The findings of students of the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) of Cardiff University and the Department of Urban Design at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi, will be exhibited at the Mini Town Hall.

The initiative for the exhibition – on September 10 and 11 – is sponsored by CREDAI and supported by the Mangaluru Smart City Limited and the Welsh government.

Mohammed Nazeer, Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) managing director in-charge, said the exhibition will be open for the public on September 11 from 10 am up to 6 pm.

Dr Shibu Raman of WSA said the MSCL had approached the Cardiff City Council to become a partner in the Smart City project. The Council, in turn, approached the Cardiff University to advise Mangaluru on the Smart City project. “We aim to achieve smart and equitable development for the city of Mangaluru,” he stated.

“The findings of the students, under the name ‘Liveable Urbanism Mangaluru’, will be handed over to the Mangaluru Smart City Limited, for perusal. The team from WSA focused on riverfront areas in Mangaluru,” he said.

“Mangaluru provides a unique opportunity for the Cardiff team to develop some of the methodology and toolkit and use them to develop our understanding of smart cities and efficient urban development. This link could be a very strategic connection with the local government and with the Centre for Cardiff University and could result in forming a strategic research and academic partnership with stakeholders, funding bodies and universities of India,” Raman explained.

He said the Cardiff University and the School of Planning and Architecture conducted a join design studio for their master’s programme based on the aims and objectives of Smart City. “The students of these two institutes had visited Mangaluru in November 2018 and January 2019 and carried out in-depth research in the city. This was followed by studios developing a design proposal to address the challenges identified during the study trip,” he added.

Raman also said that most policies for smart cities have focused on the development of robust infrastructure, but devoted little attention to understanding the relationship between physical environment and lifestyle of citizens.

Prof Arunava Dasgupta of SPA, New Delhi, said the study focused on urban aspirations of Mangaluru, environment-development interference, the multicultural identity of the city, livelihood and liveability of the city, and everyday life of the city. All these themes were studied in various pockets of Mangaluru and designs were proposed, he added.