This is a strategic way for taking them far from the temptations that had destroyed their life for so long. The course lasts 20 weeks and after the course, if they did not fall back again into the wrong life path, they start to look for an occupation. Sometimes they volunteer at RLabs and Impact Direct Ministries with the everyday activities to be grateful and deserve the reward that they receive. The managing of the service would have been a good opportunity for a new prospective of life.

Figure 13.1-4 The reconstructed team during the Social Media course

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13.2 Design

In the meanwhile with the prototype production, it has been designed the first socio-technical experiment. Polimi in collaboration with Shonaquip, Impact Direct/Rlabs and CPUT in May 2011 started to design a socio-technical experiment capable to act as: Labs, Windows, and Agents of change. As previously said, Bridgetown was the area selected for the socio-technical experiment, where Impact Direct Ministries and RLabs are located. The socio-technical experiment has been designed in two stages. The first one was aimed at testing and later improving the technical problems of the PSS (both the vehicle problems and the service management) and the usability issues. The service to be tested would be the transportation of the elderly of Bridgetown community: from their homes to Impact Direct Centre for the weekly activities (1), from the main bus stop to Impact direct Centre and from their home to the place of main interest of the neighbourhood (2) (the shopping centre, the medical clinic, the post office). The booking system would be different for the three type of transportation: transportation from home to the centre and from home to the main place of interest would be booked by phone or personally at the centre while the transportation from the bus stop and the centre would be a booking free service (the driver would be at the bas stop the day of interests waiting for the passengers). The transportation to the centre would be free instead the one from home to the main place of interest would be charged of a small fare. In addition to this daily service, it was planned to use the vehicle for the transportation of tourists within the township(3).

One guy from the reconstructed team had a touristic company called CHISANA Tours (The word Chisana is fairly well known and frequently used by prison gangs; it is part of their code of conduct, it is where and how they meet to show their affection, acceptance and appreciation for one anothers beliefs) that brings tourists in township tour around 208

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Bridgetown and surroundings. He was really enthusiastic to use the MULO vehicle instead renting a minibus. This service would gain lot of money because the tourists are keen to spend money while they are in vacation to have a overview of not only touristic places. In order to test better the PSS, a series of questionnaires and interviews were planned with users, drivers, technicians and project promoters. From this first experiment stage it would be identified the different resistances and barriers (institutional, regulative, economic and socio-cultural) that could have potentially delayed the future implementation and diffusion of the innovation. Instead, the second stage was aimed at creating visibility on the experiment and stimulates changes in the local socio-technical context. It was planned to advertise the project to different target actors (the local community, the local administration, potential industrial partners, etc.) organizing presentations and demonstration visits to show how the PSS works and which could be the possible future potential opportunities of development.

It was organized also a sort of open gallery so that the visitors could see all the PSS features while they try the vehicle. The second stage should work also as an agent of change inside the community where the PSS is implemented. The sociotechnical experiment should be used to strategically influence the contextual conditions in order to speed-up and support the PSS introduction and diffusion. Workshops and discussions have been organized with relevant actors such as the Cape Town municipality for the adoption of policy measures to support the PSS implementation, local companies running businesses in the mobility sectors for creating synergies and local NGOs for directly influence public opinion.

During this phase, a series of important tools have been used as a guideline for designing socio-technical experiments.

These tools have been fundamental especially for the identification and the implementation of the different aspects of an experiment and stimulate the ideas generation process.

The storyboard and the transition path were used to support the design process but also to visualize the information to exchange among the stakeholders (to help the comprehension of this information to stakeholders with different backgrounds and competencies).

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Production & Design Partnership

System map

Vehicles and Maintenance Service agreement

Strategic designers IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS

Request of tour

Payment for the tour

Township tour

Request for transportation

Donation for transportation

Transportation

Request for transportation

Transportation

HOUSES

TOURISTS

(3)

HOUSES

(1)

(2)

Township tour

MALL

SHOPPING

CHURCH

DAY HOSPITAL

Interaction table A possible tool to describe a service visualizing the touchpoints between the stakeholders in the system is the interaction table (storyboard). The purpose of the tool is to support the (co)designing and visualization of a sequence of interactions between user and the product service system designed.

The following interaction table describes and visualizes the sequence of stakeholders’ interactions and their roles in the socio-techincal experiment.

Each stakeholders is represented by a different colour: * green: the designers * red: the elderly people from Impact Direct Centre, * blue: the vehicle producer (Shonaquip) and service provider (Impact Direct Centre and Rlabs) * yellow: the tourists

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Lab

DESIGNERS

MULO: Cape

Town mobility

Lab

project

Socio-technical experiment presentation to the Impact Direct Centre users: explain how Mulo system works and which are its benefit in the community.

Test of the vehicle with the Impact Direct Centre and Rlabs team

The service manager/s prepare a timetable both for the passengers and for the driver/s. The timetable will be arranged every week.

Test of the vehicle with the Impact Direct Centre and Rlabs team

The service manager/s prepare a timetable both for the passengers and for the driver/s. The timetable will be arranged every week.

TOURISTS

IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS and Shonaquip

ELDERLY PEOPLE from the centre

Lab

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DESIGNERS Bookings can be change by telephone in case of emergency.

It is important to follow the timetable or at least to inform the service manager in time.

Lab

Lab

The users will be picked up at their Passengers that live further home and helped by the driver to and take the bus, they can also get on and off the vehicle. be collected at the garage bus station. No booking required.

The users will be picked up at their Passengers that live further home and helped by the driver to and take the bus, they can also get on and off the vehicle. be collected at the garage bus station. No booking required.

TOURISTS

IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS and Shonaquip

ELDERLY PEOPLE from the centre

Lab

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DESIGNERS TOURISTS

IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS and Shonaquip

ELDERLY PEOPLE from the centre

Lab

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The driver transports the passengers to the Impact Direct Centre. Fares: during the sociotechnical experiment will be free, in order to test the vehicle usability and the technical aspects.

Lab

The Mulo vehicle can be booked by telephone 24h before in order to transport the passengers to the main place of interest: clinic/ hospital, shopping centre etc. This service will charge a minimal fare.

Lab

The driver transports the passengers to the Impact Direct Centre. Fares: during the sociotechnical experiment will be free, in order to test the vehicle usability and the technical aspects.

The Mulo vehicle can be booked by telephone 24h before in order to transport the passengers to the main place of interest: clinic/ hospital, shopping centre etc. This service will charge a minimal fare.

In collaboration with a local touristic agency (Chisana) the tourists can enjoy the township tour riding Mulo.

In collaboration with a local touristic agency (Chisana) the tourists can enjoy the township tour riding Mulo.

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Window

TOURISTS

IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS and Shonaquip

ELDERLY PEOPLE from the centre

DESIGNERS

Lab

Designers organize a launch event for creating visibility around the project.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Lab

Small issues are fixed by a Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and technician from Impact Direct Centre. Instead a Shonaquip they evaluate the results. technician is in charge of fixing all the other technical issues.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

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Window

MULO: sustainable mobility system

Window

Window

The centre is an open gallery where visitor can see how the pilot project works and test the vehicle.

Designers and service providers present the project to private companies and public institutions in order to create potential synergies

trasporto di persone con problemi motori (persone con disabilitàe anziani). In particolare per il trasporto da casa a scuola (per studenti), e il trasporto da casa alle fermate dei mezzi pubblici. Il progetto èpensato in particolare per i sobborghi di Cittàdel Capo, dove sono presenti diversi problemi di mobilità; il trasporto pubblico èlimitato e il

piùdelle volte assente, e diventa quindi problematico per le persone con disabilità spostarsi (andare a scuola, in ospedale, al lavoro, ecc.).

Nel progetto sono inoltre coinvolti: > Shonaquip(www.shonaq uip.co.za/), azienda che si occupa di produrre e commercializzare carrozzine e ausili per persone con disabilità. Saranno responsabili della produzione del prototipo e degli eventuali futuri veicoli. > DisabilityWorkshop EnterpriseDevelopment (DWDE)

(www.dwde.co.za), associazione che si occupa di supportare le persone con disabilitàcreando opportunitàdi lavoro.

Nello specifico a DWDE sono collegati alcuni piccoli workshop che collaboreranno nella realizzazione di alcuni componenti; > The ReconstructedTeam (www.sustainableeveryday.net/ccsla/?p=1 23), associazione che si

occupa del reintegro di ex tossicodipendenti e ex criminali. Il loro ruolo saràquello di gestire il servizio di trasporto. The ReconstructedTeam fa parte di Impact Direct(www.impactdirect .org.za/), associazione che si occupa di coordinare una serie di attivitàa supporto della comunitàlocale.

A settembre, a Cape Town, sono stati

THANKS TO:

Dipartimento INDACO Design e Innovazione di sistema per la sostenibilità

Designer select specific events where Mulo can be exhibited and get sponsor from interested companies.

MULO: sustainable mobility system

Designers and service providers present the project to private companies and public institutions in order to create potential synergies

TOURISTS

IMPACT DIRECT + RLABS and Shonaquip

ELDERLY PEOPLE from the centre

DESIGNERS

Cape Town Sustainable Mobility Project Nel settembre 2009 è stato ufficialmente lanciato un progetto di collaborazione tra il Politecnico di Milano, l’IPSIA “A. Ferrari”di Maranello, e la Cape Peninsula University of Technology, per la progettazione e realizzazione di un sistema di mobilità sostenibile per il

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Lab

13.2.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a LAB Presentation to the user A presentation to the elderly people of Impact Direct Centre was designed in order to introduce and explain the PSS. The objective of the presentation was to present: the project background, the idea of the PSS at its full operative phase, the transition strategy for its implementation and more in detail the pilot project.

Test of the vehicle Also during the socio-technical experiment a vehicle test was planned with the team of Impact Direct Centre and Rlabs.

Before starting the transportation service with the users the drivers should try the vehicle around the area in order to learn how to drive it in all the different situations. The designers should support the test checking the technical issues encountered and trying to solve them before starting with the transportation service test.

Organization of the transportation service Designers in collaboration with the two associations firstly should define the tasks of each actor involved in the service. After defining two drivers, one service organizer and one technician, designers should explain more in detail the task assigned to each actor. For the service organizer, in order to manage the service easily a series of tools were designed. In one big ring binder it was collected all the important tools for the organization of the service: the list of passengers (with name, address and contact number); the timetable organizer (to sign all the pick up and the drop off) and a map of Bridgetown. After collecting all the passengers’ details it was assigned for each one a number. In order to make easier the organization of the timetables, it was stuck a little label with the number of each passenger in the precise place where the passenger lives on a big A1 map of Bridgetown stuck on the wall. The service organizer could see easily where the passengers live and he could creates clever paths for the driver in order to do not make him loosing time. After defining the

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paths and the timetables the service organizer should give to the driver the paper with the transportations that he has to do during the day as a reminder. Each user should have a card with in front the number and the name and in the back a series of places where the service organizer signs the time of the pick up and the drop off for each trip as an appointment’ reminder for the passenger. For the pilot project it wasn’t stipulated any insurance: both the passengers and the drivers had to sign an indemnity form that in case of accident linked with the vehicle it would be a personal responsibility and not an association’s responsibility (everybody ride the vehicle at his own risk).

Figure 13.2-1 Teaching to the service organizer how to manage the service with the designed tools

Figure 13.2-2 The user card

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Figure 13.2-3 The map used during the socio-technical experiment

The feedback collection Designers prepare a series of interviews and questionnaire for the evaluation of the experiment. The actors to be analysed are: the group of elderly people, the tourists, the drivers, the service organizer and the technician. Different questionnaires and interviews have been designed for each type of PSS’ actors. In general, all the actors were asked to share comments on: the PSS technical aspects and design, the PSS usability aspects, and the social and environmental benefits expected.

The collection of data is designed in order to be divided in three phases: firstly observing the problems from the point of view of the observer, secondly understanding the problem from their point of view (with questionnaire and interviews) and thirdly going in deep in understanding and solving the problem with open oral interviews.

(For more detailed information see chapter 15.5) 13.2.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a

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WINDOW Window

Launch event It was designed a launch event to present and disseminate the experiment potential benefits to the media and the main potential stakeholders. The event designed was composed by four parts: a short presentation of the project, an inauguration ceremony with the ribbon cut, a test of the vehicle and a final refreshment where the guests could ask some feedback to the service users.

Open gallery In order to create visibility around the project it was designed the experiment as an “open gallery� allowing visitors to touch, see and use the results, designing demonstration visits to show the experiment results and related potential benefits.

Presentation to potential stakeholders For creating productive synergies with other companies and public institution it was designed a detailed presentation on the project and its potential benefits. The presentation had a common part with a general explanation of the project and a specific part different for each stakeholder with the benefits of the project for the identified actor.

Identification of events where Mulo can be exhibited Designers checked all the initiatives/fairs/seminars etc. focusing on issues linked to the PSS innovation and the sustainable transportation in order to identify the right one to exhibit Mulo and get new stakeholders involved. From the ones identified, the most promising are: Design Indaba, Cape Argus Tour and Tour d’Afrique.

Communication tools In order to communicate the experiment intermediate results to different key actors, it was designed different communication tools: an on-line platform for all the stakeholders involved and a booklet for the final users.

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Figure 13.2-4 Some pages of the booklet distributed to potential test users

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13.3 Implementation

13.3.1 Presentation of the service to the users Lab

During the process of designing it has been worked in collaboration with RLabs and Impact Direct but the future users didn’t know properly how the system would work. Once the socio-technical experiment has been designed, started the phase of introduction the PSS into the community. It has been organized a meeting at Impact Direct Centre in order to illustrate to the elderly what is MULO and how the service would work and benefit the community. The goals of the test and the functioning of the service were illustrated through a power point presentation. The elderly were really interested to the presentation and enthusiastic to start using the service. With the presentation it has been prepared also a booklet to synthetically describe the project, its benefits, and how to join the service test (as a remainder for the elderly). Twenty elderly decided to participate in the test and they couldn’t wait to try the vehicle.

Figure 13.3-1 Presentation’ speaker

Figure 13.3-2 Presentation’ audience

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Lab

13.3.2 Introduction of BEN bikes pedicab and test of the transportation service The construction of the prototype was in a big delay so it has been decided to anticipate the service test activities using another kind of vehicle: a traditional rickshaw provided by BEN Bikes. BEN Bikes had a series of pedicab that used for the world cup period to transport tourists within the city centre (from the train station to the stadium). After that time they didn’t use them anymore and they kindly borrowed one to us.

On July 2011 the pedicab has been transported to Impact Direct Centre and it started the testing. Obviously there was lot of differences between this pedicab and MULO: the pedicab is powered only by human power, it can’t carry wheelchairs, it can carry only 2 people, it has three wheels, it is all opened and the pedalling system is like a normal bike. Even with these differences the pedicab was a good alternative to test the service with the elderly. Starting with the pedicab was useful for setting the bases of the final service. Rlabs and Impact Direct, with the help of Polimi, were directly involved in managing the service providing the drivers of the vehicle and the service organizers. In the meanwhile Polimi and CPUT monitored the test and collected feedback from users and drivers. At the beginning it has given a big support to the two associations for the managing of the service because it was something new that they had to get used to.

Figure 13.3-3 Picture taken during the service test with the pedicab from BEN bikes.

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13.3.3 Introduction of the Mulo prototype Lab

Once the vehicle was completed a series of technical tests coordinated by Polimi in collaboration with Shonaquip and CPUT took place before at Shonaquip and later at Bridgetown. Already from the first test emerged different technical problems: in particular mechanical problems on the suspension system, the steering system and the pedalling system and electrical problems related to the setting up of the controller box. Some mechanical pieces broke causing delays in the testing. At the end of September the vehicle was ready to be introduced into the community to start the socio-technical experiment in Bridgetown. At this stage Impact Direct Ministries decided to end the experiment. This was a total unexpected decision that created an unpleasant situation between the actors. The decision was taken by the pastor Rogers and his wife who are the two coordinators of Impact Direct Centre. They explained that the vehicle was not appropriate for the elderly for its “funny” shape and it would make the elderly embarrassing. They said that black and white people would laugh of them on such an unconventional vehicle (compared to a normal car). In their opinion, the elderly of the community had a difficult life in the apartheid era; they don’t have to suffer again and feel embarrassed going around on this vehicle. This decision was a bit in contradiction with the positive response given by the users during the service test and the vehicle demonstration. The real motivations were hidden behind this excuse. Firstly they felt our strong motivation on developing new opportunities for the community as an imposition from the “white community” and they compared our work to the impositions that the white government did to the coloured community during the apartheid era. Besides the politic problem there was also a religious one: the pastor has a big decisional power and even if the community disagreed with him, they don not complain for respect. He decides what can and cannot be done and even Marlon Parker (the internal promoter of the project) could not change his decision. Marlon Parker in that period was away and had not the possibilities to deepen the discussion with the pastors.

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changed from the time of the first agreement made with them to the beginning of the socio-technical experiment. Thanks to Marlon Parker RLabs expanded in different countries increasing radically the economic situation of the both associations. They are now completely dedicated on developing new innovative solutions to address various complex problems through the use of the Internet and on spreading around the world. They had not so much time and personnel available to manage the complexity of the pilot project. On the other hand the Pastor confirmed the interest to implement it in future, after the experimentation phase, a full operational service with a fleet of vehicle.

Figure 13.3-4 Pictures taken during the vehicle transportation to Impact Direct Centre

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13.4 Evaluation

13.4.1 Test of the service with pedicab Lab

The users’ response was really positive: they saw the service as an effective and cheap modality to move within the district.

A big group of people decided to take part in the service test for mainly two reasons. The involvement was easier to create because we choose to test the experiment in the area were RLabs and Impact Direct are located and also well known for their constant activities in support of the local community.

Secondly it has been provided to the users a rich series of information related the project with different communication tools explaining all in details the benefits of the PSS. They caught the opportunities of these service and they wanted to take part of it.

Figure 13.4-1 Series of picture taken during the service test with the pedicab from BEN bikes.

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13.4.2 Collection of feedback Lab

The collection of feedback is an important phase for the testing of socio-technical experiment. From the interviews we got a positive respond about the organization of the service and the fact that it was characterised by environmental and social benefits. Both passengers and drivers remarked the problems related with the vehicle comfort. The elderly founded the vehicle not easy to get in and out without the help of someone and too much open for the protection against rain, wind and cold. Drivers instead found the vehicle too much hard to pedal because it was powered only with human energy. However these issues were not particularly important because the vehicle would have been changed in a later stage.

Mulo is lower and easier to drop in and off, it is all covered in order to be protected from the worst weather conditions and has an electric motor that will make driving much easier.

Besides these problems both user and drivers stated that in future they would have chosen the service because considered a valuable option compared to private car, public taxi and obviously compared to walking.

Figure 13.4-2 Pictures taken during the collection of feedback

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13.4.3 Lesson learned During the design process it is impossible to predict all the problems that can be encountered during the process of implementation of the designed innovation. The decision took by the Pastor was totally unexpected also because they did not show any signs of change of mind during all the period the Polimi project promoters were acting there. The main lesson learned from this event was the importance of having an internal catalyst that has also the decisional power, capable to promote and support the project inside each involved institution. The project promoters worked more with Marlon Parker and the rest of the team, instead of working with the Pastor, without understanding the crucial importance that he had in the project’ development. Project promoters understood too late the strong influence that the local Pastor has in the strategic decisions taken by Impact Direct and RLabs, and they didn’t work from the beginning to guarantee his commitment. A part form these problems, it has to be underlined that both Impact Direct Ministries and Rlabs did not have a big economic force in the project. They did not invest any money in the project so that it was easy for them leaving the project also at the end.

They have been really unrespectable towards the rest of the actors that have invested lots of energies and money on the project. This caused a series of discontents between the actors that brought to find new opportunities that have been detected more effective.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us (Helen Keller).

