A to B: Ljubljana App (SI)

Application A to B: Ljubljana

Items

Description

1. WHO

Key people and organisations (initiator, leader, partners)

Producer: Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR)

Project manager for RRA LUR: Tina Pezdirc Nograšek, MA

The concept for the mobile application was produced as part of the camp Designing an agenda, or, how to avoid solving problems that aren’t’ creative in April 2013.

Authors of the concept: Sabina Bakula, Urška Kadunc, Urša Kisovec, Anja Kozlan, Sebastian Žetko

Mentors: Petra Černe Oven, PhD and Barbara Predan, PhD (Pekinpah)

Organisers: RRA LUR and Pekinpah Association

Design of mobile application: Sebastian Žetko

Development and upgrade of mobile application: Guerrilla Code (Luka Penger and Matej Bukovinski)

Key Figures (Ljubljana Urban Region)

Surface

Inhabitants

Tourism arrivals

Tourism nights

 2,555 km²

 542,447

 521,294

995,472 

2. WHY

Reason for taking the good practice action

Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region (RRA LUR) is the initiator, co-creator and manager of sustainable development in the Ljubljana urban region (LUR) that connects 26 municipalities of the region. The agency supports economic, social and cultural activities in the municipalities of the region of central Slovenia with the intention of making it a friendly and recognized whole with common goals.

The Agency directs development in the region in the operational conurbation, which enables the best access to public services and at the same time preserves the close proximity of nature and cultural goods to all citizens. With effective and quality projects in the area of regional development and all the necessary information for their implementation it designs opportunities for a quality lifestyle.

SWOT analysis in the Ljubljana Urban Region identified five main opportunities for tourism development: (1) new tourism programmes to discover Ljubljana's surroundings and nature (2) collaboration with other sectors (culture, sports, agriculture, economy) (3) development and marketing of sustainable services (4) recreational routes (cycling) and (5) new, innovative, authentic products and services with high added value. Among the latter one will find development of a mobile app 'A to B: Ljubljana' – the first app in Slovenia that will show locals and tourist one of the three most sustainable routes from one place to another by offering data about walking, cycling and bus routes. The app corresponds to the vision of Ljubljana Urban Region as the green motor of development.

Issues and challenge

In order to develop sustainable (green) tourism we need to stimulate green, sustainable mobility in the region. The fact is though that lately a lot has been done in the field of infrastructure for personal vehicles and little for public transport. If we aim to lower emissions, traffic noise and congestions, improve quality of living, decrease number of personal vehicles and stimulate usage of public transport, we need to change habits of people. 'A to B: Ljubljana' does exactly that - it stimulates users to change their way of travelling in the local environment and to start using sustainable means of transport.

3. HOW

Methods /steps / tools used (to develop the good practice)

- conceptual design of the mobile app was developed at a creative camp

- the result received positive feedback from both professionals and general audience

- RRA LUR liked the idea and adopted it for implementation

- cooperation with app developers and designers

- test version of the app in 2013, final version launched in 2014

4. RESULT

Specific/measurable results, benefits

Free mobile app 'A to B: Ljubljana' is the first app to provide information about three sustainable means of transport: cycling (by using public system BicikeLJ), bus ride or walking. App recognizes current location of the user (A) and will show them three alternative routes to reach their destination (B). Users of the app are both locals and tourists (business travellers or holiday makers).

Number of downloads (July 2014): 4.322

Number of sessions (July 2014): 20.841

Innovative aspects of the app:

- easier access to tourist destinations and other interesting points in Ljubljana

- tourism offer of the city as integral product

- high-quality user-experience

- used by the locals and tourists

- lesser impact on the environment

- improving quality of the living space for all

Recognitions (e.g. awards)

Brumen Award 2013 in category Web and mobile applications at the 6. Biennial of Slovene Visual Communications.

5. REFLECTION

Lessons learned

It was very useful to hold the creative camp that resulted in 13 concepts (the idea for mobile app was one of them). Co-creation enabled us to innovate and to find synergies. To successfully develop and implement a project, one has to take into consideration users' needs, holistically approach the problem, adjust the tools to a particular challenge and evaluate the final result.

Challenges met

/

Critical success factors

interdisciplinary approach and creative thinking

6. MORE 

web-references, documents

'A do B: Ljubljana': http://atob.si/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atobljubljana?ref=stream