Dear Reviewer!
Thank you for volunteering your valuable time and expertise to help us turn this playbook into a great resource!
Throughout the following pages you will find “grey” slides like this to explain the section & tasks ahead. Please remember that we plan to have a website for this content, as well as a pdf version.
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Market Entry
Playbook
A community-first approach to new mobility services
Introduction
Innovation and the adoption of new technologies in cities is driven by new mobility, making up 20% of innovation procurement in the US in 2019, for example. Furthermore, disruptive new mobility services like scooters, dockless bicycles and ride-sourcing services are being deployed by private companies, often without municipal permission.
Mobility is therefore pioneering urban innovation methods that will not just lead to direct outcomes for communities, but also set the precedent for many other urban services. As pioneers we need to hold ourselves to our own standards in delivering equity and value through our work. The ‘Community First’ approach to new mobility services we present in this playbook embraces this responsibility.
We are offering this guide to professionals dealing with new mobility services in government and outside to explain the ‘Community First’ approach. It lays out why this approach means both better business and better community value and provides you with both the minimum standards as well as sophisticated strategies.
You will notice that this guide does not require regulatory or legal changes to the way government works. Instead, it shows you a more intentional pathway that safeguards the purpose of your work, to serve the community, and the fair procedure of government when it comes to procurement, regulation and permitting.
“There is a need for a new market-entry mechanism of new mobility solutions and technologies. It needs to be truly accessible to and inclusive of the voices and ideas of disadvantaged communities in our cities. To achieve this, it needs to meet communities where they are and offer a new way to convey and co-create possible futures and choices.”
Workshop Report - NUMO Working Group on Market Entry (2019)
About this Playbook
1. Our vision for better market entry
2. How can I put my community first?
3. Knowledge resources
4. Toolbox
5. Case studies
6. Acknowledgements
Dear Reader!
This playbook is designed to help cities of all sizes and capabilities adopt new mobility services in a more orderly and inclusive way.
Every city is different, so our aim is to provide you with a framework and a set of priorities to build your own ‘community first’ strategy for new mobility services.
Explore the scenarios, methods and resources provided in this playbook and check out the support NUMO can provide you along the way.
We believe cities need a ‘community first’ market entry mechanism when dealing with new mobility services. Here is an overview of the rationale and approach and why you should adopt it.
Choose one of three scenarios to see how you can use the ‘community first’ approach in your city when being faced with the entrance of a new mobility service. Each scenario provides practical resources to guide you through the process.
Access background, research and supporting information about the key concepts that inform the ‘community first’ approach.
A collection of tools, methods and tactics used in this playbook illustrated by examples and deliverables.
A collection of examples of ‘community first’ practices highlighting key features and take-aways to help you design your actions.
Thank you to members of the NUMO Working Group on Market Entry and people contributing information and background through surveys and interviews.
Our Research & Methodology
Community engagement
Market entry
How we got here.
The methods, practices and ideas presented in this playbook have been led by a cross-sector work group convened by NUMO and draws on extensive research into community engagement and market entry (see right).
Whilst our recommendations are founded on research, we have made an attempt to present concepts in the most accessible form to the reader.
During 2019 we carried out original research to collect and classify over 100 global community engagement practices using a theoretical framework that focuses on the quality of learning and empowerment that are provided.
To arrive at recommendations presented here, we engaged the work group members as well as interviews with expert practitioners.
To formulate the market entry actions we conducted research on city procurement, but also draw extensively on known research and the experience of Citymart and the work group members to articulate the workflow and its individual components.
We have done our best to provide references, examples or cases to inspire your decisions and actions.
You can access our research on community engagement here.
You can access our research on market entry here.
You can access our Key Concepts & Resources page here.
Our Vision for better Market Entry
[Reviewer: This section provides the ‘Community First’ rationale. It should answer why there is a need for change, why you should use this playbook and provide an overview of the ‘Community First’ Market Entry mechanism.]
1.
The way innovations enter our communities matters.
From: Disruption on our doorstep
To: Listening and co-creating a future
Traditional frameworks for market entry of transport systems in cities have been successful for public and mass transport services (bus, taxi, metro) where lengthy and rigid processes of public contracting or permitting are the norm.
Disruptive new mobility services like scooters, dockless bicycles and ride-sourcing services are being deployed by private companies, which puts pressure on traditional permitting and procurement processes especially when deployed without municipal permission. As of now, market entry attempts of such services have been disorderly and/or conditions have not been ideal for community stakeholders. Additionally, operators have often failed to build on lessons from previous experiences of unregulated transport services.
In this playbook, we propose a ‘community first’ approach starts by identifying the needs of communities first when deploying new mobility services.
We start by patiently listening for actual needs, fears and aspirations. We listen even harder for those whose voice often remains unheard.
We also listen actively for good ideas from innovators and combine these to co-create our desired futures, empowering communities to play an active and informed role.
From there we can deploy best practices in market engagement, financial modelling and contract mechanisms to deliver better outcomes.
Signs that Market Entry isn’t working well enough
Equity
Economy
Quality and Safety of Public Space
Business Risk
Competition
Environment
Even in city-led efforts, it is often comparatively lower-income and nonwhite neighborhoods like the Bronx that receive services like CityBike with major delays. This observation is also echoed by studies that showed e.g., London’s bike share primarily benefits 18-34 y/o white males.
Ride-sourcing services risk pulling revenue from public transit, adding to congestion and exacerbating overstretched taxi permitting economies in cities. They may also undermine planned sustainable infrastructure investments by providing a superficial quick fix.
Clutter, congestion and unregulated deployment of devices and services risk undermining efforts to improve urban spaces and increase safety for all road users, especially vulnerable residents such as children and the elderly.
In the absence of clear market entry guidelines and pathways, companies are encouraged to enter the market first in unregulated ways that risk breaking the law and expose them to unpredictable regulatory and competitive risks.
A lack of market entry pathways disproportionately benefits venture capital-backed operators that can afford the risk and high cost of asking for forgiveness later whilst community-oriented operators, which often must take more measured approaches, are left behind.
Many disruptions are presented as universal positives for the environment, but often their full-scale impact is unknown. Thousands of abandoned bikes, increased car ridership and unknown device lifecycles raise concerns.
Six reasons why you should follow this playbook.
1/ Innovate with meaning
2/ Secure your investments
3/ Be purposeful
4/ Save resources
5/ ‘Fear of missing out’ isn’t a strategy
6/ Build trust
We love innovation! This playbook helps you direct it toward outcomes that matter to people most in need. It is good business: Funding, political and public enthusiasm rarely run dry for things that work.
We love smart decisions! This playbook helps you gather the insights about community needs, markets and best practices. Armed with knowledge, you make smarter choices at every turn of the way.
We love procurement! This playbook helps you work in ways that are more flexible and open. By having a clear purpose, narrative and tools you will avoid common pitfalls.
We love efficiency! All too often what looks free comes at a high cost later on. Seeing the bigger picture will help you prioritize time, effort and funds to avoid costly surprises.
We love confidence! This playbook helps you develop a position of strength, knowing what you need and why. By putting your community first you will be in a better place to chart your own course and avoid distractions.
We love clear intent! This playbook helps you understand what it takes to build and maintain trust through planning, listening, learning, co-creating and showing results to all constituents in the urban innovation.
What is Community First?
What is Community First?
When is it NOT Community First?
By ‘community first’ we engage and empower communities in decisions about new and future mobility solutions, prioritizing the needs and aspirations of disadvantaged communities. New mobility opportunities should be evaluated against their priorities and aspirations.
It requires planning and decision processes to be truly inclusive and ensures equitable practices are upheld. Neighborhoods and communities that need additional support and resources are empowered by tools that increase knowledge and access.
We cannot characterize a process as ‘community first’ if it...
The ‘Community First’ Market Entry Journey
We have developed a “market entry journey” that combines best practices in community engagement with best practices in market engagement, evaluation of offerings and contract management - whether in procurement, permitting or regulation.
The journey is tailored to help you deal with new mobility services at a variety of scales. Our scenarios in the next section will show how you can apply these practices to different situations. Further, we provide access to the methods and examples for each step along the way.
Full size journey on next page
The ‘Community First’ Market Entry Journey
LEARN MORE
How can I put my community first?
[Reviewer: This section provides the main entry point to the playbook. If you are a user on the website, you would choose one of the three scenarios (A, B or C) to explore the market entry journey most suited to you.
You may find some repetition in this linear format, so please bear in mind that on a website you would not see the scenarios that don’t work for you.]
