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Kerala has come out with a draft design policy which stresses making all tourism destinations across the state women-, children- and pedestrian-friendly, and proposed a set of comprehensive suggestions to give a distinct touch to the state’s physical assets to enhance their utility and aesthetic appeal.
The draft policy, drawn up after the three-day design policy workshop, was presented to the Tourism and Public Works Minister Mr P. A. Mohamed Riyas.
The workshop, ‘Design by Future’, held at Craft Village at Vellar, near Kovalam, from January 26 to 28 was a joint initiative of the Departments of Tourism and Public Works.
The draft design policy was presented to the minister by Prof. Praveen Nahar, Director of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The Kerala Tourism Principal Secretary Mr K. S. Srinivas presided over the function.
The draft design policy, that emerged from extensive deliberations by top experts, factored in Kerala’s traditional design concepts while imbibing new trends and foreseeing future needs, to be applied while creating and preserving public assets, mainly focusing on tourism and public infrastructure.
It also lay down a set of best practices to be followed while designing physical assets such as roads, bridges, streets, street furniture, signages and public spaces, which are crucial in enhancing the experience of tourists.
Among the highlights of the draft policy were recommendations for creating special tourism-, heritage- and ecological zones and setting up Kerala State Culture Fund.
The other suggestions included considering autorickshaws as a product and drivers as ambassadors of tourism, standardizing signages and lighting, integrating technology in communication and public spaces, creating design awareness at all levels, crafting special packages for traditional art performance spaces, establishing a craft design centre and Kerala brand for arts and crafts, mapping craft communities and developing a centralised data management tool for tourism and PWD.
Lauding the Tourism and Public Works departments for the initiative, Mr Riyas said the government is determined to consider the recommendations made by the experts, and a follow-up meeting with experts and officials will be held in March.
Mr Srinivas said the turnout for the workshop was phenomenal as it was the first such initiative by two departments. The Kerala Tourism Director Mr P. B. Nooh said that through nine sessions at the workshop, the experts contributed immensely to the framing of the draft Design Policy.
The KTIL Managing Director Dr Manoj Kumar K. and Former Dean of the School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi, Prof. K. T. Raveendran were also present at the function.
The workshop was attended by around 200 delegates, including officials and representatives of Kerala Tourism and PWD.
