Challenges
We are involved in creating relevant and correct solutions for the most important challenges facing Beer Sheva and its municipality.
Creating a municipal framework to stimulate a vibrant small business arena in Beer Shevaencouravibrant small business arena in Beer She
Measuring Impact
Each step's impact is measured throughout the work process. After completing work on the challenge and assimilation of the initiatives, the team is responsible for using different tools to measure the extent of change in the challenge. In order to do so, we construct a set of different indices that can be examined in relation to the city's business sector over the coming years.
Preparations for Implementation
Prototype
Formulation of the municipal operations strategy enabled us to prepare the initiatives' translation into practical methods of action to be implemented by the municipality.
This process, called prototyping, allows us to learn via action, feedback and identifying mistakes, and to performing necessary small and flexible adjustments in the product or service.
We are currently working, together with municipal representatives, on three initiatives related to different areas of opportunity that arose from the research insights.
Creating and Examining New Solutions
After attaining an in-depth understanding of the challenges facing small businesses, we conducted ideation workshops with a range of participants including municipal employees, local residents, business owners, and representatives from different organizations. Together with the workshop participants, we created a wide range of ideas, processes and initiatives that will help us meet the challenge.
We then assembled and reduced the ideas to subject clusters that provide a response to different aspects of the urban challenge. We developed these ideas, defined the different clusters and further concentrated them into 15 initiatives.
For each of these, we created a portfolio according to the scope of expected impact, the number of businesses that would benefit from it, the timeframe, estimated cost, and depth of change. In this way, we mapped and prioritized the initiatives until we formulated a municipal operations strategy.
Understanding the Problem
Defining and "Framing" the Problem:
During the first stage, we worked on articulating and defining the scope of the challenge in a way that enables us to assist the municipality and the city generate a significant change in the small business sector of Beer Sheva. After understanding that the desired outcome should include a connection between strengthening the robustness of the businesses and increasing their diversity, we reframed the challenge to also relate to the needs of the business owners and the local residents.
Research:
We subsequently embarked on a process of in-depth study in which we used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods: focus groups of residents, in-depth interviews with business owners, meetings with experts and municipal employees, field tours, surveys of global trends and benchmark studies.
Translating the Knowledge into Information:
We translated the large amount of knowledge accumulated during the studies into 18 central insights which underly five areas of opportunity. These areas of opportunity are fields in which we identified challenges that influence businesses' robustness and the diversity in the business sector, and in which a change can be instigated.
Implementation
Implementation is one of the most critical stages as it turns ideas into reality on the ground. At this stage, we work together with the different partners who accompanied the process so that the initiatives are given expression in the municipal work plans and are capable of existing independently in the future without i-team involvement.
Appearance of the Public Space
Increasing Residents' Involvement and Sense of Responsibility for the City's Cleanliness
Measuring Impact
we will Update soon
implementation
we will Update soon
Preparations for Implementation
we will Update soon
Creation and Examination of New Solutions– Ideation
Upon completion of the study, we conducted ideation workshops aimed at coming up with as many ideas as possible for creative and bold solutions and initiatives to enhance the city's cleanliness. The workshops' participants represented a variety of population groups including municipal employees, local residents, social activists and even elementary school pupils.
The proposed ideas were diverse – some were for projects that can be initiated with our partners at City Hall, some relate to a profound change in the municipality's cleanliness policy, and others are guiding principles for its actual operation on the ground. We developed the ideas into a collection that will enable us to formulate an operational strategy to improve the city's cleanliness.
Together with our partners at City Hall, we can now undertake the next stage of bringing the different initiatives to practical implementation. This will generally involve a prototype – a small and simple trial of a larger idea.
Updates to follow!
Understanding the Problem
Studying the Challenge
We learned several underlying assumptions that directed the way in which we examined the cleanliness issue throughout the study. We learned that both the residents and City Hall feel that a "garbage cycle" has been created. garbage accumulates throughout the city, the municipality cleans it up, the residents litter again, the municipality invests even more resources in cleaning once more and yet the level of cleanliness remains unsatisfactory. We therefore understood that in order to achieve a cleaner Beer Sheva, we must break the "garbage cycle" and change the residents' role in maintaining city cleanliness. We realized the need for increasing the residents' sense of responsibility and to strive for a change in their behavior to enhance the city's cleanliness.
Study:
In a manner similar to that adopted with the business challenge, we conducted a comprehensive study in which we used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
Translation of knowledge to information:
In the study, we answered 4 key questions relating to litter in the public domain. We then processed the insights gained from the answers into areas of opportunity in which we create appropriate solutions together with the residents and municipal employees. These solutions are aimed at breaking the "garbage cycle" and at enhancing the cleanliness of Beer Sheva's public domain.
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Shazar Boulevard 33 Be'er Sheva, Israel Tel: 08-6844090 / iteam@br7.org.il