By IANS
Mumbai : Two city-based community projects were unanimously selected joint winners of a $100,000 first-ever Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award (DBUA) in recognition of their efforts to transform the lives of ordinary citizens.
Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann presented the award at the Urban Age Conference here, which was also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday.
The winners were the Triratana Prerana Mandal (TPM) initiative and the Mumbai Waterfronts Development Centre, with a special commendation for the Urban Design Research Institute’s (UDRI) Fort Management Project.
DBUA is a joint initiative of the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society.
“In scope, quality and quantity the submissions to the jury exceeded expectations for the award, the first of its kind. Some 74 applications were received from organisations working in the slums and the historic districts, from government and non-governmental organisations, from groups working with children and women,” one of the organisers said.
Established in 2002, TPM – located in Santacruz, Mumbai – runs out of a community centre built above a public toilet. It has established alliances with city corporations and NGOs to improve life for local residents.
The group builds toilets, plants trees and carries out waste management. English and computer classes are offered, all on the initiative of the residents.
Waterfronts Development Centre is an initiative of a group of citizens living near the sea in Bandra. They transformed Bandra’s ragged promenades into curving walkways fringed with greenery.
Started in 1994, UDRI – with the active participation of ordinary citizens as well as legislators – has been instrumental in preserving old precincts like the Oval Maidan and Kala Ghoda. UDRI successfully lobbied with other city NGOs for the first urban preservation legislation in the country.
UDRI is currently seen as the premier urban think-tank in the country; it provides a vision for the future of Mumbai.
UAC is a three-day event currently underway in Mumbai and will be held in eight other mega-cities across the globe.
Members of the jury for the first DBUA Award were London School of Economics centennial professor in architecture and urbanism Ricky Burdett, former Washington mayor Anthony Williams, actress and social activist Shabana Azmi, author and New York University associate professor Suketu Mehta, MIT associate professor and architect Rahul Mehrotra and University of Pennsylvania architect and professor Enrique Norten.