TOI launches campaign for future cities

A new campaign concentrating on developing future cities of India was launched by The Times of India and Lavasa, on the outskirts of Pune.
The four-month initiative is aimed at developing future cities in India. The campaign will emphasise on key elements such as city management infrastructure, environment and inclusiveness.

Sahbagi, part of the Times Foundation, is an integral part of this campaign. The campaign has been developed and implemented by The Times of India's Times Red Cell and Times Grey Cell. Based on the idea, Mudra has created the ad campaign.

Ashish Bhushan, assistant vice president, Response Activation, The Times of India, said, ''Lavasa Corporation is fast emerging as the next generation city, hinging on the power pillars of e-Governance, technology, environment, inclusiveness and city management. The Lavasa Future Cities Campaign will give the masses a glimpse of what a future city would encompass, and engage them in an active dialogue with policy-makers and other stakeholders on a national level.''

The three-phased campaign kicked off with a reader connect on City Management, wherein readers will be invited to send in their stories on their contribution towards making a difference in their cities. Every week, 3-4 stories would be selected and featured in The Times of India till the middle of January 2010. This would be followed by a City Debate, which will have representatives from the Government, corporates, NGOs, and academicians discussing various issues that plague a city and suggest solutions for it.

The second phase shifts to Infrastructure and is aimed at mentoring and providing support to the best technology-based infrastructure ideas. A full day infrastructure summit will be held in Mumbai where ideas for better infrastructure will be discussed. This phase will commence from the third week of November 2009 and continue to the third week of December 2009.

The third phase will deal with the Environment, which will be similar to the city reader connect initiative. There will also be a village connect programme that reaches out beyond the Lavasa Township and touches the lives of the villagers. The Lavasa Future Cities campaign culminates in March 2010 with a conference on future cities, followed by a felicitation.

The creative idea will be implemented through print, radio, via SMSes, online, television, as well as on ground. The initiative will be undertaken over a period of five months. The campaign was officially launched on 1 November, 2009, and will continue till March-end 2010.