Urban Management Foundation Studio

"The studio was designed to address the functional and skill building aspects required for developing exposure to the field of urban management. Using the concept of Facility Management, the studio introduced tools and techniques that enabled defining components of a well-functioning built-environment. The key exercise was to develop facilities management plan for Kankaria Lakefront, which is a historic public space of Ahmedabad managed by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) with public private partnerships (PPP). Kankaria lakefront has multiple activities, including boating, mini-train, amusement park, food stalls, and others which are operated through PPP arrangement. Facility Management perspective helped to integrate aspects of people, place and process within the public space with an aim to improve the quality of life and productivity of it’s core business. The students worked in groups and individually to assess the existing situation of facilities and the user profile of Kankaria. They developed skills through short exercises related to strengthening observation, story building, asset mapping, root cause analysis, and reflection writing. The students assessed the good practices and gaps in the existing system, and aligned solutions to meet the vision. The proposed interventions are in areas of water and lake management, landscaping, housekeeping, safety and security, parking and accessibility, solid waste management, ticketing, electricity, grievance redressal, governance, and finance. The FM plan includes phasing, cost estimation, asset management, and monitoring. This process introduced them to focus on functional aspects including preparation of an operations, maintenance, and implementation plan for improving functioning of the Kankaria lakefront."