Kirti Zala, co-founder and CEO of aProCh, which won the Innovation Award at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from November 5 to 7
| Photo Credit: Credit: Special Arrangement
aProCh, an Ahmedabad-based community initiative that works in the field of building safe environments for children, won the Innovation Award at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress (SCEWC) held in Barcelona, Spain between November 5 and 7.
The award was shared by Saudi Arabia’s Aramco.
“This award recognises urban solutions which are human centric for livable, sustainable and inclusive cities. After this recognition, we will proactively recommend the central government to implement such programmes as part of its agenda for the next Smart Cities mission and also make such urban intervention as part of policy for cities,” Kirti Zala, co founder and CEO of aProCh told The Hindu.
The theme of the 2024 SCEWC was “Live Better” and the event showcased innovations to support sustainable urban transformations in the fields of mobility, economy, and more. Among other honours, Shenzen was declared Smart City of 2024 for its ‘Smarter City, Better Life’ initiative, while Milano Mayor Giuseppe Sala was deemed best leader.
The Indian presence
The Indian pavilion at the SCEWC was represented by a delegation of around 40 people, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Joint Secretary Rahul Kapoor and Smart Cities Director Manoj Sharvar. The pavilion was inaugurated by India’s ambassador to Spain Dinesh Patnaik on November 5.
The India Pavillion at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from November 5 to 7
| Photo Credit:
Credit: Special Arrangement
Rupesh Chopra, consultant with the MoHUA and a member of the India delegation said that the team received collaboration requests from other participants at the expo, including those from Paris, France. The Parisian delegation will visit India for further meetings later this month.
Presentation of the Smart Cities mission at the India Pavillion at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from November 5 to 7
| Photo Credit:
Credit: Special Arrangment
“One of the main challenges that we face in India with respect to Smart Cities is waste segregation. This needs support from the citizens, authorities alone cannot do this,” Mr. Chopra said.
aProCh was one of the winners of the Innovation Award at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from November 5 to 7
| Photo Credit:
Credit: Special arrangement
The aProCh initiative by the Ahmedabad-based Riverside Education Foundation won the Innovation Award for its work transforming public areas in cities into child-friendly spaces, reimagining and reclaiming these spaces to enable children to actively participate in a sustainable and inclusive future. The tagline for the initiative is “A Protagonist in Every Child.”
Details of the aProCh initiative
| Photo Credit:
Credit: Special Arrangement
Key themes at the event
One of the centre-points of the event was its zero waste initiative to highlight a push towards sustainability. In an interaction with media, Ugo Valenti, director of the SCEWC, said that initiatives like recycling carpets and tying up with local organisations to redirect leftover food are some of the main initiatives taken in this direction. The organisers will conduct an assessment of the zero-waste initiatives after the event, Mr. Valenti said.
A panel underway at the 2024 Smart Cities Expo World Congress held in Barcelona from November 5 to 7
| Photo Credit:
Credit: Special Arrangement
Among other accolades accorded at the event, the Czech Republic won the Green Exhibitor Award for its sustainable setup. The panels of the pavilion were prepared by Plastic Guys, a company from Brno that specialises in creating panels and furniture from recycled plastic.
“The mission was to prepare a sustainable presentation for the Czech Republic. For that, we got the Plastic Guys to do the panelling for the pavilion. The carpet of our stand was created by recycling juice and milk tetra packs with heat and pressure, without using any glue. We also took special care about the design, because people often refuse recycled products by saying they are ugly,” project leader Michal Cechura said.
Published – November 09, 2024 12:48 pm IST
