Focused Group Discussion for Low Emission Zones in Maharashtra, India
Gamifying Policies for Public Awareness in Pimpri Chinchwad
City
Pimpri Chinchwad, Maharashtra
Service
Community Engagement
Year
2023-2024
Collaborators
Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation
Role
Lead - Strategy and Execution
Credit
I share the credits for this work with my super awesome team at ITDP India. I do not take ownership of this work.
Public policies in India are often not clearly understood by the average citizen. They are too technical, very black and white and contain too much fine print. Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation partnered with us to develop a series of visually engaging sessions which capture the attention of the citizens and help them visualise a Low Emission Zone future.
Visually understanding perceptions on pollution exposure | Credits: Aangi Shah
Engaging the participants in a game to literally 'play their cards' right | Credits: Aangi Shah
"We will now think twice before taking out our polluting vehicles"
People respond from a more real place when they can visualise the future accurately
Low Emission Zones are a future that is tough for the common man to imagine. Which cars will be restircted? Where? How will it affect me? Will I pay more? Will I get fined? Too many questions. Too much technicality.
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The city wanted to find out how exactly people will respond to this policy. Well, there's only one way to find out - we ask them! But how do we know they will understand what we are saying? How will they imagine this and react from a genuine place. How will the city know whether the policy will be accepted?
In order to understand how people will absorb and respond to the potential of Low Emission Zones in Pimpri Chinchwad, we had get innovative. Strategically, we developed a game. In each session, we played the game starting with helping people see where they feel most exposed to pollution creating a strong sense of solutioning. After that, we played two scenarios; one - what if your city priced polluting cars and two - what if your city banned polluting cars. Using a super fun, engaging and gamified card playing approach - the participants were requested to play their cards to suggest their responses followed by a detailed discussion on their choices.
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This helped with quantifying the responses at the same time understanding the nuances behind the decisions. The people responded saying 'they will now think a lot before taking out their polluting vehicles in PCMC'.
