I hate waking up to unexpected construction work at 7 am.
#HowDareYou
The Problem
Finally. You start off your new life in your brand new dream apartment!
Only to discover that...
Don't mess with my beauty sleep.
The next-door building starts construction work in a week.
Many additional problems arise:
Bodies with powers dominate the cities and local councils, which have limited capabilities, budgets & knowledge in planning.
The vast majority of the country is planned with rough tools, focusing on economic viability per project rather than planning that improves cities.
Urban planning information is difficult & complex, written in a technical language incomprehensible to non-specialists.
The public has no easy way to follow or comprehend what is occurring in urban planning & how plans are created.
The information on urban planning is scattered across different places & formats.
The Vision
Meirim
Meirim is a digital product/service & a community of urban planning experts. It is meant to serve the needs of end-users and to build a community.
It is a platform that bridges various profiles and communities, which is why our goal is to let all of the audience voice their opinions & get everyone involved with the discussions.
Goals
The most successful aspect of the planning discussion is if all profiles participate in it.
The success of the initiative is most evident if planning committee discussions are followed by the following question: "And what did they say about it at Meirim?"
Main KPI's
Number of registered users with an emphasis on "resident" profile
Number of discussions
Number of follow-up programs
The planning bodies will want to use Meirim to plan the space together with the public.
User Research
Who are our main users?
RESIDENTS
STAKEHOLDERS
People with free time and a desire to make an impact
Apartment owners \ properties
Lovers of nature \ cities, etc.
Do not understand urban planning
"How does this affect me?"
Nimby agenda (Not in my backyard) - Objects to the siting of something perceived as unpleasant or hazardous in the area where they live, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere
Private entrepreneur
Public Entrepreneur - Ministry of Housing / Israel Land Authority / Planning Director
Mayors, City engineers, Community planners
Project planners - architect, consultants
Local council members
Understand urban planning
Want to avoid objections
Have a pre-determined agenda
Special Features
After better understanding the needs & pain points of the users, we came up with a few ideas for special features:
PUBLICATION OF BUILDING PERMITS
SMART ALERTS
Building permits represent the realization of plans. Enriching our databases would allow users to get detailed planning information in a clear & easy way.
The Development & Data teams are developing alerts related to topics such as nature & beaches, urban renewal, & transportation projects so users can track down specific areas of interest.
MEIRIM'S MAP
An interactive map that is both friendly & convenient, letting the user know when & where things are happening.
WOOD CHOPPING
Did you know that the public only has 14 days to file an objection before logging?
We want to ensure immediate notice of any tree in the city that is in danger of being cut down.
DIGITAL COMMUNITY
Meirim hopes to be a platform that brings people together - residents, professionals, and elected officials. To do this, we want to offer users the ability to network with one another.
User Flow
Task:
"Save project"
Main entry points
Homepage
Like most sites, one of the main entry points (if not the only one) is the homepage.
One of our main KPIs is the number of saved projects, which allows the user to follow & get notifications regarding new progress.
Homepage wireframe
Project page
This is the most important & complex page in Meirim. The project page is the primary entry point to the site since most users come through shares/posts of a special project on social media or through notifications via email.
The map appears alongside the project info in both desktop & mobile modes, enabling users to explore further nearby the project location.
The success of the project page in terms of product is when the user interacts with it: follows, shares adds reviews, asks for reviews, uploads a link. Since it is a doorway to the site, it should provide a marketing experience for new visitors as well.
Project page wireframe
Design
Project Page
The idea is to give easy access to a number of personas, while the "resident" is our main focus. Therefore, It is necessary to explain professional terms in order to get them interested & involved.
Main tabs:
Summary - displaying professional info with simple & clear language
Comments - one of our main KPI's, encouraging users (pro + residents) to participate & voice their opinion.
Includes:
Tags - in order to enable the user to filter projects by interest
Project goals
.png){kind=small}
Area change
Modification of housing units
Includes:
Suggestion for improvement
Review
General opinion
Committee representatives - letting the public know who is in charge of the project & details for contact.
.png){kind=small}
Links - adding relevant links regarding the project via online.
.png)
.png)
Illustrations
Design system
Results
Usability testing
Meirim has been recently launched & we have conducted usability tests among users. Here are the main issues that have been discovered:
1. Status
When an urban plan is being submitted, it has to go through a long process before it can be approved.
The status is not clear enough for the public.
2. Type of plan
There are a lot of plan types, each type has its own criteria. For example reconstructing buildings, adding new routes, etc.
The proccess is not clear enough for the public.
Possible solution
Possible solution
MICROCOPY
Working on our microcopy can definitely help, using simple & clear terms.
EXPLAINING THE STEPS
Explaining how it works, step by step. It's important since the public has only 2 weeks to object to a specific plan (which most of them don't even know, because stakeholders want the plan to be approved, no matter what the public thinks & feels.
.png)
3. Unclear infographics
3
1
2
This section is meant to bring awareness to those who do not understand the Urban Planning field. We wanted to show what changes are approaching & how they will affect other areas.
The vast majority of users had great difficulty understanding the meaning of this:
What are these ratios telling us?
How do these ratios affect each other?
Possible solution
I have the honor of taking this task upon myself & recently came up with creative solutions:
USING BENCHMARKS
Using public areas (that are well known to the public) as a reference will help the user understand the area ratio better. For example "This area is 1/5 of the
Azrieli mall."
.png)
