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Karnal Shows How Dead Spaces Can Be Converted Into Vibrant, Public-Friendly Areas

Haryana’s Karnal smart city is taking proactive steps under the ‘Street for People Challenge’ to reinvent public spaces as child-friendly and walking-friendly places.

Taking up the ‘Street for People Challenge’ enthusiastically, Haryana’s Karnal smart city has come to the notice of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, for its active participation and efforts to make this challenge a success. The ministry has lauded the efforts to turn the dead spaces in the city to vibrant public-friendly areas.

The ‘Street for People Challenge’ is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission to inspire cities to create walking-friendly streets through quick measures, in response to Covid-19. The Challenge will support cities across the country to develop a unified vision of streets for people in consultation with stakeholders and citizens. It was launched in 2020 in partnership with FIT India and ITDP India Programme as knowledge partners. 113 cities registered for the Challenge and have initiated activities in preparation.

The Challenge aims to create flagship walking initiatives in cities which focus on placemaking and liveability.

IMPLEMENTING THE IDEA

While speaking to Indian Masterminds, Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Mr. Nishant Yadav said, “The idea is that streets are not exclusively for just vehicles but for other purposes as well. It is an initiative for creating walking-friendly roads where we can conduct various activities. There are parking spaces in various sectors of Haryana which are not used appropriately. The main objective was to re-imagine streets, parking lots, dead spaces in Karnal as child-friendly and safe public spaces under the Street for People Challenge.”

Up till now, Karnal smart city organized the Street for People challenge at three different locations in the city to sensitize people. This includes Sector 6 Market, Ramnagar, and Sector 13 parking area.

Highlights of the event held at Sector 6 market in Karnal

The parking lot of Sector 6 market area was selected for the pilot project. A drawing competition was organized in Street Games Karnal 2020 challenge to stimulate a sense of road safety among kids by drawing colorful 3-D pedestrian crossings etc. More than 250 people of all age groups participated in the event.

After conducting this pilot project on 8 December 2020, another area was identified for conducting the challenge in Ram Nagar on February 9th, 2021. Parking and side open space, including the approach road in Ramnagar, was identified for the Challenge. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also participated in the event for building the momentum of the challenge.

Large number of people attending the event

More than a thousand people participated in the event, including stakeholder organizations like RAAHGIRI, Road Safety Department, Drug Deaddiction Center, Education Department and NGOs. The event was organized on a big scale with an art workshop, music, dance and other activities for children.

ADVANTAGES

Mr. Nishant Yadav said, “A lot of community participation was seen in this initiative, and it was a delightful moment for the kids as they enjoyed it a lot. This challenge is bringing the community together and is spreading awareness to imagine multiple uses of public space for the people. Now, these spaces are being utilized properly, rather than have some vehicles parked in these places inappropriately.”