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The following points illustrate the problems of pedestrians
on roads of Indian cities with some of the related facts and figures.
1.
It
is NOT safe to walk on roads in Indian cities – It is not easy, safe or healthy to walk on roads in Indian
Cities. Urban planning in the country seems to have failed to accommodate for
pedestrian amenities required for a citizen to choose walking as a preferred
option to commute. Rapid urbanization and massive industrialization have
contributed to taking air pollution in India to alarming levels, which makes walking on roads difficult for citizens. Civic
bodies appear to be ineffective in efforts to address the day-to-day problems
faced by pedestrians. And, society at large doesn’t seems to be concerned about
the very basic privilege of a citizen to walk on the road with dignity and
pride.
On
the other hand, Indian roads are extremely polluted. Data available on
pollution are alarming. India is ranked amongst nations with highest level of
air pollution in a recently published data by International Energy Agency and
World Health Organization. The Picture - 1 below illustrates the same. Further,
as shown in Picture – 2, India happens to be amongst the nations with highest
number of deaths from air pollution. The next picture (Picture - 3 below), shows
that ten out of the fifteen most polluted cities of the world are Indian cities
(as per 2014 data published by WHO). Most of these cities are not amongst the
metro cities or mega cities but are amongst Tier-II cities.
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| Picture – 1: Nations with Highest & Lowest Pollutions (Reference - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/the-best-and-worst-countries-for-air-pollution-and-electricity-use) |
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| Picture – 2: Nations with Most & Least Deaths from Air Pollution (Reference - https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/the-best-and-worst-countries-for-air-pollution-and-electricity-use) |
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| Picture – 3: Worlds most polluted cities are in India (Reference - http://www.thehawk.in/news/these-are-the-15-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world ; Source – WHO, 2014) |
2.
Interestingly,
studies suggest Indians are also amongst the nationals having least
average-daily-walking-steps (refer Picture - 4) - Despite the fact that most of the
parts of the country has got good weather to walk most of the time round the
year, we Indians do not walk as much as (most of) other nationals walk. Stanford
University analysis published in the journal Nature, we Indians are officially
among the laziest people in the world. The study ranks India at 39 after
comparing the walking patterns of 46 countries.
The picture below (Picture - 4) is a good visualization on walking pattern of
some of the countries across the globe. To an otherwise health conscious urban
population, the issues of pedestrian safety and the issue of air pollution may surely
be contributing reasons to poor walking figures illustrated in the graph
(Picture - 4). This correlation (between conditions for walking on roads and average-daily-walking-steps
for any region) may worth investigating by researchers.
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| Picture - 4: Average Daily Walking Steps across the Globe (Reference - https://www.scoopwhoop.com/indians-are-among-the-laziest-people-in-the-world-because-we-dont-like-to-walk/#.9f42jyzz5 published July 14, 2017; Source – Tim Althoff, Stanford) |
3.
Nevertheless,
everyday over a fifth of non-agricultural working class walks to their workplace
in India– Over
a fifth of 200 million working Indians (who
are neither employed in agriculture nor in household industries) commute to
work on foot, followed by commutes by cycle, moped or motorcycle and bus, new
data from the Census shows
(refer – Picture - 5). More illustration on mode of
transportation of working population in megacities is given in the following
picture (refer - Picture – 6).
But,
in the other picture (Picture – 7), the census data also shows that in India
most of the commuter to work place walk less than 5 kilometers (approximately
6,600 steps, assuming 1 kilometer = 1,320 steps). This is far less than 8000 –
10,000 steps of daily activity recommended by most of the reputed agencies
related to healthcare (reference - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3197470/table/T1/
)
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| Picture – 5: Non-Agriculture Workers Commute to Workplace (Reference - http://www.thehindu.com/data/india-walks-to-work-census/article7874521.ece; Source – Census Data) |
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| Picture – 6: Commuting in India’s Megacities (Reference - http://www.thehindu.com/data/india-walks-to-work-census/article7874521.ece; Source – Census Data) |
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| Picture – 7: Mode wise distance wise commute to work place in India (Reference - http://www.india.uitp.org/articles/mobility-in-rural-india; Source - Census data) |
4.
A
point to note is that data show gender disparity in walking pattern -
Another
mention worthy finding of the Stanford University study (mentioned above in
Point 2) was that inequality largely persisted between men and women, where
women in general were less active. The Indian data points out that women walk a
mere 3,684 steps a day compared to 4,606 steps by a man, on an average.
Census
data of India reveals that commuting
for work is even less common among women workers - 45 per cent of women do not
commute for work - and the trend is observed to be higher in rural than in
urban areas.
