The Service Design course challenged us to design a mobility service and interface in the downtown core of San José. The idea was to design towards a more regenerative world by fitting into the existing city context and infrastructure, while acknowledging current and forthcoming mobility initiatives.

After exploring general questions such as "Who needs to move? Why and how?" we became immersed in San Jose routines, by walking, observing, and visiting places as part of the research. The main insight found was that intricate connections and a lack of signalling do not allow people to move freely.

“Movete en San Jose” is a service designed to facilitate a positive introduction of downtown San José to young adults so that they can feel comfortable moving around the city, bringing valuable information to pedestrians according to the time and their location.

The service is aimed at 1) people arriving in the city and 2) others who need to cross San José. The service creates a connection between people, transport, business, culture, and municipalities by providing information to the user.

Using street furniture as an information point (MUPIs), Movete shows information about the sounding area including: bus stops, historic locations, and parks. The information on the screen gets prioritized according to the time of the day.

By making the city more accessible, it brings the opportunity to discover new areas of the city, improvement in public transportation services, a reduction in traffic and a lower carbon footprint. All this facilitates the connection between different areas of the country.

“Movete en San Jose” promotes walkability through the city, giving access to direct information so people can move easily and freely, reducing the need for a car-centric culture around San José. It’s prompting people to visit the public space and promote the use of the services that San José offers, activating and regenerating the ecosystem.

One of the biggest learnings from this project is about mobility in San José, and how there is a wide and important area to tackle to prompt people to walk. People prefer to take private transportation rather than walk three blocks because of the lack of information. Easy access to information is the key to improving mobility.