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Chapter 14.

The socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill

Due to unexpected decision taken by Impact Direct Centre in Bridgetown, it was decided to implement the experimentation phase in collaboration with BEN Bikes. The founder and managing director, Andrew M. Wheeldon, confirmed his interest, previously expressed during the meeting held in April 2011 (see step 10.5); the project promoters discussed with him about the organisation and the activation of the pilot project. It was decided to use one of the BEN Bikes centres as an operational centre to manage local mobility services. In particular it was decided to continue with the previous experience implementing the experiment focused on providing mobility services to elderly, sick and disabled people (to transport them from their homes to any point of interests around the local area). Furthermore it was agreed that BEN Bikes would have also provided the staff needed to drive the vehicles and in general manage the service.

In September the project promoters visited two BEN Bikes centres, Grassy Park and Lavender Hill, to decide which of them was the most suitable for the pilot. The roads around the BEC of Grassy Park are very busy and cars run very fast and they don’t care of non-motorised transport: this factor was relevant for the selection of the site. The centre Imfundo Cycle of Lavender Hill instead, is positioned in a quiet area almost free from cars and mini bus taxis. Furthermore the manager is well considered and respected from the community. These centres work as hubs to promote the use of bicycle in the local community: they sell bikes, offer maintenance services and organise promotional events. The personnel employed in these centre have the right competencies and enthusiasm to manage mobility services based on the MULO vehicle. Moreover, the involvement of BEN Bikes could bring advantages also for a future scaling up of the PSS: BEN Bikes in fact has 14 centres dislocated in the suburban areas of the city that could act as ‘diffusers’ of the PSS.

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Figure 14-1 Students fixing the bicycles with the help of the BEC manager

Figure 14-2 Grassy Park BEC container

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14.1 Strategic analysis

14.1.1 Geographic and ethnographic features Lavender Hill is a suburban’s area of Cape Town, located in the Cape Flat, situated 30 km far from the city centre in the southeast part of the city. The area was used by the army for military exercises in the 1950’s and during ‘the apartheid era’ the people who where living in district six, in the city bowl, have been forcedly removed from their houses, because the area was declared to be for white people. Lavender Hill, as many other townships (Gugulethu, Mitchells plan, khayelitsha etc) around Cape Town, was designed to relocate people.

Lavender Hill has about 18000 inhabitants, mostly populated by the coloured community (see previous chapter 12.1.1); a really small percentage of African/black and Indian/Asian is integrated in the community (according to the 2001 Census).

Lavender Hill is an area predominantly characterized by unemployment, poverty and crime. There are very few facilities and services that cater for the children and families of this immediate area. Even though the poverty in the area is so prevalent, many of the community members strive to better themselves, their fellows and their surroundings. Through this dedication some organisations have sprung up in Lavender Hills: The Village Age Home for the elderly, Philisa Abafazi Bethu for abused and abandoned women and children and As Mothers Unite that emphasize to embrace children holistically trying to satisfy their basic needs. In particular the Bicycle Empowerment Centre run by Fagodien Campher is an important point of reference for those children of the community. Fagodien, while is managing the bicycle shop, he also makes time to head a very active cycle club for children between the ages of 13 and 21. This is a precarious age in the community of Lavender Hill because of the dangerously high levels of drug and criminal activity, perpetuated by peer pressure and international idols. The cycling club is therefore 234

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a safe and fun way for the children to spend their time and energy.

The location of the BEC is strategic, because it is located in the playground of the high school, and often children during the break or the end of the school spend some time learning how to repair bikes or training for some race.

Figure 14.1-1 Lavender Hill area and the typical blocks of flats

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14.1.2 PSS users On the basis of the new project developments, the project vision and the action plan were modified, in particular in the project vision the main adjustment concerned with the actor responsible of managing the service: BEN Bikes took the place of RLabs (see chapter 14.1.3). But also the users of the PSS changed because of the change of the location. The Mulo Bicycle Taxi can be used to benefit many different people of the Lavender Hill community in many different ways.

Those who mainly benefits of the Mulo transportation service are: the elderly, sick and disabled from Lavender Hill community, and secondly a rental service will also be put into place so that local organisations, for example Philsa Abafazi Bethu could use the vehicle for their own excursions such as delivering food to the homes.

The service would be able to serve the community for example to transport the elderly of a local pension for elderly “The Village Age Home” to any point of interest or just to take some fresh air in the surroundings. Such as offer the service, booked in advance, for transport the sick and the disable for the physical examination to the local clinic.

Figure 14.1-2 Elderly in front of “The village Age Home“ pension

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14.1.3 PSS providers: Lavender Hill B.E.C. with the Imfundo Cycling Club As mentioned before, because of the adjustment on project developments and the consequently change of the pilot location, the PSS providers changed. Lavender Hill BEC through BEN Bikes took the place of the RLabs, in the previous experiment.

BEN has established several BECs by supplying containers (converted to workshops) and stocking the workshop with bicycles and tools (either new or used).

All the existing BECs are now independent businesses, but the partnership continues through ongoing training, bicycle supplies, events and support.

Fagodien Campher is the project manager of the BEC in Lavender Hill where he repairs and sells bicycles for the community. He has been involved in the project as the Mulo project manager, because him and his team have the knowledge and skills for maintain the prototype in good conditions.

He gives the impression of being intimidating, but when he speaks one can see from his infectious smile and soft voice that he is a kind and gentle soul. Previously an alcoholic, Fagodien has managed to uplift and empower himself, through the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), to become a pillar of strength and good values in his community. The children of Lavender Hill flock to him through his endeavours in the community, and because they see him as father figure, most of their own fathers being absent.

Fagodien started his Bicycling Empowerment Centre (BEC) in September 2010 and decided to call the business Imfundo Cycles, which means Learning, as this is one area that he thinks needs his focus in the community. He feels very strongly that a good education, and knowledge of basic life skills, is essential to the development of a fully functioning child.

Fagodien does not only run his bicycle business, but also makes time to head a very active cycle club for children between the ages of 13 and 21. This is a precarious age in the community of Lavender Hills because of the dangerously high levels of drug and criminal activity, perpetuated by peer PART IV > Chapter 14

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pressure and international idols. The Imfundo Cycling Club is therefore a safe and fun way for the children to spend their time and energy.

Fagodien’s 19 years old son, Bradley, has completed a computer course and is currently looking for work, but he is also very interested in bicycles and is an active member of the cycle club, but does not necessarily want to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a bicycle mechanic.

The BEC in Lavender Hill became the enabler of the pilot project together with the Imfundo Cycling Club. The cyclists of Imfundo Cycle Club (a group of 20 teenagers) will drive, in turn, the elderly and sick to the clinics, post office, shops etc. at a small fee.

Figure 14.1-3 The Imfundo BEC at Lavender Hill

Figure 14.2-4 The Imfundo Cycle Club members

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14.2 Design

Design the socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill can be seen as an adaptation and improvement of the previous design experiment in Bridgetown.

At the end of September, project promoters, in collaboration with BEN Bikes and the manager of the Lavander Hill centre, defined the characteristic of the socio-technical experiment.

As previously done for the pilot planned in the Athlone district, the experiment was designed in order to act as: - as Lab, to further test the vehicle, the service and in general the PSS configuration; - as Window, to create visibility on the experiment, attract and enrol new stakeholders and establish synergies with other existing initiatives and projects.

- and in general as Agent of Change, to influence changes in the behaviour and routines of relevant actors (potential users but also for example the local municipality) in order to create the favourable conditions and to speed-up and support the PSS introduction and diffusion.

In other words, the experiment has mainly been designed in order to test and further improve the technical problems of the PSS (both the vehicle problems and the service management) and the usability issues. The main issues to be tested would have been the Mulo Bicycle Taxi service transportation of the elderly, sick and disabled of the Lavender Hill community from their homes to a point of interest, such as church, post office, local clinic and shopping centre.

The following map illustrates the network of actors involved in the pilot project experiment.

The BEC Imfundo Cycling provides the (1) service of transportation to disabled and elderly from their houses to the main points of interests around Lavender Hill (such as day hospital, church and post office...) and (2) a township tour around Lavender Hill for tourists.

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private transportation.

All the users communicate with the service provider via cell phone or in person and pay a specific fee for the service supplied.

It has been designed the booking system, supplied by the service manager, who can be contacted via sms, calls or booking in person at the centre. The service manager organizes the timetable of transportation and assigns the shift to one of the three drivers.

The BEC manager is also in charge of the vehicle maintenance with the economical support of the other stakeholders.

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241

Production & Design Partnership

System map

Service agreement

Vehicle

Strategic designers Maintenance

Imfundo Cycling

BEC

Request of tour

Payment for the tour

Township tour

Request for transportation

Donation for transportation

Transportation

Request for vehicle rental

Payment for vehicle rental

Vehicle rental

HOUSES

TOURISTS

(3)

(1)

PHILIZA ABAFAZI BETHU

NGO

(2)

Township tour in Lavender Hill

POST OFFICE

CHURCH

DAY HOSPITAL

NGO’s members transportation around Lavender Hill

Interaction table

Lab

First meeting with BEC team and introduction of the PSS

Test of the vehicle with the BEC team

First meeting with BEC team and introduction of the PSS

Test of the vehicle with the BEC team

LOCAL NGO

TOURISTS

SERVICE PROVIDER (BEC team) ELDERLY and DISABLED PEOPLE

DESIGNERS

Lab

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DESIGNERS

Lab

Lab

The passenger calls the service manager for booking the transportation

Other passengers prefers to speak personally to the service organizer at the BEC container

The driver goes to pick up and then drop off the passengers at the place defined during the booking

The passenger calls the service manager for booking the transportation

Other passengers prefers to speak personally to the service organizer at the BEC container

The driver goes to pick up and then drop off the passengers at the place defined during the booking

LOCAL NGO

TOURISTS

SERVICE PROVIDER (BEC team) ELDERLY and DISABLED PEOPLE

Lab

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Designers and service provider go to the local NGO and other key actors of the community for promoting the PSS

Lab

Designers and service provider go to the local NGO and other key actors of the community for promoting the PSS

During the pilot phase also some touristic township tours are organized with Mulo vehicle

TOURISTS

SERVICE PROVIDER (BEC team) ELDERLY and DISABLED PEOPLE

DESIGNERS

Window

During the pilot phase also some touristic township tours are organized with Mulo vehicle

LOCAL NGO

Lab

244

Designers and service provider go to the local NGO and other key actors of the community for promoting the PSS

The NGO uses the vehicle for transporting its members. They can drive it by themselves or they can ask for a driver at the BEC

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Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Window

Designers organize a launch event for creating visibility around the project.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Lab

The technical issues are fixed by the manager of the BEC with the economical support of the other stakeholders

LOCAL NGO

TOURISTS

SERVICE PROVIDER (BEC team) ELDERLY and DISABLED PEOPLE

DESIGNERS

Lab

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Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

Designers collect feedback from the different actors of the PSS and they evaluate the results.

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Window

Window

Window

Designers present the project to private companies and public institutions in order to create potential synergies

The centre is an open gallery where visitor can see how the pilot project works and test the vehicle.

trasporto di persone con problemi motori (persone con disabilitàe anziani). In particolare per il trasporto da casa a scuola (per studenti), e il trasporto da casa alle fermate dei mezzi pubblici. Il progetto èpensato in particolare per i sobborghi di Cittàdel Capo, dove sono presenti diversi problemi di mobilità; il trasporto pubblico èlimitato e il

piùdelle volte assente, e diventa quindi problematico per le persone con disabilità spostarsi (andare a scuola, in ospedale, al lavoro, ecc.).

Nel progetto sono inoltre coinvolti: > Shonaquip(www.shonaq uip.co.za/), azienda che si occupa di produrre e commercializzare carrozzine e ausili per persone con disabilità. Saranno responsabili della produzione del prototipo e degli eventuali futuri veicoli. > DisabilityWorkshop EnterpriseDevelopment (DWDE)

(www.dwde.co.za), associazione che si occupa di supportare le persone con disabilitàcreando opportunitàdi lavoro.

Nello specifico a DWDE sono collegati alcuni piccoli workshop che collaboreranno nella realizzazione di alcuni componenti; > The ReconstructedTeam (www.sustainableeveryday.net/ccsla/?p=1 23), associazione che si

occupa del reintegro di ex tossicodipendenti e ex criminali. Il loro ruolo saràquello di gestire il servizio di trasporto. The ReconstructedTeam fa parte di Impact Direct(www.impactdirect .org.za/), associazione che si occupa di coordinare una serie di attivitàa supporto della comunitàlocale.

A settembre, a Cape Town, sono stati

THANKS TO:

Dipartimento INDACO Design e Innovazione di sistema per la sostenibilità

Designer select specific events where Mulo can be exhibited and get sponsor from interested companies.

LOCAL NGO

TOURISTS

SERVICE PROVIDER (BEC team) ELDERLY and DISABLED PEOPLE

DESIGNERS

Cape Town Sustainable Mobility Project Nel settembre 2009 è stato ufficialmente lanciato un progetto di collaborazione tra il Politecnico di Milano, l’IPSIA “A. Ferrari”di Maranello, e la Cape Peninsula University of Technology, per la progettazione e realizzazione di un sistema di mobilità sostenibile per il

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Lab

14.2.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a LAB Introduction of the PSS It was designed a first meeting with the BEC team aimed at presenting and discussing the introduction of the PSS in the community. During the meeting it was planned also the division of the tasks between the BEC team and the draft of an action strategy for the implementation of the service.

Design tools to manage the service In order to manage the service it has been provided a series of tools to Fagodien and his team. The economical and technoTRIP N째 DATE

Figure 14.2-1 Table for the organization of the timetable

N째1 15 FEB 2012

N째2 15 FEB 2012

ADDRESS PICK UP

ADDRESS DROP OFF

DISABILITY

Constitution street Constitution street

Medical clinic

/

Medical clinic

/

12.10

Orange street

Medical clinic

/

Andrew

14.00

Medical clinic

/

Joe

14.00

Medical clinic

Constitution street Constitution street

NAME

TIME

Andrew

12.00

Andrew

12.00

Sylvia

16 FEB Philipa 2012 Abafazi Bethu

wheel chair

9.00/16.00

logical situation of Lavender Hill is really different from the Bridgetown one: RLabs has computers, printers and informatics competences instead the Fagodien BEC in Lavender Hill is a bicycle repair shop and it does not even have electricity. The tools designed for Bridgetown were not appropriate with the context of Lavender Hill because they do not have the devices and the competences to modify and print out files. For these reasons an A5 white notebook was designed in order to draw a table for the organization of the timetable.

The table is divided in six sections: the first column indicate the trip number and the date of the booking, the second indicate the name of the passenger who makes the reservation, then the time of the pick up reservation, the address of the pick up place, the address of the drop off place and the evenPART IV > Chapter 14

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tual disabilities of the passenger. These information are useful to the service organizer in order to allocate the passenger in different trip in order to optimize the time. It is important to know if the passenger has or not a disability because the vehicle can transport a maximum of three people or a wheelchair user and two people. When the vehicle is booked for all the day from the NGO, the service organizer signs the name of the NGO and the booking time. Also on the vehicle, the driver has a copy of the timetable as the service organizer where he can check and tick the transportations booked for that day.

With this method they will be always able to organize the service with a designed timetable that they can reproduce thousand of times without spending money on printing.

Once the experiment is working at its full operative phase and it is become economically sustainable, in order to stimulate people to use more the Mulo service, but even to reward them, it could be interesting to introduce the card tool, as it was introduced for the experiment in Bridgetown with a different function.

In Bridgetown experiment, the card was assigned to each user and signed in the back the day of the transportation, as a reminder for the elderly, but also to regulate the number of trip per person in order be impartial. Instead in Lavender Hill it would have a different function: each time the passenger uses the taxi, the driver ticks a box and after a certain number of trip, the passenger can travel for free for a ride or a day.

Figure 14.2-2 BEC Lavender Hill sociotechincal experiment card

Lab

248

Test of the vehicle PSS providers considered appropriate to test the vehicle and verify the eventual technical adjustment to do before starting the transportation service. The road surface of Lavender Hill area is less maintained and the vehicle could encountered new types of problems never encountered in the earlier tests.

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Lab

Feedback collection In order to test better the PSS and the vehicle, a series of questionnaires and interviews were planned with users, drivers, technicians and service managers. The feedback collection in Lavender Hill community has been organized more in details then in Bridgetown because it has been analyzed both the technical aspects and the service organization features.

For each type of PSS’ actors it has been designed a different way to collect comments and feedback. For the passengers it has been designed a structured oral questionnaire with an evaluation scale (from 1 to 5) with a last section of oral interview. The questionnaire/interview is divided in three sections: the vehicle usability, the service organization and the cultural and habit aspects. The interviewer even for the questionnaire has always been close to the passengers because it is possible that they do not correctly interpret the questions or that they are not able to read or understand English. For the driver it has been designed a contextual oral interview: the interviewer has spent one day with the driver on the Mulo vehicle trying to understand the driver in the context of his job and the related problems. Leaving the driver talk about his job while he is doing it allows the driver to reveal all the details of his job and the related problems. For the service organizer and for the technician it has been designed a semi-structured oral interview where the interviewer is free on slightly changing the questions. Both the interviews are composed of two sections with a common part related to the cultural and habit aspects.

A vehicle maintenances and repairs section has been designed for the technician and a service organization section for the service organizer. To the drivers is provided also a sheet with a table to note down all the problems encountered during the trips; this sheet was always on the vehicle in order to be easily fulfilled. Even to the technician is provided a sheet with a table to note down all the problems encountered during the maintenance and the repairs. These tools were really useful to define the technical and usability problems of the vehicle. All the interviews and questionnaire have been documented with pictures and some videos. (For further deepening and details see chapter 15)

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14.2.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a Window WINDOW

Promoting the PSS around the community Designers and service provider go to the local NGO and other key actors of the community for promoting the PSS. These meetings aimed at creating visibility on the experiment and stimulating changes in the local socio-technical context. The socio-technical experiment was designed in order to stimulate changes in actors’ behaviour, habits and mental frameworks, engaging and enrolling actors considered crucial and creating favourable conditions for the introduction and diffusion of the PSS. Open gallery In order to create visibility around the project it was designed the experiment as an “open gallery” allowing visitors to touch, see and use the results, designing demonstration visits to show the experiment results and related potential benefits.

Presentation to potential stakeholders For creating productive synergies with other companies and public institution it was designed a detailed presentation on the project and its potential benefits. The presentation had a common part with a general explanation of the project and a specific part different for each stakeholder with the benefits of the project for the identified actor.

Identification of events where Mulo can be exhibited Designers checked all the initiatives/fairs/seminars etc. focusing on issues linked to the PSS innovation and the sustainable transportation in order to identify the right one to exhibit Mulo and get new stakeholders involved. From the ones identified, the most promising are: Design Indaba, Cape Argus Tour and Tour d’Afrique.

Communication tools In order to communicate the experiment intermediate results to different key actors, it was designed different communication tools: an on-line platform for all the stakeholders in250

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volved and a flyer simple and direct, both in the language and in the graphic to be distributed around the community. The flyer contains informations about what the service offer and how to use it, but also about the project background.

Launch event It has been designed a launch event where different potential actors were invited (the local community, the local administration, the city municipality, the local Clinic, local organizations etc.) and it has been organized a presentation to introduce to them the project and its background. A demonstration ride would show how the vehicle works and illustrated posters explained the PSS, its benefit on the community and which could be the possible future potential opportunities of development. Some posters have been designed to support the presentation but also to work as a sort of open gallery so that future visitors could see all the PSS features.

The design of the launch event was organized as follow: - Welcoming of the guests, giving them a sticker to write on their name and belonging company in order to be identified - Presentation of the Mulo project held by the project promoters with the intervention of the various stakeholders involved in the PSS - Vehicle demonstration drive - Workshop: Towards the activation of new pilot projects.

