On 25th November 2015, in co-operation with three colleges from Vadodara, Olakh organized its first Charrette, an intense discussion towards participatory planning and design activity. 50 architect students and our volunteers participated in our Charrette on proposing design ideas to make public places free from sexual violence.
Ironically an incident of street harassment happened to a group of female participants on the day itself. During our site walk the young students had to experience the unpleasant feeling of being sexually harassed in public.
“We were crossing the road and there were guys on bikes and they were shouting
‘Oh oye’ and they were staring and commenting on us.”
This eye-opening incident and following intense group talks about sexual violence underlined the issue and sensitized the numerous participants!
After presenting their fruitful and innovative design solutions, the participants thanked for “a totally different experience!” and the “great exposure”.
The rising interest of institutions across Gujarat and the encouragement from Olakh well-wishers have driven us to continue this work of developing and conducting gender-inclusive Urban Planning and Design modules with colleges and diverse groups across Gujarat.
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