Research
Our team conducted secondary research to understand the community’s broad problems with Smart Loading Zones as well as primary research by performing guerilla research in the form of intercept interviews with users on the street.
Smart Loading Zones (SLZ) are a brand new program to Pittsburgh, PA as of 2022. This program utilizes high-fidelity cameras and AI/ML to monitor specific "smart loading zones" all over Pittsburgh to adequately charge vehicles parking in these zones. Smart Loading Zones were intended to minimize congestion and lower emissions, increase parking turnover for businesses, increase city revenue, and create more efficient curbs for citizens of Pittsburgh. However, this program has met public backlash based on fees, implementation, and privacy.
Sarina Vij Interviewing a Smart Loading Zone User
After gaining a broad understanding of the topic and the problem space, we dove into primary research by interviewing multiple small business owners as well as long-term residents of Pittsburgh directly affected by these Smart Loading Zones. We found that the Smart Loading Zones themselves weren’t the problem, it was the complicated nature of registering your car and vehicle just to simply pay for 5 minutes of parking was the major pain point. In addition, the Smart Loading Zones were initially designed for truck drivers to use but the majority of users are “regular drivers” (Class C). Thus, adding to the overall frustration of using Smart Loading Zones because the current payment system did not cater to the proper user group.
Following these interviews, we aggregated all our data on a whiteboard with stickies and began Affinity Diagramming. Through that Affinity Diagramming, our team was able to tease out insights that subsequently informed our final solution.
Affinity Diagramming to Organize Secondary and Primary Research
