Innovations in Tech-Enabled Neighborhoods

Innovations are also occurring in the housing industry of developing countries through the technology and services that designers, developers and mortgage lenders are providing. The use of personal computers and the Internet at home is becoming more and more common in developing countries, where affordable prices and credit plans have contributed to this trend. For example, during the last few years Mexico has experienced a sustained investment to build housing complexes that are affordable, especially for low- and middle-income people.

One innovation in the building of these new homes is the inclusion of Internet access and personal computers as part of the home’s basic infrastructure along with water, gas and electricity. In an earlier newsletter we described the Tecámac project , which is a study of a Tech-Enabled Neighborhood in the Real Sol housing complex near Mexico City. CRITO researchers Victor Gonzalez and Ken Kraemer are exploring the role of technology as a factor associated with the purchase of housing, the creation of self-contained communities, and the integration of technological services into the daily practices of lower income families.

The project has now progressed to identifying the critical elements facilitating not only adoption but also the usage of information and communication technologies in the home. In this part of the project, the research team will be observing the changes in domestic practices resulting from using two innovative web- based systems. One of the systems is specifically designed to allow the home owner to monitor the consumption of domestic services such as water, electricity and gas, while the other one is designed to facilitate collaboration with other members of the community. These studies will be conducted at the housing complex of Real Castell, which was built by the same housing developer as Real Sol—both in Tecámac.

In Real Castell, the developers are implementing two computer systems which are called G7 Home and G7 Community as part of the infrastructure of services in the home. G7 Home is a system that provides a way to monitor the consumption of services such as water, electricity and gas. The figure below illustrates the monitoring information available to each household. With this system residents will be able to know their current consumption, compare their consumption in previous months and plan accordingly. Given that families will now have the ability to know their consumption, they may be able to change their usage patterns with their daily monitoring. Researchers will be observing whether they use the consumption information, and if they do use it, whether they change their consumption.

Figure 1. The G7 Home utilities monitoring application

The other web-based computer system, G7 Community, is a system aimed at supporting the organization and maintenance activities of each neighborhood. The residential complexes are organized in gated neighborhoods or privadas (groups of 12 or 35 houses) where some neighbors volunteer to coordinate the maintenance and organization of the privada. The G7 Community application supports such organization by providing services where neighbors can record and check the payment of maintenance fees, post information and messages and have access to other services. The payments application is illustrated below. This application will also allow them to coordinate community events.

Figure 2. The G7 Community maintenance fees application

This study of G7 Home and G7 Community is unique because most research on the digital home has focused on the way that families can be connected to the “world of information and services” beyond their neighborhoods. Only limited investigation has examined how those technologies can provide opportunities to facilitate the management of the household or bring families closer to their neighbors thereby establishing conditions to form better communities.

Earlier this year the researchers visited Real Castell and conducted interviews. They interviewed families in the community, school teachers, companies and agencies involved with the project about their experiences in the use of technology. From these observations and interviews the researchers expect to identify the critical elements facilitating the adoption and usage of computers and Internet at home and in the local neighborhood in addition to identifying the changes on domestic practices resulting from using systems specifically designed to monitor the consumption of domestic services (water, electricity and gas) and coordination with other members of the community. The study also will be beneficial for other countries and contexts as it potentially represents a scenario that can be replicated.