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Have you ever talked yourself out of driving, and opted to walk or take public transportation? Or did you just decide not to go anywhere at all?
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What About at Night?

Many people don’t feel comfortable walking when it’s dark. With lower visibility, fewer people around, and other potential dangers, it’s hard not to see where the discomfort comes from. Yet, there are many times when we find ourselves needing to walk somewhere at night–alone. The thing is, we aren’t alone! People should feel more empowered, comfortable, and safe walking at night.

Beacon seeks to design a service that will help people feel comfortable walking when they are least comfortable walking: at night. Urban areas want greater walkability to keep downtown businesses thriving and to decrease traffic. Even “walkable” cities, with dependable transportation, large sidewalks, parks, and many storefronts have people who choose not to walk. Yet cities like Taipei, Taiwan erupt with activities when it gets dark.

If more people are out at night, each person will feel safer knowing that there are others around. If more people are out at night, businesses and communities thrive and grow with more activity. And while everyone will benefit from this, the bottom line is that people should not fear being out in the dark.
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Design Stakeholders

Our goal is to focus on smaller communities with a distinct and established downtown area. This problem isn’t particular to any specific city. However, some cities struggle harder to overcome an “unsafe” or “sketchy” reputation. In southeast Michigan, there are many potential places we would be able to use as examples. This may directly involve the municipality itself, or other interested non-profit organizations. Also, our design will likely have a positive impact on the city’s businesses.

We hope to encourage people to experience their communities better than they did before, and help them feel a part of the community no matter the time of day. This primarily includes the actual citizens of the city and surrounding areas, but also includes tourists who wish to explore a city too.
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Potential Collaboration

We are currently talking to a few organizations, but at this time we have no official collaborator. We hope our “client” can give us more expertise and interest in urban development and walkability issues.

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