TED, in addition to their genre-defining conferences, also awards the TED Prize each year to a game changing idea. It is usually awarded to individuals, like Bill Clinton and Bono, but in 2012, TED decided to award it to “an idea for continued flourishing: The City2.0, an exploration of the intersection of ingenuity and urbanity”.
Omer Sheikh and Khurram Siddiqi met through their love for maps, and Lahore. I met the two gentlemen at TEDxLahore 2010; Omer had been a speaker, Khurram managed the speakers, and I was the main curator.
At some point after the conference, Omer and Khurram got talking about the poor navigability of Lahore. While Google Maps was beginning to make it possible to navigate unfamiliar parts of the city, it was still inconvenient; plain old street signs would be far simpler, better, and equitable. I believe it was towards the end of 2011 that they shared the idea with me in an attempt to get more heads, bodies and, more importantly, hopefully, some money behind it.
When TED announced the City 2.0 challenge, I immediately reached out to both of them. I was going to Doha to attend TEDxSummit and could pitch the idea.
Long story short, I made a 2-minute pitch at the conference (in April), and didn’t win.
And then, a couple of months later, I got this email… 😲
Needless to say, none of us could make it to TED Global to accept the award (because, visas). But the funds and the attention did enable us to really explore the idea of putting up street signs in Lahore.
More on that later.