It has been designed a presentation that lead to a discussion about future developments of the projects. The result of this step was the establishment of an agreement with BEN Bikes for the implementation of a socio-technical experiment in one of its centre. Moreover the characteristics of this experiment were defined. (For more detailed information see chapter 16)

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14.2.3 Economical hypothesis for the sustainability of the experiment The socio-technical experiment foresees to be also economically sustainable. The project promoters, during the experimentation had the opportunity to collect the information needed to draft an economical hypothesis to demonstrate that the design of the PSS innovation, is environmental, socio-ethical and economical sustainable. In order to make a plausible economic draft of the project at its full operative phase, it is important to design an experiment economically auto-sustainable.

The business model in the next page visualize the revenues and the costs of the BEC in Lavender Hill when the sociotechnical experimentation is at its full operative phase (it means that all the tests have been done and that the service can run efficiently).

The Mulo PSS can provide three different kinds of service and related revenues: - Taxi with driver within Lavender Hill: transportation of elderly and disabled from home to the main points of interest (it charges a minimum fee of R5 per person per trip). Following the estimation in the first table, it results that this service produces an incoming of about R 770/month.

- Taxi with driver within Lavender Hill: transportation of tourists that want to experience township tours, which is quite popular in Cape Town (it can charge about R200 per person). In the table has been estimated an incoming of about R2400 per month; - The Mulo taxi can also be rented (without the driver) to local NGOs for private excursions. This service can charge R100 per day with a total incoming of about R400 per month.

These four services offered by the PSS provider bring a total revenues of R3570 per month.

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Data Summary

Price

n째 days/month

n째 people

Elderly and Disabled

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Tourists

NGOs

* 481920 n째 disabled people in Cape Town * 4528 n째 disabled people in Lavender Hill * 745 disabled using similar service per day in Cape Town 745:481920 = X: 4528

* 24 tourists going to township tours with Awol & Tours/month

X= 7 people/day

24 tourists/month

* 30 working days/month * [30 - 4 (tourists)] - 4 (NGO) = 22 days/month

* 2 vehicles in 2 BECs * 2 tours/day * a tour for 3/4 people * 6 people/day * [24 tourists/month]: 6 people/day = 4 days/ month

* For weekly errands = 4 days per month

4 days/month

4 days per month

* 5 Rand/person public taxi fare * 4-16 Rand/person price for Dial-a-ride service * 5 Rand/person for Mulo service

* 300 Rand/person Awol Tours for a 3-4 hours bicycle township tour * 250 Rand/person Chisana bus township tour

* 250 Rand/day rental price of another vehicle+petrol * 100 Rand/day for Mulo vehicle

5 Rand/day

200 Rand/person

200 Rand/person

22 days/month

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Pilot Project COST/month Driver salary

N° driver Tot cost

Service manager

N° service manager Tot cost

700 Rand

Pilot Project REVENUES/month Elderly & disabled

2

1400 Rand 800 Rand 1

800 Rand

Township tour

Rent to NGOs

2200 Rand

Tot COSTS/month Pilot project PROFIT/month Pilot project PROFIT/year

Tot REVENUES/month

n° people/day

7

tot people/month

22 154

price/person

5 Rand

revenue/month

770 Rand

n° people/tour

3

n° days/month

tot people/month

4 12

price/person

200 Rand

revenue/month

2400 Rand

n° days/month

4

revenue/month

400 Rand

n° day/month

price/day

100 Rand

3570 Rand

1370 Rand

16440 Rand

The costs that the PSS has to cope with is about R2200/ month: - Pay the monthly salary for two drivers, about R700/each; - Pay the service manager and the maintenance service, about R800/month Making the subtraction between the revenues and the costs, it results a profit of R1370/month, which means that the pilot project is economically sustainable because it produces profit starting from its implementation.

In the pilot project business plan, the vehicle production costs are not considered because, since it is a research and development phase, the vehicle has been totally sponsored by the different stakeholders involved in the project (Polimi, Ipsia Ferrari di Maranello and Shonaquip). The service in Lavender Hill can be profitable since its implementation without the burden of paying back the production costs.

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14.3 Implementation

Lab

Wndow

14.3.1 Introduction of the PSS in the community Once Impact Direct Centre communicate its will to not manage the pilot, the project promoters made different efforts to involve the community of Lavender Hill and transmit the right attitude in introducing and implementing the innovation. The interest demonstrated by BEN Bikes during the meeting held in April 2011, led to involve Lavender Hill BEC and act as PSS providers. The first “inspection” meeting was aimed at presenting and discussing the introduction of the PSS in the community; the project promoters visited the site where the Fagodien’s BEC is located (see fig 13.2-7) with the key role support of Andrew Wheeldon (BEN Bikes managing director) and Sarah Rossouw (the Community Profile Project Manager at BEN). Sarah has played an important role for the implementation of the experiment in Lavender Hill, her job within BEN is to monitor and report the progress and the efficiency of each BEC spread in the province. For this reason she is always wise of the situation in the communities where the BECs are settled. She has been a good connector between the Italian project promoters and the South African community: she helped to speed up the process of introduction and implementation of the experiment. Once the Lavender Hill project manager confirmed his involvement in the experiment, the vehicle was moved from the previous site experiment, Impact Direct Centre in Bridgetown, to the second site experiment Lavender Hill BEC, where the technical test started. While the technicians were busy fixing the mechanical issues related to the vehicle, the project promoters, Sarah and Fagodien, started to involve the PSS users, elderly, sick and disabled and also key actors that could both benefit and facilitate the diffusion of the service in the community. Private visits where organized to the Local clinic (Fig 14.2-8), to the elderly pension the “Village Age Home”, to the local

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police station and to other local NGOs like Philiza Abafasi Bethu (Fig 14.3.3) Figure 14.3-1 First “inspection” to the Lavender Hill BEC

Lab

Figure 14.3-2 Promoting the service to the local clinic managers

Window

Figure 14.3-3 Promoting the service to the local NGO

Window

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14.3.2 Test the vehicle with the PSS providers Lab

Once the prototype of the vehicle was moved in the second site of the experiment, Lavender Hill, the PSS providers considered appropriate to test the vehicle and verify the eventual technical adjustment to do. The test took place with the participation of some members of the Imfundo cycle club that where following the vehicle by bicycle. Andrew Williams, Grassy Park BEC manager, drove from his bicycle shop to the Lavender Hill one, far about 6 km. The vehicle passed through car traffic roads, and sometime was quite difficult to coexist in the same road, because cars in Cape Town have no respect for pedestrians or non-motorized vehicles.

Figure 14.3-4 Vehicle test at Lavender Hill

Â

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Â

14.3.3 The launch event Window

In October 2011 was organized a launch event with relevant actors, in order to introduce of the PSS in the community.

The event was relevant to spread information about the innovation and draw the attention on the experiment at a strategic level (governmental institutions, policy makers, industrial associations, etc. at a national level).

The aim of this event was to officially launch and present the pilot project, illustrate the potential future developments, and discuss with invited actors how to support and speed up the project. The event took place at the Lavander Hill BEN centre, because it was important to bring actors meeting the community and understanding its involvement.

Before spreading the voice in the community, it was ensured that main relevant actors could be present at the event.

The main relevant actors invited at the event were: - the Cape Town municipality (in particular representatives of the Transport department and the Environmental Resource Management department), because they expressed their interest, during the meeting held in April 2011, on the project and especially because they direct influence local transport regulations; - local actors potentially interested in implementing specific mobility services based on the MULO vehicle: local NGOs (Philiza Abafazi Bethu), the local clinic and the elderly pension (Village Age Home); - the head of the local police, because project promoters were interested to understand if there was the possibility to implement some limited traffic zones in the neighbourhood (to make easier the use of the vehicle in the local area); - local media, to spread the information on the innovation and the experiment at city (and national) level: Cape Argus and Southern Mail newspaper.

The event was structured in three main parts: 1. A first part aimed at illustrating the project (economic, environmental and socio-ethical benefits) and presenting the pilot project at Lavander Hill. The presentation was designed in order to make intervene all the actors involved in the de258

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sign process so far and to illustrate the project future opportunities: * Introduction – stakeholders network coordinator Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Department of Industrial Design, CPUT; * Illustration of the project: economical, environmental and socio ethical benefits - project promoters Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino, Politecnico di Milano; * Description of the vehicle and its technical features – production manager Guillaume DuToit, Shonaquip; * Introducing the Mulo project in Lavander Hill communitySilvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino - Andrew Wheeldon, BEN South Africa Managing Director - Fagodien Campher, Lavander Hill BEC’s Manager – Lucinda Evans, Philisa Abafazi Bethu; * Illustration of the project future opportunities - Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino A presentation that involves many interlocutors that share their opinion and experience resulted to be more attractive and effective. The presentation was supported by four posters that illustrated the transition path of the design process, from the project background to its future opportunities. The posters have been printed and left at the centre after the presentation, so that they can work as an “open gallery” where future potential partners can visit the site, get information about the project, make a ride on the vehicle and interact with the community.

2. A vehicle ride demonstration that consisted on demonstrating how the solar energy assist the pedalling system transporting, in turn, some of the main relevant actors invited (such as the members of the City of Cape Town).

3. Finally a workshop between participants to discuss further steps to accomplish.

Some tools have been designed in order to advertise and spread the happening of the event but also to support it: - Invitation flyers have been sent via e-mail and some printed and handed-out around the community of Lavender Hill; - A flyer was produced and distributed to potential users in the community of Lavender Hill; - Attendances register, to record the people who were attending the event; PART IV > Chapter 14

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- Personal stick label, to make people recognized by each other, writing down the name and the company they belong.

Figure 14.3-5 Launch event at Lavender Hill BEC

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14.4 Evaluation

14.4.1 The launch event Window

The results of the event were positive: local actors evaluated the project as a valuable one for the local communities, because of it potential to bring tangible economic, environmental and socio-ethical benefits. In particular one of the actors involved, the local clinic, showed its interest in implementing as soon as possible a service for the transportation of patients.

Furthermore the Transportation Department of Cape Town confirmed its interest in strengthening synergies between the PSS and the suburban bus lines. It is also clear that this large-scale project will require much more experimentation on a small local scale, before starting its implementation. In addition the Transportation Department stated that they put in their agenda meeting and discussion to identify actions to support the project. Regarding this commitment, it is also important to underline that BEN Bikes managing director, Andrew Wheeldon, is always involved in monthly meetings about developing non-motorised mobility in Cape Town with the direction of the Transportation Department. Thus it seems to become easier to push the municipality to adopt interventions to favour the implementation of project.

Lab

14.4.2 Vehicle test This test enabled to understand that Mulo vehicle should be driven in secondary and low-traffic road to ensure the passengers a safe and comfortable trip. During the path the vehicle was transporting one person and was running quite well. The crew reached the destination with the speed of a bicycle and without finding mechanical problems. During a further test, because of overloading, the vehicle started to have its first mechanical issues. From that moment the technicians started to struggle to fix the problems and partially succeeded in

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looking for new arranged solutions to the problems.

14.4.3 Feedback collection Lab

The experiment in Lavender Hill, at the time of writing this thesis is still running, and the planned questionnaires and interviews are still ongoing. But from the previous experiment, at this stage, different resistances and barriers have been identified (institutional, regulative, economic and socio-cultural) that could potentially modify the regular path for the implementation and diffusion of the innovation. From informal conversations with potential users in the community, came out that the Mulo taxi can be a competitor of the Mini-bus taxi and people are indirectly threaten not to use it (sociocultural barriers).

14.4.4 Lesson learned The importance to create more than one alternative for the experimentation (in this case two: implement the pilot in the Athlone district with Impact Direct or in collaboration with BEN Bikes) made possible to responsive react and re-orient the project when Impact Direct communicated its will to end the pilot project. An important lesson learnt was that it is crucial, in the process of introducing and scaling radical innovations, to have different available options to exploit. In the socio-technical experimentation, in not familiar and traditional contexts, designers have to adopt a more flexible behaviour that means have the ability to adapt constantly and accept changes of direction in the path previously designed. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change�

Charles Darwin This way of saying is valuable, in this experimentation, both for the actors who directly benefit from the PSS and the designers or project promoters who constantly need to adapt their work to meet the needs of the users.

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Chapter 15.

The socio-technical experiment as a LAB

15.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a “Lab” Designing the socio-technical experiment to act as a Lab means “to test, learn and improve the PSS innovation on multiple dimensions (technical, usability, regulative, political, economical, socio-cultural), and in relation to different contexts (in order to learn about different PSS configurations in different settings)” (Ceschin, 2012). There is a series of guidelines that strategic designer should follow for the designing of socio-technical experiment. The socio-technical experiment as a Lab can be divided in two section: learn and explore how to improve the PSS innovation on different dimensions and about different contexts and different offers.

In relation to the project Mulo, the team is still testing the PSS in the Lavender Hill context but if the PSS will get good results, it would be repeated in a variety of contexts to learn about different PSS configurations in different settings. In this chapter is illustrated the testing of the Lavender Hill experiment in its different dimensions (technical, usability, regulative, political, economical, socio-cultural), the tools used to test the experiment (feedback collection) and the experiment results.

Figure 15.1-1 Vehicle testing at Shonaquip

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15.2 Technical test and improvements

On September 2011 Mulo team started the testing of the vehicle. Shonaquip was not however equipped to deal with a vehicle of such magnitude and the testing was therefore quite complicated and challenging. The testing continued also in Bridgetown but especially in Lavender Hill. Luckily the initial tests were successful although there are still some technical adjustments that need to be made. The concept of the vehicle is an ongoing process and the collaboration to refine the design is still continuing between the Italian and the South African team.

15.2.1 Test of the vehicle at Shonaquip The first test of the vehicle, that last two weeks, has been held at Shonaquip, in order to have the tools and the machineries to repair it in case of malfunctioning or breaking.

During the multiple testing, Guillaume Du Toit, the production manager was not always present, which brought the Italian team to run into many difficulties, especially regarding the mechanical problems. The Italian team despite was not responsible of the production process, they had to adopt a flexible strategic attitude, and try to understand the technical problems to solve. Luckily, they were able to engage many Shonaquip employees who were available to help in order to see the vehicle completed.

Figure 15.2-2 Vehicle testing at Shonaquip

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Four tests have been the main ones and below you can find the relative reports.

Test 1.

- The motor is really weak; it doesn’t move the vehicle when it is stationary. The back wheels move just when they are not on the ground.

- The pedalling system is really hard. If the driver start with a high gear (e.g. 6) the tension on the chain is too high and the spring that keeps the chain uptight breaks causing the bending of the metal structure that holds up the chain.

Solution.

- To buy a new stronger spring - To charge the battery all night long Figure 15.2-3 Mechanism that keeps the chain uptight

Test 2.

- The motor is moving the vehicle also when it is on the ground but it is still really weak. While the vehicle is moving the motor works but at a certain point it stops. Three flash on the red light on the motor controller (meaning=low voltage) - The spring brakes again; it is still too weak. The chain felt down bending again the metal structure that holds the front crowns.

- Steering is hard; the front wheels are not parallel each other and they are not perfectly perpendicular to the ground.

Solution.

- To buy two springs for car breaking system. Instead of just one spring, to install two springs.

- To change the electric wires: not anymore copper but steel wires of 5 mm thick and shorter then the previous ones, because the energy was dispersing in those long wires.

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Figure 15.2-4 Front crowns holder bent by the chain and front wheel not parallel to the ground

Test 3.

- The motor is running much better; it doesn’t stop like before an it is stronger - The springs do not break also because the pedalling is helped by the motor power - The steering system is still a problem. The people at the back have to be balanced if not it is difficult to steer. The front wheels are not straight making the steering even more difficult. From the disassembling of the front wheels it is discovered a bent piece.

Solution.

- To bring the bent piece to the welder who made it before. He made the piece stronger (8 mm plates welded from both sides)

Figure 15.2-5 Front wheel holder bent by the weight of the vehicle

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Test 4.

- The steering is working much better after changing the bended pieces of the front wheels - The wheels turn too much and they touch the structure, causing problems to the ride - The motor is too weak when the vehicle is fully loaded (one wheelchair user 90kg+two other people 130kg= total of 220 kg) Solution.

- To put two blocks for stopping the wheels to avoid that they touch the structure - To re-programme the motor controller: the motor should be slower but should talk more (the re-programming is still on going because in order to do it is needed a device that has to be sent from Elektrosystem in Italy) Figure 15.2-6 Motor controller that has to be reprogrammed and front wheel blocked under the structure

After these tests, the vehicle has been transported at Bridgetown. The vehicle did not have a proper garage to be stored and it has been left in the backyard of the centre. Some children played on it when nobody was controlling, they broke the structure that supports the one front wheel. Probably the vehicle was overloaded and it caused the breaking. It has been tried to weld the two pieces without good results. The piece was made again stronger then before.

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15.2.2 Test of the vehicle at Lavender Hill Once the vehicle has been transported to Lavender Hill, the tests started with the help of Fagodien and his BEC members. The vehicle rode from Grassy Park to Lavender Hill, a distance of about 6 km. During the ride we did not encounter any mechanical problems. Sometimes the driver had to stop to rest because the motor controller has not been reprogrammed yet and the wind was blowing strong against the vehicle. The shape of the vehicle is not properly aerodynamic especially the front Plexiglas window. This is a crucial problem in particular in Cape Town where the wind blows really strong and often. The front window should be a transparent PVC sheet that can be roll up when is not raining. During another test, because of overloading, the springs broke and the chain bent again the metal structure that supports the front crowns. This piece became really weak and it continued to get bended by the chain. Fagodien is trying to find a solution to the mechanical problems: he located a man who can assist to solve the problem of the chain and the hard steering. Relating the re-programming of the motor controller, it has been asked to the Italian sponsor of the electric components to provide the device needed and to send it to South Africa. Until this device will not be in Cape Town, the electrical engineer cannot proceed in the re-programming.

Figure 15.2-7 Testing the vehicle from Grassy Park to Lavender Hill

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15.3 Existing policy, regulative frameworks and infrastructures In order to learn about barriers and opportunities related to regulative, political and geographical issues it has been organized a series of meetings with the local administrations and governmental institutions. During these meetings it has been discussed the existing policy and regulative framework and the opportunities to be exploited for the diffusion and implementation of the PSS in the society. The most important meeting was with the Cape Town Municipality in April 2011; during that meeting it has been discussed mainly on the problems related to the regulative barriers for the diffusion of Mulo PSS. 15.3.1 Existing policy and regulative frameworks The main regulative barrier that has been discussed during the meeting with the Cape Town Municipality is the lack of a proper law that allows the insurance of the vehicle. Mulo is a vehicle that cannot be classified in a precise category of means of transport because it is powered both by human and electric power. If it had just human power it would be classified like a bicycle but the electric motor, that allow to go faster, puts the vehicle in the same position of an electric car.

The insurance companies have never dealt with this type of vehicle and they do not know where to position Mulo vehicle.

In addition to this problem, there is also the issue related to Mulo as a public transport. To be a public transport means having the responsibilities of carrying people that have to be cover by insurance in case of road accident. The insurance costs increase a lot also because Mulo does not have big protection as a bus.

Another problem related to being a public means of transport is the fare ride. If the vehicle works as a taxi, it should be a rate for km covered and this should be verify by a distance meter (like the private taxi), instead if the vehicle has a de272

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fined route the rate should be invariable and predefined. Both the possibilities have to be regulated with the department of transport of the Cape Town Municipality. BEN Bikes had the same regulative problems with their pedicab: they did not have a regulate rate system. For all the period of the world cup, the passengers were asked to give a free donation in order to support the service. This rate system has been discovered a failure and caused the end of the service.

