This week, the Housing and Transportation focused on two aspects of our project. Following the class exercise, the first was regarding our metrics and factors for success. We already had our metrics defined for the presentation, yet it interesting to define what our goals were with each of the metrics and what factors were actually working towards improving such metrics. Talking through the different features of our app that accomplished specific goals forced us to guarantee we were addressing our problems with real action. The violation reporting aspect, for example, actually helps reduce accidents on the street because people will be more cautious—yet how were we reducing implementation time of infrastructure projects? This made us modify our idea to include a more transparent platform so citizens can keep tack of the projects people suggest or changes they request. In turn, this open platform works in well Modi’s e-governance mandate. Activities like these, which are hands-on and allow our groups to discuss our projects during class time, are considerably more productive that many lectures.

The second aspect we’ve addressed this week was the implementation of lower income housing into our project. Realizing that a majority of the 44.6% of Vizag that lives in the slums don’t have access to smart phones and don’t necessarily commute long distances, there must be a more direct way to reach them. We’ve decided that we cannot move forward without contacting people in the government of Visakhapatna and understanding the projects they have in place for addressing their underprovided population and what their general outlook on them is. In light of that, we have decided to call a number of officials. We will be meeting on Tuesday night to contact people pertaining both to the transportation system of Vizag as well as the housing development. We hope to get answers that will help us appropriately integrate slums into our plan for when we present on Thursday.

The Housing/Transportation Group

Gautham Kesineni, Isabel Viegas De Lima, Helen Fan, Avanishree Kanoria, Aridam Kumar