2.
What path is right for you?
A/ I need the best decision - now.
B/ I want to get a major project right.
C/ I want to ready my community.
A disruption just appeared in my city and I need to engage communities around it to make a policy decision in the next 3-6 months.
I have a new mobility project in the pipeline around which I want to maximize community organizing, participation and empowerment.
I want to build capacity in my community to be an informed and empowered partner for urban mobility and other innovations.
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
Create Policy
Engage Market
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
create
Plans
Engage
Market
Empower-
ment
Plan
Invest
Measure
Learn
Engage Market
Co-
Create
Plans
Lead
What path is right for you?
A/ I need the best decision - now.
B/ I want to get a major project right.
C/ I want to ready my community.
A disruption just appeared in my city and I need to engage communities around it to make a policy decision in the next 3-6 months.
I have a new mobility project in the pipeline around which I want to maximize community organizing, participation and empowerment.
I want to build capacity in my community to be an informed and empowered partner for urban mobility and other innovations.
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
Create Policy
Engage Market
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
create
Plans
Engage
Market
Empower-
ment
Plan
Invest
Measure
Learn
Engage Market
Co-
Create
Plans
Lead
A/ Scenario
Your goals for this assignment
Your strategy outline
Glide, the shared magic carpet company that everyone is talking about, has just pitched your Mayor. They picked your city to be among the first three ‘Glide Cities’.
The Mayor wants you to see if shared flying carpets are a fit for your city. Your first thoughts are:
1/ Glide is a startup. What if people really like magic carpet rides but they run out of money because the business model doesn’t work?
2/ Glide wants to operate mostly in rich neighborhoods, not the SloMa area where 50% of low income residents live and need new mobility options.
A/ ‘Community First’ Market Entry (recap)
Draft short action plan for Mayor
Engage SloMa residents to find out what they need
“Glide wants to come to town!”
Market research and engagement on magic carpets and alternative ideas
Get community involved in thinking about magic carpets and alternative ideas
Invite Glide and others to pitch their offering
LEARN MORE
A/ Task Sheet - Breakdown of your goals
1/ Does this solve a priority problem?
2/ What are the market dynamics?
3/ How early do we need to be?
A/ Plan ‘Community First’
Capture the expectations for the process, set your goals and break them down into tangible items to resolve.
PLAN ‘COMMUNITY FIRST’
Draft short action plan for Mayor
“Glide wants to come to town!”
A/ Engagement Experience
Even short-term engagements can deliver five core engagement experiences.
1/ I TRUST
5/ I AM EMPOWERED
2/ I KNOW
3/ I UNDERSTAND
4/ I CAN CONTRIBUTE
Resident Journey
Even in a few weeks you can build some trust..
Help people describe their needs, desires and priorities.
Explain the innovation in an engaging and nuanced way.
Accept that people have different ways of contributing.
Learn more about co-creation methods.
Create ‘quick wins’ - show that voices lead to results.
EXPLORE COMMUNITY NEED / ASPIRATION
A/ Market
Response
Mobilize the power of the market to find innovative ideas. Learn about both technology as well as the economic and workforce dynamics.
MARKET RESPONSE
Market research magic carpets and alternative ideas
Choosing your procurement path
Get community involved in thinking about magic carpets and alternative ideas
Invite Glide and others to pitch
Operator engagement to collect details
A/ Evaluate,
pilot, plan
Invest in developing a smart and inclusive methodology that will help you learn until the last stages. Try not to discriminate against small business and consider small budgets to fund pilots or other steps to test claims.
EVALUATE, PILOT, PLAN
Design a smart evaluation method
Use pilots as appropriate
Choose the best deployment path
Use your learnings to determine the best contracting / operations model
- permitting
- procurement
- regulation
Involve community in evaluation
A/ (Agile)
Contract Management
Don’t overlook contract management! A lot can be gained by working with an operator who is truly engaged in continuous improvements.
Try to build flexibility into contracts so that you can adapt what you measure to make sure you really get the best outcomes for your residents.
(AGILE) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
Deploy the new mobility service!
Integrated Mobility Hubs in LA
Work with operators on improvements
Evaluate impact / KPIs
Develop a purposeful contract
Tailor your action list
We have prepared a text version of this market entry journey to help you customize your plan.
What path is right for you?
A/ I need the best decision - now.
B/ I want to get a major project right.
C/ I want to ready my community.
A disruption just appeared in my city and I need to engage communities around it to make a policy decision in the next 3-6 months.
I have a new mobility project in the pipeline around which I want to maximize community organizing, participation and empowerment.
I want to build capacity in my community to be an informed and empowered partner for urban mobility and other innovations.
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
Create Policy
Engage Market
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
create
Plans
Engage
Market
Empower-
ment
Plan
Invest
Measure
Learn
Engage Market
Co-
Create
Plans
Lead
B/ Scenario
Your goals for this assignment
Your strategy outline
“I am responsible for bringing innovative solutions to our mobility transformation project, a 10 year plan to make the city centre more connected, healthier, safer, playful.”
City Council is excited about innovations that are on the horizon, from micro-mobility to electric and autonomous vehicles, creating new job opportunities in a clean and vibrant inner city economy and offering opportunities for local startups.
City Council is worried about creating a plan that is not future-proof, is not improving the historic inequities (especially for SoMa residents), is undermining economic vitality for small business by curtailing access to cars, is too expensive in capital or operating expenditures or leads to job losses.
B/ ‘Community First’ Market Entry
Draft short action plan to explain ‘community first’ to leadership
Do user-research and engage SloMa residents to find out their needs
“Bring inclusive innovation to our city centre transformation”
Get community involved in thinking about new solutions
LEARN MORE
Market research and engagement to collect innovative ideas that fit priorities
(can include incoming new mobility pitches)
Develop projects / feed into mobility plan
B/ Task Sheet - Breakdown of your goals
1/ What are the priority needs?
2/ What are the market dynamics?
3/ What is a future-proof plan?
B/ Plan ‘Community First’
Capture the expectations for the process, set your goals and break them down into tangible items to resolve.
PLAN ‘COMMUNITY FIRST’
Draft short action plan to explain ‘Community First’ to leadership
“Bring inclusive innovation to our city centre transformation”
B/ Engagement Experience
Even project-based engagements can deliver five core engagement experiences and contribute to longer term trust and capabilities.
1/ I TRUST
5/ I AM EMPOWERED
2/ I KNOW
3/ I UNDERSTAND
4/ I CAN CONTRIBUTE
Resident Journey
Even in a few weeks you can build some trust.
Help people describe their needs, desires and priorities.
Explain relevant innovations in an engaging and nuanced way.
Accept that people have different ways of contributing.
Learn more about co-creation methods.
Create ‘quick wins’ - show that voices lead to results.
EXPLORE COMMUNITY NEED / ASPIRATION
Our engagement experience is derived from our research and expert practitioner interviews carried out in 2019, capturing the most important steps to empower residents and help them make informed contributions,
B/ Market
Response
Mobilize the power of the market to find innovative ideas. Learn about both technology as well as the economic and workforce dynamics.
MARKET RESPONSE
Market research relevant solutions
Choosing your procurement path
Get community thinking about new ideas
Invite operators to pitch
Operator engagement to collect details
B/ Evaluate,
pilot, plan
Invest in developing a smart and inclusive methodology that will help you learn until the last stages. Try not to discriminate against small business and consider small budgets to fund pilots or other steps to test claims.
EVALUATE, PILOT, PLAN
Design a smart evaluation method
Designing an evaluation framework
Use pilots as appropriate
Choose the best deployment path
Use your learnings to determine the best contracting / operations model
- permitting
- procurement
- regulation
Involve community in evaluation
B/ (Agile)
Contract Management
Don’t overlook contract management! A lot can be gained by working with an operator who is truly engaged in continuous improvements.
Try to build flexibility into contracts so that you can adapt what you measure to make sure you really get the best outcomes for your residents.
(AGILE) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
Deploy the new mobility service!
Integrated Mobility Hubs in LA
Work with operators on improvements
Evaluate impact / KPIs
Develop a purposeful contract
Tailor your action list
We have prepared a text version of this market entry journey to help you customize your plan.
What path is right for you?
A/ I need the best decision - now.
B/ I want to get a major project right.
C/ I want to ready my community.
A disruption just appeared in my city and I need to engage communities around it to make a policy decision in the next 3-6 months.
I have a new mobility project in the pipeline around which I want to maximize community organizing, participation and empowerment.
I want to build capacity in my community to be an informed and empowered partner for urban mobility and other innovations.
