NGEF: Repurpose the land, but involve all

How should the NGEF land look like two years from now? This is a question that many want to be answered through a participatory, consultative process. No design or plan should be imposed from above without a process that involves citizens, architects, environmentalists, design students, and other stakeholders.

Why not a design competition or a hackathon to spark new ideas to reimagine the place? “There should not be a paucity of ideas. A consultative process can generate a rush of creative solutions. Someone might come up with an entirely new concept or a model to emulate from somewhere else. Let there be an open competition, let it be a speculative urban intervention project,” suggests a sustainable development activist, who wished to remain unnamed.

Here are a few interesting, crowd-sourced proposals for NGEF land:

A gallery of memories, recalling Bengaluru’s rich industrial heritage. A constantly evolving public exhibition space showcasing the city’s strides in science, technology, engineering. This could involve public sector undertakings and institutions of repute such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

A Bengaluru Art Biennale on the lines of what Kochi achieved with its fantastic convergence of installation artists from all over the world. The sprawling NGEF campus could be an ideal space to let creativity run wild, eventually making a name for itself in the global art calendar.

A transport museum on the lines of the one in Budapest. Beckoning tourists in droves, the museum in the European city features a big collection of large-scale models of vintage locomotives, bikes, horse buggies, and even a railway station from the 1900s. Bengaluru’s vintage car owners could take turns to display their prized possessions here.