During the meeting with the Cape Town Municipality, BEN Bikes explained this problem to all the participant making start a discussion on the problem solution. After a long debate on this theme, the head of the Public Transportation Department took the commitment of finding a solution to these regulative problems. She started to search and analyze these laws in order to adapt them for the implementation of Mulo PSS. The work is still on process and pushed by Andrew Wheeldon (BEN Bikes manager) during the monthly meeting with the Cape Town Municipality.

For the development of the Lavender Hill experiment the Municipality gave us the permit to use the vehicle even without a proper insurance and a regulative rate system.

For the first experiment in Bridgetown it was draft an indemnity form for the passengers and a different one for the drivers.

Below the two indemnity forms: the first one of the drivers and the second one of the passengers.

I,…………………the undersigned, hereby agree that as driver during the “Mulo system” socio-technical experiment, 1. It is my personal responsibility in case of any kind of accident linked with the vehicle.

2. It don’t have responsibility towards the passengers in case of accident but I will be aware of my task.

3. I will perform my task diligently and professionally, taking care as much as I can of the vehicle, its parts and the passengers that I will transport.

4. I know and understand the contents of this document and have no objections to signing same.

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I, …………………………………the undersigned, hereby agree that as passenger during the “Mulo system” socio-technical experiment, 1. It is my personal responsibility in case of any kind of accident linked with the vehicle.

2. I will perform my task diligently and professionally, taking care as much as I can of the vehicle and its parts.

3. I know and understand the contents of this document and have no objections to signing same.

Signing the indemnity forms the team was protected from eventual accident because both passengers and drivers were driving at their own risk. This was possible in Bridgetown because the passengers of the vehicle would have been always the same: the group of elderly of Impact Direct. Instead, in Lavender Hill the vehicle works like a private taxi with different passengers all the time.

About the rate system, for the experiment of Lavender Hill the passengers give a donation to the drivers: the donation has a minimal fare of 5 Rand for person. Hopefully the Cape Town Municipality will find solutions to these regulative problems, solutions that will be tested on the experiment in Lavender Hill before the scaling up.

15.3.2 Existing infrastructures Thanks to the implementations made to the city for the World Cup of 2010, all the roads and streets of the city are paved and in good conditions. Also in the township like Lavender Hill there are not problems of this type. Relating to the existing infrastructure, the only issue for Mulo is to drive in busy roads or highways. Mulo goes at an average speed of 30 km/h and it becomes dangerous for the passengers and the driver if they ride in busy roads where cars drive at an average of 80 km/h. Mulo is perfect in Lavender Hill environment because the traffic is really low and the cars drive slowly. In Grassy Park instead, the road are really busy and the drivers are inpatient. When we had to drive from Grassy Park to Lavender Hill for the testing of the vehicle, two bicycles have been come abreast of the vehicle for better delimiting the area of 274

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the Mulo. Moreover it would be not possible to have just one vehicle that runs some days in Lavender Hill and for example during the week-end in the city centre because the roads that connected these two areas are busy and unsafe for a vehicle like the Mulo.

Figure 15.3-1 The prototype escorted by two bicycles

Figure 15.3-2 Busy road in the Cape Flats area

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15.4 Societal and acceptance issues

Learning about the South African culture and society has been really important for the developments of the project.

South Africa is composed by many communities that have different cultures, languages, backgrounds and religions. This multitude of communities lives together in the same country but divided in separated neighbourhoods. This is the consequence of the colonialism before and later on of the apartheid.

This project has mainly to deal with the coloured community: both Bridgetown and Lavender Hill are coloured townships and Shonaquip employees are mainly coloured. It has been important not only working with them, but also spending spare time with them trying to understand their point of view on life. Coloured communities are really marginalized by other communities and they have few societal benefits. It was interesting to listen their stories and understand their identities both for a personal growth and for the project development.

15.4.1 The experience in Bridgetown While the production of the vehicle was proceeding, the project promoters have spent lot of time in Bridgetown at the Impact Direct & Rlabs centre. For about a month, every Monday and Wednesday the project promoters went to Impact Direct Centre to help the association with the elderly.

Speaking with them, allowed understanding that they had a difficult past of sacrifices and an unpredictable present because of the low rate of their pensions.

During the presentation of the project to the group of seniors, they were enthusiast and showed their interest to use a vehicle that could transport them around the area as a good alternative to the public taxis that are unsafe and expensive for them. They did not show any embarrassment relating the shape of the vehicle as the Pastor said later on; but it is also 276

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true that one of their main wishes is owning a car (and Mulo is more similar to a bicycle than a car). Ride a car is a status symbol: if you can buy one you are wealthy respects the rest of the community. Ride a bicycle instead could be seen as a transport for poor people that cannot afford a car.

The project promoters participated also to the “Friday night meeting� with the Reconstructed Team at RLabs: firstly they attended the lesson about social media and helped the guys to subscribe on gmail and youtube and later they had dinner all together. From the stories of these guys, it was easy to understand the big problems of the young generation in the coloured community. At the age of 12 the kids start to take drugs and alcohol but they need money to buy the drugs, so they start to steal from others thanks to the protection of the gangs. Once they enter in a gang it is difficult to leave without being helped. Lots of people, after changing their life, start again to take drugs because they cannot find a job. The unemployment rate is really high in South Africa especially in the coloured community. They were really exited about the project Mulo because it was an opportunity of having a job and starting a new life.

Figure 15.4-1 With the Reconstructed Team during the Friday meeting

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15.4.2 Working with Fagodien in his BEC and taking part to the Infundo cycling club The project managers passed also some days with Fagodien in his BEC; through this it has been understood that he is respected into the community because he understands the children’s behaviour and has a deep desire to improve their lives. He actively promotes the use of the bicycle into the community teaching children who have never been on a bicycle how to ride, the safety precautions, and how to care of their bicycles. He also pushes lots of girls on using the bicycle even if in the community usually women do not ride because it results embarrassing. Riding a bicycle is also dangerous because sometimes it can happen that the gangsters stops you and steals your bicycle and money. Stealing a bicycle is really simple because the thieves can ride away easily and hide it in their house. Going with Mulo, instead, is safer because it is a vehicle that is not easy to hide and sell and usually you do not ride it alone.

Figure 15.4-2 With Fagodien in his BEC and the Imfundo Cycle Club during their weekly ride

On Saturday usually Fagodien and the teenagers in the cycling club ride around the mountains bordering Lavender Hills, and one Saturday the project promoters decided to join the group. The Imfundo Cycle Club is really where Fagodien’s heart lies; some bicycles and clothing have been donated to the cycle club but many more are needed to combat the demand of children wishing to cycle. The Mulo Bicycle Taxi can benefit the youths of the Imfundo Cycle Club that will have a means to gain income and exercise by driving the vehicle, which will keep them away from the negative influences 278

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in the community.

Usually public taxis don’t like picking up old people or those in wheelchairs because they see them as a burden: with Mulo Bicycle Taxi, the elderly, sick and disabled will also benefit by being able to reach their destinations comfortably, safely and in time.

Figure 15.4-3 With Fagodien and the children of the Imfundo Cycle Club

15.4.3 Meeting with the local NGOs and associations Speaking only with the community is not enough for understanding the cultural and societal acceptance issues: it is needed the perspective of an external person who usually works in harness with the community (social workers, NGOs, associations).

After the refusal of the Pastor it has been spoken with a social worker that often worked with the coloured community in the Cape Flats and she explained how the coloured community could be close in developing new opportunities proposed by the other communities (both white and black). They are too proud to accept something that doesn’t come from their minds. These aspects did not go out with Fagodien BEC because even BEC was a project proposed by BEN bikes, association composed by both white and coloured people. The advice of the social worker was of before implementing a service for the tourists in the city centre and then showing the pictures of “white” people riding Mulo to the Pastor of PART IV > Chapter 15

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Bridgetown. The situation would have been changed completely because “if the wealthy white people use it then we can use it as well�: this is how they would think.

Lavender Hill area is full of NGOs and associations and the project managers met some of them. One in particular Philsa Abafazi Bethu was really interested into the project. They would love to use Mulo vehicle for their own excursions such as delivering food to the homes. Lucinda Evans (the manager of the association) said that Mulo could be a good opportunity for giving back dignity to the girls of her association.

Riding a bicycle alone is really dangerous for the girls both for the stealing and the probability of getting raped or humiliated. Riding Mulo instead, would be safer and it would give an activity that takes them out their houses.

Other associations and social worker said that Mulo service could have some problems with the public taxis because it would take some clients away from them. The Mulo drivers could be threaten by the taxi drivers and they might stop the service. Probably in Lavender Hill nothing will happen because Fagodien is really well known and everybody appreciate his job in the community. It is so important that the drivers are also people well known in the community in order to avoid inconvenient situations.

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15.5 Feedback collection

Both in Bridgetown and in Lavender Hill has been developed a feedback collection package. In Bridgetown the interviews and the questionnaires were not detailed as the ones in Lavender Hill and it has been tested more the service then the vehicle because it was not ready yet. The Bridgetown feedback collection has been also a test to re-design the questionnaire and the interviews: a series of improvements have been done in order to make them more comprehensible and effective.

Because system design is so intimately involved with how people work, designers need better approaches to gathering customer requirements. The current interest in participatory design, ethnographic techniques, and field research techniques grows out of the recognition that traditional interviewing and surveying techniques are not adequate to design today’s applications. These new approaches seek to improve requirements definition by creating new relationships between designers and users. It is by understanding people in the context of their work that the team comes to understand the whole work problem. Through face-to-face interaction, users and designers define together what the proposed system must address, and what patterns of work the system must account for (H. Beyer, K. Holtzblatt, 2009).

In this chapter is explained how the feedback collection has been designed and the different way to collect comments and feedback for each type of PSS’ actors. In general, all the actors were asked to share comments on: the PSS technical aspects and design, the PSS usability aspects, and the social and environmental benefits expected.

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15.5.1 Contextual interview at the drivers The interview is divided in two parts: - Part A: Mulo vehicle technical usability and service organization (contextual oral interview) - Part B: Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) The part A is the most important one and it is tested with an oral contextual interview. Starting with the assumption that users do not generally have the skills to talk about their work effectively, they can talk about their work as it unfolds. All they have to do is explain what they are doing while they are doing it. This is the base of contextual oral interview: the interviewer spending one day with the driver on the Mulo vehicle tries to understand the driver in the context of his job and the related problems. Letting the driver talk about his job while he is doing it allows the driver to reveal all the details of his job and the related problems. Practicing in the context of on-going work is the most effective way to learn because they are not aware of everything they do or why they do it; they become aware by doing. Talking about work while doing it protects the driver from the human propensity to talk in generalizations and reveal details. The interviewer has a list of actions to keep in consideration as help (e.g. how he gets on the driver seat, how he pedals, how he uses the breaking system). Videos and photos should support the interviews.

The part B is tested by a semi-structured oral interview: the interviewer has a list of questions to help him on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the cultural and habits aspects. The interview is semi-structured: the interviewer is free to ask different questions from the ones listed in the paper if he thinks that there is an important aspect that is not kept in consideration. The questions deal with the utility, the cultural aspects and the environmental aspect of the system. The interview should be as an informal chatting between the driver and the interviewer.

A paper was provide to the drivers, so they can note all the vehicle’s problems encountered during the trips and then discussing them together with the interviewer. In order to help the driver on being complete, he is asked to fill out a table di282

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vided in five sections: date and time, place, problem encountered, motivation, and solution.

15.5.2 Questionnaire at the users The passengers that have to be interviewed are about 30/40, so that it is not possible to make contextual interviews to all of them. For the passengers it has been designed a structured oral questionnaire with an evaluation scale (from 1 to 5) with a last section of oral interview.

The interview is divided in three parts: - Part A: Mulo vehicle technical usability (structured questionnaire) - Part B: Mulo service organization (structured questionnaire) - Part C: Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) The part A and B is tested with structured questionnaire with an evaluation scale: 1=very bad; 2= bad; 3=sufficient; 4=good; 5=very good/excellent. The questions that can’t be answer according an evaluation scale have a choosing option of yes or no.

The interviewer even for the questionnaire has always to be close to the passengers because it is possible that they do not correctly interpret the questions or that they are not able to read or understand English. Especially elderly people who lived during the apartheid didn’t have the possibility to study and sometimes they know just Afrikaans.

The part C on cultural and habits aspects is tested by a semistructured oral interview and its characteristics are the same of the drivers one (see 15.5.1, part B).

Videos and photos should support the interviews.

15.5.3 Interview at the service organizer For the service organizer it has been designed a semi-structured oral interview where the interviewer is free on slightly changing the questions.

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oral interview) - Part B: Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) The interview is semi-structured: on the paper there is a list of questions to help the interviewer on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the system but he is free to ask different questions from the ones listed in the paper if he thinks that there is an important aspect that is not kept in consideration. The part A is concentrated on how the people book the service and which are the problems related to that.

The part B is about the cultural and habits aspects and its characteristics are the same of the drivers one (see 15.5.1, part B). Videos and photos should support the interviews.

15.5.4 Interview at the technician For the technician the interview is similar to the one of the service organizer: a semi-structured oral interview.

The interview is divided in two parts: - Part A: Mulo vehicle maintenance and repairs (semistructured oral interview) - Part B: Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) In the part A is tested if the vehicle is easy to maintain and repair: if the pieces are easy to change, to clean, to find in the local economy and if is necessary to look for external tools or competencies for doing it. The part B on the cultural and habits aspects instead is only focused on the environmental aspects.

As to the driver, also to the technician is provided a sheet with a table to note down all the problems encountered during the maintenance and the repairs. He is asked to fill out a table divided in five sections: name of the technician, date, problem encountered, motivation, solution, time needed, external skills needed, external tools needed, external parts needed, costs of the repairing and other. The table is then analyzed and discussed with the interviewer in order to understand together the problems and possible solutions.

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15.5.5 Results and evaluations The results of the feedback collection of Bridgetown were really positive considering the organization of the service and the fact that it was characterised by environmental and social benefits. But these results obtained in Bridgetown can’t be generalized also to the Lavender Hill context. The results in Lavender Hill will depend also on how the interview will be presented to the users: which are the goals of the interview, which are the benefits to the users, how the interviewer presents himself and the questionnaire. These aspects can influence the cooperation from the interviewee and the level of precision of the answers.

After collecting all the information the interviewer will analyse all the answer in order to focus his research on more specific problems. Open-ended questions give the interviewee less guidance in thinking about the real answer than an interpretation, and result in less insight. Sometimes the interviewer interprets the answer subjectively and the results are not correct. The questionnaire instead legitimizes answers that can be considered not relevant and informative.

Another Italian student is arrived in Cape Town on February 2012 and she will start collecting feedback and elaborating the results on April 2012.

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15.6 Experiment evaluation

Testing and monitoring the socio-technical experiment is still an ongoing process. A fellow Italian student is arrived in Cape Town on February 2012 and now she is managing the experiment with the local actors. The technicians are fixing the vehicle and the student will collect the feedback soon. The manager of BEN bikes, Andrew, is trying to push the project to the Cape Town municipality during the “Active mobility� meeting that keeps up every month. All the upgraded of the project on the blog www.muloafrica.wordpress.com.

15.6.1 Pss technical aspects and usability About the technical aspects and the design of the vehicle there are some problems that the technicians with the designer are trying to solve. The first big problem is related to the steering system. The two front wheels are not parallel each other because the distance from the centre of the wheel and the axle of the steering is too long and it creates a lever. The weights of the vehicle with the action of the lever make the two wheels bending towards the inside of the vehicle. The steering results really hard especially when the vehicle is fully loaded. This is a critical issue that the technicians are resolving in making just one front wheel in the centre. The second technical problem is related to the friction of the wind towards the front window. The Plexiglas sheet stops radically the speed of the vehicle that becomes two times harder to drive. The designer is planning to take the Plexiglas out and to change it with a transparent PVC sheet that can be roll up when is not raining. Another mechanical issue is the chain that connects the front crown with the beck one: it is really long and often it fells down. Speaking with an engineer who worked often with bicycles, it has been defined that the solution would be putting the chain passing in one plastic tube: the tube would avoid the oscillatory movement that the chain 286

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does on the road. The last problem of the vehicle is the weakness of the motor. The electric engineer is waiting the device for the reprogramming of the motor controller from Italy: once it will arrive it will be easy to re-programme how the motor works (giving less speed but stronger initial energy).

The monitoring and testing of the service in Lavender Hill is still in process and there are not considerable evaluations.

From the short experiment in Bridgetown instead it has been achieved good results: the users were really enthusiastic and satisfied of the service and the PSS organizer (drivers and service organizer) did not have big problems in managing it.

The PSS configuration of actors from Bridgetown to Lavender Hill has been improved: having BEN as a primal partner was an important upgrading both from the aspect of the technical competencies of its team and for its constant contact with the Cape Town Municipality. The BEC of Fagodien is also really well known into the community and this helped for getting important links with local actors.

The barriers in relation to the existing policy and regulative framework are still on process and the head of the Department of Public Transport is trying to solve them. This is a long process that is hampered by the bureaucracy.

15.6.2 Sustainability Social and environmental benefits The socio-technical experiment is still ongoing and it is currently not possible to develop definitive conclusions but from the first evaluations it’s possible to see the social and environmental benefits of the PSS. The community and the media showed a big interest on the fact that Mulo is a vehicle powered by solar energy. In South Africa the theme of sustainability is newer then in Europe and it is gaining more attentions from the government then in the past. Also the people start to show an interest on the theme, especially in Cape Town: this interest is growing in relation also to the increase of the fuel’ price.

Also the social development thematic is an important point into the government plans. The unemployment rate is really dramatic and creating job opportunities is appreciated both PART IV > Chapter 15

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from the community and from the municipality. Giving a job to a young person means giving him the possibility to have a life far from the criminality and the drugs: this will benefit him and all the community.

Economic value An important aspect of the experiment is the economic sustainability: if the service does not make money it will not have a future development. From the economic hypothesis (chapter 14.2.3) comes out that the profit per month is of 1370 Rand. The socio-technical experiment is so economical sustainable on the hypothesis but it is not been tested yet. For now there is still some funding from the involved stakeholders that covers the costs of repairing.

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Chapter 16.

The socio-technical experiment as a WINDOW and AGENT of CHANGE

16.1 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as a “Window�

The small socio-technical experiments are designed with the aim of learning and exploring how to improve the PSS innovation and how to contribute to its societal embedding.

These experiments represent a strategic opportunity to develop and implement radical innovation, such as sustainable PSS, in a protected environment without the direct pressure of the dominant regime market. Design socio-technical experiments starts with the generation of ideas: guidelines are important to direct and orient the design process in a way that the experiment is able to act as a Lab, a Window and Agents of change. During the idea generation workshop it is suggested to involve a broad variety of actors in order to carry out these steps. The most promising ideas emerged from the workshop/s are selected and used to design an experiment (or a set of experiment) in order to act as Labs, Window and Agent of change.

The focus of this chapter is on the design of the second function of the experiment: Window, which means designed in order to raise interest on the innovation introduced through the experiment and attract new potential user and important actors to be involved in the project.

16.1.1 Create visibility around the experiment In respect to the function of giving visibility to the PSS innovation two main actions were undertaken: - Firstly it is important to communicate the experiment intermediate results to different key actors, using different communication strategies in relation to the different actors typologies. In the specific case of the experiment in Lavender Hill, for instance, the local community was informed about the introduction of the service and about the possibilities to use and test it. A flyer was produced and distributed to potential 292

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users in order to advertise the service and its details to use it.

Figure 16.1-1 Leaflet to promote the bicycle taxi service in Lavender Hill

Â

The flyers were distributed in the community by the project promoters to the actors identified, furthermore a series of flyers were also left to the service manager that will be able, in future, to duplicate them and deliver to new potential users.

The design of the flyer is very simple and direct, both in the language and in the graphic, with an image of the vehicle and Fagodien at the container, so that the people in the community, immediately associate the service with a trustable person.

