Alli Serona
Expanding transportation access in Bengaluru, India
We partnered with Porticus on Alli Serona to help enable a just and equitable transition to a low carbon economy in Bengaluru.
Challenge
The effects of climate change have made it necessary for cities to transition towards a low-carbon future. Public transportation plays a significant role in mitigating climate change. Bengaluru’s current mobility trajectory was leading to growing carbon emissions due to rising use of private transportation. However, while public transport and shared mobility is a less carbon intensive option, the current offering did not meet the needs of Bengaluru’s commuters, particularly the informal sector.
Strategy
We used creative storytelling & insight led activations to shift narratives, influence policy & drive change. This included identifying, training and amplifying people within communities to act as trusted messengers, co-creating our storytelling with the people most impacted and informing innovative partnerships & coalitions. Phase two included developing a different way to share the story of the need for just urban transition to fight climate change effects, this took the form of an engaging, interactive animation.
Creative
Alli Serona embraced creative workshops that fostered solidarity among informal workers, inspiring initiatives like a co-created brand identity, street art and a traveling bus stop installation. These projects transformed complex climate and mobility issues into relatable experiences, engaging community members, media and decision-makers. For the animation creative, we ensured the creative reflected the voices of our audience and used innovative ways of telling the story of urban heat stress through infographics, interactive polls, audio narration.
Campaign
The campaign used creative interventions to amplify women’s voices in transport reform. Collaborating with Bengawalks, we conducted community walking audits with over 200 women leaders from 9 communities, collecting data on connectivity and bus stop quality. This led to the Bus Stop Installation which toured four locations, and represented nine communities’ demands for five bus routes. Plus, through an engaging animation we also turned people stories & data into an immersive reading experience.
Impact
The Alli Serona Bus Stop Installation engaged 19+ officials and 16 CSOs, reaching 50+ additional women. As a result of this activation, two new bus routes were approved, serving 5000+ families. The project enhanced women’s civic participation skills, fostering collective action and advocacy for Fair Urban Transition. It demonstrated the value of creative methods in community engagement, facilitated knowledge exchange, empowered women and provided decision-makers with simplified data and tools to drive solutions for a low-carbon future. We also saw the following results:
200+ women became part of the Alli Serona collective
60+ media mentions
5 feeder bus routes designed and proposed, of which 2 were operationalized
2000+ visits to the website in first few days
“This is a very interesting way of looking at the issue. The involvement of the community and them being capacitated for advocating their own needs is a good way of engagement. The bus stop audits, routes and the bus stop installation also involved the communities. That is really good!”
Nidhi Vinay
Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety
“The message of inclusive decision making for urban heat and health planning is right on. This is a perfect add-on to a course at a school of public health.”
Sweat & Concrete, The Urban Heat of Inequality
“Really incredible work. The experience itself is so interesting, and I love how collaborative this process was! I will include it in our reads for the month - but would also love to hear more about how this was conceptualized and put together. Padma Venkataraman from India Climate Collaborative”
David Bishai
School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong