By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 21, 2022: Bhubaneswar outshines other cities with back to back three awards and acknowledgements amongst the 100 odd Smart cities in the India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 & at the ‘Smart Cities-Smart Urbanization’ Conference held at Surat.

Organized by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the conference was focused on Ideas that can shape the future of Indian cities where Bhubaneswar stays ahead for its innovative approach and socially committed initiatives under Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd (BSCL).

Bhubaneswar won the first accolade being the Socially Smart City in the social aspect category by securing second position. Similarly, the unified Portal ‘Bhubaneswar.Me’ got mention and awarded in the governance category, conceptualized and designed by BDAs in-house technical wing BUKC (Bhubnaeswar Urban Knowledge Centre). The recent Place making Marathon for Maa Mangala Pokhari Rejuvenation got wide appreciation at the conference and was amongst the best six such winning initiatives.

“Our efforts have been focused towards enabling Bhubaneswar as a sustainable and resilient urban city” said Shri. Sanjay Kumar Singh, IAS, Municipal Commissioner-Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, VC-BDA & CEO-BSCL. “Bhubaneswar is expanding and now considered as one of the most livable cities in the country for its continuous efforts on sustainability. Community participation is our key to becoming smart as a city and smarter as citizens, he adds.

The conference witnessed the bigwigs of Indian Urban Governance & development fraternity including the Minister of MoHUA and other senior officials from different Indian Cities and states. Bhubaneswar was in focus for its community and civic participation in the development process and citizen connect initiatives. The Socially Smart Bhubaneswar was appreciated much for its unique approach of designing people centric interventions & emphasizing on equitable development involving the slum dwellers, youth, women and children.

Similar was the approach when under Place Making Marathon, Maa Mangala Pokhari got rejuvenated with a peripheral vibrant community space developed with the active participation of the community. A derelict urban space got transformed into a vibrant community space with a record time of 75 hours where communities lend their hands with authority is what got eyeballs of many at the conference.

Placemaking marathons across India are much in news for the innovative makeover of urban spaces where Bhubaneswar stands out with the collaboration of community, local artists, women and children. The space currently has elements like badminton court, open gym and walkways for the youth and children play area with swings and other elements. With curated illumination around the area and talking walls have made the women group together in the evenings taking break from their daily chores.

Bhubaneswar.Me is one of its kind unified city portal by any smart city authority being the one stop platform for 100+ citizen centric services to experience better & hassle-free life in the city. This initiative not only helps the citizens but the tourists, officials, visitors coming to the city feels home with such varied and curated information about the city and life with a single click.

The three-day long conference hosted by Surat Smart City saw a variety of professionals from Govt to academia, researchers to think tanks, service providers to Start ups gathered and brainstormed on sustainable Indian Cities with smart urbanization. Bhubaneswar got appreciated widely by BUKC for being an unique effort by the city authority of Bhubaneswar.