The flyer contains informations about what the service offer and how to use it, but also about the project background.

In parallel to the design and the development of the sociotechnical experiment it has been developed an on-line platform where the most relevant activities have been communicated with texts and pictures.

Figure 16.1-2 Blog pages of the project http://muloafrica. wordpress.com/

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The on-line blog has been an important mean to communicate and keep updated important key actors, such as the City of Cape Town and the Transport Department and the local associations, about the developing of the pilot project. In fact the blog is composed of different sections: Home page, About, Partnership, Project background, Press review. The Home page, since it is a blog, it appears first like a wall of news posted in during the journey; the About page include the description of the vision of the project but also the characteristics of the vehicle; the Partnership page include the profiles of all the actors involved in the project, the promoters, the sponsors and the supporters; the project background page is aimed at describing the origin of the project and its implementation and finally the Press review page include the articles that have been published so far.

The project promoters, together with the BEC manager, Fagodien, had the opportunity to meet different associations and groups of people in order to engage and attract new potential users to take part of the project, from different perspectives.

Figure 16.1-3 Project promoters involving potential users, Lavender hill, October 2011

Figure 16.1-4 At the local clinic, Lavender hill, October 2011

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Figure 16.1-5 At the local NGO for deprived woman: Philiza Abafazi Bethu, Lavender hill, October 2011

Figure 16.1-6 At the local pension for elderly: Village Age Home, Lavender hill, October 2011

- Secondly, and most important, the experiment has been designed to engage and enrol actors considered fundamental for the implementation of the innovation, for example through: designing the experiment as an “open gallery� allows visitors to touch, see and use the results; - designing demonstration visits to show the experiment results and related potential benefits; - designing events to present and disseminate the PART IV > Chapter 16

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experiment results and related potential benefits; - participating to initiatives/fairs/seminars etc. focusing on issues linked to the PSS innovation.

The experiment at BEN Bikes centre became a sort of ‘open gallery’ to allow visitors to come and see, touch and get information about the project. In this way people interested can independently and deliberately visit the centre and through informative panels and the interaction with the service manager and the users, can better understand the features of the whole project and its environmental, socio-ethical and economic benefits. Furthermore demonstration visits has been organized with specific actors (for example potential users but also potential future partners, local institutions, etc.). At this concerning, project promoters considered really important to train BEN Bikes staff to be able to efficiently describe the project and in particular to illustrate the potential advantages for different kind of actors.

This is really important in order to not only disseminate the information about the project but also stimulate changes in actors’ behaviour and habits (this is strictly related to the third function of the experiment: Agent of change; see 15.2).

In order to create more visibility it was of crucial importance the creation of the event to launch the socio-technical experiment and especially to create visibility around it not only in the community of Lavender Hill but also at national level, inviting the media to come.

Figure 16.1-7 Event informative panels

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16.1.2 The design of the experiment launch event The launch event has been a crucial happening for the implementation of the Mulo PSS. During the meeting/workshop held in April 2011, the project promoters have raised interests and expectations on the key stakeholders involved. For this reason, it was important to show to them the progress that have been done so far.

The event was organized in order to invite the following stakeholders: - the City of Cape Town (in particular the Transport department and the Environmental Resource Management department), because of their interest on the project, and their direct and powerful influence on local transport regulation; - local potential partners possibly interested in implementing specific mobility services based on the MULO vehicle: such as the local clinic, a local NGO (Philiza Abafazi Bethu) and a local pension for elderly (Village Age Home) - the head of the local police, because project promoters were interested to understand if there was the possibility to implement some limited traffic zones in the neighbourhood (to make easier the use of the vehicle in the local area); - local media/newspaper (Cape Argus and Southern Mail) in order to bring the experiment to the attention of a national level, to NGOs and associations, and to stimulate them to support and implement the PSS innovation even in different contexts (to act as a window that can induce a behavioural change in communities).

The agenda of the event was structured in four main parts: - Welcoming of the guests, giving them a sticker to write on their name and belonging company in order to be identified (Figure 16.2-1) - Presentation about the Mulo project held by the project promoters with the participation of the various stakeholders involved in the PSS (Figure 16.2-2 - 14.2-3) - Vehicle demonstration drive (Figure 16.2-4) - Workshop: Towards the activation of new pilot projects.

It has been designed a presentation that lead to a discussion about future developments of the projects .

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Structure of the event and communication tools The event took place in the site of the pilot project, the BEC in Lavender Hill, in order to make the key actors meet the local community and understand effectively the context of the experiment. Invitation flyers (Figure 16.1-8) with indicated the agenda and the site of the day have been delivered via e-mail to the representative of the City of Cape Town who showed their interest at the meeting of April 2011.

Figure 16.1-8 Invitation card delivered to the main stakeholders,

sustainable mobility system Sustainable Mobility System

From an exploratory pilot project towards the activation of new mobility solutions It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the launch of the exploratory pilot project of “Mulo: sustainable mobility system” that will be held on 12 October at 10.30 a.m. at Lavender Hill BEC (Bicycle Empowerment Centre) Imfundo Cycles in Grindal Ave (next to Lavender Hills Secondary School).

This event is aimed at presenting the MULO project, launching the first exploratory pilot, and building up strategic partnerships for the activation of new pilot projects.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: MULO is a project aimed at introducing sustainable mobility systems based on light vehicles moved by solar, electric and human power as well as related services aimed at social equity and cohesion in low-

The system is designed to respond to different mobility needs (people transportation, goods transportation, green area maintenance, etc.).

In Cape Town, the first exploratory pilot project aims to introduce sustainable mobility for the disabled and elderly people in the suburban areas of the city, to supplement the current local public transport system.

income/emerging contexts.

front AGENDA: 10.30 a.m. Presentation of the MULO project open to the community and the media * Introduction Department of Industrial Design, CPUT: Mugendi K. M’Rithaa * Illustration of the project: economical, environmental and socioethical benefits.

Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino * Description of the vehicle and its technical features Shonaquip: Guillaume DuToit * Introducing the Mulo project in Lavander Hill community Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino BEN South Africa Managing Director: Andrew Wheeldon Lavander Hill BEC’s Manager: Fagodien Campher Philisa Abafazi Bethu: Lucinda Evans

* Presentation of tentative scenario proposals * Conclusion and next steps Participants: Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino, Department of Industrial Design, CPUT: Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, Shonaquip: Guillaume DuToit, BEN South Africa Managing Director: Andrew Wheeldon, City of Cape Town: Sustainable Transport Department, Enviromental Resource Management Department, Operations Department and Transportation Planning Department, Philisa Abafazi Bethu: Lucinda Evans, Lavander Hills BEC’s Manager: Fagodien Campher BEN community profile manager: Sarah Rossouw

OTHER INFORMATION:

For more information about the Launch Event please contact muloafrica@gmail.com.

* Illustration of the project future opportunities Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino

For more information about the project visit: http://muloafrica.wordpress.com/ or contact carlo.vezzoli@polimi.it and fabrizio.ceschin@polimi.it

* Vehicle demonstration

PROMOTERS:

WORKSHOP: 12.00 a.m. Towards the activation of new pilot projects Presentation and discussion about future developments of the projects: * Mulo project summary * The prototype and the results of the tests made so far

back

Design and Innovation for Sustainability (DIS)

The same invitations were delivered to other important stakeholders, CPUT University, Shonaquip, BEN Bikes members.

Instead invitations with a different back have been handed out to the actors in the local community, such as the Village Age Home, Philiza Abafazi Bethu, local clinic and local police etc. (Figure 16.1-9).

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Figure 16.1-9 Invitation card delivered to the people in the Lavender Hill area.

sustainable mobility system Sustainable Mobility System

From an exploratory pilot project towards the activation of new mobility solutions It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the launch of the exploratory pilot project of “Mulo: sustainable mobility system” that will be held on 12 October at 10.30 a.m. at Lavender Hill BEC (Bicycle Empowerment Centre) Imfundo Cycles in Grindal Ave (next to Lavender Hills Secondary School).

This event is aimed at presenting the MULO project, launching the first exploratory pilot, and building up strategic partnerships for the activation of new pilot projects.

income/emerging contexts.

The system is designed to respond to different mobility needs (people transportation, goods transportation, green area maintenance, etc.).

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: MULO is a project aimed at introducing sustainable mobility systems based on light vehicles moved by solar, electric and human power as well as related services aimed at social equity and cohesion in low-

In Cape Town, the first exploratory pilot project aims to introduce sustainable mobility for the disabled and elderly people in the suburban areas of the city, to supplement the current local public transport system.

AGENDA: 10.30 a.m. Presentation of the MULO project open to the community and the media * Introduction Department of Industrial Design, CPUT: Mugendi K. M’Rithaa * Illustration of the project: economical, environmental and socio-ethical benefits.

Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino

front

* Description of the vehicle and its technical features Shonaquip: Guillaume DuToit * Introducing the Mulo project in Lavander Hill community Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino BEN South Africa Managing Director: Andrew Wheeldon Lavander Hill BEC’s Manager: Fagodien Campher Philisa Abafazi Bethu: Lucinda Evans * Illustration of the project future opportunities Politecnico di Milano: Silvia Remotti and Emanuela Delfino * Vehicle demonstration drive

Lavander Hills BEC (Bicycle Empowerment Centre), Imfundo Cycles Bicycle repairs and sales, Fagodien Campher 0842414544.

PROMOTERS:

OTHER INFORMATION:

For more information about the Launch Event please contact muloafrica@gmail.com.

For more information about the project visit: http://muloafrica.wordpress.com/

back

Design and Innovation for Sustainability (DIS)

Some of the actors involved were also invited to speak and show their involvement in the project and its benefits for the community.

The guests were welcomed at the entrance of the site asking them to sign the attendance register; they then received a sticker to write on their name and their belonging company.

It was also offered a drink and some snack to enjoy the event outdoor.

The guests had some time to interact with each other, look and touch the Mulo vehicle before the presentation.

The presentation was designed and coordinated by the project promoters that designed four panels that divide the transition phases of the Mulo project: - 1st poster: Start-up and Incubation of the Mulo project - 2nd poster: Vehicle manufacturing and testing - 3rd poster: Introduction of the Mulo PSS into the community - 4th poster: Scaling up and future scenario opportunities

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Figure 16.1-10 First poster: Start-up and Incubation of the Mulo project

: Cape Town sustainable mobility system NETWORK OF ACTORS INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT

MULO IN CAPE TOWN In September 2009 a series of meetings took place in Cape Town to review and co-design the different elements of the project.

This was the start and setup the relations between the two multi-stakeholder networks. The aim was to set the basis for the development of the vehicle and the project network.

Politecnico di Milano and DIS office designed the new prototype and located sponsors who financed the components.

SOLON CPUT

BEN

IPSIA FERRARI

IPSIA A.Ferrari has also assisted in findings sponsorships for some components of the vehicle.

POLIMI

SHONAQUIP SOLON is one of the largest solar module manufacturers and a leading supplier of photovoltaic systems in Europe. SOLON has contributed to the project by supplying the photovoltaic panel for the vehicle.

TRANSPORTATION OF TOURISTS IN THE CITY CENTRE

CPUT has collaborated in the design of the prototype and it has involved all the stakeholders.

SECURITY SERVICE VEHICLE

Shonaquip is a company based in Witteboom, Cape Town that produces and commercializes wheelchairs and mobility aids for disabled people; their role in the project is the production of the vehicle.

CLEANING AND TAKING CARE OF PUBLIC SPACES

TRANSPORTATION OF ELDERLY AND DISABLED PEOPLE

DESIGN OF THE VEHICLE

The Bicycle Empowerment Network is an association aimed at addressing poverty and mobility through the promotion of the bicycle in all its forms. BEN establishes Bicycle Empowerment Centre’s (BEC’s) by supplying containers (converted to workshops) and stocking the workshop with bicycles and tools (either new or used). The cyclists of Imfundo Cycle Club (Fagodien’s cycle club) based at Lavender Hill BEC, will drive the elderly and sick to the clinics, post office, shops etc. at a small fee.

CONCEPT VISIONS

The vehicle has been designed for Capetonian context in order to:

The main services offered by the system to the users are:

- Transport disabled people

- Transportation of tourists in the city centre

- Make use of locally available materials and technologies

- Transportation of elderly and disabled people

- Protect the environment by being powered by a Solar panel and human power

- Delivering of services to the city: security, cleaning, delivering of goods...

Figure 16.1-11 Second poster: Vehicle manufacturing and testing

: Cape Town sustainable mobility system THE PRODUCTION Shonaquip started the construction of the first vehicle prototype in April 2011. Even though some difficulties were experienced the Shonaquip team’s dedication to the project was outstanding and their efforts are greatly appreciated.

SOLAR PANELS (solar power)

FOLDABLE WINDOWS

DRIVER SEAT

WHEELCHAIR SPACE

THE TESTING On September 2011 Mulo team started the testing on the vehicle. Shonaquip was not however equipped to deal with a vehicle of such magnitude and the testing was therefore quite complicated and challenging. Luckily this initial testing was a success although there are still some technical adjustments that which need to be made. The concept of the vehicle is an ongoing process and work will continue in Italy and South Africa to perfect the design.

WHEELCHAIR RAMP

SEAT FOR TWO PEOPLE

FOOT PEDALS (human power)

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BATTERY and ELECTRIC MOTOR CONTOLLER

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Figure 16.1-12 Third poster: Introduction of the Mulo PSS into the community

: Cape Town sustainable mobility system Bicycle Empowerment Centres (BECs) The fourteen established BEC project managers are trained by BEN in business skills as well as bicycle mechanics. All existing BECs are now independent of BEN, but the partnership continues through ongoing training, bicycle supplies, joint events and support.

NGO members transportation around Lavender Hill

NGO

$ € ZAR

PHILIZA ABAFAZI BETHU

DONATIONS

B.E.C. Imfundo cycling

Vehicle and project co-owners

DAY HOSPITAL

Transportation & Maintenance

CHURCH

HOUSES

POST OFFICE

$ € ZAR

DONATIONS

IMFUNDO CYCLE CLUB The BEC project manager of Lavender Hill, Fagodien, does not only run his bicycle business, but also makes time to head a very active cycle club for children between the ages of 13 and 21. This is a precarious age in the community of Lavender Hills because of the dangerously high levels of drug and criminal activity, perpetuated by peer pressure and international idols. The cycling club is therefore a safe and fun way for the children to spend their time and energy.

THE AREA: LAVENDER HILL Lavender Hills is roughly 3000 kilometres squared and inhabits about 6000 people, according to the 2001 Census. The area was used by the army for military exercises in the 1950’s and during the forced removals of the Apartheid era, many coloured people were relocated here. Even though the poverty in the area is so prevalent many of the community members strive to better themselves and their fellows and thier surroundings. Through this dedication some organisations have sprung up in Lavender Hills, namely, The Village Age Home for the elderly and Philisa Abafazi Bethu for abused and abandoned women and children.

COMMUNITY’S BENEFITS The Mulo Bicycle Taxi can be used to benefit many different people of the Lavender Hill community in many different ways. The youths of the Imfundo Cycle Club will have a means to gain income and exercise by driving the vehicle, which will keep them away from the negative influences in the community. Those who use the Mulo Bicycle Taxi, the elderly, sick and disabled will also benefit by being able to reach their destinations comfortably, safely and in time. A rental service will also be put into place so that organisations in the community, for example Philsa Abafazi Bethu could use the vehicle for their own excursions such as delivering food to the homes.

Figure 16.1-13 Forth poster: Scaling up and future scenario opportunities

: Cape Town sustainable mobility system 1 Scenario: transportation in low income context

$ € ZAR

The Mulo service of driving the elderly, sick and physically impaired to the clinics, post office, shops etc. at a small fee can be spread to different areas in Cape Town, according to the needs of the community. A rental service can also be put into place so that organisations in the community could use the vehicle for their own excursions.

The rental can be only of the vehicle or can include the driver as well. A variety of associations can be approached to manage the vehicle and be in charge of the maintenance of the vehicle.

PAY PER USE CONTRACT

PRODUCTION COMPANY

MAINTENANCE SERVICE

* NGO * CLINIC or HOSPITAL * ELDERLY PENSION etc...

2 Scenario: Security Service and cleaning and taking care of public spaces Although some of the City of Cape Town workers use bicycles already as a form of transport, this could be extended to include all employees of the City. Those who are unable to cycle for disability or other reasons could use the Mulo Bicycle Taxi as their form of transport.

Another concept which could be put into place is that of the city cleaners using the vehicle as a sustainable and effective means of transporting themselves and their cleaning equipment around the city.

$ € ZAR PAY PER USE CONTRACT CAPE TOWN

PRODUCTION COMPANY

MAINTENANCE SERVICE

3 Scenario: Transport people in the city centre The Mulo Bicycle Taxi can also be used within the City Centre to transport tourists or locals between suburbs on set routes with interchanging ‘stations’. This would provide a more interactive and sustainable means of transport because one is able to have personal contact with the people in the streets.

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$ € ZAR PAY PER USE CONTRACT MULO STOP

PRODUCTION COMPANY

MAINTENANCE SERVICE

Route 25

Route 32

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Figure 16.2-14 Welcoming/register desk

Figure 16.1-15 Presentation of the project held by project promoters

Figure 16.1-16 Intervention of relevant stakeholders involved in the pilot project.

Mugendi M’Rithaa, CPUT Industrial Design Lecturer,

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Figure 16.1-17 Andrew Wheeldon, BEN Managing director,

Figure 16.1-18 Guillaume Du Toit, production manager at Shonaquip and d] Lucinda Evans, Philiza Abafasi Bethu local association founder and manager.

As the pictures demonstrate, the presentation about the Mulo project was mainly held by the project promoters who introduced different actors to speak about their role and involvement in the project. For instance Mugendi M’Rithaa, CPUT lecturer, who has been the key actor for the start-up told his experience within the project, as well as Guillaume Du Toit in behalf of Shonaquip, that manage the production of the vehicle, and Andrew Wheeldon BEN Bikes manager, who helped in the implementation of the project and facilitated its development in the BEC of Lavender Hill. But also a representative from the Imfundo Cycle Club who expressed the interest in participating to the service as driver, because could be a good way to train and gain some money. Finally Lucinda PART IV > Chapter 16

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Evans, the manager of a local association for deprived women Philiza Abafasi Bethu, stated that such a vehicle would be very useful for the transportation of the members around the community. To conclude the presentation Fagodien Campher, the BEC manager, received a Certificate that appointed him as the Mulo taxi manager.

Figure 16.1-19 Project promoters hand in the Certificate of Mulo taxi manager

After the presentation all the guests were gathered around the vehicle to touch and see and eventually ask for clarification. Finally it was the time that everybody was expecting, the demonstration ride. Some of the personnel of the City of Cape Town wanted to go for a ride as passenger and test the comfort of the vehicle. In that moment all the people around the community were attracted and curious by the passing of this unconventional vehicle.

Figure 16.1-20 Vehicle demonstration drive in Lavender Hill

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The event was designed to conclude with a private workshop “Towards the activation of new pilot projects” with important actors such as the Department of Transport of the City of Cape Town. Unfortunately the planned workshop took place only between the project promoters (Andrew Wheeldon BEN Bikes founder, Fagodien Campher the BEC manager, Sarah Roussow BEN community profile manager and Guillaume Du Toit Shonaquip production manager) because the employees of the Cape Town municipality had to come back to their office. During this short meeting it has been discussed about how to manage and repair the technical problems of the vehicle, how to implement and organize the pilot project in Lavender Hill and the feedback collection phase.

16.1.3 Create synergies with other projects/initiatives The experiment that acts as a window can also function to link and connect between similar projects. It is though important that during the experiment design process are identified local initiative that could be connected with the innovation (e.g. meeting, events or conferences that deal with promotion and diffusion of sustainable mobility).

