Bhubaneswar becomes first Indian city to win Pierre L enfant Awards

Bhubaneswar the capital city of Odisha has been selected for the 2017 Pierre L’Enfant International Planning Excellence Award by American Planning Association (APA). Bhubaneswar has become the first Indian city to win this award.

• Bhubaneswar has been selected for this award for ‘Bhubaneswar Smart City Plan’ which is based on a citizen engagement approach and envisages use of technology for improving the overall quality of life.
• Four other US-based planning firms and agencies have been selected for 2017 National Planning Awards in other categories. All recipients will be honoured on May 8, 2017 at the Awards Luncheon at APA’s National Planning Conference in New York.

About Pierre L’Enfant International Planning Award:

This award has been instituted in memory of Pierre L’Enfant, the French-born American architect and civil engineer. He was responsible for designing and the layout of the streets of Washington, D.C. in US.

• The award honours planning practices and efforts undertaken outside the United States to promote communities of lasting value.
• Recipients are selected by American Planning Association awards jury.

About ‘Bhubaneswar Smart City Plan’: 

The plan was prepared by Toronto-based IBI Group’s Indian operations in collaboration with Jones Long La Salle (JLL India) on behalf of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

• Under the Bhubaneswar Smart City Plan a state-of-the-art Intelligent City Operations and Management Center (ICOMC) has been proposed. This centre will integrate all important city systems viz. traffic management, parking, public transit operations, smart utilities and emergency response.
• Besides, the plan has a goal to convert Bhubaneswar into a “child-friendly city” which will have several indoor and outdoor avenues to facilitate overall development of the child.
• For obtaining inputs from citizens, a Citizens Connect project was started, under which the city administration made extensive efforts to reach out to every section of masses, right from youth to senior citizens, industrialists to street vendors and high society residents to slum dwellers.
• The plan has also made provision to uplift marginalised sections of the society, including slum dwellers by awarding them property rights.
• Overall, City of Bhubaneswar has streamlined civic amenities by engaging the citizens and making appropriate use of technology.