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
Create Policy
Engage Market
Plan
Listen
Learn
Co-
create
Plans
Engage
Market
Empower-
ment
Plan
Invest
Measure
Learn
Engage Market
Co-
Create
Plans
Lead
C/ Scenario
Your goals for this assignment
Your strategy outline
The Mayor wants your city to be a leader in ‘community-first mobility innovation’, where all residents are empowered to participate in a meaningful way in exploring new ideas.
Your city wants to open up to meaningful innovations by building capacity in historically disadvantaged communities to plan and shape their mobility future.
By capacity we mean that communities can organize, articulate and prioritize their needs as well as truly understand the potential of innovations in their context.
By participation we mean that they are empowered to learn, be part of decisions and hold operators accountable for outcomes.
C/ ‘Community First’ Capability Development
Draft action plan
Engage residents to develop ‘community first offering’ to support community organizing
Market research and engagement to collect innovative ideas that fit priorities
(can include incoming new mobility pitches)
Get community involved in thinking about new solutions
Invite operators to present proposals in response to ideas developed by the community
LEARN MORE
Align around high-level community first approach
Help communities organize to establish priorities and track outcomes
C/ Task Sheet - Breakdown of your goals
1/ What capabilities do we have?
2/ What is our offer to communities?
3/ Can we explain innovations?
C/ Plan ‘Community First’
Capture the expectations for the process, set your goals and develop an action plan and strategy.
PLAN ‘COMMUNITY FIRST’
Draft action plan
Align around high-level community first approach
‘Community First’ Strategy
C/ Engagement Experience
You can build capabilities through five core engagement experiences.
1/ I TRUST
5/ I AM EMPOWERED
2/ I KNOW
3/ I UNDERSTAND
4/ I CAN CONTRIBUTE
Resident Journey
Take good time to build trust.
Develop your offering in consultation with organizations and groups that are trusted by communities
Recruit & train organizers from target communities
Be a patient listener - on any subject
Be present and share your purpose honestly
Help people describe their needs, desires and priorities.
Community organizing should determine needs, problems and aspirations
Engage the community to prioritize these needs
Report progress on priority outcomes
Explain innovations in engaging and nuanced ways.
Be creative in how you let people experience new ideas
Explain the innovation and the bigger systems into which it fits
Be upfront about tricky and controversial issues
Give grants to allow residents to take charge
People have different ways of contributing.
Plan events and formats that work for your target groups
Avoid activities that bias toward the ‘usual suspects’
Use creative means like experience prototyping
Learn more about co-creation methods.
Demonstrate that voices lead to results.
Make the contribution count: build something, vote on a decision, commit to a tangible follow-up action
Commit to being held accountable
EXPLORE COMMUNITY NEED / ASPIRATION
Our engagement experience is derived from our research and expert practitioner interviews carried out in 2019, capturing the most important steps to empower residents and help them make informed contributions,
C/ Market
Response
Mobilize the power of the market to find innovative ideas to help your community achieve their priorities.
Learn about both technology as well as the economic and workforce dynamics and see how the innovation integrates with other measures (context).
MARKET RESPONSE
Market research solutions that fit priorities
Combine a variety of methods and sources
Discover alternatives solutions for each need
Identify all possible operators and business models
Get community involved in thinking about magic carpets and alternative ideas
Find creative ways to share market opportunities
Provide access to full information and evaluations
Invite operators to bid / pitch
Make good use of research and community input to develop a formal procedure
Issue tender, RFx, application for permits
Operator engagement to collect details
Allow operators to share additional info
Provide a level playing field by issuing RFIs
(or create a permanent open call)
Provide extra support to local entrepreneurs
C/ Evaluate,
pilot, plan
Invest in developing a smart and inclusive methodology that will help you learn until the last stages. Try not to discriminate against small business and consider small budgets to fund pilots or other steps to test claims.
EVALUATE, PILOT, PLAN
Design a smart evaluation method
Designing an evaluation framework
Use pilots as appropriate
Choose the best deployment path
Use your learnings to determine the best contracting / operations model
- permitting
- procurement
- regulation
Involve community in evaluation
C/ (Agile)
Contract Management
Don’t overlook contract management! A lot can be gained by working with an operator who is truly engaged in continuous improvements.
Try to build flexibility into contracts so that you can adapt what you measure to make sure you really get the best outcomes for your residents.
(AGILE) CONTRACT MANAGEMENT
Deploy the new mobility service!
Integrated Mobility Hubs in LA
Work with operators on improvements
Evaluate impact / KPIs
Develop a purposeful contract
Tailor your action list
We have prepared a text version of this market entry journey to help you customize your plan.
Knowledge resources
[Reviewer: This section serves as a repository of further resources and background such as the glossary, research, support.
Note, that on a website it would act more as an on-demand resource rather than a central part of the experience.]
3.
Key Concepts & Resources
Glossary
Research behind this playbook
Background: What is Community First?
Background: What is Market Entry?
Troubleshooting advice
How NUMO can help
Atlas of Community Engagement
Financing ‘Community First’
New mobility and urban innovation use a lot of terminology that might be new to you. Our Glossary is here to help.
This playbook was developed with stewardship of a cross-sector working group.
Our research into community engagement and organizing practices has helped us develop a definition of ‘Community-first’
We have studied market entry mechanisms for mobility and transportation. Learn what we found.
Stuck along the way? The community may have some answers for you.
[Ideally access to Q&A from practitioners]
[Explain how NUMO can be a resource to help your city to implement ‘community first’ market entry]
We ran a global search for community engagement practices. You can browse 100+ practices here.
Your city should be the prime investor in community first activities. But there are other sources of financing you may tap.
Live document with resources related to financing community first approaches
What are Market Entry Mechanisms?
We refer to Market Entry Mechanisms as the way by which urban mobility offerings become available.
Cars entered our cities as private, unregulated consumer products. Many privately operated taxi and bus services entered through forms of permitting, whilst metros and subways were procured as public infrastructure.
As we look back in history, we can identify three market entry mechanisms. Sometimes we see the evolution from one to another, for example through post-entry regulation.
Private
Unregulated
New Mobility Service
Regulated
Private → Public
Public → Private
Companies enter with no communication with the public sector
Companies enter unilaterally but eventually get regulated by government
Regulatory Action
Permitting
Competitive Tender / Procurement
Unsolicited Proposal
Mechanism
Path
Strategy
Disruption
3
1
2
4
5
6
What is Community First?
What is Community First?
When is it NOT Community First?
By ‘community first’ we mean that decisions about new and future mobility solutions should be evaluated against the priorities and aspiration of a community, including its most disadvantaged members.
It requires planning and decision processes to be truly inclusive, meaning that participants are met where they are today and are empowered by knowledge and shared leadership.
We cannot characterize a process as ‘community first’ if it...
Note:
Our definition of what is and is not ‘community first’ builds on established frameworks like the Arnstein ladder or the public engagement continuum that methods that provide empowerment or not. We add to this the learning / knowledge dimension which is especially important to understand innovations and emerging futures.
Toolbox
[This section contains the background information for the individual tools to which the playbook sections link.
It is not intended to be read as a chapter on its own.]
4.
1. Problem-framing & contextualizing
METHODS
A needs or problem statement is a formal document that describes the status quo and a desired outcome. It is used to align stakeholders and residents, communicate purpose, provide critical context, secure resources, define award criteria and timeframes for action.
.
Melbourne used problem-framing to engage stakeholders and later communicate a clear statement of needs to the market.
(see next page for full detail)
Einstein famously said that if he had only 1 hour to save the world, he would spend 55 minutes on framing the problem. Your market-entry will only be as good as the purpose you set out to achieve. Doing this well is no longer an art, but a technique.
Validated statement of need | Make sure you have involved users and stakeholders to develop the needs and problems to be solved. Your statement should be suitable to attract all possible solutions! |
Problem statement and root causes | Make sure you are able to clearly discern the desired outcomes from underlying problems and root causes. |
Prior learnings | List prior attempts to meet the needs and what was learned in the process. |
What success would look like | Describe in clear and tangible terms what success would look like. |
Resource statement | What financial and other resources and assets are used today to meet the need, and what additional resources could be available. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
Melbourne detail
METHODS
Problem statement developed by City of Melbourne.
2. Community first strategy
METHODS
A strategy that defines of the purpose, values, goals and methods by which innovations in mobility will be deployed in your city. It can be a comprehensive city-wide strategy or an action plan for a short-term undertaking.
