Introduction

The theme of SETU 2021 is “Streets for Me”. Building onto the multiple editions of SETU over the years and anchored in the broader agenda of sustainable development goals 2030, the overall objective of SETU 2021 was to simulate the native curiosity of young people and foster their active participation in the affairs of the city. Starting September 19, 2021, the event consisted of a series of online workshops and related events, culminating in an offline event on October 2, 2021 at Kashipur, Uttarakhand.

Multiple resource persons from all over India anchored and facilitated the workshop for 14 teams consisting of students from around thirteen schools/colleges/institutions in and around Kashipur. In total, 140 students participated in the workshops.

About the Workshop

Sustainable Cities are those that seek to make our cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It calls for taking steps to simultaneously foster green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. It also calls for minimizing required inputs of energy, water, and food, and drastically reducing waste, output of heat, water and air pollution by all stakeholders. The objective of the workshop on Streets for Me was to facilitate students to explore people’s relationships with the place, directly and indirectly. By mapping narratives of different stakeholders, their associations and their belief systems, it was expected that the stories will bring forth the values that different stakeholders from various walks of life held for the place Kashipur. It was hoped that the students will also capture physical changes in their neighbourhood thru observations and will present the most desirable outcome on how they perceive the place by presenting the same as artilized. The workshop was organized around the framework consisting of the tasks to observe, relate, design, action:

• Observe -Observe who and what constitute your city and understand its functions. Observing the surroundings using all your 5 senses

  o What do you see, What are the different sounds, What do the different smells tell us

  o How do you feel when you connect with the social fabric and can you elaborate on the Flavours of the city with the change in season/function

• Relate-Mapping the observations during the visits to the location on a digital map.

  o Relating your city with other similar cases by understanding their methodologies and best practices keeping in mind the SDG goals.

  o Categorizing stakeholders and assessing their integration in the social fabric to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth

• Design-Creating goals for a sustainable growth for an inclusive society

  o Transport – Sustainable transport by ensuring convenience in using public transport and by promoting walking and cycling for last mile connectivity.

  o Management of resources - Sustainable land-use planning and management while integrating provision of environmental infrastructure: water, sanitation, drainage and solid waste management.

• Action-Creating a sustainable solution

  o Addressing the local authorities of the issues identified asking for action to be taken

  o Collaborating with the community to promote Sustainable practice and implementation of design through presentations, art, street play, etc

The Presentations:

All the teams were allotted certain area on the street approx. 50 m to 100 m in a centrally located street of Kashipur (See Map ). They were asked to work on the key concept of "Streets for Me" by collecting data from secondary sources, interviewing people, analysis and presentations in various formats. The workshop consisted of a series of online interactions between students and facilitators. In the first interaction the facilitators gave an overview of the objectives and expectations from the workshop. It was followed by 5 more interactions whereby students came up with their ideas, discussed their workplan and were given due suggestions and feedback on focus, content and delivery.

The final submission consisted of two components. In the first part, students created a story about their part of the street and presented it online along with their plan for creating the offline artifact. On October 2, 2021, fourteen teams presented their final work on the main street in the form of street plays, posters, props and artifacts spreading the message of inclusive, safe, and sustainable streets. In the final event, teams from prominent NGOs and civil society organizations also participated. The final results were a cumulative score of both online and offline presentations along with the score of the stakeholders from various walks of life, who were an integral part of the live voting process. The winners were felicitated and special mentions were given to three teams for overall efforts.

Khwahish is a humble effort by students and teachers to sow the seeds of primary education among the children as well as adults. Some of the students attend schools while some others are housewives or daily wage earners. The aim is to motivate people to come forward and share their valuable time and knowledge with these educationally malnourished sections. These souls appreciate even half an hour of your time.Though there's nothing more important than your knowledge, but donations too are necessary .Be a philanthropist by donating your time or money.

Apart from this, khwahish works for the animal welfare and have rescued more than 1000 stray animals till date. Visiting hours 4-6 pm.

Little Scholars, Kashipur, and Ashoka Innovators collaborated to conduct Changemaker Day on Jan 23rd,Saturday to promote the idea of “Everyone A Changemaker.”

Seven schools were a part of the event and, a total of 143 participants were present.

The event began with a presentation by Ms. Preethi Ramachandran, the coordinator from Ashoka. She elaborated on the Ashoka Young Changemakers community and introduced the two guest speakers for the day; Mr. Mathew Jose, the founder of Paperman, and Mr. Hitarth Seth, the founder of Buddhiman and Gujju Student.

They spoke about their journey as a changemaker, which followed an idea pitching event by the students. Some honorable mentions are Quenching the thirst of Animals by Gargi, Applied Learning Program by Prabhleen, and The Open Arms Project by Prisha. The participants received constructive feedback from the speakers at the end of their presentation. The next event was a Q & A round, where the students asked relevant questions to the speakers through the chatbox. The speakers answered them with precision and expertise that perhaps was a result of their intense experience.

The event ended on a positive note. The atmosphere was of learning and development.