Often these people have the exact same stuff in their apartments, which is wasteful.\n
An alternative we’re both personally familiar with is the co-op or group house,\n
where people often borrow things from each other instead of buying new ones.\n
We wanted to adapt this model of sharing to apartment buildings. But our research showed people have to know their neighbors before they’re comfortable sharing with them.\n
So our system focuses on helping people in the same building meet each other. It’s called Know your Neighbors.\n
At its core is a simple online building directory. The reason people sign up is to access it. Afterwards our system nudges them to start sharing with their neighbors.\n
Here’s a story about how a person in one building starts using Know your Neighbors.\n
Jose comes home one day and sees a flyer next to the elevator that says “Know your neighbors!”\n
It’s signed by one of his neighbors and gives the address for a website that will let him get in touch with other people in the building.\n
That evening he visits the site, enters his address, and instantly sees a list of his neighbors and a way to contact them. This seems useful, so he adds his own information.\n
Some of his neighbors have posted items they’re willing to share -- the site asks him what he’s willing to share,\n
and as an experiment he enters one useful thing he doesn’t use much\n
his power drill\n
The next day...\n
Jose gets an e-mail from the site with news about who has recently joined and the new things people are looking for or sharing.\n
One thing catches his eye: His neighbor Jim is giving away some old issues of Esquire. Jose’s been meaning to read up on beard maintenance, so he contacts Jim through the method listed on the site and Jim tells him to come by after work.\n
Jose knocks on Jim’s door, picks up the magazines, and the two of them chat for a minute. Now they both know one more friendly face in the building.\n
A couple days later,\n
Jose gets a text from Jim about the drill he’d listed on the site.\n
Jose is totally willing to lend the drill now that he knows Jim. This sharing thing seems OK!\n
A couple days later,\n
So he goes to the site and posts a request.\n
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The site automatically generates a paper flyer for him to print out and post in the building, too, so he does!\n\n\n
Lindsey sees Jose’s flyer in the elevator. \n
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She’s never met Jose, but she’s had some positive experiences meeting and sharing with other people in the building, so she feels comfortable lending her extra chairs to someone new. Now Jose has 2 new friends in the building and feels confident sharing with them as well as other people.\n
We think this scales nicely and could be a very effective way of reducing consumption.\n