Limerick: A Smart City
For this project we were asked to consider the following question and to then design a solution: ‘How might we enable an Irish city to become a smart city in order to grow, operate, meet population demands and enhance climate resilience over the coming decades?’
We focused on Limerick as our Irish city and the themes we chose were Smart Living, Smart Environment, Smart Mobility, and Smart People.
Through out this project we used tools such as stakeholder mapping, power-interest grid, interviews, immersion exercises, empathy maps, POVs and personas to gather information about our users and to develop our solution based on their experiences.
User Research
In Limerick City, despite the progressive initiatives from local universities, the community faces significant challenges in achieving climate resilience and sustainable urban living.
Key gaps include a heavy reliance on food imports, insufficient environmental education and lack of engagement with youth on future eco-friendly visions. There is a deficient waste management system, and unexploited underground spaces.
Areas of potential include green spaces for allotments, many underutilised urban spaces, and a desire among citizens across all ages to increase their engagement with the circular economy.
Stake Holder Mapping
We categorised our stakeholders into three groups: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
They were classified based on their relationship to the topic of ‘smart cities’, identifying whether they were internal or external stakeholders.
We took the identified stakeholders and placed them into a power-interest grid, where we can identify who we must manage closely, keep informed, keep satisfied, and monitor.
We found that local authorities, tech companies, transport providers, local citizens, third level institutions and the Limerick Citizen Innovation Lab were the most important stakeholders.
Power-Interest Grid
Interviews
a co-ordinator on the 2022 Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss
A software engineer
Citizens of Limerick
Findings:
Interviewee mentions going back to the old way of doing things but adding smart technology to not make it as labour intensive.
Public transport infrastructure does not meet requirements of population & is in need of improvement.
Strong cultural aspects in Limerick - previously a strong food culture, and Limerick Lace. Currently sport art and cinema make up a large portion of Limerick’s culture.
Interviewee recognises the importance of parks as public spaces, however feels they are under-provisioned and under utilised.
Interviewee would like to see more public engagement.
River Shannon defines the city. It's big, wide and imposing, there is no avoiding it.
Interviewee mentions that there is ‘too much concrete’ in Limerick and that here should be more benches and green areas available.
Limerick people are too dependent on cars.
Interviewee was not well versed on local food production or initiatives.
Limerick’s public transport is in need of improvement.
Immersion Exercise
I asked a male and a female in their 20’s as well as a male in his 40’s about their favourite place in Limerick City.
Where is your favourite place in Limerick city?
Describe the place and it's surroundings.
What items are there?
What does this place mean to you?
How do you get there?
Are there other people there?
Observations:
One participant mentioned a small park which they liked to use to be around nature.
One participant mentions a castle that they like due to it's historical significance.
One participant mentioned a college campus and brought attention to it's outdoor spaces continuously
One participant has sentimental attachment to their favourite place.
Each place is pretty busy with either tourists, workers, people exercising or people relaxing.
Each participant mentioned areas with significant outdoor space.
All places have public amenities.
They all use their favourite place in the city to relax.
They all either walk, drive or get the bus
Each participant mentioned a water feature (fountain, river).
Empathy Maps
Using the data we collected from our user research, we updated 3 empathy maps that we had previously created before our user research with our assumptions.
The 3 empathy maps were a retired school teacher, a software engineer, and a citizen of limerick.
The persona I created is of Bridget, a retired school teacher who loves the outdoors, believes Limerick’s parks are underperforming and would love a place for students to learn more about climate change.
Personae
Similar to the empathy maps, we created 3 personae before beginning our user research, updating the profiles as data emerged.
The persona I created was of Bridget.
User Stories
We developed user stories to gain a deeper understanding of our stakeholders and design a solution that aligns with their wants and needs.
Final Design
The Green Heart of Limerick
We created a multifunctional ‘smart’ space. This space be a disused building in the heart of Limerick city, with access to the River Shannon, that is currently in the ownership of the University of Limerick.
The ground floor will comprise of a food production centre utilising aeroponics and the latest in urban farming technology to create a highly localised food supply for Limerick City and County
The upper floor will house an education centre which educates children and adults on urban farming, vertical gardening and other aspects of the circular economy and cafe which offers a 'two-mile menu'.
The rooftop space will house a public green space for connection, place-making and leisure activities.
In a vision for future development, the adjacent rooftop spaces will also be converted into public green spaces, and will be connected by elevated greenways for pedestrian travel around the city.