In 2018 Edinburgh City Council asked its planning department to report on and provide a strategy for better engagement of young people in the planning process to give young people a stronger voice on issues which affect their lives, showcase their ideas and talents. Ultimately, the aim was to challenge the status quo and create a more positive perception of youth in society.
Measures included a youth volunteer program, planning workshops at schools with youth and children, co-creation activities at youth events and festivals, including specific requirements for developers to include children and youth in pre-project consultation and creating a dedicated youth survey for the city centre transformation and mobility plans.
Market entry entails both the modalities of procurement, permitting and regulation as well as the determination on whether an innovation is meaningful to our community. A strategy guides the process and decisions to encourage a pattern of decisions that result in good accountability, fair market engagement, thoughtful use of resources, focus on what matters and an overall advancement of policy objectives.
Statement of purpose | Define what you want to accomplish by introducing new mobility services in your city. Can include: target groups, tackling chronic or new needs, opening to innovators, improve services. |
Statement of values | Define the values underlying your process. This can include community empowerment, fairness for small business, inclusion of disadvantaged groups, focus on priority outcomes, accepting risk. |
Methods | Explain available processes like community organizing, co-creation, market research, selecting winners, piloting, regulation, permitting and procurement. |
Resources | What resources are available to support your ‘community first market entry’ strategy - financial, assets, partners, prior experiences and expert staff. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
3. Engagement narrative
METHODS
Explain to participants why you want to involve them, what they have to gain and what you expect them to give. A narrative is not just a compelling poster, but a vision of a journey you hope to co-create with your stakeholders and residents.
Kaboom! Is a charity that promotes kid friendly and playful cities. Their research and vision, honed over 20+ years, has led to a practice in which playgrounds only succeed if children and the community are involved in providing them. Kaboom! Has also excelled at providing a compelling narrative to participation; you will improve health and other measurable outcomes for your children and create a more lively, safer and beautiful place by getting involved.
The narrative is tailored to serve specific audiences that are needed to participate: City leaders, project implementers, businesses, child-, family-, and community-serving organizations.
People, especially those struggling in their day-to-day lives are busy and often times lack positive experiences of being heard or participating. You need to excite them to join this undertaking without overselling - something that would erode trust and make it harder the next time round. A narrative also helps local media, organizations and partners buy into the journey you are charting.
Vision and mission | Explain what success would look like to all, with a clear set of actions to be taken to achieve that outcome. |
Tailored to target groups | Provide tailored messages to the different stakeholder audiences you might have: government officials, businesses, operators, residents, schools, organizations, different language groups. |
Validate | Involve members of your target groups in developing the narrative to make sure it is owned by all. |
Evidence and cases | Try to create shared truths through your narrative around which all groups can agree. Avoid judging, politically tinged or operator-biased messaging that may alienate people or groups. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
4. Recruitment & training
METHODS
The best way to build trust is to support community organizers or recruit your facilitation team from the community. Can include finding and recruiting people trusted in the community and empowering them through training and other resources.
The Brownsville Partnership recruited its facilitation team to lead the community organizing effort in Brownsville. The goal was to use every available resource to empower the community, build capacity for local leadership and thereby help the community find its own voice. The team attended training program by Professor Marshall Ganz at Harvard Kennedy School to gain capabilities, a shared perspective on the journey ahead and an independent curriculum that would serve the community.
Over 10 years, this approach has led to the Brownsville Partnership becoming an independent community organization managing a sophisticated transformation program.
Experts report that engagement efforts are most empowering if they build on existing community organizing activities without manipulating their efforts. It can be helpful to provide grants or stipends to help community organizers professionalize and access proven, independent training resources.
Map people and capabilities | Establish the available resources for community organizing in your target community as well as their capabilities. In some cases you will find ready teams to invest in, in others you may a handful of trusted people or no resources at all. |
Budget time and resources | Establish what budget and resources are going to be most helpful to build capacity and capability. Ensure that you are not adding to volatility by providing a short-term burst of funding and no sustained resources. |
Work with people and organizations | Recruitment and training will be most effective if you work together with the people who will be involved, as well as the available organizations. Be mindful not to recruit facilitators to ‘convince’ the community, but to help a community find their voice. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
5. User research
Building Blocks
Use of immersive techniques like interviews, observation and co-creation as well as gathering data, legal and process information to better understand unmet needs of community members or have actionable case information at hand.
Swindon Council created LIFE as a new approach to stop the cycle of crisis for a small number of families that fall through the social services net. In the development phase, the team spent 8 weeks experiencing the families’ lived realities and made a study of the frontline workers involved with these families. They found, for example, that 74% of worker’s time was spent on admin and just 14% on working with families. Neither the frontline workers nor the families felt content or empowered in this system. LIFE took these findings to provide a new service co-located in their estate and offered by a team selected by families now empowered to participate in coordinating services they receive.
Immersive and research techniques can help identify needs are a complement or alternative to community engagement, offering at times deeper insights than residents or constituents might be able to articulate. Further, rigorous practice can deliver accurate case files to help better tailor and solve needs of people, families or groups.
User research plan | Establish the purpose of your user research activity, identifying target groups and desired outcomes. Be mindful of the difference between a one-off deep-dive and ongoing data gathering. For example, you may need weekly data on homeless people and a quarterly observation of transport and care providers serving to improve system behaviors. |
Methods | Identify the most suitable places, methods and tools you will use to achieve the desired outcomes. Be mindful that immersive techniques are also influenced by the observer who will have a presence but also a reporting bias. |
Resource needs & partnerships | What financial and other resources and assets will you need to accomplish this task and are there smart ways to share efforts with partners? |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
6. Build trust
METHODS
The confidence of people in your promise to listen, inform and empower them without manipulation. Don’t take this for granted as many communities (especially the most vulnerable) have had disappointments in the past.
The City of Austin Equity Office is tasked with measuring and coordinating progress to tackle racial inequities in the city. Community trust was damaged over generations by social injustices such as the racial divides conceived in the 1928 master plan.
Austin’s Annual Equity Forum provides an important opportunity for city staff, community organizers and residents to build trust by discussing progress, sharing experiences and holding the city accountable using the Equity Dashboard that tracks progress in the city.
People will not invest time if they don’t trust the process you are offering. If you value engagement and co-creation, trust has to be built one step at the time.
Set expectations | Be open about what you are able to deliver, how ‘homework’ is going, what can go wrong. |
Recruit local | Recruit facilitators locally and provide them with quality training to manage the process. |
Listen | An open listening period is essential to build trust. Allow people to express themselves, their problems and desires. |
Prioritize problems, aspirations & needs | Help the community organize to express their priorities. Avoid steering them toward issues you need answered. |
Report | Investigate and report back on concerns and priorities for example by collecting data and convening city leaders. |
Fund independent advice | People may not trust your experts. Help them find and pay for their own trusted advisers. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
7. Establishing community priorities
METHODS
Community engagement needs to capture, without manipulation, what priority needs, problems and aspirations are held by residents. They often include Key Performance Indicators or other outcome measures to track progress.
Community Solutions, an independent non-profit, initiated the Brownsville Partnership by recruiting local community organizers and sending them to a high quality training program at Harvard Kennedy School.
Over a three month “Listen” period community organizers helped establish the priority issues for Brownsville residents through workshops and information campaigns.
Priorities are reported on regularly and led to the Brownsville Plan. It is used to hold agencies accountable for reporting improvements and delivery.
Einstein famously said that if he had only 1 hour to save the world, he would spend 55 minutes on framing the problem.
The same applies to community priorities. They are the foundational piece in helping us determine if resources are allocated effectively and whether or not an innovation in mobility is relevant.
Due process | Make sure you have involved community, even those who are hard to reach, to collect their needs, problems and aspirations. Invest here to build a solid foundation. |
Capture needs, problems, aspirations | Involve the community and contribute information, data and research to help describe needs in ways that help you track actual progress and success. |
Prioritize | Help community members consolidated related needs into larger items. Agree on a trusted process to prioritizing needs. Prioritizing is done best openly, involving constituents. |
Report | Show results by using the priorities right away to report on the current state as a baseline for future actions and holding stakeholders accountable to outcomes. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
8. Communicating innovation
METHODS
Communities will be empowered to shape their future if they can intuitively grasp the innovation on offer. Instead of seeing the gadget, they need to see how it can be combined and fit into a desirable future.
Go! Austin / Vamos! Austin is a public health, science-based non-profit initiative that uses community organizing to improve knowledge about and equitable access to healthy lifestyles by engaging and developing community leaders who identify, initiate, and lead efforts to reduce barriers to healthy food and safe physical activity in their neighborhoods and schools.
