Solutions were
presented at Mumbai By Design, a festival organised by a city-based academy
From building sensors
to gauging traffic congestion in an area to magnetically levitated pods
providing public transport, college students came up with innovative
design-based solutions for transport-related problems in the city.
The solutions were
presented at Mumbai By Design, a festival organised by Pearl Academy — an
education institute from Andheri — last week to celebrate the diversity and
distinct cultural influences in the city.
One of the
competitions titled ‘Design Intervention’ invited design-led innovations to
solve daily issues such as traffic management and rail efficiency. Students
from 15 institutes present innovative measures and futuristic ideas to address
these problems.
Rajat Kushwaha, a
student of the Industrial Design Centre at Indian Institute of
Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) suggested installing electromagnetic induced charging
for electric cars on roads.
“We are using fossil
fuels, even though the future belongs to electric vehicles. However, there are
no charging stations available electric vehicles. It is possible to charge such
vehicles wirelessly through a magnetic field on the city roads. The vehicles
won’t even need to stop to recharge,” he said.
Experts welcomed the
initiative and said the ideas were very much doable.
“We need new ideas,
which may not necessarily come from experts. Even offbeat ideas can solve some
of the pressing transport problems in the city. The ideas presented by the
students are doable. In fact, they can be implemented in as less than 10
years,” said Ashutosh Atre, a transport expert
Chandrakant Naik, a
student from VIVA School of Architecture, Virar, suggested creating
multi-storied railway stations to make commute comfortable and efficient. “The
city’s population will swell in the coming years. This design will accommodate
more people,” he said.
Similarly, Naba
Usmani, a student at Pearl Academy, suggested basic modifications to the
existing infrastructure and monitoring systems such as digital speed limit
boards and thermal and pressure recognition belts for managing pedestrians and
traffic.
“The sensors will
calculate traffic congestion and send information to a control unit. This
information will be used to alter speed limit on certain sections of the road
to ensure a smoother flow of traffic,” she said.
Nidhip Mehta, dean of
the School of Design, Pearl Academy, said, “A good design has the potential to
bring a sense of order to the lives of Mumbaikars while still keeping true to
the city’s passion and energy. Mumbai By Design can offer a glimpse of a city
that can be systematic, efficient, and full of life and energy.”
