Varanasi City Challenge

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About the Sustainable Cities Challenge Varanasi

We are calling on innovators to:

Create innovative, data-driven solutions that make crowded areas of Varanasi’s old city of Kashi safer and more accessible for religious tourists, local residents and vulnerable populations (such as elderly people and people with disabilities).

Successful solutions might include:

Tools that support the city to better manage overcrowding events
Interventions that improve citizen decision-making
Services that support vulnerable groups

Entries for this challenge are now closed.

Why do we need to make crowded areas safe in Varanasi?

The City of Varanasi is located in Northern India along the Ganges River. It is thought to be one of the oldest cities in the world and is an incredibly important pilgrimage site.

Large volumes of people visit Varanasi’s old city (Kashi) every year for pilgrimage, end of life traditions, and other religious and cultural activities. In 2022, the annual floating population was estimated to be 35 times the local population.

The old city comprises narrow, winding lanes, making it difficult to build infrastructure to accommodate the influx of people. A growing number of private vehicles are used to navigate these lanes, which contributes to a complex environment prone to crowding.

Varanasi seeks to attract pioneering solutions that will enable more effective crowd management, and in doing so position the city as a global success story.