MESH City - MVP

This project is about developing an MVP for the digital tool MESH City that identifies, analyzes and values social sustainability in an urban context.The development project is rooted in Sweden´s increasing economic inequality, increasing urban segregation and growing social divides.

These complex challenges can lead to a division of society into different groups that have limited interaction with each other.

To reduce growing social gaps and create an equal society, the building structure we plan and build need to be more socially sustainable.

Social sustainability in urban planning and in the built environment poses certain challenges; social sustainability is an abstract, broad and diffuse concept, it is difficult to evaluate the effects of social initiatives and decisions about social sustainability are often based on intuition and experience, which is often limiting.MESH (Mäta Evaluera Social Hållbarhet) City is a simplified model, a 3d software, a digital tool that uses parametric design to identify, analyze and value social sustainability in the built and planned environment in an urban context.

Through an educational flow chart, social sustainability becomes concrete and clear by breaking down the concept of social sustainability in a structured and systematic way into sub-concepts for goals and means and resulting in indicators that can be measured and followed up.

In general, it is difficult to evaluate the effects of the social efforts that are made and the MESH City tool measures the indicators and illustrates the results in real time.

That information at an early stage creates a better decision-making basis, which contributes to better design decisions and more socially sustainable cities. Decisions about social sustainability are often based on intuition and experience, which is often limiting. MESH City is evidence-based where all measurable indicators have empirical support and a scientific basis.

We also have a collaboration with Urban Studies at Malmö University where we will help a researcher, Martin Grander, with quantifying qualities of places that contribute to social interaction with the help of MESH City. The project´s purpose is to commercialize MESH City through an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).

The MVP involves making the software scalable by developing a web-based tool. This allows us to test the product against the market and at the same time validate the business model.

Due to society´s challenges with regard to social sustainability, authorities and institutions are beginning to place increasingly higher demands on the real estate industry in terms of social sustainability.

MESH City is a tool for architects and planners who meet the needs of their clients, real estate companies, and those who work in the public sector.

When real estate companies work with social sustainability, it leads to:they save on their resources and operating and maintenance coststheir property value increasesthey get more favorable loansthey can buy land from the municipalities For architects and planning architects, MESH City will contribute to:more efficient and informed decisions can be madeimproved communication and collaborationa strengthened brand and differentiation from competitors on the marketreduced uncertainty and risk-taking in the planning process.

To have a platform that is reliable, secure and efficient, and to shape the design and functions of the tool in a way that inspires the use, we will implement four work packages:Planning and design - where we emphasize security and scalability as well as designing an intuitive and inclusive user interface.MVP development – where the focus is on developing the core features of the MVP.Testing and iteration – where the iteration is based on user feedback to get good functionality and ease of use.Communication – where training and workshops provide user guidance and information about our platform.

Through the MVP, the tool will become scalable and MESH City can be int