Bhubaneswar Smart City has won the prestigious American Planning Association award for best planning. With this the Odisha capital city becomes the first Indian city to bag this coveted award.

The American Planning Association on Thursday announced that the Pierre L’Enfant International Planning Excellence award was bagged by Bhubaneswar Smart City among all the nominees for its ‘best planning’ and for its goal to make Bhubaneswar a ‘child friendly’ smart city.

The award will be conferred to Bhubaneswar Smart City on May 8 in Chicago, the US.

“The Bhubaneswar Smart City Plan redefines the concept of “smart cities” and outlines a citizen-driven vision for the future by using technology to help residents gain better access to city services, and improve the overall quality of life. The goal was to engage residents in discussions to identify which groups had access to technology and city services and which groups did not, and how to close that gap,” the American Planning Association mentioned in the citation.

“It is indeed gratifying to see out capital city making the world sit up and notice of its citizen centric vision that aims to achieve sustainable economic growth and improve quaity of life for all sections,” said Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, congratulating the city and its denizens.

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