KOCHI: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has named Kochi as one of India’s top ten cities for its efforts in establishing people-friendly streets and nurturing neighbourhoods. To promote improved developmental practises in the country, the ministry launched the Nurturing Neighbourhood Challenge and the Street4People Challenge. The challenge included almost 100 metro cities.
The Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge aims to incorporate early childhood development (0-5 years old children) into Indian city planning and management. The Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge is a three-year effort that intends to pilot and scale strategies to improve public space, mobility, neighbourhood design, access to early childhood services and amenities, and data management across city agencies with Indian cities and their partners. It will also create a platform for city-to-city learning and sharing of best practices.
The MoHUA website describes the Street4People Challenge as a flagship public space initiative. Through quick, low-cost, and inventive solutions, the city-led Design Competition intends to crowdsource unique ideas for designing and testing pilot interventions. Each city would hold its own design competition, with specifics on the location, schedule, and prizes.
A monetary prize of Rs 50 lakh will be given to the city. The Kochi Municipal Corporation, in collaboration with Cochin Smart City Mission Limited (CSML) and WRI India, took part in the challenges. “The Eraveli and Karippalam Anganwadis, as well as the surrounding areas, were chosen for the challenge,” M Anilkumar, Kochi Mayor.
The mayor elaborated that as part of the ‘Street4People Challenge’ programme attempts to make streets more pedestrian-friendly. “We have already commenced traffic rerouting, installation of sidewalks, and cycling tracks at Fort Kochi,” the mayor stated. The project is being implemented by CSML and GIZ INDIA. The city was named ‘City with the best sustainable transportation system’ by MoHUA in October 2021.