Sensing Local

{Part 1/2} Bengaluru showed up at the Open House for GBA’s Landmark program - Revitalising Bengaluru’s Public Spaces! 🗳✨ 400+ attendees, 2 days, and one shared vision! The Open House was created as a platform to showcase the 150+ public spaces nominated by citizens for transformation and create alignment with the 5 Corporations and potential private funders.
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The event was inaugurated by GBA Chief Commissioner, Maheshwar Rao. His message was clear: Bengaluru’s transformation depends on the collective energy of its citizens and the government. Officials from all five municipal corporations shared their expertise and met all the nominees of projects in their corporations. This event reinforced the value of local insights and knowledge in identifying high-impact opportunities for neighbourhood improvement.

Town Hall buzzed with intense dialogues across our three core pillars: Design, Fund, and Collaborate. We saw an overwhelming response from designers, architects, urban designers, academic institutions, and other technical experts, with over 80 sign-ups showing interest in extending their expertise to design the public spaces.

The participants also included representatives from Philanthropies, Companies with CSR grants, and builders. One thing is clear: there is a huge demand for a platform where ideas from the public can be continuously received to inform neighbourhood/city improvement projects.

Thank you to our partners Bengaluru Sustainability Forum and Sustainable Mobility Network (SMN) for supporting the event, and to everyone who joined us to make the event a sucess.

Do follow the updates on our website - https://www.blrpublicspace-revival.in/, as we now work towards the following:
1) Inclusion of budgets for public space improvement for 2026-27 in all corporations.
2) Identifying interim actions in the projects, such as clean-up drives or maintenance/repair works
3) Actively seeking public-private collaborations - If you are a Company with CSR funds/philanthropy who wants to support a project, do visit the website and tell us how GBA can enable this.

Sensing Local is part of a team conducting a Station Area Accessibility Study in Chennai and is looking for Street Auditors to assess pedestrian infrastructure around metro stations.

🗓 Duration: 2 weeks (24th December 2025 - 11th Jan 2026)
⏰ Time Commitment: ~2 hours/day, 10 hours/week
💰 Honorarium: ₹1,250 per week + travel allowance
📜 Certificate: Provided upon successful completion of the study

Join us in shaping a more walkable and accessible Chennai.

📩 Interested?
Use the link below or scan the QR code above to sign up: https://forms.gle/khP2QP67Ska6beJbA

We are seeking highly motivated Urban Planners who are also adept at working with GIS and passionate about applying their skills to solve problems in the civic space. In this position, you will primarily engage in Climate Positive projects in the Mobility, Waste and Public spaces sectors.

We are a small, interdisciplinary team comprising Urban Planners, Designers, Architects, Communicators, GIS specialists, and Technologists. A Junior Urban Planner who joins our team will anchor research and GIS-related tasks, working collaboratively with the larger team.

Scan the QR code to apply!

Sensing Local is looking for enthusiastic students and early-career professionals from Architecture, Urban Planning, Urban Design, Civil Engineering, and related fields to join as Field Researchers for an independent Station Area Accessibility Study in Chennai.

🗓 Duration: 12 working days (between 17th November – 20th December)
⏰ Time commitment: ~4 hours/day
💰 Honorarium: ₹500 per day + travel allowance
📜 Certificate: Provided upon successful completion of the study

📍 Key Responsibilities:
- Conduct perception, parking, and wayfinding surveys
- Map pedestrian infrastructure
- Document nearby transit integration and feeder services
- Record traffic volume, speed, and access time to platforms

Join us in shaping a more walkable and accessible Chennai.

📩 Interested?
Use the link below or scan the QR code above to sign up: https://forms.gle/RrpdudxvH3V46Uch6

We are happy to announce that the city repository of public spaces nominated by Bengaluru’s citizens under BBMP’s new initiative, ‘Revitalising Bengaluru’s Public Spaces,’ is now live.

All sites that have met the feasibility criteria so far are published here. The repository will serve as a means to aggregate the demand for public spaces along the streets of Bengaluru that citizens deem crucial for transformation, aiming to improve safety, comfort, and access. The repository represents sites from across the city.

The idea behind making the repository public is to enable a larger alignment of other government initiatives, civic efforts, and philanthropic/CSR endeavours to support the development of public spaces. BBMP will be in touch with the nominees for the next steps over the coming months.

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‘Revitalising Bengaluru’s Public Spaces’ is conceived by BBMP, Sensing Local, and the Institute of Urban Designers (Karnataka) and is supported by the Sustainable Mobility Network. Our outreach partner is the Bengaluru Ward Samithi Balaga.