Competition generates ideas for pedestrian-friendly PH streets

More than 60 young professionals recently participated in a competition to come up with ideas for promoting pedestrian-friendly streets in the Philippines.

Held in UP Diliman, Quezon City, from January 17 to 18, the Hack-A-Street Challenge attracted 13 teams composed of 63 young professionals as part of the Mobility Awards, which was organized by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), a climate and energy policy group, and other advocacy organizations.

The participants come from a variety of disciplines, such as data science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science.

Landing in first place is the mobile app ''Gabaik,'' which was designed to address parking challenges for bikes in highly urbanized areas. To identify high-priority locations for bike parking, the app developed by Team IAI uses crowdsourced and real-time data from peak hours and foot traffic patterns.

In second place is Team Mt. Kamuning's ''Tulay,'' which audits the sidewalk conditions and visualizes data on pedestrian accessibility, mobility, and safety concerns.

Team Hippothesis' “Hakbang," a policy planning tool that evaluates the walkability of streets through a score system, took third place.

“People deserve transport facilities and sidewalks that are prioritized and not treated as an afterthought. Our mobility solutions must center around the safety and well-being of everyone,” said Mobility Awards national coordinator Arielle Celine Tabinga.

“The hackathon became a vibrant hub of learning and collaboration, wherein participants discovered the undeniable link between mobility, public safety, and accessibility. A standout insight from one of the participants was the importance of empowering communities by involving them in data collection and decision-making—ensuring that solutions are not just innovative but truly rooted in the realities of everyday commuting,” she added.

Cash prizes of P20,000 for third place, P40,000 for second place, and P70,000 for first place were awarded to the Hack-A-Street Challenge winners. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News