Residents build first-hand knowledge, engage and take ownership in the built environment, policy, and health promotion. The collective efficacy of this network encourages peers, friends, and neighbors to civically and socially engage to support positive changes in their community environment.
All too often we put up maps, plans and sections for consultation. Or we sell our idea. Or we ask people if they want that new mobility gadget. Instead we should empower people to understand how this innovation could play out in good or bad ways, what it will mean for their lives and what choices / alternatives they have. In short, good communication means empowering everyone to explore their future.
Put it in context | Describe all the systems and plans to which the innovation will relate. Capture opportunities, unknowns and risks. Collect relevant data. |
Plan, meeting or experience? | Use creative, experiential ways to dip into the future. It could be a block party, a pop-up park, an exhibition or a study tour. Meet people where they are. |
It is never just transport | New mobility services are more than just means of getting from A to B. Make sure you explain the social, economic and environmental dynamics also. |
Research alternatives | Do not get stuck on a specific gadget, but help communities explore alternatives that have a similar impact to broaden their choice and imagination. |
Provide grants | If trust is an issue or organizers want to take initiative, be prepared to give grants |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
9. Dealing with incoming innovations
METHODS
A method to deal with new, disruptive new mobility services that reach your city. You may get petitioned by constituents, asked permission by an operator or they may just show up (and ask forgiveness later).
The City of Boston was inundated with pitches from startups and corporations to deliver smart city solutions. It led to disperse pilots and a growing lack of accountability and clear strategy.
The city published its Smart Cities Playbook in 2016, explaining how the city expects to interact with the market and what it is looking for. It also released a Smart Cities RFI, inviting providers to submit information to the city - and releasing all 100 submissions to the public.
This process allowed Boston to regain the initiative, align internal stakeholders as well as provide clear public messaging.
Innovation and disruption in transportation are accelerating, meaning that you will be required to respond to new ideas regularly. A method will help you defuse the pressures of public opinion, politics, operators, media and vested transportation interests. Without such guidance, you risk producing an erratic pattern of decisions that don’t advance your policy goals.
Clarify primary policy goals | What are the primary policy goals for new mobility services? These could be ‘a car free city’ or ‘reduced micro-particle pollution’ or ‘Vision Zero’ |
Clarify secondary policy goals | Secondary goals are those that often influence how we act on primary goals. They may include economic development e.g. ‘buy local’ or ‘support startups’; vested interests e.g. ‘don’t disrupt local retail deliveries’. |
Design core workflow | Describe how information should be gathered, decisions be taken, what’s made public. This playbook provides some good workflows to adapt. |
Try scenarios | Test the method against some bluesky scenarios like magic carpets to make sure they work. |
Commit | Be upfront about your method and provide formal channels. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
10. Experience prototypes
METHODS
A prototype take an abstract idea, policy or plan and making it real enough for citizens and stakeholders to engage to it and provide reactions. Typically, prototypes use the simplest means possible to achieve the effect.
San Francisco’s annual Sunday Streets event helps residents experience a city that is car-free and was almost unimaginable to most.
Closing streets and leveraging partnerships with community organizations the city is able to engage citizens in seeing the value for what has become a main city policy goal - the banning of all private cars.
The program also helped public health and sustainability advocates come together around a shared program which today also serves as a showcase for small business through food festivals and other community events.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” When discussing the possible merits of new ideas we need to take into account that people will imagine very different possibilities. Experience prototypes serve as a way of bringing to life an idea that may be hard to imagine otherwise. Without such prototypes, people may be stuck in old thought patterns or misunderstandings.
The essence of what you want to test | Extract the essence of what you want to test and think about creative ways of making it real. Adding complexity may not just lead to a costly prototype, but also confusing learning. |
Your guiding question is just a start | Even if you have done the prototype to explore a specific question, stay alert to other things you may learn from the process that could lead to new insights. |
Frugal approach | Keep things simple, keep them cheap. Avoid elaborate prototypes if you can and favor simple versions that can easily be changed, thrown out or remade in variations. |
Mind your confirmation bias | Make yourself aware by listing biases you and your team bring to this process. For example, most people prefer a success so that they can move on, instead of iterating (more work). |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
11. Co-creation methods
METHODS
Co-creation involves residents, stakeholders (and at times providers) in the design or delivery of a product, plan, service or policy. It can be done in a variety of formats from workshops to jointly building infrastructure.
Long Beach partnered with its LGBTQ community to develop Harvey Milk Promenade Park and Equality Plaza. It is much more than a public space honoring an icon of the gay-rights movement. It also will be an example of civic innovation in action.
Everything about the park — from the memorial wall honoring local LGBT leaders to the placement of pingpong tables — was co-designed with the public. In addition, the city used an innovative procurement process to purchase the park’s outdoor furniture, one that allowed residents to try out tables, chairs, and mobile-device charging stations before the city invested taxpayer money.
Co-creation generally leads to better buy-in and can deliver more effective solutions, new ideas or uses, new finance or service models. The process helps test ideas and solutions with future users as well as explore entirely new concepts that may be more attuned to what matters. Many successful projects not only empower residents to take part, but lead to more actively involved communities later on.
Co-Creation plan | Plan how you will involve even hard to reach users, key stakeholders and suppliers at different stages. Remember, their needs are all very different. |
Co-Creation methods | Design activities around each target group and the solution you are trying to develop. Empathy and having trusted partners will go a long way to avoid alienating people. Did they have a chance to dream? |
Talk about co-creation | Share how co-creation impacted the planning journey and consider if it is of interest of media or specific groups. |
Give users role in formal decisions | Users should stay involved in decisions going forward to recognize their contribution and carry the co-creation benefits through to implementation. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
12. Empowerment methods
METHODS
Cities delegate decision-making power, budgets or control over services to residents. A wide range of formats exist such as binding votes, access to funds, oversight control, access to information , representation on committees.
The Hague (population 544,000) is empowering citizens through a budget of €1.4 million ($1.5 million) to its sustainability scheme, from which grants of up to €8,000 are offered to citizens with ideas for improving the environment or reducing energy and emissions in their neighbourhood.
Grants are combined with support from city staff to help neighbours become a sustainable association or foundation with a feasible idea.
City staff are available even on weekends to provide technical assistance, remove bureaucratic barriers and connect to businesses to get ideas off the ground.
Empowerment can be a tool to build trust, tackle capacity problems in delivering critical services, create more resilience by building community capacity and secure better design and planning decisions. Formats are generally dependent on the purpose to be achieved.
Community organizing | Provide resources and support to communities to rally around interests and needs. This is an investment into civic infrastructure and you cannot expect activities to be always supportive your policies. |
Define the purpose | What need is the empowerment serving and is this clearly understood and shared by all sides? |
The scale | Describe at what scale empowerment needs to happen to be fit for purpose. Don’t be afraid to go big if that’s what is right. List the resources that will fall into the scope. |
The measures | What format will empowerment take and what are the steps to build trust as you work toward full scale? |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
13. Learning, data & measurement
METHODS
Government and services are best managed and understood through data and performance measures. Data is seen as unbiased evidence to measure progress, evaluate and inform decisions.
Philadelphia prepared a multi-million dollar procurement for technologies that deliver better outcomes than traditional infrastructure investments to reduce traffic fatalities.
Looking for data to underpin their needs statement, the city found that it lacked data to develop their statement of needs. The team found that other cities had acquired data and analytics to get a more detailed understanding of behaviors in traffic to inform their spending plans.
Consequently, the city tendered for the provision of such data and analytics and closed a $25,000 contract with a university to provide the data that will underpin its future infrastructure specifications.
Innovation and progress rely on data and metrics to help us keep track of where we are going. Data is integral to framing needs and metrics help us track results against our objectives.
Metrics: Current performance | How is our service performing right now? What data are you using to inform the procurement need? |
Service KPI Key Performance Indicators | What will success look like and how will you measure progress toward your goals? Have users and stakeholders truly participated in developing these KPI? |
Market-entry KPI | Your market-entry KPI should contain both the evaluation criteria as well as performance metrics for the market-entry process itself. |
Measurement Plan for Contract Mgmt | What will we measure, how and at what interval? Describe how this will be used to manage the operator. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
14. Market research
METHODS
Market research is a technique to develop a well informed, timely insight as to the different ways the market can meet a need today or in the future. It is a critical input for scoping, planning and budgeting.
