How we wrote the vision
How people experience the Philippine transportation system in 2030
Human-centric + Society-centric
We wanted the Vision to be centered on the needs and experiences of human beings (being “human-centric”) and also on the shared values that should guide a democratic and inclusive society (being “society-centric”).
Anchoring the vision on human needs and community values is a radical departure from the techno-engineering approach we currently use to make decisions about our transportation system. Rather than putting vehicles or vehicle movement first, we put humans and the community first.
Creating the proto-personas
We started by writing very clear “user stories” of the daily transportation challenges of real people. These were our own stories, or stories of people we knew, or composites of people we knew. These were stories of people who are users of the transportation system and suffer its current inefficiencies and indignities.
We came up with 18 personalities, and we called these our “proto-personas.” We used the personas to understand how the current transportation system fails people who are most in need.
Making sure we had representation
We tried to make our proto-personas cover as many conditions of people as we could. While the stories we wrote about them were fictional, the conditions were based on the experience of actual people.
If we had more resources and time, and if 2020 was not a COVID year, we would have identified and actually followed the people we knew who faced these challenges and documented their travel experiences. We would have asked for their insights and how they felt.
We also tried to cover as many modes of transportation are currently available.
We believe our proto-personas represent actual dysfunctions of the current state of our transportation system and capture the very real challenges of people who are otherwise excluded by the mobility systems we currently have in place.
We combined some proto-personas and expanded the rest.
Understanding the current conditions
We researched and profiled the agencies and departments that currently run the transportation system. We looked at their charters and remits to understand what was shaping their priorities.
We learned to understand the gaps in the system that created the dysfunctions that everyday users of transportation must suffer.
We understood how unspoken values were driving ill-fitting solutions and why the system was not working for the public.
Defining the values
Through the proto-personas, we identified the values lacking in today’s transportation and mobility system. These are values that should guide the system and the governance and management of the systems so that transportation can adequately meet the needs of users.
Surfacing the values creates accountability in the system and rubric by which to measure the success or failure of policies, programs, and projects.
Identifying the values created the society-centric approach to defining the vision.
Creating the positive personas stories
Combining the values and the proto-personas, we “time-traveled” our personas to the year 2030. We took the stories of dysfunction and turned them into positive stories of how a human-centric, society-centric, and values-guided system works.
We came up with the positive persona stories that became the basis for The Stories that illuminate the vision.
Drafting the vision
Using the positive persona stories and the values, we drafted a description of how the system works, and what it prioritizes. We emphasized values and principles and showed how those values were manifested in the system.
We circled back to the positive persona stories to create The Stories that illuminated the Vision. We used the Vision to and the Stories to imagine the functions the governance system and the management of transportation needed to have to fulfill the Vision. We then imagined a history of advocacy will create the necessary institutional and policy changes that will realize the Vision.
Limits
This document does not explain or justify policy. While the Vision, the Stories, and the Conceptual Map do take policy positions, we do not go into detail or argue the logic of the policies. Instead, it imagines the impact of those policies.
This document also limits itself to surface road transportation. It may have been an oversight, but it was also from a lack of contemporary stories of people who regularly travel over water. While our process contemplated boats on the river, the bay, or the lake, we did not have the insights from current experience that would allow us to identify the pain points and so tell the stories of what a better future could look like.
This document also fails to imagine what a better system of moving goods would look like in 2030. While the team knew that freight movement and the delivery of goods are critical to opportunity and the economy, the team failed to account for it in the visioning process. Freight and goods movement are included in the conceptual priorities map.
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Credits
The Agenda 6 Team of the MoveAsOne Coalition produced the materials and ideas in the Vision, the Stories, and the Fictional Functional Map.
- Reycel Hyacenth Bendaña
- Paula Apines
- Felicity Tan
- Benjamin dela Peña
- Honey de Peralta
- Christian Rojo
- Lou Gepuela
- Ayb Sysiangco
- Azisah Domado
- Carlo Lopa
- Giorgino Naval
- Gybel Agregado
- Jose Rueda
- Pat Mariano
- Lou Gepuela
Our special thanks to:
