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GIZ
Can citizens prevent urban flooding by reporting drains like they catch Pokémon?
Citizen Centered Design
Design for Public Good
2020
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
A few simple ideas that were borne out of our Behaviour Design Codex
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
To redesign the SYSTEM
Increase surety quotient - by removing guesswork by showing exact drain locations
THE SIMPLE IDEA
Geotagged drains with physical signs and app prompts
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
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
The Simple Idea
See other reports in the app, feel part of a city-wide movement
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
To redesign the SYSTEM
Increase ease quotient - by making reporting effortless
The Simple Idea
<30s reporting: Click image → auto-tag location → done
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