ITDP India

Promoting sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide

Prioritising Streets for People: Reimagining Indian Cities

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The Smart Cities Mission launched another national green recovery initiative—the Streets for People Challenge—with an aim to make Indian cities pedestrian-friendly, lively, and safe. The Challenge was launched by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in a virtual event conducted on 11 September, 2020, and attended by key city officials, partner agencies, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders. 113 cities across the country have registered to transform their streets.

What is the Streets for People Challenge?

Across the world, COVID-19 has changed the way streets are used, highlighting the importance of streets for inclusive mobility, but also as public spaces for recreation, mental health, and to enhance the liveability of a city. The Streets for People Challenge follows on the heels of the India Cycles4Change Challenge to bridge this crucial gap in the way cities are envisioned and create streets that are safe, healthy, and happy, through quick, innovative, low-cost measures. The Challenge is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), in partnership with the ITDP India Programme and supported by the Fit India Movement and Swachh Bharat Mission. It is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of States/Union Territories, and cities with a population of over 5 lakh population.

Launch of the Streets for People Challenge

Stages of the Challenge

The Streets for People Challenge will be conducted in two stages. Stage One of the Challenge requires cities to test at least one pilot intervention, comprising a flagship public space project and a liveable neighbourhood, along with the development of a conceptual city-wide scale-up strategy. 11 cities will be selected for Stage Two to further scale-up their transformation. Drawing cues from locations like the Pedestrian Plaza in Chennai and the Golden Temple Heritage Street in Amritsar, the flagship projects are imagined around markets, retail areas, transit hubs, and other prominent places in the city. Cities should also choose neighbourhoods, which can range from mixed-income areas, resettlement colonies, low-income neighbourhoods, and others. In these areas, cities can create pedestrian-friendly or pedestrian-only streets, convert parking spaces to pop-up parks, revitalise dead spaces, and create walking links between large urban blocks. 

Timeline of the Challenge

To ensure well-designed pilot interventions, cities will roll out a design competition for students and professionals across the country. The competition will be launched with a design brief and entries will be evaluated by local officials, citizens, experts, and other stakeholders. To place the community at the heart of the Challenge, the design competition will include a multi-step process, where citizens can take part in discussions and vote for the best entry through a community jury. Cities will also focus on citizen participation through activities such as events and campaigns. 

Cities will participate in a virtual Streets for People Festival in February 2021. Following this, 11 cities will be selected for Stage Two. In this stage, cities will commence implementation of their scale-up plan and work towards a long-term strategy to prioritise walkable and liveable streetscapes. Throughout the Challenge, the ITDP India Programme will provide remote assistance by sharing knowledge resources, conducting online training workshops, and facilitating peer-to-peer interactions between cities.

Taking the first step

The 113 registered cities have already kickstarted the process through the Online Workshop 1, which was conducted on 1 October, 2020, by the ITDP India Programme. Key officials from Amritsar, Chennai, Delhi, and Udaipur presented the learnings from the development of various pedestrian-friendly spaces in their cities. As the officials spoke about the transformation of spaces in these cities, they emphasised key factors such as community feedback sessions and tactical measures to ensure successful interventions. The session was led forward by the ITDP India Programme through a presentation that focussed on a detailed look at the Challenge process for the cities — expanding on their next steps to engage with their communities and begin the design process. 

To facilitate this collaborative transformation, cities are now calling upon passionate individuals to support their city in coordinating, volunteering, documenting, and sponsoring various elements of the Challenge. The city will closely work with these diverse group of individuals to efficiently manage the Challenge in multiple aspects, such as data collection, media coverage, and inclusive participation.

Streets for People, By People

Cities are now in the process of identifying their pilot sites, building support from the community, and gathering momentum through the ‘Open Streets’ Campaign. The campaign aims to showcase a glimpse into the Challenge, by opening streets to pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-motorised transport users. By asking citizens to nominate streets for the campaign and then organising events to bring them together, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Kakinada, and many others are truly embracing this cause. The ITDP India Programme is proud to support the Smart Cities Mission in this national initiative and guide Indian cities to reimagine a future around the needs of people, not cars. 