For instance, the project promoters, in May 2011 were wellintentioned to participate with the Mulo vehicle, in the “Big Ride In”, event aimed at celebrate Cape Town’s new cycling paths and the arrival of the Tour d’Afrique Bicycle Race from Cairo to Cape Town.

Figure 16.1-21 The Big Ride In: Tour d’Afrique arrival.

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The event was also hosting different stands that were promoting the use of bicycle in all its forms and diffuse a more sustainable way of living.

Figure 16.1-22 Thula Lula and Eskom promoting the use of electric bike.

Figure 16.1-23 The Saving is simple campaign promoted

by Cape Town Municipality.

Unfortunately at that time the vehicle was not entirely produced so that it was not possible to advertise it.

Furthermore in September 2011, there was another opportunity to participate to the Moving Planet Event: Tread Lightly - Moving Planet Cape Town, aimed at celebrate environmental successes while simultaneously demanding change from our leaders, but even at this time the Mulo vehicle was still under test.

But for the next year/s it would be a strategic opportunity to expose and participate to this kind of events. In Cape Town, municipality is promoting a lot the use of bicycle as a means of transport, but it is still difficult because of the traffic caused by cars and mini-bus taxi. During this kind of events/ initiatives it is important to build-up synergies, for example sharing learning experience, developing a common agenda and communication strategy; creating synergies means being supported and not being the only interested in introducing sustainable PSS. It also means have more contacts and more opportunities to gain technical and economical support, and it also brings to obtain easily changing rules and behaviours.

As usually happen with trends, it is easier to spread an innovation if this is trendy; even better if the innovation bring environmental, economic and social benefits.

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16.2 Design the socio-technical experiment to act as “Agent of Change” More in general the experiment was designed in order to stimulate changes in users’ and actors’ behaviour, habits and mind set, and create favourable conditions for the introduction and the implementation of the innovation into the society.

In respect to this, the designed event was aimed at officially launch and present the pilot project, illustrate the potential future developments, and discuss with invited actors how to support and to develop the next steps of the project. The event took place at the Lavander Hill BEC promoted by BEN Bikes. The event was addressed not only to the important key actors invited, such as the City of Cape Town and the Transportation Department, but also to the local community, to induce them to get the stimulus of change their behaviour towards their transportation habits, since they could feel the support of the key actors.

16.2.1 Influence and affect contextual conditions in order to favour the societal embedding process Influence and affect contextual conditions means designing the experiment in order to induce behavioural changes and stimulate the user to get in touch with the experiment. During the design of the socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill (also in the previous in Bridgetown), the users were attract to try the Mulo service at a minimum cost and effort to make them understand that it is more convenient to chose this way of transportation instead of the traditional minibus taxi. In this way users are also stimulated to perceive a problem differently and reflect on their habits. Users especially in low-income communities tend to solve their problems choosing the cheapest solution, for this reason it is important PART IV > Chapter 16

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to attract them to use the service at minimum costs and in the meanwhile explaining that the service could be cheaper because the it is petrol free, which is the biggest expense.

During the trials it is important to provide to users information on the benefits linked to the PSS offer compared to the other existing alternatives.

The users have also been involved in participating to the launch event in order to understand the feature of the project and its sustainability (economical, environmental and social).

Also the service managers had the role of disseminating the PSS innovation in the community, as they know better where it is safer to spread the information.

In the experiment design process it is furthermore important to influence contextual conditions in order to stimulate local administration and policy makers and influence relevant actors to adopt measures to support the introduction of the PSS. For instance the launch event has been a platform where representative of public institutions, local associations and media were involved in disseminating the PSS innovation and had the opportunity to meet the community and see the reaction to the innovation.

The experiment has also been designed in order to stimulate the City of Cape Town and the Transport Department to adopt financial and policy measures to support and protect the PSS innovation (e.g. green public purchasing, setting-up of standards and regulation to advantage the PSS). During the presentation of the launch event three possible scenarios for future developing of the Mulo PSS were proposed, not only in low-income contexts but also in the city centre in order to improve the road system. The event has been the moment to officialise the begin of the agent of change, which is proceeding through the participation of Andrew Wheeldon (BEN Bikes manager) to the monthly meeting with the Department of Transport of the City of Cape Town, to reflect and design about the “non-motorized or active mobility� in the city. Furthermore it has been provided an economical draft in order to share with the actors how the project is economical sustainable for the different stakeholders and stimulate them showing how many years are needed to cover the costs of the project investment and start to earn (Break even 308

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point). During this phase, which partially has been carried out, it is moreover important that the project promoters carry on the function of agent of change also through distance (for instance developing a plausible action plan to share with the main important stakeholders, the City of Cape Town and furthermore involve and create synergies with potential industrial partners or industrial associations capable to support and scale-up the innovation).

Primary results The results of the event were positive. Firstly, local actors evaluated the project as a valuable one for the local communities, because of it potential to bring tangible economic, environmental and socio-ethical benefits. Secondly, the local clinic, stated to be interested in implementing as soon as possible a service for the transportation of patients and Philiza Abafasi Bethu expressed their interest to use the vehicle also to make township tour for tourists in Lavender Hill. Thirdly, the Transport department of Cape Town confirmed its interest in strengthening synergies between the PSS and the suburban bus lines. On the other hand, it was clear that this large-scale project would have required much more experimentation on a small local scale, before starting its implementation. In addition the Transport department put in the agenda meeting and discussion to identify actions to support the project. In this respect, Andrew Wheeldon (BEN founder) will always participate to the monthly meetings about the non-motorized or active mobility with the Transport Department for implementing all the forms of non-motorized transport and to go towards a more sustainable and healthy way of living. During these meetings he will push the municipality to adopt interventions to favour the project.

Some articles about the experiment came out in the Cape Argus newspaper, the Daily Sun and Southern Mail which was important for bringing the experiment innovation to a broad attention in the province and at national level.

The result of this step was the implementation of an event aimed at involving relevant actors and stimulating changes in their behaviours, habits and mental frameworks.

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Cape Argus E-dition

10/15/11 3:02 PM

Figure 16.2-1 Cape Argus newspaper publication

Figure 16.2-2 Daily Sun newspaper publication

Figure 16.2-3 Southern Mail newspaper publication

4

Wednesday October 19 2011

NEWS

Southern Mail

Pedal power taxi gets help from the sun

http://capeargus.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx RAPHAEL WOLF still to be done,” Ms Delfino said.

A

new set of wheels is taking to the streets of Lavender Hill, it has Italian connections and no space for a “gaatjie” – it is the Mulo Bicycle Taxi, launched in the suburb on Wednesday October 12.

The sun-assisted pedal powered vehicle has a ramp and space for a wheelchair, and is set to provide comfortable and eco-friendly transport, especially for Lavender Hill’s elderly and disabled residents.

That’s according to Italian students Emanuela Delfino and Silvia Remotti, who have been involved in the pilot project as part of their Masters degree at the Politechnico Di Milano in Italy.

The pair been in the country since March and with the pilot project on the road, they left for home on Monday (October 17).

Ms Delfino said at Lavender Hill High where the Mulo was unveiled: “The vehicle is a modular design, because it was created to deliver shopping goods and mail, and collect rubbish for public works in Italy.

“It’s mostly for short distances around Lavender Hill, because it goes quite slowly – as fast as a cyclist can pedal. It has an electric motor that draws its power from a solar panel.

“This bicycle is a prototype for South Africa and some testing has

The passengers won’t have to pay, but donations and tips would be welcome to support the taxi’s driver and the team working with Fabrizio Leschin, the Italian who designed the vehicle in 2006 as his university thesis project.

Ms Remotti said Fabrizio Leschin and three Italian students were asked to develop the project in South Africa, Zambia and Burkina Faso which led to Professor Carlo Vezzoli of Politechnico Di Milano and Mr Leschin meeting with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2009.

“They asked Shonaquip based in Plumstead to manufacture it ,” Ms Remotti said.

Guillaume du Toit, who is studying part-time for a Masters degree in Industrial Design at CPUT and is a lead designer at Shonaquip, said he was asked to be part of the project.

Ms Delfino said: “We made a presentation to the City of Cape Town in April to find future opportunities for this kind of vehicle. It can be used in the city centre or by NGOs to transport their clients.”

She said that at this meeting they met Andrew Wheeldon of the Bicycle Empowerment Network’s (BEN), who believed the Mulo would be useful for the Lavender Hill community. Sarah Rossouw of Ben said Mr Wheeldon had asked

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her to assist Ms Delfino and Ms Remotti with implementing the pilot project in Lavender Hill.

“For the past few weeks we have been going around the Lavender Hill community to find out what they think of the vehicle,” she said.

The launch was attended by the stakeholders, Steenberg police and the community.

■ ABOVE: Test-driving the Bicycle Taxi in Grindal Avenue are from left, Emanuela Delfino, Guillaume du Toit, Imfundo Cycling’s Debbie van der Berg, City of Cape Town’s Anam Ndyumbu, Silvia Remotti and driver Fagodien Campher.

Get your walking shoes out and sign up for the

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16.3 Main results of the experiment with the functions of “Window” and “Agent of Change” Considering that the project has started from a PSS concept vision proposed and shared by a closed network of actors, the first result was that it led to build up a broad and stable network of actors that were able to re-define a common shared vision. At that time the main actors committed in the project are: the company manufacturer (Shonaquip), Universities and research centre (CPUT and DIS of Polimi) and the NGO (BEN Bikes). Furthermore through the functions as Window and Agent of change, the experiment was able to raise interest on the project and involve new relevant partners (such as the municipality of Cape Town and the Transport department which expressed their will to implement the project). It was also able to involve new potential users, in particular local NGOs, local clinic, pension for elderly and local school that saw the service experiment as a promising local transportation development, both for private/internal and for public short distance mobility (the public taxis don’t like to deal with picking up old people or those in wheelchairs because they make them slow down and loose lots of passengers and the private taxis are too expensive). The second result was that the experiment, designed to act as the two functions of window and agent of change, brought a lot of visibility, in particularly in the local community but also at province and national level: a couple of newspapers (Cape Argus, Daily Sun and Southern Mail) wrote about the launch Event held in October 2012 but also about the experimentation that is still on progress (see the articles).

The results mentioned above are fundamental: in particular the involvement of new potential users and the visibility build up by the experiment are stimulus/input for the community in reflecting on their transportation habits and change their behaviour towards a more sustainable one. It is also a good PART IV > Chapter 16

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stimulus to induce the local administration to adopt and change normative and support the community to introduce the innovation. For instance the head of the local police, during the launch event, showed his commitment to understand if there was the possibility to implement some limited traffic zones in the neighbourhood (to make easier the use of the vehicle in the local area).

Because the socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill is still ongoing, it is currently not possible to develop definitive conclusions. It could still happen that in the next months the experiment could bring to create synergies with other projects/initiatives in the City and suburbs. In respect to this, it can be mentioned that the project promoters have detected different opportunities to create synergies: the experiment could be replicated in the 14 BEN Bikes Centres dislocated in the province; moreover BEN Bikes could be also interested, in partnership with a touristic agency AWOL Tours, to implement the service with the transportation of tourists in the city centre; finally the municipality could implement the existing public transportation services with the introduction of Mulo for transporting the passengers over short distances.

The experiment results are not totally complete, because it is expected to work as agent of change in order to remove barriers and stimulate users and partners to perceive a problem differently and reflect on their behaviours and practices. It can be said that from the results obtained so far, partners, local administration and users had started to show their interest to change their habits and remove socio-cultural and administration barriers.

In sum there are promising opportunities to implement the pilot project at Lavender Hill and transform it in an economically sustainable business, independent that doesn’t need neither economic nor technical support and scale up the PSS in similar contexts and other areas of the city.

It is important to say that design, development, implementation and testing of the socio-technical experiment were activities carried out simultaneously. That is to say that design contributed not only to the ideation and development of the solution (what), but also to the identification of the stake312

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holders to be involved in the whole process (who), the definition of a strategic transition pathway towards the achievement of the long term goals (how), the definition/coordination of the implementation steps (do), and in gaining insights from the monitoring and evaluation process (learn). In this kind of projects it is important that strategic designers adopt a flexible and dynamic approach in order to manage these continuous re-directions and adjustments.

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Chapter 17.

Designing and fostering the scaling-up

Design the scaling-up phase means to create links between the socio-technical experiment and existing project and initiative, which can lead to develop and enable the innovation, to arrive at a point in which the innovation is stable and start to influence the dominant regime.

It is a process that can lead the PSS to increasingly become part of the mainstream way in which a societal satisfaction is fulfilled and gradually be adopted on a wider scale to become business as usual. It is important to say that experiments do not automatically lead to the adoption of the PSS, but sometimes take more time and test than what expected or they are not followed up.

As the Cape Town Sustainable Mobility project have demonstrated, each experiment has its difficulties to bring the innovation to be adopted in the dominant regime, due to the context, socio-cultural barriers but especially because it is difficult to convince potential investors about the economic and environmental sustainability of the PSS concept. This kind of business are risky, and it is difficult to engage a company that is available to be a forerunner of the PSS, especially in South Africa, where it is difficult to get an economic financing. The first experiment (pilot project) has been sponsored mostly

by Polimi, because it has started as a research project in collaboration with South African actors, now it is the phase of scaling up where it is important to engage companies public institutions to invest in its implementation and to influence the mainstream regime. In order to support the scaling-up and to explore new opportunities and different application context, it has been proposed different future scenarios that can be developed using the Mulo PSS.

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17.1 Future objectives and next steps

During this phase it is important to undertake important actions: - to repeat the experiments in other contexts and create synergies with similar projects at a broader level.

- to disseminate information/project results and stimulate media attention at a national level; - to stimulate actors at a strategic level to influence the socio-technical context in order to create the most favourable conditions for the scaling-up of the PSS innovation.

- to identify new actors and similar project to create profitable synergies Even if these kinds of activities take also place during the experimentation stage and experiments are in fact also aimed at creating the conditions for scaling-up the innovation, it is not easy to attract or fully involve those actors when the innovation is still immature and not fully tested. For this reason, the experimentation phase should be coupled and followed by activities aimed at scaling up the innovation to a broader context. In other words the aim is to continue with the activities of broadening and scaling-up (began during the experimentation phase) and focus them on a wider scale (within a sector or at a national scale).

In the specific case of the Mulo PSS, the experimentation phase is an ongoing process which is supported by the creation of new possible scenarios that are aimed at spread the innovation PSS, not only in low-income context, but also for the urban context or other smaller realities.

Considering the results obtained so far and the understanding of the Mulo PSS application context, some ideas have been generated and new future scenarios have been created.

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ship) The first scenario is the implementation of the pilot project carried out in Lavender Hill that can be repeated in similar context, and become economically sustainable. The service is mainly addressed at the elderly, sick and physically impaired, to allow them to go to work or go to the clinics, post office or shops. The service will charge a small fee in order to be accessible to those who are not employed or pensioner, and it will be a service for the community, which can be supported also by public administration. Taking as example the pilot project managed by the BEC in Lavender Hill, this scenario can be applied to other BEC spread in the Cape Town (there are 14 BEC), or even to other organization that show their ability to manage the service. The Mulo PSS can also provide, hypothetically during the weekend, township tour for tourists, which is become very popular in the last years.

- Transportation of people in the city centre The Mulo Bicycle Taxi can also be used within the City The third scenario wants to fulfil the lack of short distance transportation in the city centre both to satisfy locals and tourists. The city public centre transportation is represented by mini-bus taxis that are fast and efficient, by the MyCiti rapid bus service that have predefined routes but do not cover short distances usually covered walking. For this reason it has been detected a lack of short distances transport, which can be satisfied by applying the Mulo PSS. This would provide a more interactive and sustainable means of transport because one is able to have personal contact with the people in the streets.

- Touristic tour The last scenario wants to use the Mulo PSS as a means of transport for organizing touristic tour around the city and the townships. This scenario is the most promising one, because it is easier to attract tourist to participate to the tour and asking them higher fare, because anyway they usually tend to spend to experience as much as possible the holiday.

The scenario has been generated in order to be applied to a touristic agency, such as Awol & Tours. The example of Awol 318

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& Tours is not casual, because they already organize bicycle tour around the city, they also rent single bicycle and organize different kind of excursion. So the kind of customer that is attracted to make a tour by bicycle, it is the same that is attracted by Mulo service tour. The Mulo service would be an additional alternative service that the agency can offer to its client. Furthermore Awol Tours is partner with BEN Bikes, and this relation is good connections to make the tourists be aware and responsible of the projects promoted by BEN (including Mulo PSS in low-income context) and promote the township tour where the BEC are located.

The scenarios illustrated can exist independently, but in a complete vision of the project are conceived to work in parallel, in order to create a system that can be economically balanced by the more profitable activities, but also create development opportunities in low income-context. For instance the business model for the implementation of the PSS that has been developed, is based on that philosophy.

Strategic designers in Italy are keeping the contacts with the network of actors in South Africa and another student is now in Cape Town following and supporting its implementation.

They are now busy in looking for another production company more reliable and with experience on the production of this bicycle and this kind of vehicles. Andrew Wheeldon (BEN Bikes manager) in the meanwhile is pushing the project during the monthly meeting with the Cape Town Municipality in order to try a solution for the regulative barriers.

The team applied also to the “Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award Cape Town”: the award recognises and celebrates creative solutions to the problems and opportunities that face more than half the world’s population now living in cities.

Accordingly, the award focuses on projects that benefit communities and local residents by improving their urban environments in the Cape Town district. The prize of the award would be used for the adjustments needed in the pilot prototype vehicle and for the production of other vehicles to be introduced in different contexts. Winning that price means to speed up the scaling up of the innovation that is often in delay for the lack of founding.

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PART V: Conclusions

Chapter 18.

Project considerations

18.1 Adopted design attitude and involvement The project is characterized by the adoption of a new design attitude (see chapter 4 for the theory). Firstly the strategic designers adopted a broader design scope: they focused not only on the PSS offer but also on the socio-economic stakeholders to be involved in the PSS and on the interactions among these stakeholders. The PSS concept of transporting elderly and disabled people was thought together with the design of a transition path to incubate, introduce and implement the concept, and with the identification and involvement of the actors that can support the societal embedding process in the various steps of the transition path. In order to undertake several activities related to different project features, strategic designers adopted a multi-focal design perspective: they simultaneously focused on the (long- term) project vision, and on the short- and medium-term steps.

Secondly the strategic designer adopted a broader strategic design attitude: they focused not only on the PSS innovation but also on the context where this innovation was implemented. They studied the contextual conditions, they understood the barriers and they tried to overcome them. For example, when they found regulations barriers they involved the Cape Town Municipality, the only institution that has the power to solve these issues. They tried to influence the socio-technical context, in order to create the most favourable conditions for the innovation.

Thirdly the strategic designer adopted a broader system approach: they focused on creating links not only with the actors already involved in the PSS but also with the actors related to the area where the socio-technical experiment was introduced. They created a broad network of actors characterised by scientific, social, economic, politic and cultural linkages.

Fourthly the approach was characterised by a dynamic design and management attitude: during the implementation 324

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phase, the project vision, the action plan and the project network often changed, evolved: strategic designers adopting a flexible and dynamic approach could manage the continuous re-directions and adjustments (see chapter 9).

