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“FairCare Verkehr”: Second real-life experiment on digital tools for a barrier-free city

Applications & technologies / City of Hamburg / Urban data / urban research

With the "FairCare Verkehr" project, the City Science Lab drew attention to the mobility needs of unpaid care workers. The second real-life experiment in the CUT project focused on the mobility of carers who look after physically or mentally impaired people. Information on barriers in urban spaces was collected using the mobile version of the Urban Data Collector.

This is the continuation of the first real-life experiment of “FairCare Verkehr”. Information on the first real-life experiment can be found here.

Urban infrastructure is often not designed to meet the specific needs of carers. In many cases, it even presents barriers. The digital tool Urban Data Collector can be used to record these barriers. The idea behind it is that planners and political decision-makers can use this data to remove barriers and make cities more liveable.

© CUT/CSL

The Urban Data Collector can be used to create entries in a digital city map. Three drawing tools are available for this: Points, areas and lines. The entries can be described in detail and supplemented with text and audio comments as well as photos.

The Urban Data Collector was initially developed for touch tables as part of the first CUT real-world experiment. For the second real-life experiment, a mobile version was implemented and the entry of routes was simplified. Data can now be entered more quickly and intuitively. The mobile version has also been expanded to include a function for uploading photos and the option of adding audio comments to individual entries. The mobile version can therefore be used universally to collect georeferenced data on urban space – including other topics – and is intuitive to use. This video explains how it works.

Darstellung Urban Data Collector. ©CUT/CSL

The Urban Data Collector was tested in collaboration with the “Allianz pflegende Angehörige – Interessengemeinschaft und Selbsthilfe e.V.” (AllipA). The association established contact with those affected so that information about barriers in Hamburg and the applicability of the tool could be obtained during a city walk and a three-month data collection phase. The results of the data collection were compiled in the form of a data story.

The end of the transformative FairCare Verkehr research project was marked by a workshop at the CSL in January 2023. Together with representatives from civil society, administration and politics, the future of the tool, possibilities for permanent sponsorship and further technical development were discussed. Many of the participants showed great interest in the continued availability of a digital tool for collecting (and visualizing) data specifically on the topic of barriers in urban spaces in order to support accessibility in Hamburg. The workshop showed that the Urban Data Collector offers a suitable technical basis for this. In addition, according to the workshop participants, the expertise and needs of those affected from civil society should be taken as a basis for further development and the tool should also be anchored in the administrative and planning structures of the City of Hamburg.

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Transformative Research in Digital Twins for Integrated Urban Development: Two Real-World Experiments on Unpaid Care Workers Mobility

Dieser Artikel, der im "International Journal of E-Planning Research" veröffentlicht wurde, stellt den Prozesss und die Mittel der transformativen Forschung innerhalb des CUT-Projektes vor.

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