25 CITIES SELECTED FOR THE NURTURING NEIGHBOURHOODS CHALLENGE

25 CITIES SELECTED FOR THE NURTURING NEIGHBOURHOODS CHALLENGE

Context

Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced the names of the 25 cities selected for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge under the Smart Cities Mission.

Details

• Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge is a 3-year initiative that aims to work with Indian cities and their partners to pilot and scale ways to improve public space, mobility, neighbourhood planning, access to early childhood services and amenities, and data management across city agencies.
• The cities that have been selected for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge cohort are Agartala, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Dharamshala, Erode, Hubballi-Dharwad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Kota, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rohtak, Rourkela, Salem, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruppur, Ujjain, Vadodara, and Warangal.
• The 25 shortlisted cohort cities will receive support and technical assistance over the next 6 months to test and strengthen their proposals.
• The Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, announced 25 shortlisted cities for the Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge cohort, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) and technical partner WRI India.
• The Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge launched on November 4, 2020, invited participation from all Smart Cities, capitals of states and UTs, and other cities with a population above 5 lakh were eligible to participate.

About Smart Cities Mission

• It is an innovative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
• Its objectives are to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to their citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and the application of Smart Solutions.