In our final year of college, the final project is called systems design. Where people in one group work on a particular system. Then we divide ourselves in sub-systems where we work on a particular problem and find system level solutions as well as improvements in the products used in that system.
So our ambitious little group of 7 people thought that why take up a small system, let’s take something which we would have never dreamt of to manage. That’s how we ended up as the entire Pune city management as our main system.
We looked into all the departments, studied them, visited ‘the maze’: Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)’s office, ward offices, etc. One time we were directed to some department and found ourselves waiting outside the Municipal Commissioners office.
Then we were divided in sub-groups, me and my 2 classmates took the ‘Road department’.
My Design Brief: To design an organised medium to regulate miscellaneous advertising in a local area for residents and small scale commercial enterprises, thus preventing misuse of public space and beautifying the ambience of the area.
We took up Viman Nagar, the place where our college is located, as our sample area. This area is newly developed and has Symbiosis university Campus , an IT park and is located near the air force base.
Most of the people who live here are new to the city and are students and bachelors living on their own. They are in constant need of new room-mates, 2nd hand furniture, new rented place, part time jobs, etc. This is the major reason for the flyers put up all over the area.
Current Situation:
Pune city has no laws against such ads, atleast none that the traffic and hoardings department were aware of.
So I came up with the following system plan:
When we were doing our research, we used to always meet enthusiastic people like chairman of the building, society manager or just a regular resident with a lot of energy and free time; waiting outside the ‘local corporators’ office. These people care about their area, they are willing to do something to make it look better. So my proposal was to provide these people with some perks and a cool position (like ‘Citizen manager’) for the job managing and monitoring that area.
The proposed unit to direct these advertising was to be placed outside local shops, where the residents often visit. PMC gets these units manufactured on contract basis, then rents it out to the shopkeepers along with the licensing required.
Looking forward to your comments, suggestions and queries.
