Welsh School team to hold exhibition on aims of Smart City

MANGALURU: A team of students from Welsh School of Architecture (WSA), Cardiff University, will hold an exhibition on findings of a research they carried out on ‘Aims and Objectives of Smart City,’ at the Mini Town Hall here on September 10 and 11.
The team of 10 students along with Dr Shibu Raman of WSA and Prof Arunava Dasgupta of School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, were in the city between November 2018 and January 2019 to carry out the research.
Shibu Raman said a proposal to develop a partnership with Cardiff University to achieve its Smart City ambitions was submitted to the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) in 2017. “Achieving smart, equitable, socially just, environmentally sustainable and economically competitive development for the city is one of the overall aims of the research proposal. It also aims at improving the quality of life for its half a million citizens through the Smart City funding and sustainability. Cardiff University and School of Planning and Architecture conducted a joint design studio for their masters’ programme broadly based on the aims and objectives of Smart City. The research was followed by studios developing design proposal to address the challenges identified during the study trip. These research and proposals were intended to complement and feed into the Mangaluru Smart City proposal,” he said, adding that the main focus of the research is to make Mangaluru a better city to live in.
The team has worked with all main stakeholders of the Mangaluru Smart City project and the main focus was on the area based development schemes the Mangaluru Smart City Limited proposed. The team identified key strengths and weaknesses that can be used to prepare a comprehensive master plan for the city, he said.
MCC commissioner Mohammed Nazeer said Cardiff University’s proposal to develop a partnership will be considered after studying their reports.