Bengaluru: Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) and Dayananda Sagar College of Architecture announced a unique street design competition #BengalurigeBeku #BetterStreets for students of architecture and urban planning on Friday. The launch was on the campus of Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering in the presence of a large number of architecture students from various colleges in the city.
To register, students have to mail their college name along with the names of their team members (only up to four) to registerforbetterstreets@gmail.com . The team has to register within a week, select a street and complete the designing by two weeks. Architecture Department Dean Dr Rama R. Subrahmanian said, "It's deeply disappointing to see Bengaluru crumbling around us." Srinivas Alavilli of CfB moderated the panel discussion with Vasu Dixit, V. Ravichander (CityConnect), Pawan Mulukutla of WRI, Kaamya Ramachandran of Jaaga and Satya Sankaran (CiFOS). Ravichander said, "Earlier, Bengaluru had a master plan and it had 35% of open spaces, but now as per the latest RMP, it stands at 4%." Kaamya Ramachandran said, "Architects and urban planners may be experts in building cities, but it is only when they open their eyes and ears to people's inputs that they know the environment, culture and society and can create more efficient projects." Closing the panel discussion, Srinivas Alavilli said, "The idea behind the competition is to engage students with our city, re-imagine our streets with citizen inputs in a way that is a win for them and win for Bengaluru."
Vasu Dixit of Swarathma had the audience singing along with special songs to reflect the changing dynamics of Bengaluru.