Market research for Dublin’s Last Mile Delivery procurement challenge found four very different ways to solve congestion caused by urban deliveries:
1/ Logistics Management Software,
2/ Autonomous Delivery Vehicles,
3/ On-Demand Delivery and
4/ Electric Cargo Bikes.
1,053 suppliers were found that could deliver these solutions using a variety of financing models such as traditional service contracts, co-funding through advertising, business-to-consumer services and software as a service. The city deployed a combination of five solutions as a pilot in 2019.
Systematic market research delivers inputs to co-creation, design and procurement: What solutions are out there that can meet our needs, how can they be financed, how mature are they, how many suppliers could compete for our contracts?
Market research plan | Allow time and resources for market research in your project plan. |
List of known solutions & ideas | Maintain a list of solutions, products, services (alternatives) that you have discovered and make these available to all stakeholders and constituents. |
Supplier research | Seek out suppliers of all types (third sector, SME, local, startup) that can deliver the outcomes (expect >300). |
Available financing models | Describe the different financing models you have found (e.g. buy-to-own, service contract, pay for success, license, concession) |
Learnings to inform need & KPI | Discuss market research with stakeholders, use it in co-creation sessions and to update your project goals, risk management and resources. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
15. Operator / market engagement
METHODS
Market engagement is a proactive form of dialogue with operators to collect information about new ideas, interest, prices, commercial viability or capacity. It can also involve public presentations, exhibitions and pilots for communities.
San Francisco learned during its street light upgrade project that traditional lighting suppliers were unable to deliver the open universal wireless control system the city desired.
A call for pilots yielded 59 proposals from previously unknown suppliers and the city decided to implement eight pilots to publicly evaluate different systems. The pilots led to better exchange of supplier experience, as well as feedback on privacy concerns from residents. The pilots led to a decision in the city not to pursue a wireless control system because maintenance contractors could not maintain advanced circuit boards in 18,000 streetlights.
Market engagement is a powerful tool to educate the city, open up the conversation about alternatives and validate key assumptions. It helps you get a better grip on how far suppliers might be able to go on adapting solutions, considering new business models or projecting potential impact. It is also useful to defuse attempted lock-ins into ‘exclusive’ proposals from individual operators.
Market engagement plan | What answers did we not get through research? Consider the right times in your project to test the market and plan to do it systematically. |
Use the simplest forms of market engagement | What are the simplest ways of market engagement that you can use in different situations? E.g. RFI, exhibitions, meet the buyer, meet the community, matchmaking events, surveys. |
Avoid false readings by asking the wrong question | Example: Some suppliers will not respond to market testing if they fear that a public information request requires them to reveal a ‘secret sauce’ or unique competitive idea. |
Test, test, test at all stages | If you have simple ways to test the market it can be used at all stages of a project to provide more certainty and improve your statement of needs, help matchmake or create evaluation criteria. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
16. Piloting
METHODS
In the urban setting services or products can be deployed temporarily (piloted) at limited scale or functionality to establish their viability or impact. A prototype is a pre-commercial version to test or develop a product, service or experience.
Santiago brought users, doctors, nurses, health officials and bidders together through a multi-stage contracting process to tackle long wait times in primary healthcare. Finalists at each stage received growing stipends to support their participation, prototyping and pilots.
1/ ideas competition
2/ demo day
3/ neighborhood prototyping bootcamp
4/ pilot contract
5/ a full-scale contract (national roll-out)
The winning solutions were impactful in reducing waiting times, cost effective and had wide acceptance from users, funders and regulators - resulting in accelerated adoption.
When you cannot confidently predict the success of an intervention a pilot or experience prototype can deliver validation and design input. This is especially important in higher risk projects and when adoption is a concern.
List Assumptions & Concerns | Prepare an overview of assumptions that underpin the project or concerns you have and rate them according to your confidence that they are solid. |
Design simplest tests for validation | Each assumption that requires validation can probably be tested, and it is often best to find the simplest way to do so. Need inspiration? Many cities have published their experiences. |
Pilot, prototype, test | Carry out and validate through your preferred method. Focus on the important aspects. Document the outcomes. |
Integrate tests into procurement process | Pilots should be part of the procurement process to avoid creating delays or frustrations. Suppliers should understand the context of any requests ahead of time. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
17. Outcome-based procurement
METHODS
It is an approach to procurement that replaces specifications with a problem statement or description of the desired outcome with varying degrees of openness to allow suppliers to propose different delivery or financing models.
Barcelona wanted to tackle endemic bicycle theft to increase ownership and use of bikes in the city. The tender, with an allocated budget of about EUR 170k, described the problem and measures of success, as well as prior attempts. An ideas competition pre-qualified bidders for a negotiated procedure and market research was published to help suppliers find partners. The city simplified its standard T&C to a concise plain language version to open the tender up to a wider community. Residents founded new companies to present their ideas. The winning solution, Vadebike, is a collaboration between outdoor furniture, a tech and an insurance companies offering an integrated, insured parking solution sustained by user fees.
When you put outcomes before specifications you create bids that are open to new ideas or financing models, increasing competition and diversity. You can use many established paths to take a more open question to market.
Procurement path | Select a procurement path that will deliver the best outcomes at manageable effort. Design all the key steps in the process. |
Test evaluation criteria | Develop evaluation scenarios using market research to test criteria that will deliver the right outcomes. |
Review standard T&C | Check standard Terms & Conditions for barriers to the diversity of solutions and suppliers you are targeting . |
Produce outcomes-focused tender package | The problem / needs statement should take center stage in this tender, together with the evaluation criteria. Be selective in the filters you use to mitigate risk. |
Supplier matchmaking | If you want suppliers to partner to offer more complete solutions, take initiative to facilitate matchmaking. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
18. (Agile) Contract management
METHODS
Agile contract management (CM) is a flexible, partnership oriented approach emphasising collaboration with the supplier. It can mitigate risks more effectively than the traditional ‘waterfall’ model in larger or complex projects.
Stockholm set out to become the world’s most accessible capital city. It saw an opportunity to help visually impaired residents navigate the city more autonomously using technologies.
Instead of a fixed scope waterfall contract, the city pursued a partnership that allowed the technology vendor to work with 300 visually impaired residents to rapidly develop specs, deliver & test prototypes and improve outcomes (and repeat).
This iterative approach was coupled with evaluating not just improvements to the end-users, but modelling the impact of the technology to the wider city economy and budget and led to a transfer of IP to the supplier for exploitation in other cities.
Contract management can reap significant value from projects and manage risks early and collaboratively. Using incremental delivery allows more regular checkpoints to track progress and spot problems to be solved.
Define CM goals upfront | How can we use CM to improve outcomes? Write CM goals and practices into tender documents to build awareness with suppliers and clarify questions before bid. Ideally you will find suppliers that appreciate a proactive CM approach. |
Involve the CM team | If CM is handled by a different team, involve them in planning and resourcing conversations. Make sure you have a shared understanding of agile practices. |
Describe what Agile means for you | Define how agile methods set out metrics and methods and intervals of measuring performance, the way you work with the supplier to improve outcomes. |
Deliver agile CM | Manage, measure, improve, measure, manage... |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
19. Designing the evaluation framework
METHODS
The evaluation framework is made up of the criteria, methods and people you will use to select winning proposals. A good evaluation framework will not only guarantee transparency, but secure good outcomes and mitigate risks.
Barcelona created the BCN Open Challenge to procure innovative solutions against bicycle theft. The RFP was open to any business with at least a prototype, highlighting the importance of evaluation to select new ideas from often small suppliers.
Barcelona designed a two-step selection process with stage 1 being an ‘ideas competition’ whose winners would pre-qualify to a ‘negotiated procedure’.
Evaluation criteria focused on community and environmental outcomes and the city convened an expert panel of business professors to evaluate the financial sustainability of proposed solutions.
Defining an evaluation framework is, together with the problem definition, the most important stage of a procurement, permitting (or at times even regulatory) action. It is also an important signal to operators and other stakeholders about your intentions, trustworthiness and commitment to delivering the best community outcomes.
Define selection criteria | Used to qualify the bidder. The question here is ‘can they do it’. Be thoughtful about creating a level playing field for diverse proposers. |
Define award criteria | Used to evaluate the good or services that are being offered and should identify which of the eligible bidders offer the best value for the community. |
Who is evaluating | Your evaluators should represent the perspectives of your stakeholders and be in a position to make a competent decision. Remember that mobility solutions typically include behavior, social, technical and financial issues. |
Process | You should determine and advertise the process upfront. You have a lot of room to be creative and include steps like interviews, pilots or sub-panels on usability, sustainability etc. |
Why?
