MEASURING AND IMPROVING WALKABILITY IN DELHI

Case Study Connaught Place, Rama Krishna Puram and Laxmi Nagar

Executive Summary
In the developing nations like India, people have to walk or use public transport in the form MRTS/BRT which is encouraging walking. On contrary, the rapid motorization has led the transport planners to plan for vehicles. Transport proposals are made predominantly for vehicles and not or pedestrians, like proposals including planning for new roads, flyovers, widening of roads which sometimes are planned at the cost of footpath and pedestrian safety and convenience, thus discouraging the pedestrian movement. Walking is the most sustainable form of transportation in transport planning as well as in urban design. Therefore there is the need to measure walkability by considering the various parameters which define walkability of any area. Thus the main purpose of the research is to devise the method to measure the walkability in case of Delhi. The five objectives are laid to fulfill the research: (1) To understand the term walkability and the parameters affecting walkability; (2) To study the methods of measuring walkability; (3) To assess the current pedestrian related policies and guidelines; (4) To develop the walkability index for the areas selected under various land uses; (5) To suggest various measures to improve the

walkability for the selected study areas.

The case studies selected for the research are Connaught Place, RK Puram and Laxmi Nagar in Delhi. In the study areas two surveys were conducted. The pedestrian infrastructure survey, to check the availability and adequacy of the infrastructure provided for the pedestrians in the neighbourhoods. Another survey was the pedestrian interview, which was conducted to get the idea of the mode choices, average trip lengths, average travelling distances and user rating of the pedestrian infrastructure. Based on the surveys for each area 5-7 stretches were surveyed to collect the data on eleven parameters: availability of footpath, continuity of footpath; surface of footpath; amenities; disability infrastructure; obstructions; encroachments; walking path modal conflict; security from crime; maintenance and cleanliness. The collected data is then transformed in the rating using various assumptions regarding the weightage of the

parameters used for the research. Using the formulae devised for calculating walkability index the walkability for the three selected case study areas are measured. The research concludes that the walkability index of the well managed Connaught Place is much higher than the walkability index of the RK Puram and Laxmi Nagar which represents the availability of the adequate pedestrian infrastructure and amenities in Connaught place. Mixed use area attracts high number of pedestrians but the level of facilities provided in Laxmi Nagar is low. The benchmark used in the study for determining the walkability index low or high is based on the benchmark set by Ministry of Urban Development in the study conducted in year 2007-08 on Traffic and Transportation Policies and Strategies in Urban Areas in India in 30 Indian cities.

By Amita Singh Department of Physical Planning School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

The research has been carried out in five stages: background studies/ literature search this stage brings the understanding of importance of walking in the city transportation network and the various issues related to pedestrians, it also helps to understand the terminology and measuring methods of walkability. Next stage is devising the parameters for defining the walkability and developing the methodology for measuring the walkability, which is followed by next stage of research including site selection, preparing the survey formats and collecting data through primary surveys. The analysis is done for the data collected and finally issues have been identified to recommend measures to improve walkability.