Urban Behaviours Ideathon
Tackling urban challenges with behaviour-driven innovation.
Join the ideathon where urban planners, behavioural scientists, designers, architects, and city systems thinkers unite to solve real municipal challenges from India’s smart cities. This is your chance to showcase your ideas to city governments—and if selected, see them brought to life on the ground.
Submit your idea. Shape Your City
Our Partners
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Problem Statements
Ranchi
🚌 Increasing Women’s Public Transport Adoption
Women in Ranchi often avoid public transport due to safety concerns, limiting access to jobs and education. Can behavioural design make commuting more secure and appealing? Design interventions that boost trust, improve visibility, and reimagine public transport through a gender-equity lens.
Dehradun
🚦Reducing Peak-Time Traffic Congestion
School-time traffic in Dehradun is a daily nightmare. With road space limited and cars rising, how can we get citizens to shift from private to public transport? Behavioural nudges, institutional tweaks, or mobility incentives—your idea could help decongest this hilly capital without building a single new road.
Belagavi
🗑️ Transforming Waste Collection for Circularity
Despite strong progress in household waste segregation, Belagavi struggles with litter in markets and parks. How can we motivate sanitation workers, citizens, and contractors to change their habits? Your solution could make Belagavi’s streets cleaner—and more circular—by addressing everyday breakdowns in waste collection.
Varanasi
🏞️ Managing Overcrowding Near Ghat Areas
Varanasi’s ghats are overwhelmed by tourists, pilgrims, and local crowds, especially during festivals and peak travel seasons. How can behavioural insights help reduce congestion, improve safety, and preserve the cultural sanctity of these sacred spaces? Your intervention could balance tradition and tourism while enhancing the visitor experience in one of the world’s oldest living cities.
Read detailed Guidelines for the Urban Behaviors Ideathon below
Event Timeline
21st May
Registration Opens
4th June
Registration Closes
9th June
FAQ Submission
18th June
FAQ Release
10th July
Final Submission
8th August
Finals - Online Presentations
25th July
Selection of Finalists
Read the Guidelines and Problem Statements carefully before registering. Choose a problem statement that aligns with your skills and interests. You will not be allowed to pick another problem statement after registration.
Link to detailed Guidelines and Problem Statements
Last date to register and form your team. No applications will be accepted after this deadline. Choose your team name carefully—this will be your identity during the finals and for all further communication, including FAQs.
Link to Register - Here
Only relevant and specific questions will be answered. Direct inquiries into the problem statements themselves will not receive a response.
Link to Submit Your FAQs - Here
All submitted questions will be reviewed, and the responses will be published publicly to ensure a level playing field for all teams.
FAQs will be released via email on participant email IDs
Submit your final concept note and supporting materials. Make sure to follow the format, keep it anonymous, and avoid any identity markers to prevent disqualification.
Link to Submit - Here
Three finalists for each problem statement will be selected based on the assessment criteria. The judging panel will include experts from ABCD, NIUA, CSBC, and partner cities.
Finalist teams will be invited to present their solutions to municipal officials, urban experts, and behavioural scientists. Cash prize of INR 25,000 per winning team. Winners will be announced after live feedback.
Why Participate?
Solve real problems, influence real cities, and bring behavioural insights to life.
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Pitch ideas to municipal and government decision-makers
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Compete to pilot your solution in a smart city
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Collaborate with leading urbanists, designers, and researchers
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Apply behavioural science to messy, real-world challenges
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Get recognized on national platforms like NIUA and ABCD
Our Thoughts
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Nirat Bhatnagar
Founder, ABCD
Cities are social infrastructure as much as they are physical infrastructure and we are really excited to partner with CSBC and NIUA on this Ideathon to unearth behavioural innovations that can make Indian cities better.
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Dr. Debolina Kundu
Director, NIUA
It is important that policy decisions are based on evidence. In the evolving field of behavioural research, such evidence—drawn from lived human experiences, decision-making patterns, and cognitive biases—offers valuable insights into how people actually think and act. By integrating these insights, behaviourally informed policies present a powerful tool for driving sustainable change, particularly in the face of complex urban challenges where traditional approaches often fall short.
Dr. Pavan Mamidi
Director, CSBC
A city’s strength lies in its density and diversity—the nearness of bodies and the difference of minds. Diversity is the wellspring of creativity, yet also the root of conflict. Density nourishes markets and shared momentum, yet can press too tightly, breeding congestion and fatigue. The task of the urban planner is not merely to build, but to choreograph human behaviour—so that friction becomes spark, and proximity becomes purpose.
Utsav Choudhury
Program Manager, NIUA
Urban challenges are deeply human at their core. Addressing them requires an understanding of people, their actions, and their motivation from both supply and demand sides.