PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD DESIGN IN CHANDIGARH

Abstract

Every journey begins and ends with a walk, yet today pedestrians are the most neglected ones in the design of post-automobile cities. Cities are meant for people yet for long, urban development has prioritized vehicles over pedestrian. Indian and other Asian cities still have a large modal share of walking as compared to other world cities, yet, due to rapid motorization, adoption of automobile-oriented design principles and limited attention to pedestrian facilities, pedestrian modal share is declining over the years. Modernist planning and design of cities focuses on automobile and ignores the pedestrians. To accommodate growing vehicle congestion, due to rapid motorization, cities typically make improvements in vehicular rights of way at the expense of pedestrians resulting in pedestrian spaces being restricted to narrow sidewalks along the built mass. However, today, due to health and environmental concerns, the need for sustainable modes oftransport is being realized and walking is beginning to gain importance for urban planners and policy makers. Chandigarh is the first planned city of India designed on modernist principles. Corbusier envisioned a city where in each neighbourhood all amenities lied within 10 minutes walking distance. The system of 7v's was introduced to rationalise the inter-city and intra -city traffic in the capital city and provide a safe and healthy environment to the residents. Yet the design which originally encouraged walking and aimed to avoid traffic and congestion is today under threat due to increased car dependency and growing number of private vehicles in the city. Chandigarh has the highest per capita car ownership in India with 227 carsl1000 people. Although the city was designed to be walkable, yet there is growing dependence on motorised transport. Hence, the study will investigate the reasons behind low walkability and high dependence on private vehicles.