PSS concept vision

Socio-technical experiments phase

Scaling-up phase

1. Formalization of the sustainable PSS concept vision

4. Adjustment of the sustainable PSS concept vision

2. Design first hypothesis of transition path strategy

...of the transition path strategy

5. Design of the socio-technical experiments

...of the transition path strategy

10. Design strategy to support the scaling-up

...of the transition path strategy

...of the network of actors

6. Involve actors in strategic discussions

...of the network of actors

11. Involve actors in strategic discussions

...of the network of actors

14. Adjustment of the sustainable PSS concept vision

DO implement action

3. Involve actors in strategic discussion

9. Adjustment of the sustainable PSS concept vision

7. Implement socio-technical experiments

12. Implement actions to support the scaling up

LEARN evaluate & learn

PLAN who

PLAN how

PLAN what

Incubation phase

8. Monitor and evaluate socio. technical experiments

13. Monitor and evaluate the scaling-up process

START-UP, FIRST DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INCUBATION PHASE AND DESIGN OF THE SOCIO-TECHNICAL EXPERIMENT

ACTIVITIES FORECAST AND RE-DEFINITION OF THE PSS LONG TERM VISION

2009-2010

2010- ongoing

2011- ongoing

Activities carried out before our collaboration

Beginning of our design collaboration to the project

Activities to do in future

It is important to state that the transition path strategy that was designed on “paper�, was considered more in general as a reference guide, because once the planned actions were introduced in the real context, they encountered a series of barriers that brought to change the designed trajectory .

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themselves should not be seen as strictly consecutive stages, but rather as overlapping and interrelated activities. The approach is more detailed and structured in the first two phases, while in the last the approach provides a more generic guidance. This is due to the fact that the last phase is more uncertain and difficult to be managed. It can be defined a flexible step-by-step approach.

The red arrows in the graphic represents the changes from the designed path of the project.

It is important to underline the peculiarity of this project: the project has been started up in a University and Research context, and such as all the material flows have been sponsored while the designers and all the people involved in the project have worked without remuneration. They have collaborated during their work time or part of their studies for a no-profit cause to bring social and economic development in developing context.

Therefore all the people involved in the project enabled its implementation and diffusion: this aspect might be taken in consideration in the economic evaluation in case of diffusion in a different context.

Although the remuneration is always a good motivation to work and successfully reach the aim, the two strategic design students worked hardly and passionately during their stay in Cape Town and have been maintaining the relations between the actors of the network once arrived in Italy. And lastly they handed over the baton to the next student who is currently following the project. It is thanks to the collaboration with the new student that the project can carry on, because she voluntarily, as part of her studies, is contributing to develop and diffuse the project starting from as things stand now.

More in general, projects based on the introduction and implementation of radical innovations need to be led by a deeply motivated team, a team that believe in projects that do not bring to an immediate profit and change but they will be aimed to act as agents of change in a long term vision.

Furthermore nowadays these kinds of project are not much diffused and it may take some time in order to trust and accept them.

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18.2

Evolution of the PSS concept vision As mentioned before, in this phase it is important that strategic designers learn to manage the continuous adaptation and evolution of the project vision, the action plan and the actors network. In fact, the project vision is not a static result to achieve, the transition strategy is not a fixed roadmap to strictly follow, and the composition of the actors network is not pre-defined. They continuously evolve during the innovation journey in relation to what is learnt by the actors and the context.

It is therefore important for strategic designers to be able to dynamically manage the interactions between project vision, transition strategy and actors network. The societal embedding of PSS innovations should in fact be face not as a project with pre-established results to achieve, rather as an open and flexible learning/growing process.

In this kind of projects it is required to consider the design and the implementing phase as action to be carried out simultaneously and in continuous relation.

The images below illustrate the evolution of the action plan and the concept vision from the starting of the project until current phase (the pilot project). According to this scheme, the action plan and the project vision are continuously evolving along the journey. From what has been experienced, it is not possible to strictly follow a pre-defined path and obtained the predict results, rather hypothesize ideas and guidelines to test and support the process, and adopt a learning-by-doing approach which results to be more open and flexible to adjustments.

The first action plan developed at the beginning of the project in July 2009, foresaw an incubation phase to formalize the project concept vision and plan of action to undertake, create a consistent network of actors and set up the conditions to implement the experimentation. It also predicted an

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experimentation phase, where socio-technical experiments works to test the mobility service efficiency; and a scaling up phase where the same mobility service is implemented and tested in different suburban areas especially for disabled people and in the city centre for tourists.

The first network of actor was only composed by Polimi, Cput and Shonaquip, that was thought to be the company producer and the service provider. On this basis the first draft concept vision consisted of a mobility system, managed by Shonaquip, to locally connect disabled and elderly people homes to the nearest public transport sops, local schools, hospitals, church and post office in a selected low-income contexts of Cape Town and the transportation of tourist in the city centre.

INCUBATION - Formalise project and action plan - Build up project network

EXPERIMENTATION

SCALING UP

- Set up small scale experiments (mobility service for disabled people)

- Implement the mobility service for disabled people in other suburban areas

VISION - Implement the mobility service for tourists transportation in the city centre

Implementation of sustainable mobility services for disabled people in the suburban areas and a mobility service for tourists in the city centre

JULY 2009

The following action plan was slightly modified, during the workshop held in September 2009, because of the entry of new stakeholder that were important to define the site and the group of user and the service provider for the start up of the pilot project. Rlabs and Impact Direct, located in Bridgetown, showed their enthusiasm and availability to host the experimentation in their community. On this basis the action plan and the experimentation phase were designed in details on the needs of the users of the community. Furthermore a series of hypothesis were developed to scale up the project in different contexts and with different functionalities, such as develop a service for delivery goods or mails and maintain public areas in the city centre. In this case the vision has been extended to fulfil a variety of actors and needs.

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INCUBATION - Formalise project and action plan - Build up project network

VISION

EXPERIMENTATION SCALING UP - Set up small scale experiments (mobility service for disabled people) in collaboration with RLabs and Impact Direct

- Implement the mobility service for disabled people in other suburban areas

- Implement the mobility service for tourists transportation in the city centre, green area maintenance, post delivery

Implementation of sustainable mobility services for disabled and elderly people in the suburban areas and a set of other mobility services: tourists transportation, post delivery,green area maintenance

SEPTEMBER 2009 After the first project workshop

After the meeting held in April 2011, with the Municipality of Cape Town and the Department of Transport, it has been explored the possibility to create synergies with the public transport service. This means that thanks to this meeting new potential partners have been identified and partially involved. At this stage the Municipality and the Department of transport became the key partners for the achievement of the project vision.

INCUBATION - Formalise project and action plan - Build up project network

VISION

EXPERIMENTATION SCALING UP - Set up small scale experiments (mobility service for disabled people) in collaboration with RLabs and Impact Direct

- Implement the mobility service for disabled people in other suburban areas in synergies with the public transort service

- Implement the mobility service for tourists transportation in the city centre, green area maintenance, post delivery

Implementation of sustainable mobility services for disabled and elderly people in the suburban areas (in synergy with the public transport company)and a set of other mobility services: tourists transportation, post delivery,green area maintenance

APRIL 2011 After the workshop with Cape Town Municipality and BEN Bikes

In August 2011, after the first experimentations in Athlone district in collaboration with Rlabs, it was explored and set up a small-scale experiment in the new context of Lavender Hill in collaboration with BEN Bikes. The scaling up vision was defined more in details, in order to fulfil the needs revealed during the experimentations: implement the transportation of elderly and disabled people in low-income contexts collaborating with local NGOs, but also provide public services and transportation of tourists in the city centre in collaboration with the City of Cape Town.

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INCUBATION - Formalise project and action plan - Build up project network

EXPERIMENTATION

SCALING UP

- Service and vehicle test in Bridgetown in collaboration with RLabs and Impact Direct

- Set up small scale experimentations at Lavender Hill in collaboration with BEN Bikes

VISION - Implement the mobility service for disabled and elderly people in other suburban areas in synergies with the public transportation service

- Implement the mobility service for the transportation of tourists in synergies with touristic companies (e.g.

Awol & Tours)

Implementation of sustainable mobility services for disabled and elderly people in the suburban areas (in synergy with the public transport company)and implementation mobility services for tourists and commuters in the city centre

AUGUST 2011 after the first experimentations

The last evolution made so far, after the event for the launch of the pilot project in Lavender hill held in October 2011, was the development of a plausible business plan in order to demonstrate that the pilot project can be economically sustainable and the project at its full operative phase can bring socio-economic benefit for the community and make real business.

The future concept vision is slightly change because it consists of the implementation of the sustainable mobility service in specific low-income areas, where the BECs are located, for the transportation of elderly, disabled and for township tour tourism with the collaboration of BEN Bikes; and the implementation of mobility service for tourists in collaboration with Awol and Tours and the implementation of the public transportation in the city centre in collaboration with the Municipality.

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18.3 Description of the main achieved results From the starting point of the socio-technical experiment design until now, the team got important achieved results. First of all, it has been built up a broad network of actors that has a common expectation toward the achievement of a shared vision. Some actors left the network (Impact Direct, RLabs) and some others joined it (BEN Bikes, The Cape Town Municipality). The project got a benefit from the enlargement of the network. Having involved BEN Bikes in the network turned out to be an advantage because it is an association that promotes the use of the bicycle and have lot of competencies and tools for fixing problems related to the vehicle. The association has also important contacts in the bicycle and generally in the non-motorized world that can be useful for getting new sponsors and have visibility around the project. Having involved the Cape Town Municipality is also really important because it is helping in solving the issues related to the legislative system and it is pushing for the development of the service in collaboration with the public transportation. The CT Municiplity is very active in improving the services for the city and the citizens towards a socially and environmentally sustainable development. Recently it has been elected as World Design Capital 2014 and for this occasion the people are moving to make the public spaces safe, creative and healthy places where the community can meet and socialize.

The second result is the implementation of the first two experiments: the first one in Bridgetown for the transportation of elderly and disabled people from their home to the Impact Direct centre that ended in July 2011 and the second one in Lavender Hill, for the transportation of elderly and disabled people around the area. The experiment in Lavender Hill is still running and it is currently aimed at testing and improving the whole PSS. From the results of the feedback collection the designers are redefining the service to provide and PART V > Chapter 18

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the technicians are finding new solutions for the technical problems of the vehicle. In the meanwhile the strategic designers are also defining the business model for strengthening the network stakeholders configuration. The experiment is also acting “as a window”, raising interest on the project and enrolling new relevant actors such as potential users and potential future partners, and “as a agent of change” stimulating the users in changing their behaviour, routines and mental frameworks and the socio-technical context.

During the whole journey the PSS concept has been redefined and improved, the stakeholder network enlarged and new opportunities created. Relating to the future project developments lots are the possibilities and proposals both in Lavender Hill and in other areas of the city. First of all the clinic of Lavender Hill and Lucinda Evans (Philipa Abafazi Bethu manager) stated their interest in implementing mobility services specifically dedicated to their needs around the community. Second, Andrew Wheeldon (BEN Bikes manager) promoted other 14 BEN Bikes centre dislocated in the Cape Town suburbs that could represent crucial hubs to replicate the experiment in other areas of the city. BEN Bikes is also interested in developing a service for the transportation of tourists around the city centre with the collaboration of “Awol Tours”. The City of Cape Town instead is interested in creating synergies with the PSS and the public transport services especially relating the PSS with the suburban bus lines.

The possibilities are a lot and the prospects good for the implementation of the PSS in the society.

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Chapter 19.

Experience considerations

19.1 The experience as a professional and personal growth The project has been an important personal experience for both the students. During the university career all the projects developed are almost never implemented into the real contexts, they are mostly well-designed concepts. Probably 2/3 of these projects do not have any possibility to survive outside the university reality. Having the occasion to be introduced into a project that is in its phase of realization was a really good opportunity for experiencing the professional design world. Translate a concept into a real project to be introduced into the society means to run into unforeseen problems that have to be solve; these problems are completely new for university students that are used to deal just with concepts. A big critic to Politecnico di Milano university, especially for the master courses, is the lack of works in real projects to prepare the students to the work field.

Another difficulty for Silvia and Emanuela was the new context. Developing a project in a context like South Africa is completely different from the European one. The political and historical issues of South Africa brought the people to be more afraid of the foreigners who are always ready to exploit the country. Someone was hostile on receiving help from the Italian students but luckily other stakeholders were really grateful of the opportunity received. As all the developing country also in South Africa realising a new project with advanced technologies faces more difficulties then in Europe causing big delays in the process. Working in a low income context was also really challenging for the two students that had to face with new realities of poverty and misery that are not common in Europe. Thanks to this experience the students met amazing people from whom learnt important lessons.

The experience was unique and unforgettable for the two students who feel really lucky for being part of the Mulo team.

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Figure 17.1-1 The Mulo team after the launch event

Figure 19.1-1 The Mulo team after the launch event

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19.2 As a case study for strategic designers The Cape Town sustainable mobility project is a good case study for strategic designers who would like to introduce a radical innovation into the society. From the project it has been produced important insights on how to structure a general design process to support and orient strategic designers in introducing and scaling up sustainable PSS. From the design process adopted in the project it emerged a general framework for action made up of activities structured in two phases: the incubation and the socio-technical experiment.

This process is based on the theory of having a transition path divided in specific phases for the implementation of a radical innovation. This theory it has been proved in the experiment and it got good results: having defined phases for implementing the PSS it has been useful for the achievement of the project because the stakeholders understood better the actions to undertake.

Thanks to this project it has been tested also the communication and analysis tools such as the transition path table, the actors’ map, the interaction storyboard and the offering diagram. Some of these tools are new and this is their first application in a real experiment: from these testing it has also gained insights for the development of other new tools. Finally the project defined a new role for strategic designers.

Strategic designers should be not only involved in developing sustainable PSS concepts, but also in defining the best implementation action plan appropriated with the contextual conditions of the experimentation without forgetting to support the PSS promoters in the introduction and scaling up process.

It was understood that strategic designer should have a different design attitude to operate at such strategic level .

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References * M. Bazzi, 2007-2008, “Rasmiz, a PSS for vegetable’s transportation in Zambia”, Master degree thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Design. * M. Barisione, R. Mannheimer, 1999, “I sondaggi” * H. Beyer and K. Holtzblatt, 2009, “Apprenticing with the customer: a collaborative approach to requirements definition” * V. Bosch, 2010, “Transition experiments, PhD dissertation” * V. Bosh, 2008, “Deepening broadening and scaling up” * H. Brown, 2008, “Bounded socio-technical experiments as agents of systemic change. The case of a zero-energy residential building”. * F. Ceschin and R. Raven, 2011, “Managing the introduction and scaling-up of sustainable Product-Service Systems: Towards a system innovation approach for practitioners”, Politecnico di Milano and TU Eindhoven. * F. Ceschin, 2012, “Introduction and scaling-up of sustainable Product Service Systems: A new role for strategic design for sustainability”, Phd Design Thesis, Polimi. * F. Ceschin, 2012, “A handbook to support strategic designers: Introduction and scaling-up of sustainable Product Service Systems” , Phd Design Thesis, Polimi. * F. Ceschin, 2006, “Mobilità sostenibile per i trasporti leggeri. Progettazione di un sistema di prodotto servizio per un quadriciclo leggero a energia solare e muscolare”. Master degree thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Design. * Clear Air Initiative fo Asian Cities, 2009, “Sustainable Ur340

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ban Transport in Asia: a Year review” * L. Davoli, F. Fiocchi, 2008 “Introduzione di sistemi per la mobilità sostenibile in contesti emergenti: proposta di un modello di mercato innovativo per l’introduzione del veicolo VDS e progettazione di sistemi-servizio di car-sharing e mobility management a Delhi”, Master degree thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Design. * B. Ford, J. Bornstein, P. Pruitt, 2008, “Come si prepara un business plan : la guida Ernst & Young” * H. Gumus, 2009, “Kanga, a sustainable system design for the transportation of learners with disabilities in Cape TownSouth Africa”, Master degree thesis, Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Design. * T. Hansen, “Socio-Technical Experiments, a New Approach on the Design Process”, Computer Science Department, Aarhus University * D. Hegger, 2007, “Niche management and its contribution to regime change”. * F. Jégou, and E. Manzini, eds. 2008, “Collaborative services.

Social innovation and design for sustainability”. Milan, Italy: Edizioni Polidesign. * P. Kandachar, I. de Jongh, J.C. Diehl for TUDelft, 2009, “Designing for Emerging Markets: design of products and services”. * E. Manzini, and C. Vezzoli, 1998, “Lo Sviluppo di Prodotti Sostenibili. I Requisiti Ambientali dei Prodotti Industriali”.

Rimini, Italy: Maggioli Editore. * E. Manzini and C.Vezzoli for UNEP, 2002, “Product-Service Systems and Sustainability: opportunities for sustainable solutions”.

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* A. Meroni, eds. 2007, “Creative Communities. People Inventing Sustainable Ways of Living”. Milan, Italy: Edizioni Polidesign. * M. M’Rithaa, 2008, “Engaging Change an African perspective on designing for sustainability”, Changing the Change conference Paper, Turin. * R. Raven, 2004, “Strategic Niche Management for Biomass: A comparative study on the experimental introduction of bioenergy technologies in the Netherlands and Denmark”. * D. Rimini, P. Di Marco, 2007, “Come redigere un business plan : manuale operativo” * UN-HABITAT and UITP, 2010, “Sustainable Mobility in African Cities: Promoting non-motorized transport options and compact cities as complements to public transport”. * UNEP and TUDelft, 2006, “Design for Sustainability: a practical approach for developing economies”. * UNEP, 2009, “Design for Sustainability: A Step-by-Step Approach”. * UNEP, “The role of Product Service System in a sustainable society”. * C. Vezzoli and E. Manzini, 2008, “Design for Environmental Sustainability”. * C. Vezzoli, 2008, “System design for sustainability”. * C. Vezzoli, “System design for sustainability: a promising approach for emerging low-income contexts”. * C. Vezzoli, F. Ceschin, and S. Cortesi, 2009, “Metodi e strumenti per il Life Cycle Design. Come progettare prodotti a basso impatto ambientale”. Rimini, Italy: Maggioli Editore.

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* Weber, Hoogma, Lane, Schot 1999, “Experimenting with sustainable transport innovations”. * M. Witkamp, R. Raven and L. Royakkers, 2010, “Strategic Niche Management of Social Innovation: the case of Social Entrepreneurship in the Netherlands”, Working Paper 10.06, Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies (ECIS), School of Innovation Sciences, TUEindhoven. * V. Zammuner, 2002, “Tecniche dell’intervista e del questionario”

* http://www.transitionsinpractice.nl * http://www.wbcsd.org/home.aspx * http://www.unep.org * http://www.benbikes.org.za * http://www.rlabs.org *http://www.impactdirect.org.za *http://www.capetown.gov.za *http://www.cput.ac.za *http://www.awol.travel/ *http://www.bicycleportraits.co.za *http://www.worldbike.org *http://www.capetownpartnership.co.za *http://www.capetown2014.co.za *http://www.philisaabafazi.org *http://www.shonaquip.co.za

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Vocabulary Glossary Coloured community: an heterogeneous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, India and Mauritius. The coloured community form a minority group within South Africa, however they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape. They are generally bilingual, however subsets within the group can be exclusively Afrikaans speakers, whereas others primarily speak English.

Concept: a proposal of a new PSS. It describes the main characteristics of the PSS: the business model, the value chain (the stakeholders involved in the PSS offer), the value proposition (product/s and service/s), and its potential (environmental, economic and or socio-ethical) benefits Incubation: it concerns with the setting up of the conditions needed to start the societal embedding process: the buildingup of a network of actors who share the aim of achieving a long-term vision through an agreed transition strategy.

Product-Service System (PSS): a specific type of value proposition that shifts the business focus from selling products to offering a combination of products and services jointly capable to fulfil a final customer satisfaction.

Radical innovation: a fundamental change in the way societal functions are fulfilled. A change process, or transition, from one socio-technical system to another.

Scaling up: the process of embedding the innovation in the dominant regime. The process in which the innovation gains more influence and stability, and gradually becomes part of the dominant way in which a societal need is satisfied.

Socio-technical experiment: a partially protected environ344

Vocabulary

ment where a broad network of actors put in practice a innovative concept with the aim of learning and exploring: how to incubate and improve the innovation, and how to contribute to its societal embedding.

