Project Overview
Detroit has been recently affected by flooding in the
past couple of years. This was due to faults in the infrastructure not being updated in decades.
This project focuses on gathering information on what is being done to upgrade that
infrastructure as well as how to strengthen communication between the city and the
residents so they better understand what is being done about the issue. This
project also recommends what next steps could be taken to further this research.
Objectives and Deliverables
Detroit has been recently affected by flooding in the
past couple of years. This was due to faults in the infrastructure not being updated in decades.
This project focuses on gathering information on what is being done to upgrade that
infrastructure as well as how to strengthen communication between the city and the
residents so they better understand what is being done about the issue. This
project also recommends what next steps could be taken to further this research.
Process
After preliminary research about the Detroit’s water infrastructure
we found that the communication between the city’s water department and the
residents was not up to the mark.
Analysis
We used our background research and analysis from
interviews to develop recommendations for the client. After
analyzing datasets and reports, we created affinity maps
and grouped common findings by theme. We identified root problems and proposed
preliminary solutions for them.
Scoping
Following our research, we defined the
project's scope and crafted a detailed problem statement
for the client. This formed part of our deliverable.
Interviews
To gain insights and understand the core issues,
we interviewed Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Additionally, we
interviewed stakeholders from both sides to understand their concerns and
perspectives about communication with each other.
We developed structured and
semi-structured interview protocols.
Background
We reviewed articles emphasizing the
importance of communication in this context. We also explored the
communication methods used by the Department of Water to interact with
residents and how residents expressed their concerns and complaints to the authorities.
Additionally, we examined reports discussing the effectiveness of these
communication strategies.
Problem Statement
The problem we are hoping to address is issues of
communication between consumers ofdrinking water in the greater Detroit area and the water
department, specifically in relation toaged infrastructure. The aging infrastructure in Detroit
has been a leading problem for decadesand has recently affected the city through flooding and
interruption of services. The stakeholder sare the Detroit City Council, Citizens of Detroit,
and the Detroit Waste and Sewerage Company.Each group communicates infrastructure issues, but
information is fragmented between themwith the current channels of communication and issues
continue to arise with flooding.The challenges associated with this problem are equatable to the
larger issuessurrounding the topic of drinking water safety at both the national and state
levels. When working within the confines of specific municipalities, like Detroit, a message has
the potentialto become burdened by excessive technical and legal jargon throughout its
processing which canoften alienate its audience. Beyond the vocabulary used during the process,
there are alsologistical factors that pose the risk of appearing overwhelming while increasing
uncertainty inthe proper routes, such as rampant departmentalization throughout the city
government. Citizens are given some avenues in which to communicate their concerns with the
Improve Detroit app and the DWSC’s website. This is still not enough after gaining some insight
from a resident and as well as a representative from DWSC.If this problem is not addressed,
there is a potential that residents will not feel confidentsubmitting claims.With the research
we have now our questions have shifted to more actionable ways to improve these communication
channels. We know how the community can be involved in improving infrastructure but the question
now is how do we present this information in a way that is clearly visible and understandable?
Also , is it possible that more visually charged content like video’s change the citizens'
understanding of issues and work being done?Process Team Huron chose to look at
the issue of communication in relation to water infrastructure. Team Huron used methods such as
researching recent water infrastructure issues and existing communication tools to scope
possible problems related to this topic. While conducting background research, Team Huron looked
at official datasets and reports from the City of Detroit that put recent drinking water and
sewerage problems into context with what residents had experienced. This was done to understand
why establishing effective communication strategies is so important. Also, Team Huron populated
a list of current communication tools that both residents and city officials could use, such as
the ImproveDetroit mobile app, the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department website portal, and
environmental activist groups. This information was found from websites and articles. This
research led Team Huron to narrow down the problem statement to address communication pain
points between residents of Detroit and the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department. After the
problem was scoped, Team Huron continued to collect information on communication between
residents and city workers. Several SME interviews of individuals that work in the water field
provided more real-world examples of communication strategies that city workers are using. Some
also gave insight into how the interviewees felt about residents communicating back to them.
However, these interviews were also limiting in that this topic was often not the main focus of
the conversation. Team Huron understood that they needed to interview individuals on their own
so the conversation could focus around the research problem and they gain perspectives from both
sides–the resident and city official sides. The first interview that Team Huron conducted was
with the Public Affairs Director of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department. This interview
provided information and perspective from one side of the problem statement, that of the city
officials. The interviewee talked at length about the various methods that their department used
to communicate with residents, including many Team Huron had not found during their initial
research. The second interview was with a resident of Detroit. This interview supplied the other
side, the resident side, of the research problem. Team Huron was able to gain perspective on
what a resident thought about existing communication tools and paint points they hadn’t
considered before. With all of this data collected, Team Huron felt prepared to move on to
analysis. The data sources can be found .Team Huron’s data analysis involved identifying trends
within communication strategies that various interviewees spoke about, diagnosing possible pain
points that caused issues between residents and city officials, and looking for additional
patterns or conflicting information from the two interviewees. Team Huron did all of this while
creating the affinity wall. Data was grouped into either resident and city official information
to better understand the relationship between the two of them. This also allowed Team Huron to
identify the similarities and differences in how the interviewees approached and understood each
other and how they utilized communication tools. With background knowledge of existing problems
with Detroit’s water infrastructure and communication tools, Team Huron was able to analyze the
results of our interviews to see what findings they provided in relation to the problem
statement.
Make small
