A locally-developed mobile application, Cityspec, has been selected for the 2016 Sustainia100, a global campaign created to identify the best solutions and projects for a more sustainable world and a better tomorrow. The list was announced this week.
The Cityspec app is a mobile inspection tool which enables civil society organisations and community workers to monitor and administer basic service delivery in informal settlements. The app allows them to log reports in the field, take photos and provide accurate GPS co-ordinates automatically.
Now in its fifth year, the annual Sustainia100 publication acknowledges sustainable solutions from around the world that address the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals by providing social, financial and environmental returns.
Featuring the theme "systemic opportunity", this year's Sustainia100 - an annual publication that presents the most innovative, available, scalable and sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing challenges - sets out 100 solutions that respond to the interconnected global challenges addressed through the Sustainable Development Goals. These range from health solutions that tackle climate change, to renewable energy products that alleviate gender inequality.
Cityspec was developed by Cape Town-based design agency Formula D interactive in partnership with civil society organisation Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU).
The app uses mobile technology to aid VPUU and its partner municipalities to effectively monitor public infrastructure, help identify basic service delivery problems, and assist in improving access to clean and safe water and sanitation, which affect the livelihood of millions of people.
According to VPUU, many people live in extremely harsh conditions in Cape Town's informal settlements. It points out that rapid urban growth comes with increasingly difficult challenges to maintain the standard of basic service delivery, and communities live with poorly maintained toilets, taps and street lights.
VPUU uses the Cityspec mobile technology to help trained community workers report on the status (working or broken) of infrastructure. The system's backbone is a cloud-based administration and reporting centre, allowing users to create and track inspections and monitor the status of infrastructure on an ongoing basis. This provides all the information needed for rapid reporting to municipal departments and immediate remedial work.
"Cityspec puts the power of basic service monitoring in informal settlements in the hands of community workers, enabling us to bring about safe, well-managed and socially activated public spaces," explains Michael Krause, CEO of VPUU.
"Our partnership with VPUU is a model for success. We bring together their experience of working with municipalities and poor communities, with Formula D's expertise of technology and human-centred design," says Michael Wolf, founder and creative director of Formula D interactive.]
"The term 'systemic' often brings to mind intractable problems, such as systemic poverty or systemic corruption. The global goals give us focus and pace, so we think it's time to reclaim the word and talk about systemic opportunity, instead. The Sustainia100 shows us that the most compelling and successful solutions tackle multiple challenges, and global goals, in one go," says Morten Nielsen, MD of Sustainia, which publishes the Sustainia100.
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