Socio-technical experiment as a LAB: a socio-technical experiment conceived to test, learn and improve a radical innovation on multiple dimensions (e.g. technical, usability, regulative, political, economical, socio-cultural).

Socio-technical experiment as a WINDOW: a socio-technical experiment conceived to raise interest on the innovation project and the related actors, disseminate results, build-up synergies with existing similar projects/initiatives, and attract and enrol new actors.

Socio-technical experiment as an AGENT OF CHANGE: a socio-technical experiment conceived to influence contextual conditions in order to favour and speed-up the societal embedding process.

Stakeholder: an individual, organisation, group of individuals, or group of organisations that can affect or be affected by a certain topic.

Sustainable Product-Service System: a PSS where the economic and competitive interest of the providers continuously seeks environmentally beneficial new solutions, while maximising social well-being, equity and cohesion. They can be considered, in most of the cases, radical innovations.

Transition path: a strategy to move towards the achievement of a vision. It includes a number of milestones and steps, and provides indications on the actors to be involved and their roles.

Township: urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites (Blacks, Coloureds, and Indians).

Vocabulary

345

List of involved stakeholders AWOL Tours & Travel: is a touristic agency based in Waterfront, Cape Town city centre. They organize alternative tours by bicycle, they strives to integrate a responsibility policy into their itineraries, which can be a significant help to local communities by providing income, positive cultural exchanged as well as protecting natural environment. The agency has been pointed out to be a key stakeholder in the long-term vision of the SunRide project.

BEN bikes: is an association aimed at addressing poverty and mobility through the promotion of the bicycle in all its forms.

They have been involved in supporting the pilot project in Lavender Hill and promote and diffuse the Mulo project in different context, to favour the scaling up.

BEC: containers (converted to workshops) established and stocked the workshop with bicycles and tools by BEN. There are about 14 BECs around the Western Province, and all of them are now independent businesses, but the partnership continues through ongoing training, bicycle supplies, events and support.

BEC Imfundo Cycle: established in 2010 in Lavender Hill is the enabler of the pilot project together with the Cycling Club.

Imfundo Cycling Club: group of teenagers between the ages of 13 and 21. The cycling club is therefore a safe and fun way for the children to spend their time and energy keeping them away from the negative influences in the community (drugs, alchool and gangs). The cyclists of the club based at Lavender Hill BEC, will drive the elderly and sick to the clinics, post office, shops etc. at a small fee.

Campher Fagodien: project manager of the BEC Imfundo Cycle in Lavender Hill where he repairs and sells bicycles for the community. He has been involved in the project as the Mulo project manager, because they have knowledge and 346

Vocabulary

skills for maintain the prototype in good conditions.

Ceschin Fabrizio: Designer of Mulo system in Italy developed for his Master thesis in 2006, Phd candidate at the School of Design of Polimi and tutor of the Mulo in Africa project from Italy.

Covary Niki: Sustainable Transport Planner at City of Cape Town. She was the coordinator of the presentation/meeting held in April 2011 where different department of the City of Cape Town were participating and she has been identified as the key actor to facilitate and supporting the development of the project in the City context.

Delfino Emanuela: (with Silvia Remotti) is the author of this thesis, they started their collaboration, in October 2010, with DIS of Polimi to support and develop the PSS Mulo project in Cape Town in loco, from February 2011. The aim of the field trip was the activation of the pilot project or socio-technical experiment, which has been designed to act as a Lab, for test and improve, but also as a Window to involve new promising actors and as Agent of sustainable change in the society.

Du Toit Guillaume: Industrial design master student supervised by Mugendi. Guillaume has been involved in the production process because at the time of the start up of the project (September 2009) he was interning in Shonaquip.

Which become his master thesis focusing on the negotiation between the stakeholders. Currently Head of Design Department in Shonaquip.

Du Toit Jacques: Head of Sustainable livelihoods and greening programmes, Enviromental Resource Management Department of The City of Cape Town.

He was the first person (trough Mugend) the Mulo project was presented, within the City of Cape Town. And he arranged and supported a meeting with many important people from different department of the City.

DIS of Polimi: Unit of Research of Design and Innovation Vocabulary

347

for Sustainability of Politecnico di Milano. The group, composed by Carlo Vezzoli, Fabrizio Ceschin and Sara Cortesi, deal with research and project related to Life Cycle Design products, eco-efficient PSS and socio-ethical system design.

DIS promotes Mulo project as an open project that can be developed in collaboration with universities in different contexts, as well as local companies, NGOs and administrations.

Evans Lucinda: Philiza Abafazi Bethu founder and director.

She is interested in using the Mulo system for making excursions and running errands for the association in the Lavender Hill area. She saw a promising opportunity to develop the project because currently they are using a minibus, which is quite expensive to maintain.

Gumus Hazal: Polimi student who developed KANGA a system for the transportation of disabled children in Cape Town as Master Design Thesis. And in particular she started up the connections between the South African and the Italian stakeholders.

Impact Direct Ministries: a no-profit community based organisation operating in Cape Town. Their mission is to fulfil our responsibility through care and compassion, poverty alleviation and community development. The group of elderly of IDM, with motorial disabilities, were selected to be the pilot project test users.

IPSIA A.Ferrari di Maranello: technical school that build the first prototype of the vehicle in 2006 in Italy. Afterwards has assisted in findings sponsorships for some components of the prototype of vehicle in Cape Town, such as the electric motor and the motor controller.

Mc Donald Shona: Shonaquip Founder and Managing Director. She has collaborated many times with Mugendi for projects regarding the Design for All. Mulo project has been a good opportunity and a challenge for Shonaquip as a whole to explore a new category of design for people with disabilities.

348

Vocabulary

M’Rithaa Mugendi: Senior Industrial Lecturer at CPUT, Project coordinator “Mulo in Africa” in Cape Town. He created the links between the main actors and contributed to maintain relations with the broad network of actors. Thanks to his contacts it was possible to organize meeting with important stakeholders such as The City of Cape Town and the Transport Department.

Parker Marlon: RLabs founder in Bridgetown and Social Entrepreneur PhD at CPUT in 2009. He saw an opportunity to develop the Mulo system pilot project in the community of Bridgetown and he become the internal promoter of the project.

Philiza Abafasi Bethu: a non-profit organization working to eradicate gender-based violence and child abuse and promote women’s and children’s rights in the Lavender Hill community of Cape Town, South Africa.

Remotti Silvia: (with Emanuela Delfino) is the author of this thesis, they started their collaboration, in October 2010, with DIS of Polimi to support and develop the PSS Mulo project in Cape Town in loco, from February 2011. The aim of the field trip was the activation of the pilot project or socio-technical experiment, which has been designed to act as a Lab, for test and improve, but also as a Window to involve new promising actors and as Agent of sustainable change in the society.

Rlabs: Reconstructed Living Lab is a global movement and registered Social Enterprise that provides innovative solutions to address various complex problems. It creates an environment where people are empowered to make a difference in the lives of others. The RLabs “main hub” is in Athlone, Cape Town but have activity in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Central Africa with a goal of reaching all continents by 2012.

Rousseaw Sarah: Community Profile Project Manager at BEN. Sarah knows very well the situations in the communities where the BEC are settled especially the community of Vocabulary

349

Lavender Hill. She helped a lot during the organization of the Launch Event.

Shonaquip: is a company based in Witteboom, Cape Town that produces and commercializes wheelchairs and mobility aids for disabled people; their role in the project is the production of the vehicle.

SOLON: one of the largest solar module manufacturers and a leading supplier of photovoltaic systems in Europe. SOLON has contributed to the project by supplying the photo voltaic panels for the prototype of the vehicle.

Vezzoli Carlo: Professor at the School of Design of Polimi, Director of the Unit of Research DIS and coordinator of the project Mulo in Africa from Italy.

Wheeldon Andrew: Managing Director BEN Bikes South Africa. Andrew is the co-founder of the NGO, and he is also part of a monthly meeting, called “Active Mobility� that take place with the representatives of the transportation department of the City of Cape Town.

350

Vocabulary

List of abbreviations AWOL A World of Learning BEN Bicycle Empowerment Network BEC Bicycle Empowerment Centre BM Business Model CoCT City of Cape Town Municipality CPUT Cape Peninsula University of Technology DIS Design and Innovation for Sustainability Research Unit IDM Impact Direct Ministries LeNS Learning Network on Sustainability MLP Multi Level Perspective MULO MobilitĂ Urbana LavorO NGO Non-Governmental Organisation POLIMI Politecnico di Milano PSS Product-Service System RLabs Reconstructed Living Lab SNM Strategic Niche Management TM Strategic Management UNEP United Nation Environmental Programme UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Vocabulary

351

Acknowledgments We heartily would like to thank all the people that have been part of this journey.

First of all we owe our deepest gratitude to our supervisors, Carlo Vezzoli and Fabrizio Ceschin, who offered us the opportunity to join to this rich experience, and learn how design for sustainability and social cohesion can contribute to change the world. They have been constantly encouraging and supporting us throughout the project in Cape Town, they have been definitely guides for our future experience.

We would also like to thank professors Paolo Landoni, Claudio Dell’Era (Engineering Management Department of Politecnico di Milano) and Fiammetta Costa (Technology Design for Health Care Unit of Research of Politecnico di Milano) for having offered us their help and support in creating respectively the economic evaluation and business plan of the project and the structured interviews and questionnaire for gathering feedback from the users of the project.

Furthermore it is an honour for us having worked with professor Mugendi M’Rithaa (from Industrial Design of CPUT) who believed in the project since the beginning and he taught us to believe in the power of the Ubuntu “I am what I am because of who we all are”.

We would also like to thank all the teachers and students we met in the Cape Peninsula University and all the people who directly or indirectly participated to the development of the project.

A special thank to Andrew Wheeldon for believing in the potentialities and future opportunities of the project and for being so welcoming with us.

A big thank to all the BEN bikes crew, in particular to Sarah Rousseaw, Fagodien Campher and his Imfundo Cycling 352

Acknowledgment

Club.

It has been a pleasure to work with Shonaquip crew who are always smiling and positive people.

Thanks to Shona Mc Donald and Guillaume du Toit who believed in this project. And a big thank to Martin Wilson, friend and electrical engineer who with his calm and patience contribute to make the vehicle runs.

A big thanks to all our friends met in South Africa, in particular to Teddy, Ariane, Bradley and Titus who were able to make our stay in Cape Town an unforgettable experience. Thanks to all our Italian friends who have been so patience to listen 1000 times our stories.

Our infinite gratitude goes to our parents and families who supported and sponsored our journey in Cape Town, but also all our studies, believing in our capabilities with undisputed love.

I, Silvia, would like to thank Emanuela for being part of this amazing experience with me, experience that I will always remember with a smile thanks to her presence.

I, Emanuela, would like to express my deepest gratitude to Francesco for his infinite patience, love and comprehension, for his support and encouragement during this experience that made our relationship stronger.

The last but not least thank goes to Silvia, who I spent the two last years of my studies with and I shared this amazing experience that allowed me to definitely find a harmony worthy of a concrete friendship.

Milan, April 2012

Acknowledgment

353

APPENDIX 1: Feedback collection package

Technician’ maintenances and repairs format

Mulo socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill Informal chatting between the technician and the interviewer. Here a list of questions to help the interviewer on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the vehicle. The interviewer is free to ask different questions from the ones listed below.

PART A – Mulo vehicle maintenances and repairs (semi-structured oral interview) 1. How easy is to replace and fix the components that need to be changed often?

Which are the problems? Which components are not easy to replace? Which components are not easy to fix?

2. How easy is to clean the components?

Which are the problems? Which components are not easy to clean?

3 How easy is to find the components that you have to replace?

Which components are difficult to find? Why?

4. Do you have all the tools for the maintenance and for the repairs? Did you ever need to ask tools to someone else?

Which tools did you need?

5. Do you have all the skills for the maintenance and the repairs of this kind of vehicle? Did you ever need to ask help to someone else?

Which external skills did you need?

6. Is the maintenance of the vehicle taking you lot of time?

If yes, please specify why and how much.

7. Do you have any suggestion to improve the vehicle?

PART B – Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 1. Do you perceive the environmental aspect of the project?

2. Which are in your opinion the environmental benefits?

Petrol free means no pollution and money saving Use solar energy (Renewable energy resource) Use human power (Keep fit and give job opportunity)

Mulo’s problems encountered during the maintenances and the repairs.

PROBLEM N° …

TECHNICIAN DATE PROBLEM ENCOUNTERED

MOTIVATION

SOLUTION

TIME NEEDED EXTERNAL SKILLS NEEDED

EXTERAL TOOLS NEEDED

EXTERAL PARTS NEEDED

COSTS OF THE REPAIRING

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION

PROBLEM N° …

Passengers’ evaluation questionnaire

Mulo socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill PART A – Mulo vehicle usability (structured oral questionnaire) The interviewer asks the passengers the questions below explaining them the evaluation scale. An oral questionnaire is preferred because it’s possible that the passengers can’t properly understand English or that they can’t read it.

Please tick the relevant boxes accordingly to the following scale: 1 = VERY BAD; 2 = BAD; 3 = SUFFICIENT; 4 = GOOD; 5 = VERY GOOD/EXCELLENT.

1. How easy is to get on and off the vehicle? (From 1 to 5)

1

2

YES

NO

1

2

YES

NO

1

2

YES

NO

3

4

5

3

4

5

3

4

5

Which are the problems to get on and off the vehicle? Are these problems relevant? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

2. Do you need help to get on the vehicle?

If yes, please specify which kind of help do you need ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

3. Is the seat comfortable to you? (From 1 to 5) If you feel uncomfortable please specify why. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

4. Do you feel negatively the road surface’s irregularity (holes, bumps,…)?

If yes please specify why and which type of irregularities.

______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

5. Can you speak easily with the driver? (From 1 to 5) If you can’t speak and hear easily please specify why. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

6. Do weather conditions (wind, rain, cold, fog, sun, hot) bother you so to influence your choice in using the vehicle?

Please specify which kind of weather conditions and why. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

7. Did you encounter other problems? How relevant are these problems?

8. Do you have any suggestion to improve the vehicle?

PART B – Mulo service organization (structured oral questionnaire)

The interviewer asks the passengers the questions below explaining them the evaluation scale. An oral questionnaire is preferred because it’s possible that the passengers can’t properly understand English or that they can’t read it.

Please tick the relevant boxes accordingly to the following scale: 1 = VERY BAD; 2 = BAD; 3 = SUFFICIENT; 4 = GOOD; 5 = VERY GOOD/EXCELLENT.

1. Do you prefer to book the service by phone (1) or going in person to Fagodien container (2)? Why?

1

2

YES

NO

YES

NO

YES

NO

YES

NO

______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

2. PHONE: Do you need to call several times?

If yes please specify which is the problem for you. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

3. IN PERSON: Do you always find someone available at the container?

If negative please specify which is the problem for you ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

4. Is the driver following the timetable?

If is negative please specify what kind the delay. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

5. Are you generally satisfied by Mulo service system?

Why?

______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

6. Do you have any suggestion to improve the service?

PART C – Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) Informal chatting between the passengers and the interviewer. Here a list of questions to help the interviewer on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the system. The interviewer is free to ask different questions from the ones listed below.

THE UTILITY OF THE SYSTEM 1. Do you think the vehicle is useful to you and your community? Would you use it often? Why?

2. Is it a good alternative to the public taxi? Why?

3. Do you think that Mulo service can change your transportation habits? Why?

CULTURAL ASPECTS 4. What do you think about the shape and the aesthetic of the vehicle? Is the shape embarrassing you?

5. Do you usually ride a bicycle? Do you feel safer on Mulo respect on the bicycle? Why?

6. This service has been designed also for tourists’ transportation within the city centre: is this aspect relevant to you? Why?

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 7. Do you perceive the environmental aspect of the project?

8. Which are in your opinion the environmental benefits?

Petrol free means no pollution and money saving Use solar energy (Renewable energy resource) Use human power (Keep fit and give job opportunity) Â

Drivers’ evaluation questionnaire

Mulo socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill PART A – Mulo vehicle technical usability and service organization (contextual oral interview) The interviewer has to pass one day with the driver on the Mulo vehicle trying to understand the driver in the context of his work and his related work problems. Let the driver talk about his work while he is doing it; this attitude allows the driver to reveal all the details of his job and the related problems.

Through face-to-face interaction, driver and interviewer/designer define together the technical problems of the vehicle and the system.

Here a list of actions to keep in consideration: -

How he gets on the driver seat

-

How he pedals

-

How he uses the breaking system

-

How he changes the gear

-

How he steer the vehicle

-

How he reacts with the road surface’s irregularities (holes, bumps,…)

-

If he has to stop often because he is tired

-

If the motor and the batteries are properly working

-

If he finds the vehicle overloaded for the excessive number and/or weight of the passengers

-

If he helps the passengers to get on/off the vehicle

-

How he speaks with the passengers

-

If the weather conditions influence his ride

-

If the passengers follow the timetables

- If the paths organized by Fagodien are optimized (shorter as possible so that the driver doesn’t loose time) -

If the time of each trip is well calculated by Fagodien

PART B – Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) Informal chatting between the driver and the interviewer. Here a list of questions to help the interviewer on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the system. The interviewer is free to ask different questions from the ones listed below.

THE UTILITY OF THE SYSTEM 1. Is this service a good alternative to the public taxi? Why?

2. Do you think that Mulo service can change some of the transportation habits of Lavender Hill community? Why?

CULTURAL ASPECTS 3. How important can be seen this project in a community (township) like Lavender Hill? Why?

4. Thanks to this service you got a job that allows you to get a small salary. Have this aspect changed your position into the community? Does the people give you more respect?

5. Does somebody bother you while you are driving? Did you have any problems with the taxi drivers?

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 6. Do you perceive the environmental aspect of the project?

7. Which are in your opinion the environmental benefits?

Petrol free means no pollution and money saving Use solar energy (Renewable energy resource) Use human power (Keep fit and give job opportunity)

Â

Mulo’s problems encountered during the trips

DATE AND TIME

Example: 10 Nov 2011 11.00 am

PLACE

PROBLEM ENCOUNTERED

MOTIVATION

SOLUTION

In front of the mediclinic

The steering was vibrating too much, loose of control

High speed for the vehicle

Keep the steering solid and slow down

Service organizer’ evaluation questionnaire

Mulo socio-technical experiment in Lavender Hill Informal chatting between the service organizer and the interviewer. Here a list of questions to help the interviewer on keeping in consideration all the most relative aspects of the system. The interviewer is free to ask different questions from the ones listed below.

PART A – Mulo service organization (semi structured oral interview) 1. How do the passengers prefer to book the service? (By phone, coming in person at the container, other…). Why?

2. How do the passengers communicate with you via cell phone? (Sms, Calls, Please call me back…)

3. Are the bookings that you receive enough to organize the trips? How many bookings do you receive per day?

4. Do you use the paper provided for the organization of the paths and the timetables of the passengers’ trips?

If yes: is this structure properly working? Why?

If negative: How do you organize the timetables and the paths?

5. Do you have any suggestion to improve the service?

PART B – Cultural and habits aspects (semi-structured oral interview) THE UTILITY OF THE SYSTEM 1. Do you think the vehicle is useful to your community? Why?

2. Do you think that Mulo service can change the transportation habits of Lavender Hill community?

Why?

CULTURAL ASPECTS 3. How important can be seen this project in a community (township) like Lavender Hill? Why?

4. Is your position into the community changed with the introduction of the service? Does the people respect you more?

5. Did someone complain about the service? Taxi drivers?

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS 6. Do you perceive the environmental aspect of the project? Which are in your opinion the environmental benefits?

Petrol free means no pollution and money saving Use solar energy (Renewable energy resource) Use human power (Keep fit and give job opportunity)