Over 500 undergraduate architecture students from 42 towns and cities in South Asia have undertaken the challenge to transform 100 public spaces as part of the University of Westminster International Design Competition inspired by the Clean India Mission.
The Clean Indian Mission, launched by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in 2014, aims to spread awareness, behavioral change and capacity building towards healthy sanitation practices and solid waste management. The mission is a national level campaign by the Government of India that encouraged people to pledge towards the mission of cleaning up public spaces in India.
This year’s brief of the University of Westminster International Design Challenge is inspired by the Clean India Mission and the wave of citizen participation it has generated through its cleanliness drives*. The competition goes further to facilitate upcoming architects to use design as a catalyst of positive change within local communities. It encourages participants to transform disused public spaces in South Asia into recreational, informative and easy to maintain spaces by involving local communities.
The competition was established by the University of Westminster working in partnership with the National Association of Students of Architecture in India (NASA INDIA). The best examples of the transformations of these public spaces will be published in the international publication of the Massive Small Compendium in 2016.
The first round of transformations have already taken place and several public spaces in cities and towns from Jammu to Chennai and Jaipur to Raipur have been cleaned and brought back into active use through design interventions using recycled materials. The range of transformed public spaces include waterfronts (Karbala Talab) in Bhopal, flyover under crofts (CH flyover) in Calicut, local Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) stations in Chennai, disused subway in Andheri, Mumbai and several other neglected community spaces within local neighborhoods and public institutions across India.
Hundreds of local people have joined forces and local authorities have extended support to the participating teams of the next generation of architects and change-makers. The students have self-funded, initiated local fund raising activities or worked closely with local authorities and stakeholders to acquire material and labour for their individual projects. Acquiring permissions for working on publicly owned land, the students have taken the challenge head on with their creativity and have managed to deliver collective transformations within four months.
Darshana Chauhan, Co-founder of the University of Westminster International Design Competition, said: “We are overwhelmed by the response and the efforts of young creative minds of South Asia towards making their towns and cities better places to live. The collective power of these small changes will make a massive difference and truly become an inspiring international case-study of positive impact on local communities through the power of architecture design and community engagement.”
