Centre launches competition for cities to create beautiful public spaces

Aimed at encouraging urban local bodies to beautify cities and public spaces, the Union housing and urban affairs ministry has launched a ‘City Beauty Competition’.

Under this competition, wards and public spaces in cities would be judged on five broad pillars — accessibility, amenities, activities, aesthetics and ecology, said the ministry in a statement.

The last date for participating in the competition is July 15.

“While selected wards would be felicitated at the city and state levels, the top most beautiful public spaces in the cities under four categories viz. waterfronts, green spaces, tourist/heritage spaces and market/commercial places would first be felicitated at the state level and the short-listed entries would thereafter be considered for national level awards,” the ministry said.

It launched a portal https://citybeautycompetition.in on Wednesday for urban local bodies to submit documents, including photographs, videos, presentation and self-reported baseline information to participate in the competition.

The competition provides a unique opportunity to wards and cities to showcase their interventions towards creating beautiful public spaces. It would also promote heritage and culture, sustainable communities and ecological conservation and would also encourage peer learning among states and cities.