“Architecture is for the people and by the people.” Citizen+ is an initiative by a group of students from IAAC aiming at helping poeple to shape their own environments with the use of innovative ideas and digital fabrication.These initial urban interventions revolve around District@22 and makes use of IAAC facilities,thereby dissolving IAAC into the community.The project makes a clear statement for the future of the community i.e. tailor made situations for local problems,locally produced.The students conclude by saying that if each student at Iaac takes up an intervention we could bring about a change in the society. PROJECT The current situation in the construction industry is disorganized and controlled by few individuals with power and money , but we as innovators should lead the industry and bring innovation directly to the user eliminating the “ middle-men ” thereby making the process more localized as well as efficient in terms of cost and time. Now , its time to give power to the people . Innovation is not an invention. Its a new way of tackling well-known challenges. Innovation does not necessarily mean technological advancement alone , it is also ideas of dealing with social and economical challenges . Lets take a look at few examples: Unlike the past, today people are empowered to make and implement their own choices and not depend on a few magnates of the industrial world to make choices for them. For example giant industries like, hotels & hospitality and publishing have been sidetracked by initiatives like Air BNB, open desk , Amazon etc. they give more power back to hands of the people. Likewise the Ivy leagues universities which was restricted to a limited section of society had now made its resources available online for public and thus promoting “democratization of knowledge”. 
Through our project , we bring about the same changes in the field of architecture .
Traditionally the practise of architecture has been portrayed as commodity for the elite but it as a humanitarian profession it should be made accessible to all . Architecture is for the people by the people .Being a part of this innovation hub facilitated with digital fabrication and being a citizen by virtue of contribution , we felt it was our duty to democratize the knowledge / innovation that is being generated behind these closed doors.Therefore, we went out to the streets, listened to the needs of the people and located various weak spots that needed improvement either socially , technologically or economically.With our expertise and engaging resources at our institution, we came up with interventions that help to improve these weak spots and creates bond which in turn reduces the gap between the institute and the community to which it is currently unknown.
Voice of the people plays an critical role in understanding societal needs which aids in taking informed decisions. Therefore we started out by listening to the ppl in the community . For this we developed and conducted a playful survey and learned what people like and don’t like about their neighbourhood. We found that what they like the most are open spaces while most of the dislike the fact that there aren’t many people or shops in the neighbourhood. After our research and survey we made a database of profiles and various possible interventions some of which we have executed. ECONOMIC INTERVENTIONS The community expressed their concerns about the lack of shops in the “barrio” but we found many existing shops with huge investments, but under utilized due to lack of customers. So we tried to create a win-win scenario for both groups. Here is one such example. 
SOCIAL INTERVENTIONS Remember the community said they Love neighbourhood but dislikes the fact there aren’t many people… well we tried to take advantage of urban voids and transform them into active spaces for the community and knit the people together. 
TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS Technology has become an inevitable part of people’s lives , hence it is important to educate them about the new developments and their effects especially in the field of production/manufacture. In the past industrial era mass production of a prototype was the “way-to-go” which brought in problems of its own like shipping and transportation, unnecessary waste generation due to overproduction or rather under consumption of incompatible designs etc. Today, we have the technology to design and fabricate precisely to and for our needs, locally. To convey this message to laymen we went into private spaces with the prototypes developed using such technologies at our institute making them a part of the third Industrial Revolution and giving power into their hands . Thereby eliminating physical and virtual barriers and granting access to everyone .
FUTURE SCENARIO Citizen + introduces a new model society that is driven by transparency. It is an open society where individuals have easy public access to anything and are confronted with personal decisions. 
We have initiated this process through this user friendly website, where the students of IAAC as well as the people of the community can upload profile of their ideas and campaign for crowdfunding to execute them with the use of digital fabrication technologies. This concept could be practiced in our very institute where every year around 150 students come with their expertization and varied cultural background . So , just imagine if every student executes an project then the result is overwhelming .
150 interventions being executed in a span of a year just by ONE institute .
If this idea is accepted and multiplied then the result would be unimaginable : AN REVOLUTION
Its time to PAY IT FORWARD …..
If in the future this practice is widened to a global level it will Empower the people .
We will have a society driven by transparency, therefore becoming an open society where individuals are confronted with personal decisions and are allowed free easy public access.
WE ARE THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD AND WHAT MAKES US A CITIZEN IS OUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE COMMUNITY .COME JOIN US AND CONTRIBUTE .
Here is an link to the final presentation :