Written by Aditi Subramanian

Edited by Avishek Jha

To support your city for the Streets for People Challenge, register here – https://smartnet.niua.org/indiastreetchallenge/support-your-city-2/

This article is part of a series of articles on the Streets for People Challenge.

Making Places for People: The Launch of the Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza

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The Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza, one of Greater Chennai Corporation’s most anticipated projects, was launched with much pomp and show on the 13th November, 2019, by the Hon. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru Edappadi K. Palaniswami. Spanning over 700m on Sir Thyagaraya Road, the plaza has successfully transformed one of Chennai’s busiest and car-centric shopping streets into a pedestrian promenade by prioritising people over vehicles, and opening up new ways of experiencing the space. With wide and safe pedestrian walkways on both sides, ample shaded seating, beautiful landscape, and colourful play elements, the plaza was designed as a space accessible for all, including women, children, senior citizens and people with disabilities. 

Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza takes off !

A couple with a stroller walks past the parade of shops, the infant’s eyes light up at the brilliant display of wares. A group of young women store-hop, hands full with bulging shopping bags bursting at their seams, but they still want to shop more. An elderly man on a wheelchair swiftly moves through the teeming crowd, pausing at places to enjoy the sights and sounds of the promenade. Musicians take over the streets as people walking by stop to listen, curious and pleasantly surprised. Two generations of family converse over fresh filter coffee, while the third-and the youngest- runs around and plays on the see-saw by the footpath.

Vibrant, attractive, lively, with spaces to walk, run, play, socialize, sit, linger and observe.

A street full of people. A street for people.

This is the New Pondy Bazaar Pedestrian Plaza! 

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The Pedestrian Plaza project was conceived with the intent of enhancing the unique shopping experience that Pondy Bazaar offers, by reclaiming public space for the shoppers. For the first time, Chennai is looking at a street as not just a mobility corridor, but as a social, public space for everyone, be it families, children, and the elderly.

An open-air mall in the heart of the city! 

Before and after conceptual street sections highlighting the space reclaimed for the pedestrians

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With the success of the pedestrian plaza, the city now plans to scale up the work by redesigning and developing streets in Chennai to be future-ready and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) friendly incorporating various aspects of mobility, utility and livability.

The first phase of the Mega Streets project envisions the creation of a network plan and redesign of over 110 km of streets spread across six different neighbourhoods. The network plan will prioritise shaping spaces accommodating the needs of all road users.

G.Prakash, IAS – Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation is all praise for namma Pedestrian Plaza!

With more neighbourhoods set to see a similar transformation, Chennai is surely moving towards better and livelier streets for all!

Written by Aishwarya Soni
Sketch by AV Venugopal
Videos created by Aishwarya Soni, Kawin Kumaran.
Photographs by TD Achuthan, Santhosh Loganaathan

Edited by Keshav Suryanarayanan

Check out our previous blog on how the Pedestrian Plaza reclaims the street for pedestrians and shoppers.

Reclaiming Streets for Pedestrians and Shoppers

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An Infographic Blog

Conceptualised and Designed by Kawin Kumaran, Aishwarya Soni
Content created by Nashwa Naushad, AV Venugopal
Photographs by TD Achuthan

What the people of Chennai have to say about the pedestrian plaza proposal at Pondy Bazaar

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Chennaites’ love story with Pondy Bazaar is one which spans across many generations, long before shopping malls sprouted across the city. It continues to weave its charm, attracting people from all walks of life across the world to be a part of this unique shopping experience. “Since my childhood I have been coming here for shopping. The experience of walking from shop to shop with my parents is a fond memory, which I am reliving now with my kids,” said Mr.Balaji, a 46-year old shopper. For him and many others, Pondy Bazaar is not just a space, but an emotion. To further enhance this feeling and the overall experience, Chennai Smart City Ltd. and Greater Chennai Corporation with design support from Darashaw and Studio R+R is implementing the much-awaited pedestrian plaza along Thyagaraya Road, the 1.4 km stretch of Pondy Bazaar between Panagal Park and Mount Road.

