Description
Because sometimes solutions lie within us. Por ti, Madrid brings people together to live in stronger, inclusive, and safer communities. People that need help will receive it from their neighbor volunteers, and these, besides the satisfaction of helping others, will receive small rewards from local shops and businesses.
Role:
UX/UI Designer · UX Writing
Tools:
Miro · Google Forms · Figma
Date:
2019
Problem
Crime and criminal offenses are prolific in big cities, and Madrid is no exception. In the past couple of years, the crime rate has spiked and citizens want to feel safe, but they also don’t want to be controlled or their privacy compromised.
How can we make our cities safer without controlling or violating citizens’ privacy?
Descubimientos
My team and I knew that a thorough investigation was a must to find out how we’d make cities safer. We started conducting some interviews and with an online survey to citizens and police officers, and the insights we obtained changed completely our initial mindset:
- 88% of survey respondents felt safe in Madrid and trusted police officers.
- 70% of survey respondents thought that education was key for a safer community and city
- All the interviewed police officers confirmed that not only did citizens trust them, but also collaborated with them.
After collecting these insights, my team and I reached a turning point, and began to wonder:
What if we could somehow reduce the crime rate?
The policemen we interviewed told us that 70% of crimes were drug-related crimes committed by drug addicts, like pickpocketing. After this discovery, we decided to interview a lawyer and a rehabilitated drug addict, and our discoveries helped us tremendously to define our solution:
- The state doesn’t view drug addicts as criminals but patients that need help, so they help from the government.
- Although drug addicts receive help from the government, 85% relapse due to the social stigma they carry for life, making it hard for them to cope emotionally and psychologically.
Solution
Por ti, Madrid unifies communities and neighborhoods to help each other. In our platform, users can collaborate by becoming volunteers or asking for help. Those who decide to do their part receive points that can later be exchanged for prizes on shops and stores in their neighborhood also helping their fellow neighbors and their businesses.
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”