[Watch] Odisha’s MUKTA Among Finalists For WRI Prize For Cities; Check The Other Finalists

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government’s ‘Mukhya Mantri Karma Tatpara Abhiyan’ (MUKTA) is one of the top five finalists for the 2021-22 WRI Ross Center Prize for Cities.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) announced the finalists at the 11th World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland, on Wednesday.

“During India’s COVID-19 lockdown, the Department of Housing and Urban Development of the Odisha government pioneered an innovative mass employment scheme in cities for migrants, informal workers and the urban poor that created climate-sensitive infrastructure and has now been replicated by other Indian states at a massive scale,” WRI said while announcing MUKTA as one of the finalists.

The Prize for Cities award recognises programmes that aim to make cities more sustainable and inclusive. The theme for 2021-22 was “Thriving Together in Turbulent Times”, which invited submissions on how cities are responding to uncertainty, disruption and crisis. There were 260 applications from 155 cities in 65 countries.

The other finalists are:

Todos al Parque (Barranquilla, Colombia): Barranquilla’s urban parks project is creating healthy greenspaces for residents in every neighborhood.

Participatory Housing and Urban Development in Iloilo City (Iloilo City, The Philippines)

The 15-Minute City (Paris, France): Now more residents have services and amenities at their doorstep under the 15-Minute City initiative in Paris that was launched to tackle car dominance, climate change and urban inequality.

ZU Peshawar (Peshawar, Pakistan): The initiative is putting vulnerable people at the center of the city’s new public transit system, unlocking opportunities for them.