While the city is eagerly anticipating the plaza, local shopkeepers are concerned that the removal of cars and parking from Thyagaraya road might affect their sales. To understand the ground reality and possible solutions to address their concerns, the ITDP India Programme conducted a public opinion survey. Results show that only 25% of the shoppers visiting Pondy Bazaar park on Thyagaraya Road. These vehicles can be accommodated in the side streets and around Panagal Park, which is already preferred due to the availability of parking. The shoppers are eagerly looking forward to the vibrant pedestrian plaza, expressing their preference for an unhindered shopping space over cars!

Over the years, cars have gradually been dominating the street space, making life difficult for the shoppers. “I take fifteen minutes to cross this road! Accidents! Pollution! There is no peace of mind, and it’s because of the traffic,” said a survey respondent. Pondy Bazaar has become vehicle centric, taking space away from the public.

The pedestrian plaza planned by the city with support from the ITDP India Programme, is envisioned as an attractive public space for shoppers. With continuous pedestrian walkways, ample opportunity for seating, comfortable tree cover, and colourful play elements, the plaza will be easily accessible for women, children, senior citizens and people with disabilities.

The project aims at transforming the street to encourage more people to walk, shop and wander, without the fear of accidents. It will enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety, foster community interaction, and boost local businesses. Once implemented, the Thyagaraya Road will prioritise public transport and cars will not be allowed. By transforming the shopping street from a car-centric to a people-centric space, the pedestrian plaza will result in better air quality, health, and wellbeing of the users.

The citizens had a glimpse of the new Pondy Bazaar experience during the trial runs held in November 2016 and February 2017. With cars stopped from entering Thyagaraya Road, traffic progressed smoothly and shoppers had more room for walking and other fun activities and games. The space was filled with laughter, smiles, and a new-found energy, showing the impact the proposal could have on the users, for generations to come.

Despite the excitement for this project, the local shopkeepers have raised concerns about the impact of pedestrianisation on their revenue. With the proposed multi-level car park still under construction, the shopkeepers are worried that shoppers would drive away to other destinations with better parking facilities. To understand the actual travel needs of the shoppers, the ITDP India Programme conducted an on-ground survey of over 500 shoppers, in collaboration with the RVS School of Architecture.

The survey showed that over half of the shoppers reach Pondy Bazaar by means of public transport, walking or cycling. Amongst the private motor vehicle users, more than half already park on the side streets and at Panagal Park. While Thyagaraya Road has a capacity of roughly 200 vehicles, the side streets which are currently under-utilised for parking, can accommodate nearly 500 parked vehicles.

Therefore, one possible and feasible solution is to shift parking from Thyagaraya Road to the side streets, through an effective parking management system. Demand-based parking fees combined with strong enforcement will ensure that cars are not irresponsibly parked in front of residence gates or on footpaths. This will also help shoppers find parking spots more conveniently through their phones, saving time, and fuel.

When asked about accessing Thyagaraya Road from the side streets, 78 percent of the users felt it was easy to park on the side streets and walk to the shops. A whopping 94 percent of the shoppers expressed how they were looking forward to a Pondy Bazaar, free of cars and designed for the pedestrians.

Pondy Bazaar has always been and will continue to remain a strong evergreen sentiment. By prioritising pedestrians, especially children, elderly and other vulnerable users over vehicles in the Pedestrian Plaza, Chennai is opening up new ways of experiencing the space. The people and their interactions make a city. The Pedestrian Plaza is bound to attract more locals and foreigners, boost the economy and above all, enhance the identity of this shopping hub.

 

Written by AV Venugopal

Edited by Kashmira Medhora Dubash