Tag: YLAC

News

Two critical junctions in North Delhi crowdsource ideas for revamp from young designers

Jun 11, 2024 by Mansi Praharaj 0 Comments #crowdsource, #North Delhi, #Shri Dilip Pandey, #YLAC

Delhi, 11th June 2024: Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) and Sensing Local are proud to announce the outcomes of the Urban Revamp Design Challenge 2024. This collaboration, in conjunction with the Sustainable Mobility Network, awards young urban designers and architects for their exceptional concepts that will breathe new life into Delhi’s public spaces.

crowd source

This year, the initiative aims to foster inclusive urban design to transform Banda Bahadur Marg and Chaudhary Fateh Singh Marg, two critical locations within the Timarpur constituency of New Delhi, into functional spaces that create a lasting public square and enhance local culture and community interaction.

The competition attracted over 90 registrations from individuals and teams comprising students, professionals, and experts from renowned architecture schools and firms.

Participants were guided through community-led visioning workshops to gain insights into the socio-cultural context and specific needs of the sites. Stakeholder engagement sessions facilitated dialogue with residents and relevant authorities, enabling participants to develop designs that resonate with the community’s aspirations and address pressing challenges.

After rounds of mentoring and support from the YLAC over the last three months, a jury comprising community representatives from both locations, noted urban designers and architects, and faculty from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi selected the best design from each site.

The winning suggestions for Banda Bahadur Marg came from Vidisha Dhar, Neelima Singh, and Kashfi Khanam from Arcadis IBI Group, where they envision Banda Bahadur Marg with a people-centric approach aimed to create a vibrant and sustainable streetscape that enhances the quality of life for all residents.

Winners of Chaudhary Fateh Singh Marg were Manna Nixon, Serene Meccartin, and Teenu J Thaikattil. Their proposal emphasises pedestrian-friendly infrastructure and smart technologies. By prioritising connectivity, well-being, and economic vitality, their design envisions resilient and thriving urban environments that cater to the needs of current and future generations.

The winning teams of the Challenge were officially facilitated by Timarpur MLA, Shri Dilip Pandey. Mr Pandey reviewed the winning proposals in-depth and provided additional feedback for successful implementation in the two locations.

Honouring the efforts, Timarpur MLA, Shri Dilip Pandey says, “It’s inspiring to see young people taking an interest in improving their roads and cities. The Urban Revamp Challenge has provided an important platform for political authorities to work hand in hand with the community through young urban designers. By involving residents in the consultation process for revamping public infrastructure, this challenge brings a fresh and valuable perspective to development. It’s heartening to know that the everyday issues faced by residents, which might otherwise be overlooked, are being brought to light and addressed effectively.”

Aparajita Bharti, Co-Founder YLAC, added, “After conducting the Urban Revamp challenge in four locations in Bengaluru, we are proud to bring the competition here to Delhi in partnership with Sensing Local. The objective of running this challenge is to involve local communities and city residents in reimagining their spaces. This is also a great way to build the capacity of young urban designers and architects by giving them live problems to work with and getting them invested in city planning early on in their careers. “

YLAC:

Founded in 2016, Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) aims to increase the participation of young people in the policymaking process and build their capacity to lead change. Our interventions are designed to equip citizens with a better understanding of the society they live in and the challenges that it confronts. The aim is to help young people broaden their perspective, think critically about their socio-political construct, tap their leadership potential and acquire skills to create long lasting impact.

Business World

Innovators come together for a hackathon to get #BengaluruMoving

Aug 14, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments ##BengaluruMoving hackathon, #co-Founder, #Directorate of Urban Land Transport, #Let Me Breathe, #Rohit Kumar, #World Resources Institute (WRI), #YLAC, #Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC)

#BengaluruMoving hackathon is being hosted by Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC), in partnership with World Resources Institute (WRI), Let Me Breathe and Directorate of Urban Land Transport, with the objective of encouraging passionate innovators to come forth with their ideas for decongesting Bengaluru city. The registration for the hackathon, which will be hosted on Skillenza platform, kickstarted in the last week of July, with August 23 being the final date to submit the concept notes. The winner of the hackathon will be presented with Rs 1 lakh and a mobility pioneer certificate.

The hackathon is part of the wider ‘Bengaluru Moving’ campaign, which is aimed at highlighting the challenges of public transport in Bengaluru and the need for better first and last-mile connectivity while championing bus lanes, non-motorised transport (NMT) solutions and investment in urban transport infrastructure.

Over the next few weeks, close to 100 teams will be participating in the hackathon to design and present solutions that will encourage and simplify the usage of public transport to address mobility woes of the city, by designing a ‘Bengaluru Connectivity Index’. The platform will use the user’s location and destination to provide all possible transport modes and allow users to choose their preferred mode of transport based on trip time, total fare, and a number of transfers.

In addition to helping commuters plan their trips across the city with accurate and real-time information, the platform will collate service information from buses, metros, trains, and new mobility platforms to create a comprehensive index. This index will also help the transport agencies assess how accessible different areas of the city are by various transport modes and improve connectivity.

Talking about the importance of the hackathon, Rohit Kumar, Co-Founder, YLAC, said, “A big barrier to efficient transportation in Bengaluru is the lack of correct, real-time information for commuters. Commuters require a wide variety of information to make their travelling decisions, such as fares, transfers, and the duration of the total trip. Through the hackathon and ‘Bengaluru Connectivity Index’, we aim to address the root cause of the problem to enable mass adoption of public transport across Bengaluru.”

As part of the hackathon, the innovators are required to equip the connectivity index with a survey feature for commuters to help crowdsource this data, where commuters can fill in details about their trip (how long it took, what transport mode they used, destination, etc.) and rank different areas in Bengaluru on their accessibility, helping to build a better picture of transport connectivity in the city.

Sharing insights on this requirement, Sudeept Maiti, Senior Manager, Integrated Transport at WRI India, added, “Given the amount of data available today, there are very few commuter-facing tools and platforms that allow citizens in Bengaluru to assess the connectivity and accessibility of their home and places of work and leisure. Understanding this is an important step to reflecting the reality on the ground and improving connectivity for everyone–across all areas and modes of transport. This gap is where we believe the Bengaluru Connectivity Index can make an impact—for citizens, neighbourhoods, and transit agencies.”

To get the best minds on board, YLAC is also exploring partnerships with mobility startups, apart from tie-ups with other organizations for data partnerships for the hackathon. In line with this, YLAC is also looking at organising webinars and mentorship sessions with domain experts to help the participants bring out robust and practical solutions.