On World Heritage Day 2017, ‘Art Haat’ initiative was jointly organised by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre in collaboration with the Urban Sketchers’ local chapter as the knowledge partner. A group of young painters including architecture students, practicing architects, artists/graphic designing students, children and commoners made streetscape sketches, doodles and water colour sketches in the heritage rich old town area and surroundings of Bindusagar lake. During the early evening hours an exhibition was also organised to showcase the sketches of the participants near the Rukuna Ratha, the holy chariot of Lord Lingaraj, on the Ratha Danda.

Bhubaneswar Development Authority, through Housing and Urban Development Dept., Govt. of Odisha hosted the 5th International Biennial Conference of Indian Heritage Cities Network from 2nd-4th February 2018 at Infosys Campus, Infocity, Patia, Bhubaneshwar. The 3-day conference on the theme of ‘Role of Culture and Heritage in Urban Sustainability’ was jointly organized by Government of Odisha, Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation and UNESCO New Delhi. In an effort to address the rising challenges of the increasingly urbanised areas, the conference was aimed to reinforce and promote the importance of culture and heritage as a key tool for promoting sustainable urban development. It provided a unique platform for the network of historic cities in India to come together and work towards an integrated approach to achieve a sustainable, inclusive city development using cultural heritage as an asset.

The fifth workshop under Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures, was organised jointly by Bhubaneswar Development Authority, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited, through Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC) of BDA in collaboration with Bhubaneswar Art Collective, an art advocacy forum comprising three leading art promotion groups of the state, Ila Panda Centre for Art (IPCA), Utsha Foundation and Jatin Das Centre of Art (JDCA).

The fourth workshop under Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures, was organised by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), in collaboration with Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC) and World Resources Institute (WRI) India Ross Center. The workshop focussed on road safety measures, basics of road safety engineering and benefits of safe urban streets in Bhubaneswar. Child leaders and artists presented different perspectives and solutions to make the traffic junctions sport an interesting look while facilitating easy movement of pedestrians especially children, PwDs and elder persons. The tactical improvements carried out at the pilot location of Rupali Square traffic junction envisioned comfortable pedestrian movements with marked and clearly identifiable pedestrian refuge space, shorter crossing distance through lane balancing etc.

The third workshop under Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures, was organised by BDA and BMC, in collaboration with World Resources Institute (WRI) India and Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC). The workshop effectively put forward the PBS best practices across the world, experience and learnings from PBS system in Indian cities while providing a feel of the response and common apprehensions to proposed Bhubaneswar PBS plan.

The second workshop under Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures, with an aim to design and emphasize the need for a more inclusive and accessible approach to development in Smart Cities, was organised jointly by BDA and BMC, in collaboration with non-profit cross disability social organisation Swabhiman, Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC), NCPEDP (National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People) and supported by Mphasis.

The first workshop under Bhubaneswar Urban Lectures, organised by BDA and BMC, in collaboration with World Resources Institute (WRI) India and Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC), deliberated on importance of public transport, modernization of city bus services, best practices in sustainable mobility across the world and feedback on Bhubaneswar’s Complete Streets initiatives currently underway. Six qualities of the complete streets suggested are: - continuous unobstructed movement of pedestrians, inclusive streets for all, reduced vehicle speeds, streets as public spaces, active street edge, and resource efficiency.