Author
Sustainable development goals
Themes
- Lifestyles and wellbeing
Tools
- web-based community
- gamification / rewarding systems
- app
What does the promoted behavioral change consist of?
Thanks to the fun community experience and the personal rewarding system, people are encouraged to practice and share eco-behaviors and activities (eg. on mobility and transport, lifestyles, housekeeping and purchase choices, energy consumption reduction, …) and inspired from other members of the community eco-actions, thus increasing citizens’ awareness of the effects of their actions and desire to contribute to their community sustainability and supporting eco-businesses and urban economy.
Climate change and sustainability can be seen as abstract issues, while the SharingMi initiative aims to engage citizens in daily life activities that can have a positive impact on their local community and on the environment, in a “think global – act local” perspective.
What are the main features of the tools designed/implemented to promote behavioral change and how have they been tested?
By downloading greenApes app and selecting Milan, users can access a community of people that share experiences, ideas and tips for a more sustainable lifestyle (“positive impact” stories) or concrete certified positive behaviors (trough integrated third party sensors, apps and services). Users can be inspired by others and interact with their opinions (claps and comments, that means having more points).
The points earned are redeemable in prizes and discounts offered by the shops, activities and services participating in the project and have the same eco-values.
A specific mechanism to keep people engaged in the community, are periodic challenges launched by the community manager: each challenge has a specific environmental theme and is won by the most clapped (liked) post. Some challenges can foreseen other actions, such as the chek-in to a green venue, the discovery of a secret code with an eco-purchase and the correct use of one of the third party connected app, that certifies a sustainable behaviour.
Rewards can be extra point or a specific prizes related to the challenge theme (eg. “My idea for Milano Plastic Free”; “My food revolution”; “Eco-challenge slow travel”; “Eco-challenge Wonder Green Woman”).
Periodic release of the app has been done to develop new functionalities and fix bugs. For instance: a new algorithm is now available, with the goal of privileging interesting content (sequence is determined combining more factors such as time and the number of interactions) and the “Invite a friend”, “check-in”, “QR code” and “secret code” functionality have been activated.
What results have been achieved? What are the potentials and obstacles?
An on-line survey proposed to SharingMi users (June 2019) gave quite a relevant feedback on how much “using the SharingMi app impacted people’s behaviors”: more than a half of the participants feel more connected to important sustainability campaigns at global or local level and almost one third declare that they are having more conversations about the topics in the app with friends and are more aware of their purchasing choices.
SharingMi key innovative features are:
- Behaviour change at its core: SharingMi provides a unique entry point for people seeking to learn, engage with or champion sustainable activities in the city
- Adaptability: SharingMi structure can be shaped and fine-tuned to support the on-going eco-agenda of the city, be it urban resilience, life-style habits, mobility, sustainable energy, community engagement, …
- Appealing Alternatives: The SharingMi approach makes the eco-themes more stimulating and engaging
- Reciprocal Cycles: SharingMi connects and aligns the needs of local government to the aspirations of citizens and businesses in order to create reciprocal relationships and impact
- Digital meets Physical: The platform seeks to create meaningful change by connecting citizens with each other (in their real city life) and with pro-environmental services via integrated digital platforms.
One of the main difficulties is related to the huge communication effort necessary to increase the app visibility and on-board users and rewarding partners.
[ultimo aggiornamento: 18/01/2021]
Research team at PoliMi
Giuliana Gemini, Federico Lia, Irene Vegetti – Consorzio Poliedra
Altri partner
Greenapes – NEU
PROJECT
SharingCities (2016-2021)
Lighthouse Smart Cities Horizon 2020 SCC-01-2015
35 partners: cities, industry representatives, NGOs and academia
