DIGNITY approach

The DIGNITY approach: a user-centred approach for an inclusive digital travel eco- system

Using a combination of analysis and action, the DIGNITY approach will ensure that digital mobility services are inclusive over the long term. The approach connects users’ needs and requirements with the provision of mobility services, while also connecting the institutional framework to that same service provision.

To activate the entire process and develop an inclusive digital travel ecosystem, it is necessary to cover individual needs, products and services, and institutions in a dynamic and consistent process made up of three consecutive phases:

The DIGNITY approach starts with framing the digital gap, where we look at how many people are at risk of being excluded in the mobility sector and why. By analysing how target groups use existing products and services and, more importantly, why they use or do not use them we will gain a more detailed understanding of vulnerable users, their needs and where current digital transport systems risk leaving them behind.

Read more about framing the gap

At the heart of the DIGNITY approach is the second phase, where we will bridge the digital gap by co-creating solutions for the design of more inclusive policies, products and services. We will do this by using Cambridge University’s Inclusive Design Wheel to examine the products and services on offer and how they respond to people’s needs, and by engaging local stakeholders to enhance products and services and reduce digital exclusion. At the same time, we will apply forward-looking methods of analysis to policy and set out possible scenarios, encouraging decision makers to reduce the digital gap by adopting appropriate legislation.

The key challenge of this phase is to bring all the stakeholders – private and public, policy makers and transport operators, service providers and product designers, users and the associations that represent their interests – together to co-design solutions that meet the needs of all citizens. Because not all stakeholders are on the same page regarding socially inclusive mobility products and services, the potential effects of the proposed solutions on every group must be taken into consideration. DIGNITY will take proven co-creation methods and tools and integrate them into a cohesive approach.

The validation of this knowledge in a learning by doing process will allow for the identification of weaknesses in the theories and solutions proposed, leading to more focused research that can improve these theories and better solutions that can definitively address existing digital mobility gaps.

Then comes the evaluation phase. Here we will look at the impact of the Inclusive Design Wheel, the scenario building, and the overall process. Specifically, the outcomes of these initiatives will be visualized to see where mutual understanding between the different stakeholder groups has been enhanced and to formulate long-term strategies to fill the gap.