Anyhow,
it is a known fact that in comparison to relatively better economies (China or
Western Europe), there exist a significant gender disparity in India across a
spectrum of development indicators (Picture - 8).
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| Picture – 8: Gender Disparity in India (Reference: http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/how-india-ranks-on-gender-parity-and-why/ ; Source: Mckinsey Global Institute Report, 2015) |
Therefore,
there is a likelihood that observed gender disparity in walking pattern could
be just reflection of larger gender disparity prevailing in society. Many
studies suggests that vulnerability of women pedestrian in developing countries
(like India) have close link with existing socio-cultural conditions. Thus, in
addition to general factors limiting women pedestrian like road congestion,
exposure to crowding, air and noise pollution, inaccessibility, the other risks
are violence, crime and sexual harassment (Seedat, MacKenzie, & Mohan,
2006).
Nevertheless,
it is important for countries across the globe to work towards gender equality.
It may be noted that narrowing the gender gap at work could add $28tn to the
global economy by 2025 (according to a research
by Mckinsey conducted in 2015).
It
may sound convincing that the causes of observed gender disparity in data of
pedestrians on Indian roads be rooted on existing socio-cultural conditions.
So, efforts should be made to address the causes and effects may automatically
start improving. But, there could also be merit in the converse argument. Thus,
the possibility of bringing changes to socio-cultural conditions (for gender
equality) by making Indian roads much safer for women could also be possible,
at least to some extent. May be, because, there could be link between
socio-cultural norms and insecure environment for the issues like gender
disparity. Researches in this direction at different levels and under diverse
conditions may be helpful in conclusive deducing any associated link and its
characteristics.
5.
Largely
the poor walk to work in Indian cities - Experts believe that
in urban India, mostly poor people walk to work as they can not afford for
other available alternatives. “In
urban areas, a large number of people who walk to work are poor,” Shreya
Gadepalli, Regional Director, Institute of Transportation and Development
Policy told the Times of India. “They often walk long distances despite
inconvenient and dangerous conditions because they cannot afford any other form
of transport.”.
Roads
are amongst the important urban Public Spaces
in Indian cities. Diversity and dynamism on Indian roads portray picture of a
society full of life and vigor. However, these roads also reflect that this
public space (roads) is not being put to use for the larger benefit of all the
citizens. The facilities available on the roads do not seem to be doing justice
towards pedestrians (who are mostly assumed to represent poorer population).
Now, in the following couple of points, an
attempt is made to briefly sum up some of the reasons usually cited for problems of
pedestrians on Indian roads:-
1.
Pedestrian
is lost in the era of Rapid Urbanization – In recent past,
urbanization has taken place at unprecedented pace in India. This has not given
the governing agencies time to develop required facilities in a planned manner.
The daunting challenge of accelerated pace of urban transformation faced by
India can be understood with the available census data on rate of urbanization
and on rate of motorization (Picture – 9 and Picture – 10).
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| Picture – 9: Rapid Urbanization; (Reference: http://iihs.co.in/knowledge-gateway/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/RF-Working-Paper-Transport_edited_09062015_Final_reduced-size.pdf; Source: Census Data for 2011) |
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| Picture - 10: Growth of Registered Vehicles in India (Reference: http://iihs.co.in/knowledge-gateway/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/RF-Working-Paper-Transport_edited_09062015_Final_reduced-size.pdf; Source: Census Data for 2011) |
Workers
moving to urban clusters for better job opportunities is an age old story.
Cities have always been thought as engine of economic growth and prosperity.
Traditional view of linking urbanization to job creation and to economic
development was dominant in past decades in India and therefore, it was not
possible to restrict, to resist or to control (with the intent of
systematically organizing) the pace of urbanization in this poor country with
consistently increasing population.
In
view of exploding expansion of cities and rate of motorization, appropriate
planning of road facilities, which may do justice with pedestrians could not be
conceived, planned and executed. Eventually, the concerns of pedestrians
consistently got ignored to the extent that the roads of Indian cities became
extremely unsafe for them.
