OAN Grants Program

OBSERVATION & ACTION NETWORK (OAN) Grants Program is a collaboration between the Center for the Living City, the Urban Design Collective and NASA India that invites students who are extremely passionate about transforming their cities/towns for a better tomorrow. This program will utilize skill-sets and tools that both inform action and support students’ developing voices. The OAN strives to create a network where students can involve themselves directly with identifying and solving real urban challenges with the people in their neighbourhoods while also connecting with other creative leaders throughout the world. The Grants Program is an inaugural part of the OAN, and the three winners become the first 2020 OAN Fellows. Each of the winning individuals or teams will be awarded $500 USD for the implementation of their proposals.

TIMELINE

Stage 1: • Launch of the Grants Program: 09.02.2020 • Registration deadline: 18.07.2020 • Deadline for FAQ: 20.06.2020 • Expression of the Interest submission deadline: 18.07.2020 • Announcement of OAN fellows:

Before last week of August Stage 2: (Applicable only for the selected fellows) • The Stage 2 timeline will be discussed and finalized with the selected team(s) individually • OAN fellowship project begins • Intermediate progress report • Completion Report • OAN Fellowship Projects Exhibition - 63rd-year Annual NASA

Convention, 2021

ELEIGIBILITY OF THE CANDIDATES:

• To be eligible to apply for the Observation & Action Network (OAN)

Grants Program, the applicant must be a student of a unit that is a part of

NASA India. • The applicant(s) must be available to carry out their project between

May 2020 - December 2020, with a final exhibition to be held during the 2021 Annual NASA Convention. • The applicant(s) must be a bonafide student of their department/ institute/ university as on 1st April 2020. • There is no limit on the number of entries that can be received from a single department/ institute/ university. • Applicant(s) must agree to commit to spending adequate time towards effective execution of their project if selected as OAN Fellows. It is advisable to ensure at the time of applying that the department/ institute/ university has no objection to their providing this time commitment.

As change-makers of the future, applicants will have to submit their ideas for an independent, team, or community-partnership project to the OAN Grants Program for review by a distinguished panel of judges. Each project proposal will be critically analyzed based upon its empathic and creative response, need stakeholder identification and the depth of community collaboration.

SHORTLISTED ENTRIES

•Chhav •Adaptable contextual farming invoking self dependence •People’s Park •BuildBlox | Simplifying Architecture •MUDITA •CHAKRAVRITTA - Moulding happiness into lives •Sankhai Er Pola •Orange People Project

Announcing OAN 2020 Fellows

HISHAM ABDUL, HAKKEEM, HUDA ZULPHIKAR, NASHWAH BATHOOL, AHAMED MISHAL, FIZA AMEENA BAVA, AYSHA HENAN, RISHAB MOHAMMED, NOUREEN AMINA K, NAJIYA, SALAL M RAHMAN, MANAL MOOSA, VASIL K V, FATHIMA AK, FIRAS SHAMSUDHEEN, MUSHTAQ ALI E, GOPIKRISHNA, AYSHA NEHA C, MOHAMMED SADIK, SHAHABAZ SIDHICK, PRITHVIRAJ, ABISHEK BOBAN

KARRA RUTWIK REDDY, PARNAVEE PATHAK

GUNRAAGH SINGH TALWAR, IPSITA CHOUDHURY, EISH AHLAWAT ADAPTABLE CONTEXTUAL FARMING INVOKING SELF DEPENDENCY

Location: Kozhikode, Kerala

“A versatile gardening solution that roots for self dependence by means of modern-day solutions” The present pandemic made us realise that in order to futureproof ourselves we need to be equally self-sufficient and prioritise food security. Through the present hydroponics system and further climatic & contextual adaptations, we up-brought a paradigm that tackles water unavailabolity, space take up and excessive expenses, which are of equal prominence in each city and village. The project is capable of transforming lives, as it easily covers for the supply of vegetables. Thus cost of living drops, improving quality of life.

MES College of Architecture Kakkodi (Z672)

ORANGE PEOPLE PROJECT

Location: Nagpur, Maharashtra

“Embracing the idea of public participation in the change of their city, which is always missing.” It is done by letting the people pin out, on their city maps, the multiple multiple areas of public movement and gathering. The idea is to inculcate a conversation between the people and the city, and letting the authority know in order to create an impact. The project touches the physical and social aspects of the city like Safety and Security, Cultural Heritage, and the Road Infrastructure for the pilot.

Visvesvaraya National Institue of Technology, Nagpur (Z224)

CHHAV

Location: Delhi

“Seeking to provide a spatial solution for the people of Rajiv Nagar - an informal settlement around the Bhalswa Landfill - one of Delhi’s 3 major landfills” By understanding the context and community it can be identified that there is a lack of dignified open space for the community. Chhav realises the ‘lost space’ in the settlement and attempts to activate it with an intervention designed around the existing infrastructure.

School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal (Z301)