India, Aug. 8 -- The Toyota Mobility Foundation (TMF) has named five finalists for its USD 3 million Sustainable Cities Challenge. The challenge focuses on improving crowd management in the historic city of Varanasi, also known as Kashi.

The competition was developed in collaboration with the City of Varanasi, Challenge Works and the World Resources Institute. It aims to find solutions that will ease congestion and improve pedestrian flow in the city's narrow lanes, which see millions of visitors annually.

The five finalists were chosen from ten semi-finalists who had six months to develop their concepts. The selected teams will each receive USD 130,000 in funding to pilot their solutions in Varanasi.

The finalists are:

Arcadis: Their...