INTEGRATION OF PEDESTRIAN NETWORKS INTO THE FABRIC OF INDIAN CITIES

Abstract

The most exhilarating urban experience is to take a walk along the city's great boulevards and majestic streets which have ample accommodation for the pedestrian or through the narrow and winding pathways of the ancient towns which are steeped in history. Regent street in London, Princess street in Edinburgh, Boulevard St. Michael in Paris, Via Condotti in Rome are all places where the best to offer is displayed and large sidewalks are provided for the pedestrian. Often cars have been eliminated altogether, but at least the pedestrian is accorded generous protected space. The other is the equally fascinating experiencing of walking through the narrow and winding pathways of the ancient cities, which are steeped in history. Oxford and York in England and Venice in Italy are examples of this most enjoyable urban experience. Therefore, appropriate facilities for the pedestrian to walk, together with the other associated needs such as trees, kiosks, benches, toilets, drinking water, cafes are the essential character of the urban necessity for a collective public life. Indian cities do not provide appropriate accommodation for the pedestrian and this may stem from a general lack of concern for the welfare of the collective individual. While many cities have lavish commercial developments, the benefits these provide end at their property line. What extends beyond that is a squalid realm of the street or rather the road, where animals and humans alike spread filth, creating an environment whose standards of sanitation have not been seen in the West since the middle ages. In India, there are a large number of historical towns with pedestrian networks, but these networks were subsequently put to vehicular traffic. Further, iii excepting in one or two cases, the new towns of India built in the 1940 \ 50s were not provided with any significant grade separated pedestrian network. Besides the value of a good urban experience, there are several other reasons for which this country should take up pedestrianisation in its urban settlements. Primarily, India has a very large population and this will continue to grow till the middle of the 21st century. This very large segment of the Indian population has been totally neglected by the physical planners and administrators of this country. Therefore, all our cities and towns lack even a semblance of pedestrian facilities for the general walking public. Secondly, the country is also economically in a developing condition and hence cannot provide personal or collective motorised transport to most of its citizens, even by the next century. India would save immensely by providing pedestrian networks in its human settlements. It would reduce the dependence on motorised public and private transport and thereby help the country to save expensive fossil fuel. These factors can be considered as the two most important factors that justify the introduction of pedestrian networks into our towns. - Besides the above two very important factors, if proper grade separated pedestrian facility is provided in the towns and villages, the rate of road accidents would be reduced and would consequently save on providing emergency health services, it would also relieve the people from the socio - psychological trauma associated with such accidents. Pedestrianisation would improve the health of the general population through exercise and by way of a pollution free environment and the benefits of having a healthy population would accrue to nation. Pedestrianisation will be an appropriate and convenient

mode of movement in view of the generally salubrious climate of the Indian subcontinent. Finally, pedestrianisation is "sustainable" and "environment friendly" and therefore it is necessary to investigate and find out how pedestrian networks could be integrated into the fabric of Indian cities and towns. The global thinking today is to look forward to economic development based on ecological principle like environmental harmony, economic efficiency and resource conservation. An important issue in this context is the sustainable development of the transport and communication system since this is the key to the movement of goods, people's information and ideas. Priorities should be given to reduce unnecessary travel, developing policies that emphasise on mobility attentive other than the automobile. The aim of this research is to evolve a methodology for pedestrian planning in the various land uses in the Indian cities and suggest its upward integration into the overall traffic network of the city. The study provides guideline to architects, planners and administrators, and solved cases as a support system for taking policy and design decisions. The research was started by carrying out a detailed literature survey followed by interviews with people in the field. Open questionnaires were also sent out to specialists in the area of planning. This provided an outline for the type and direction of research to be taken up. It also helped to establish the current desires and aspirations of the world population and the Indian people. Efforts were made to find out if pedestrianisation would be particularly useful to the Indian people considering their social and economic conditions. The historical development of pedestrianisation in the world and in the Indian sub-continent including the development in contemporary history of India has been documented so that the accrued knowledge from history can be used for pedestrian planning. A theoretical base has been developed for pedestrian planning. This functions as a depository of knowledge on the pedestrian himself and the physical planning aspects of pedestrianisation. A working theory has been developed to establish models for rationalisation between the pedestrian movement and the movement of vehicular traffic; this helps to upwardly integrate the pedestrian system with the overall transport network of the city and subsequently to the transport system of the region. The other model developed looks into appraisal, programming and design recommendations for the pedestrian spaces in cities and towns. The country cannot be considered for a uniform pedestrian policy because it has different geophysical, climatic and cultural compositions, the factors which affect pedestrian planning in a major way. Therefore the country has been divided into different "National Pedestrian Zones" in the same way in which the seismic and cyclone zone have been formed for the country. Certain criteria have been developed for the selection of the case studies to be taken up at the city level and for the areas within these cities. The two cities taken up as case studies are Patna and Lucknow. Areas within these cities have been evaluated in regard to their performance. From these studies, a list of potentials and constraints have been drawn up which help to finalise a strategy for pedestrian planning. Integrative analysis is done with the pedestrian information from the information

base titled as "Theoretical Back-up" and the "Indian Orientation" obtained from various sources but particularly from the case studies. Important findings along with the recommendations are then placed for the use of all who are keen to use the research for making pedestrian plans in their respective towns and cities. Lastly, the recommendations made are applied on the town of Roorkee as a "test application". The model developed for overall integration of transport networks with the pedestrian network is utilised here to exemplify the procedure. The investigation reveals that pedestrian is the most appropriate mode of movement in the Indian cities of the future. This is because they are basically environment friendly and sustainable. The motorised and other rapid transport modes must provide upward accessibility and integration of the pedestrian areas since cities have grown beyond the size of pedestrian accessibility alone.