Colombians fear ridicule more than being fined1
Antanas Mockus, former Bogotá mayor, understood the above insight and many more about his own community. With that understanding he transformed the behaviour of Bogotá’s residents and in consequence their lives. He conducted a number of social experiments including hiring 420 mime artists to make fun of traffic violators1 because he knew how the people of Bogotá felt about being shamed in public and it worked. The result: a 50 percent drop in traffic fatalities, reduced traffic gridlock, and a marked shift in the traffic culture of the city.2 This professor-turned-politician understands the importance of human-centred design. Inspired by Mockus’s social experiments, Paul Sternberg asked the MDes group to understand, examine and focus on the value of getting in touch with the people we want to design for. Details about that assignment are explained here.
My curiosity led me to a recorded speech on YouTube that Mockus gave at the University of Michigan in 2008 about coexistence through the harmonisation of law, society and culture4. I came across many philosophical notions that Mockus presented throughout his almost one hour speech that were supported by logic, reason, and statistics. I think him being a mathematician speaking in academic environment and his desire to add more authority to his civic philosophy drove the scientific approach, which worked, for me at least.
Takeaway thought? We can’t effectively design anything for a specific group of people unless we see the problem through their eyes first.
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