Example
Deliverables
What is it?
Deliverables
Practice Highlights
[Reviewer: This section contains cases we have identified through our research.
We are not claiming that these projects are successful, but that they illustrate how parts of the workflow can be implemented]
5.
Our Practice Highlights are derived from our research and expert practitioner interviews carried out in 2019, capturing a subset of more than 100 practices collected in our Global Atlas of Community Engagement Practices.
Detroit Fitzgerald Land Stewardship
The Fitzgerald Revitalization Project is an initiative led by the City of Detroit to stabilize and strengthen a neighborhood by transforming publicly owned vacant land and buildings into community assets.
Rather than work on one lot at a time, the project is focused on holistically addressing every publicly owned vacant building and lot at once for maximum impact and effectiveness.
The City has been working with residents and other stakeholders to develop a vision for the project and is adding more partners to turn it into a reality.
Community Engagement Space
Participatory Design
Workforce Development
Accessible RFPs
Land and housing transformation for diverse users
Creating a permanent HomeBase for community engagement, design and planning builds ongoing capacity. Residents learn by doing through the linked Workforce Development and RFP opportunities.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
South Division Plan, Grand Rapids
The South Division Plan in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a ~3-mile long (850 acres) area specific plan is based in four major principles: meaningful engagement, development without displacement, economic opportunity and quality of life.
Throughout the 16 month planning process the city has deployed innovative ways to involve residents in learning, co-creating and prioritizing plan actions.
Events to activate the community included a fashion show and community members actively prioritized interventions to be developed into detailed plans.
Community Engagement Space
Participatory Design
Community Ambassador Program
Steering committee includes community orgs and members
Land and housing transformation for diverse users
Using creative and playful ways to engage the community and creating a permanent Pop Up Space for engagement, design and planning builds ongoing capacity using events and experiential activities.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Go! Austin / Vamos! Austin
GAVA uses community organizing to improve equitable access to healthy lifestyles by engaging and developing community leaders who identify, initiate, and lead efforts to reduce barriers to healthy food and safe physical activity in their neighborhoods and schools. Rather than simply delivering programs, GAVA provides opportunities for residents to engage and take ownership in the built environment, policy, and health promotion. The collective efficacy of this network encourages peers, friends, and neighbors to champion a culture of health in their daily lives, and to civically and socially engage to support positive changes in their community environment.
Community Organizing
Partnership Building
Education
Shared ownership / stewardship to develop community assets
Advocacy with city hall
Developing capacity in the community to lead and sustain positive, scientifically evidenced change in behaviors and unlocking assets.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
3Space International House
3Space, a non-profit, was given 5 year temporary use of a 65,000sqft municipal building in Brixton, London, before its formal redevelopment.
Their BuyGiveWork model means that for every space that is leased by companies like RESI, a space will be made available to community groups at no cost, providing civic infrastructure. Further, company staff dedicates one hour a month to support local community groups and community events.
High quality community space & facilities
Programming to support social cohesion
Partnerships and networking among community groups
Temporary, yet institutionalized
Strengthen social ties in community
A sustainable intermediary to dynamize community organizing and opportunities leveraging an unused government asset. Various partners from business, government and community develop collaborations.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Bicis del Pueblo - San Francisco
Bicis del Pueblo is coordinated by PODER to develop bicycling skills and environmental justice awareness of low-income communities of color. Participants from southeast SF neighborhoods are supported through cooperatively run activities focused on learning, teaching and sharing bicycle education and skills - often using city-owned impounded broken bikes as raw material. BDP encourages low-income families, youth and communities of color to incorporate bicycling in everyday activities that strengthens public health, deepens community resiliency, and reduces toxic pollution. They are outspoken advocates on mobility innovations like Lyft’s plan to drop cash from bike-share.
Provides free bicycles to disadvantaged groups
Education program for health, skills and environmental justice
Community organizing
Deeper understanding of urban mobility (and innovations)
Advocacy
A focused approach to engage specific disadvantaged communities to build a movement, skills and perspective on health, environmental and transportation justice.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Brownsville Partnership
The Brownsville Partnership convenes community stakeholders to harness their collective power to advance the health, safety, and prosperity of the storied Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. Over more than a decade, residents, not for profits, government, local business and philanthropy have come together under the Partnership to work collectively on priorities set by Brownsville families. In 2019, the BP began transitioning to become a separate, affiliated not for profit. The Partnership supports the implementation of the Brownsville Plan, a collective strategy for the equitable development of the neighborhood, through the lens of health, housing, and economic mobility.
Community Organizing
Priority setting
Data & evidence collection to track progress
Training of community leaders
Partnership management
Building community capacity, institutionalizing functions that track improvements and hold partners accountable through data-driven approach.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Ciempiés Bogotá - Safer, engaging school routes
A “walking school bus,” aimed at ensuring children’s safety and shortening their commute times. Led by adult guides, participating children meet at various pick-up points and walk together to and from school. During the trip, guides lead their student caravans in a series of educational games designed to raise awareness of their surroundings and teach road safety. Through the journey, the kids score points, are rewarded with stickers, and mark their progress with badges they wear on their uniforms.
The program also includes other measures to provide more child-friendly spaces and experiences in the city.
Focus on hard-to-reach vulnerable group
Education
Data & evidence collection to track progress toward vision zero
Service as a vehicle to engage communities
Strengthen social ties in community
Specialized channel to engage often excluded urban transport stakeholders, develop capacity and skills and create a shared community goal.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Incredible Edible Todmorden
A local food and growing based initiative co-created by local stakeholders that has led to community, environmental, learning and business improvements such as changed use of space, shared future visioning and local economic development opportunities.
▪ Community: growing food in public spaces to catalyse engagement and discussion.
▪ Business: Focused on supporting local food-related enterprises
▪ Learning: Engagement with schools as well as adult and community-based education and training
Grass-roots & self-sustaining
Food as catalyst to re-imagine town
Shared identity for town and economy
Education
Strengthen social ties in community
Build communities around shared interest and excitement and using education to advance community capacity to participate in local plans.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Austin Equity Forum
The City of Austin Equity Office holds an annual Equity Forum to share their progress on advancing racial equity in the city. It brings organizers, community members, and city employees together. It is a showcase of how and where equity work is being done and to have conversations about working together on equity related issues and initiatives.
The Forum is one of many activities designed to build trust between city hall and historically disadvantaged communities. It is a place to listen and develop shared truths and empathy, but also a place to hold the city and other key stakeholders accountable around the Equity Action Team Dashboard.
Annual event
Connects city staff, community organizers, residents
Conversations are held around shared progress reports
Facilitates partnering and sharing
Offers connections to develop joint projects
An event to consolidate the community and maintain an open dialogue around racial equity in Austin.
Features
What?
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Keywords
Harvey Milk Park, Long Beach (CA)
Long Beach partnered with its LGBTQ community to develop Harvey Milk Promenade Park and Equality Plaza. It is much more than a public space honoring an icon of the gay-rights movement. It also will be an example of civic innovation in action.
Everything about the park — from the memorial wall honoring local LGBT leaders to the placement of pingpong tables — was co-designed with the public. In addition, the city used an innovative procurement process to purchase the park’s outdoor furniture, one that allowed residents to try out tables, chairs, and mobile-device charging stations before the city invested taxpayer money.
Co-creation with resident groups involved in all design decisions
Events tested ideas and concepts for use and programming
Residents voted on outdoor furniture procurement choices
Cultural anthropologists decoded behaviors as design input
Community led development of purpose, brand and mission
Co-design every step of the way, using creative and public means like events led to a completely distinct, much celebrated outcome from what city planners anticipated.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Sunday Streets, San Francisco
Launched in 2008 Sunday Streets is an annual event to ban cars from and use streets as public space in partnership between city hall, community and sustainability activists.
The events aim to use streets as temporary open space and recreational opportunities in neighborhoods most lacking, encourage physical activity, foster community-building, inspire people to think about their streets as public spaces.
In transportation terms, it influenced public opinion as they experienced a future in which streets are car-free which has become a city-wide primary goal for transportation.
City hall helped communities open up streets to activities
Prototyped a car-free future to change public perception
Partnerships with transport, health and community orgs
Platform for public health advocacy
Sustained by community activism and creating a new ‘city tradition’
Sunday Streets help residents come together and imagine a city without cars, experience the benefits and helped to shape short- and long-term policy in the city.
Features
What?
