MCG sets October 15 deadline to register for Streets for People Challenge

Under the Central government’s Streets for People Challenge, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has invited professionals and students in the fields of

Under the Central government’s Streets for People Challenge, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has invited professionals and students in the fields of architecture, urban design, and planning to submit innovative designs for re-engineering two stretches in the city.

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The MCG has shortlisted a 600-metre stretch within Sadar Bazaar, between Jama Masjid and Post office, and a road within the market’s 50-metre radius that leads to two schools, Vedik High School and Senior Secondary Girls Government School on Jacobpura Road, for the competition, registrations of which closes on December 15.

The designs should have the capability to be carried out in quick time, require minimal capital expenditure, while keeping parameters, such as the fair distribution of space, safety, comfort, and addressing of localised needs in mind, as per the criteria set.

According to MCG officials, the initiative is being supervised by the ministry of housing and urban affairs in cities across the country. MCG officials said that they are also looking at the competition as an opportunity to create a database of professionals and students, who can help them in redesigning other stretches across the city in the future.

“Streets for People Challenge is an initiative to make the roads walking friendly. The purpose of this challenge is to make the use of roads as public spaces that are safe and inclusive. As a part of this challenge, the MCG has invited innovative design ideas from citizens. Under this, in the first phase, a stretch in Sadar Bazar and two schools in its nearby area have been selected for the pilot project,” said Jaspreet Kaur, additional commissioner, MCG.

Kaur said that the winning entries in the competition will be awarded cash prizes and certificates by the MCG and will also have an opportunity to discuss, develop and implement their ideas with the officials.

Participants can register themselves at https://tinyurl.com/S4PGurugram. They further said that the cash prizes — Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 for the first to third places, respectively — would be awarded for the two stretches separately.

MCG officials said that there is no restriction on the total number of participants in a team. However, at least one person needs to be a resident of Gurugram. They further said that the participants would be judged on the originality of their design plan, ability to address localised issues, inclusivity and the ease of implementation, among other categories.

For the redesigning of stretches near the two schools, MCG officials said that they are specifically looking for designs that will create safe access to them and act as a design benchmark, which be replicated near other schools in the city. They are looking for participants to design stretches keeping public and non-motorised transport modes in mind, so as to include necessary speed calming measures, proper illumination, signage, and demarcated areas, such as vending zones.

The design should demarcate adequate space for footpaths, crossings, ramps, seating areas and green belts. It also has to factor and identify the primary users of the stretch, their pattern of movement, and ways they can be safeguarded, keeping in mind ways to utilise recycled products and increasing environmental sustainability.

Following the closure of registration, the last date of submitting designs is January 3, 2021, and the results would be announced five days later, said officials.