Societies around the world are trying to address large-scale social problems such as pollution, traffic, mass transportation, gender discrimination and waste disposal. Many of these problems have been recalcitrant because of a purely technological approach without consideration to the vagaries of human behavior. The aim of this workshop was to address design interventions from the lens of behavioral change. We brought together students from various disciplines like engineering, design, cognitive science and humanities to understand how behavior can be changed using a design perspective. This was also an opportunity for the students of IIT Gandhinagar and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) to work together and tackle problems from a global, cross-cultural perspective.
Question such as, ‘Can design interventions improve driving behaviour among the residents of Ahmedabad?’ were addressed through the talk on road safety given by Mr Akshay Raj Macwana (DCP-Traffic East Zone) and Mr Sanjay Kharat (DCP-Traffic West Zone) of the Ahmedabad Traffic Police. The audience interacted with the inspectors and guest speaks over several key issues and problems people and the authority are facing. Guest speakers also offered a visit to Ahmedabad traffic control room where all the participants witnessed the E-challan system with AI and manual challenging system through video footage.
The workshop brochure with student abstracts can be found here.