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Keywords
Grants to Power Neighborhood Action, The Hague
The Hague is harnessing the commitment, time and skills of citizens to help achieve its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2040.
The city allocated €1.4 million to its sustainability scheme, from which grants of up to €8,000 are offered to citizens with ideas for improving the environment or reducing energy and emissions in their neighbourhood. Grants help neighbours become a sustainable association or foundation with a feasible idea.
City staff are available even on weekends to provide technical assistance, connect to departments, businesses and overcome barriers to get ideas off the ground.
Grants to help citizens take climate action
Technical assistance to remove barriers
Seed grass-roots organizations to help city achieve climate goals
Most ideas succeed without further city funding
Initiative is growing to tackle non-climate ideas
Small grants coupled with city hall staff support help residents launch sustainable neighborhood initiatives to tackle climate change and help achieve city goals.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Impacta Salud, Santiago de Chile
The Laboratorio de Gobierno in Chile’s central government brought users, doctors, nurses, health officials and bidders together through a multi-stage contracting process to tackle long wait times in primary healthcare. Finalists at each stage received growing stipends to support their participation, prototyping and pilots.
Winning solutions were impactful in reducing waiting times, cost effective and had wide acceptance from users, funders and regulators - resulting in faster adoption.
Impacta Salud allowed the government to explore a large number of innovations in the market with deep stakeholder participation.
Collaboration among central, municipal gov’t + stakeholders
Global innovation challenge open to all types of teams
Stipends to help teams participate on the ground
Co-creation with stakeholders to deliver experience prototypes
Funded pilot for winning solutions followed by nat’l contract
Established companies and new teams competed on level playing field and collaborated in ‘bootcamp’ to create experience prototypes with stakeholders and residents.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
The LIFE program, Swindon, UK
LIFE was created as a new approach to stop the cycle of crisis for a small number of families that fall through the gaps of social services. This small number of families incurred chronic and high costs. In the development phase, the team spent 8 weeks experiencing their lived realities and made a study of the frontline workers involved with these families. Neither the frontline workers nor the families felt content or empowered in this system. LIFE put families in charge of recruiting their own support teams which were located on the same estate. LIFE resulted in families stepping out of their problem-cycles and work toward their desired futures and delivered significant cost savings.
Immersive user and operator research to surface challenges
Empowerment as the central tool to break out of chronic dynamics
Focus on capability building instead of problem-response
De-fragmentation of social services
Co-location of LIFE teams on site
Through immersion the team surfaced root causes to chronic challenges and put empowerment and capability development first, reorganizing social care teams around families with a deep focus on trust.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
e-Adept, Stockholm
e-Adept is a life-changing, mobile phone based navigation tool which enables visually impaired persons to move around Stockholm independently.
It was made possible thanks to a new and ambitious approach to procurement and an agile contract. Overall, the pilot helped deliver city-wide value by increasing the freedom, mobility and employment opportunities of end users, while resulting in savings for relatives and city services.
Visually impaired end users were not only involved in the earliest stage of e-Adept, but also participated in the development of the final product.
City made accessibility a policy priority
Involved visually impaired residents in design & testing
Contract designed for agile development with users
Holistic economic benefits modeling
City maintained perpetual license to IP
An agile, mission driven contract allowed the city and provider to focus on working with visually impaired residents to create the most valuable solution.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Integrated Mobility Hubs in Los Angeles
LA and Long Beach hope that Mobility Hubs will provide convenient and inventive physical spaces at existing Metro Rail stations designed to integrate a suite of mobility services and real-time trip planning information with the regional transit system.
A $13M demonstration project in 12 locations will serve as a pilot that will inform implementation of permanent Mobility Hub locations across the cities.
The Mobility Hubs Project aims to provide individuals with mobility choices to accommodate seamless trips to and from transit to employment, education, and major activity centers.
Focus on integrating new transit technologies and spaces
Calls for technology, urban design and contracting to collaborate
Full scale model deployments to pilot and learn
Thoughtful procurement and deployment strategy
Community can evaluate solutions in real-life mobility hubs
LA chose to build an innovative approach that integrates tech, digital services and infrastructure at full scale instead of relying on just a design process for residents to learn about the innovation.
Features
What?
Take Away
Keywords
Acknowledgements
[Reviewers: No need to review this and the following sections
Thank you to the people and organizations who have contributed to this playbook.]
6.
Members of the Working Group on Market Entry
Dana | Yanocha | ITDP |
Caroline | Samponaro | Lyft |
Leonardo | Cañon | World Bank |
Kellee | Coleman | City of Austin |
Lacey | Shaver | WRI |
Carlos | Mojica | IADB |
Bennet | Resnik | New Flyer |
Sharada | Strassmore | DC DOT |
Christopher | Moon-Miklaucic | WRI |
Camron | Gorguinpour | WRI |
Benjamin | Welle | WRI |
Benoit | Lefevre | IADB |
Russ | Brooks | Independent |
Faye | Dastgheib | DC DOT |
Madlyn | McAuliffe | NUMO |
Sascha | Haselmayer | Citymart |
Bernardo | Baranda | ITDP |
Jess | Stetson | Ride Report |
Kansas | Waugh | Populus |
Malia | Schilling | Populus |
Noah | Siegel | City of Portland |
Eric | Hesse | City of Portland |
Theresa | Montgomery | NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission |
Albert | Amos | WRI |
Colin | Hughes | Jump |
Felipe | Targa | World Bank |
Lindy | Norris | New Flyer |
Jackie | Hockersmith | Lyft |
Mike | Moran | Scoobi |
Michael | Westphal | WRI |
Giulia | Christianson | WRI |
Heidi | Bishop | WRI |
NUMO | Staff | NUMO |
Tosh | Chambers | Pittsburgh |
Kim | Lucas | Pittsburgh |
Anthony | Townsend | Star City Group |
Benjamin | de la Pena | Independent |
Ramses | Madow | San Jose |
Thanks to the Community Engagement Expert Interviewees
Discarded material
[Reviewer: no need to look at this section.]
7.
How do I change my bidding processes to fit this playbook
Mindset
Process
Community
1/ Align your team and participants around a mindset of collaboration and learning. All should be invested in the purpose of serving the outcomes the community desires.
2/ Encourage critical thinking, meaning constructive questioning to create a culture in which everyone is mandated to improve outcomes.
3/ Encourage all participants to be creative and think commercially. This means seeking bidders as partners on a learning journey, and remaining open to new operational or finance models.
4/ Explain what you are doing in person to the community and learn from them.
1/ Validate all assumptions about community needs, if possible by checking with them. Instead of writing specs, describe desired community outcomes and metrics for success.
2/ Invest in market research to validate capabilities, new ideas. You can’t overdo this!
3/ Decide on the procurement path and prepare easy to read procurement package.
4/ Embrace competition by keeping the process simple for small businesses. Ask only for what you need at each stage.
5/ Invest in agile contract management, meaning flexible contracts in which you can optimize outcomes with the operator.
1/ The bidding process is typically something that happens between a government procurement team and registered vendors.
2/ Think more broadly about who should be involved. Make residents and community groups a stakeholder you involve and update. Tell them how you are working for them.
3/ Invest in marketing and outreach to notify all possible providers, even those not registered with your city yet.
4/ Local businesses and community groups can bid. Make sure you inform them, help them network and participate.
Start with: “I trust”
Put yourself in the shoes of a resident. Now imagine what she needs to participate.
We found five common factors that enable participation. All of them are important and require your patient effort and attention.
In this playbook we will help you achieve the best outcomes, irrespective of your means.
1/ I TRUST
I will be heard and not be manipulated
5/ I AM EMPOWERED
to have influence and hold others accountable
2/ I KNOW
my own needs, desires and priorities
4/ I CAN CONTRIBUTE
ideas and express my point of view
3/ I UNDERSTAND
the opportunity and its system in a nuanced way
Engagement Experience
EXPLORE COMMUNITY NEED / ASPIRATION
Our engagement experience is derived from our research and expert practitioner interviews carried out in 2019, capturing the most important steps to empower residents and help them make informed contributions,
A/ Resource Summary
Action & Resource Plan Template
Three Questions Break-down
Community engagement overview
Market Response
Evaluate, pilot, plan
(Agile) contract management
B/ Resource Overview
Action Plan Template
Three Questions Break-down
Community engagement overview
Market Response
Evaluate, pilot, plan
(Agile) contract management
C/ Resource Overview
Action Plan Template
Three Questions Break-down
Community engagement overview
Market Response
Evaluate, pilot, plan
(Agile) contract management