A 3D model of a township by a team of GIIS Queenstown Campus students has been shortlisted by an agency - Activistar to be part of the World Cities Summit to be held in Singapore in July 2014. The World Cities Summit Mayors Forum is an annual by-invitation global event for city mayors and leaders to discuss pressing urban issues and share best practices. Five teams - each comprising of six members - from GIIS Queenstown Campus, Singapore participated in the competition out of 35 teams from all over South East Asia. The teams presented their proposals to the jury members on March 15, 2014 at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore and the next day the teams built a prototype model on the spot. At the end of the day the names of winning teams were announced by the jury members amidst all 35 teams who had participated in the competition.

Activistar Advocacy, a Township planning consultant based in Singapore organised a sustainable series competition entitled, Planning a Clean and Green Township - Yangon. The competition is organised every year by Activistar for students of ages 14 to 26 years and is open to students from all over South East Asia with an objective of conveying the importance of sustainability to today@aps@s younger generation.

In the competition, a scenario was developed whereby the participating teams were appointed by the Mayor of Yangon City to plan a district into a clean and green heritage city. The teams were asked to rejuvenate the area to shape Yangon city into one of the heritage cities of Asia. Another criteria given to participants were Government funding was extremely limited, the town planning teams were required to facilitate the regeneration of the area by taking into consideration any or all of the sustainability principles in terms of Social, Economic and Environmental aspects.

The teams had to outline some broad policy directions for Yangon district which may aid with the economic agenda of generating growth for its citizens so as to raise the quality of life through employment while undertaking the needs for housing, transport, sanitation, health, environment quality, energy sources, commercial activities and other infrastructural requirements.  The proposal given by the participants should also illustrate how ideas can be materialized in a sustainable manner by taking into account the legislative, cultural and financial status of the city. 

During the December holidays, the teams did a thorough base line study to establish a clear understanding of Yangon. From January to March 2014, the teams dedicated their time in research and developing the presentation. The project was divided into three parts. The first was writing a proposal providing suggestions to make Yangon a cleaner and greener city, the second was presenting the proposal to a jury and the third was to developing a three dimensional prototype for the suggestions the teams had proposed. Another criterion for the project was each team should comprise of six team members.

‘The Planners’ team of GIIS Queenstown Campus bagged the second Runners- up award and their 3D model of the prototype has been shortlisted by Activistar to be part of the World Cities Summit to be held in Singapore in 2014. The team comprised of Natasha Rajiv, Prithvi Boggavaram, Kriti Mathur, Aakash Pathak, Krithika Balasubramaniam and Ridhi Bhatnagar. 

‘The Atwoods’ comprising of Dhruv Mittal, Swarnima Sircar, Harshjyot Singh, Jai Singh, Rohan Vaidya and Adwait Deshmukh, also from GIIS Queenstown Campus bagged the first Runners-up award.