But,
new researches indicate that building urban infrastructure, enacting directed
policies, encouraging management of knowledge capital and promoting
entrepreneurship could make the real difference for maximizing economic
advantage from urbanization. There
is no simple linear relationship between urbanization and economic growth, or
between city size and productivity. The potential of urbanization to promote
growth is likely to depend on how conducive the infrastructure and
institutional settings are. Removing barriers to rural–urban mobility may
enable economic growth, but the benefits will be much larger with supportive
policies, markets and infrastructure investments. Cities should use realistic
population projections as the basis for investing in public infrastructure and
implementing supportive land policies. Governments should seek out ways of
enabling forms of urbanization that contribute to growth, poverty reduction and
environmental sustainability, rather than encouraging (or discouraging)
urbanization per se. Thus, it is suggested that, to capitalize
on the benefits of urbanization (that has happened) so far, a strategic
planning with due considerations to inclusive development and to a just and
fair distribution of scarce urban public spaces will be critical. This can not
exclude suitable infrastructure with enabling technology to address the issues
of pedestrians.
2. Challenging Dynamics of Urban
Infrastructure Development –
In
the days of rapid urbanization, urban public space is a scarce resource and it
is important to plan its utilization for inclusive development of a city. Roads
are the most important urban public space in developing countries like India.
Ensuring access to roads to different mode of transportation in such a way that
pedestrian can walk safely and more importantly with dignity and pride should
be utmost priority of urban planners. This is possible only when planners understand
dynamics of road traffic and public behavior on roads to much greater depth.
These days advanced systems installed for surveillance (in public places and
private places) do produce data for analysis and interpretation of planners.
Researches on the related topics may also be promoted for understanding
different minute aspects of roads in different areas during different
times.
In
many occasions, even with making a choice of best possible solutions, it
becomes difficult for roads to accommodate pedestrians due to other dominant
mode of transportation and / or due to encroachments of roadside footpath; in
such situations, alternate access to pedestrians through pedestrian-walk-ways
parallel to roads in the same vicinity may be considered.
It
is widely believed amongst the development sector experts that both public and
private agencies entrusted to urban planning and urban infrastructure
development in developing countries have temptation to replicate successful
urban plans and planning methodologies from advanced countries. In the process,
as many people suggest, they often miss basic local needs. Not addressing to
pedestrian issues in urban planning in Indian cities is cited as one such case.
Many
times governing agencies and administrative bodies responsible for urban
development also could not give adequate attention towards urban planning. Some
people believe that these organizations function in a work culture which is
highly hierarchal, strictly driven from top and very much focused on just getting
urban development projects executed and generating output (rather than focused
on ensuring objectives are met and impactful outcomes is achieved). Such
organizations limit collaborations both within and outside the organization. A
few others suggest that political compulsions of democratic governments to do
things for public good in chunks of short-term spoils the larger vision of long
term planning for urban development.
Another
group of people point out that critical civil issues of interest to general
public and to larger societal benefits do not get due attention in the prevailing
political process in India. Developing consensus among influential political
groups or dominant communities to converge for a solution on general issues is usually found
to be a difficult task. Mostly, political groups and communities have many
issues to address, which relates to the specific interests to these entities.
Thus, it takes time and effort to voice civil issues of general public.
Problems of pedestrian is considered to be one such issue.
References:
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281089650_Pedestrian_Safety_and_the_Built_Environment_A_Review_of_the_Risk_Factors
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223853809_The_phenomenology_of_being_a_female_pedestrian_in_an_African_and_an_Asian_city_A_qualitative_investigation
- http://thecityfix.com/blog/where-are-footpaths-case-protecting-pedestrian-rights-india-himadri-das-sahana-goswami
- http://www.livemint.com/Science/6rKWVcHEGH6IdN7ghWkLlN/What-is-making-urban-young-India-unhealthy.html
- http://thecityfix.com/blog/out-of-the-drivers-seat-the-safety-impact-of-auto-rickshaws-on-pedestrians-and-cyclists/
- http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/B-series/B_28.html
- http://iihs.co.in/knowledge-gateway/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/RF-Working-Paper-Transport_edited_09062015_Final_reduced-size.pdf
- https://www.mahindraworldcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Livability-Quotient.pdf
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/Mapped-The-worlds-most-urbanised-countries/
- http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/India2/1.%20Data%20Highlight.pdf
- http://nbr.org/downloads/pdfs/eta/PES_2016_working_paper_shastry_pai.pdf
- https://paycheck.in/main/career-tips/research-publication/how-much-time-do-indians-spend-on-commuting-to-work-place
- https://globalnews.ca/news/3887057/toronto-commute-long-canada/
- https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2013/feb/01/cycle-drive-work-map-census-2011
- http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/jyFgs0yWYfgFSukwv8NcyH/Is-access-to-transport-slowing-participation-of-women-in-Ind.html
- https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dinesh_Mohan2
- http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956247813490908
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235962518_Urbanisation_and_Economic_Development_in_India
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