A tale of cities

Inno Build Your City, a platform for participatory citizenship was launched recently to focus on building better living spaces

April 02, 2012 07:24 pm | Updated 07:24 pm IST

DEVELOPMENT TALK Chetan Bhagat

DEVELOPMENT TALK Chetan Bhagat

If you are among those who love this city with all your heart and rue the way its soul is being torn apart by civic issues and the lack of development, then, you now have a platform to voice your concerns.

A platform for participatory citizenship called The Inno BYC (Build Your City) was recently launched by the Inno Group with a talk by popular writer Chetan Bhagat. It was followed by a panel discussion on Building Sustainable Cities in which well-known speakers such as M.B. Nirmal, founder, Exnora International, Raj Cherubal, director, projects, Chennai City Connect, Raja Krishnamoorthy, management consultant and film personality and Nanditha Krishna, director, The C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation participated.

Kalyan Jayaprakash, director, Inno GeoCity, said, “BYC will help nurture the spirit of participatory citizenship. It is a forum for people from all walks of life and the idea is to create a sense of ownership among citizens.”

Welcoming the initiative, Chetan said, “It is important that we modernise our cities. Unfortunately, we have not. A lot of it is due to the politics, which is structured so much around the state and the country that cities get neglected. Those of us who care for our cities may be a minority but what a minority can do is lobby. If our concerns are right, our voices will be heard. Also, sooner or later, politicians will realise that cities are the hub from which the states generate their wealth.”

For ideas to better the city, log onto www.buildyourcity.in

Chetan Bhagat, writer

I was an investment banker before turning writer and I've spent quite a bit of time in Hong Kong. I rate it as one of the best in the world. That's because they have got some of the core things right — wealth creation, world-class infrastructure, efficiency, culture and environment. Hong Kong is not like London or New York. It was a fishing village, just 40-50 years ago. Today, it is one of the biggest financial cities of the world.

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Raja Krishnamurthy

Organisation Development Specialist, “Culture is not only about celebrating the traditional arts, it is also about the values and beliefs. The city is not just about structures but also responses and sensitivities. Just like how a structural architect looks to build structures, a social architect will have to influence the beliefs and sensibilities of individuals. I'm here as a social architect.”

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M.B. Nirmal,

founder, Exnora

“I have transformed places, more importantly, my home, office and street. We were the ones who introduced the tricycle carts for clearing waste. We built toilets for children and painted the walls with cartoon characters. And they stopped defecating in the open.”

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