Selection of Tehran as a finalist for World Smart City Awards 2021
Smart Tehran’s BAHAM Project has been selected as one of three finalists for the Project Category (Governance & Economy) of the World Smart City Award 2021.
BAHAM which means “Together” in Persian, is a “Neighborhoods Development and Citizen Engagement” project.
“The project is recognized for its initiatives to engage citizens in governing the city. It uses a combination of conventional and modern tools to gather locals’ viewpoints in designing and implementation of urban projects and improve the citizens’ quality of life”, Mohammad Farjood, CEO at Tehran Municipality ICT Organization told. “The project includes various sections such as collaborative planning, public reports on urban issues and B2B matchmaking between startups and municipal entities.”
“Using the MyTehran system, citizens can prioritize the neighborhood projects and help municipality better understand the local communities’ needs. Right now, more than 1500 projects have been implemented in Tehran’s 353 neighborhoods,” explained Farjood. “Also, citizens can report their neighborhood issues directly via the MyTehran app. To make it possible for citizens to report urban problems, such as flooded streets and poor road conditions, the ‘137’ hotline was provided. Recently, new features have been added to the system, and it is also available as an online service in the ‘MyTehran’ application and website. Through ‘MyTehran’ citizens can report a problem by sending a voice message, photo, or video as well as the location. Recently, an AI-based chatbot has enabled us to automatically respond to the citizens’ queries.”
“More than 500 municipal needs are already published through the BAHAM portal and startups and innovative solution providers are participating in solving the city issues,” added Farjood.
It should be noted that the annual World Smart City Awards is a prestigious international competition that seeks to recognize pioneering projects, ideas, and strategies making cities around the world more livable, sustainable, and economically viable.
Finalists for the 2021 edition have been selected for each of the 9 categories, with entries once again proving to be of an exceptionally high standard. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 17, placing participants and their projects in the spotlight on a recognized international platform and in front of a large, diverse audience.
