Movin’On Summit: a serious game to improve transport in Niamey

Montreal hosted the 3rd edition of the World Summit on Sustainable Mobility (Movin’On Summit) organized by Michelin Foundation on June 4th, 5th and 6th. A summit focused on innovation and zero emissions whose motto was “from ambition to action.” Christian Philip (Secretary General of CODATU) and Pierre-Alexis Langlais (TPE trainee engineer on mobility issues in Niamey City Hall, Niger) were the two representatives of the city of Niamey.

This summit is a great opportunity for Niamey to evolve its mobility. For more than a month, CODATU was preparing a working session in collaboration with the French start-up LaVilleE + around the major mobility issues of Niamey. The diagnosis shows that the professionalization of the artisanal transport and the rediscovery of an operational public transport system would make it possible to answer these major issues in a coherent and perennial way. These work sessions were divided into three parts, first an introduction, then the serious game, and at the end a conclusion which correlated the main results to the motto of the event. The data collected on the territory of the city of Niamey could feed this game by providing a real support for the modal share, the zoning of the city or the types of behaviour of local residents. The gamification method highlights these data by letting participants, experts on site, giving more meaning to Niamey’s mobility. This game was articulated in several times, first the discovery of the offer and the existing infrastructure then the improvement of the private artisanal transport as well as the public transport. The players had to deal with all the difficulties and risks of the Nigerian capital, be they climatic, infrastructural or even political. The conclusion of this game focus mainly on how to articulate a progression between artisanal and public transport. But the work is not finished because all the discussions were cached during the serious game in order to grasp the relevant arguments that could lead to a particular decision. The coming days will be decisive insofar as hindsight from these external points of view will make it possible to precisely define an action plan for the mobility of the Niger’s capital.

Finally, other sessions helped to explore complementary topics about mobility in other cities, such as the session on governance led by Christian Philip for example. The idea was to identify strengths and weaknesses to learn from other advices in order to feed the project in Niamey. The population must be able to benefit from a decent transport system as quickly as possible, because, in a context of great poverty, getting around becomes a burning issue.