Now, citizens will have a say in what civic gardens will look like, who will maintain them, for how long they will stay open and whether they should be given for commercial use. The BMC has said the Open Space policy will be for citizens, by citizens. The move comes a year after it was first suggested by citizens during mid-day's Garden Audit round-table with BMC officials.

In 2018, mid-day ran the Garden Audit series to highlight the state of the city's parks. The series culminated in July at a roundtable conference, where citizens and BMC officials came face to face to discuss ways of managing the city's open spaces. It was here that the citizens had first demanded that BMC should hear from them and housing about the usage of gardens and what kind of open spaces they want in their neighbourhood. During the discussion, BMC had also promised keeping the gardens open from 6 am to 9 pm. the gardens about what they want in their neighbourhood.