Website & App
HOLLA
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Overview
HOLLA is a all in one safety app with a variety of features that include:
an SOS device that links to local law enforcement and a selected group of friends,
allows users to easily live stream or record an incident.
Users of the app are able to map out a safe walking route in their city or neighborhood
Project Goal
To provide an easy to use all in one safety mobile app aimed at women and girls, but could also be used by any person that finds themselves in a situation where their safety is compromised.
Problem Statement
Women and girls living in cities across the world constantly face the risk of sexual harassment and assault on a daily basis. This predicament hampers them from accessing their full rights to the city. Technology can play a pivotal role in making the city safer and more accessible to women and girls.
Background Research
HOLLA was made possible through a project called Gendering Urban Development, a urban planning and research project I undertook while completing my Masters in Architecture in Urban Design at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The project that sought to use participatory planning and design to morph cities into places that genuinely work for all genders. La Favorita, a low income neighborhood on the outskirts of Mendoza, Argentina was our laboratory.
The project resulted in a series of projects throughout the neighborhood that included the redesign of the main plaza at the center of the neighborhood, a series redesigned streets and linear park connecting the neighborhood to the city and the Andes Mountains. All these projects were conceived through extensive research and a participatory process and aimed at making the neighborhood safer for all genders but most importantly women. The HOLLA mobile app became a natural successor to the urban planning projects.
Onboarding
HOLLA also allows city governments and urban planners to use data from the app to make improvements to legislation, law enforcement and most importantly improvements to the built environment to allow for freedom of movement and expression for women and girls.
This is where HOLLA comes in
The mobile app allows women and girls to:
Report where they were harassed or assaulted
Use their phone as an SOS device that links to local law enforcement who can rapidly respond and pinpoint the location of the incident
Send messages/alerts to a selected group of 5 people (friends/family)
Live stream/record potential incidents.
All data collected from the mobile app will be used to compile a map of potential dangerous hotpots for women; safe spaces distributed throughout the city in case of an incident of assault/harassment; and safe routes for women to use throughout the city.
HOLA allows you to easily record and live stream or to call a designated group of friends when in trouble
HOLA allows users to find safe walking routes, locate nearby safe spaces and avoid dangerous areas
