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GIZ

Helping Citizens Prevent Urban Flooding

Citizen Centered Design
Design for Public Good
Social Innovation
2020

Background

Can citizens prevent urban flooding by reporting clogged drains like they catch Pokémon?

In cities like Bhubaneswar, urban flooding isn’t just a monsoon issue it’s a civic challenge rooted in everyday neglect, like littered and clogged drains. Despite multiple agencies involved, there was no simple, scalable system to identify risk points early or engage citizens in flood prevention. GIZ partnered with TinkerLabs to explore how everyday people not just authorities could become part of the solution. The goal: design a citizen-centered approach to flood resilience that was proactive, participatory, and easy to act on.

Approach

A citizen-centered co-design approach for flood resilience in Bhubaneswar

  • Immersed with BMC, Meteorological Department, Drainage Authorities & citizens
  • Identified two key gaps: blocked drains (prevention) and poor grievance reporting (management)‍

Co-created and tested wireframes with officials and citizens to align on needs

Key Strategic Lever

The people most affected by flooding were also unknowingly contributing to it through littering and clogged drains.

Instead of blaming or educating, we flipped the problem:
By turning drain reporting into a game-like mission with location-tagged targets, we made prevention a participatory act.

It became Pokémon Go for saving your city.

‍

Output

  • Launched the Mu City Saviour App to report and tag vulnerable drains
  • Geotagged high-risk spots + added physical signages for salience
  • Gamified citizen participation: clear missions, visible progress, zero ambiguity
  • Piloted in two localities → scaled citywide across Bhubaneswar → expanded to other Odisha cities
  • Awarded the Smart City Empowering India honor by the Government of India

SIMPLE IDEA 1

A deeper understanding of the USER
“There are so many drains, what if I make a mistake with choosing the right drain?” Uncertainty Aversion, Omission Bias
Uncertainty Aversion
Omission Bias
To redesign the SYSTEM
Increase surety quotient - by removing guesswork by showing exact drain locations
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THE SIMPLE IDEA

Geotagged drains with physical signs and app prompts

SIMPLE IDEA 2

A deeper understanding of the USER
“I feel like I’m the only one really trying to make a difference. And sometimes this makes me give up.” Social proof, Massie Effect
Social proof
Massie Effect
To redesign the SYSTEM
“I feel like I’m the only one really trying to make a difference. And sometimes this makes me give up.” Social proof, Massie Effect
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The Simple Idea

See other reports in the app, feel part of a city-wide movement

SIMPLE IDEA 3

A deeper understanding of the USER
“I want to help, but it seems like too much effort to describe the issue” Friction cost, Intention-action gap
Friction cost
Intention-action gap
To redesign the SYSTEM
Increase ease quotient - by making reporting effortless
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The Simple Idea

<30s reporting: Click image → auto-tag location → done

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