---

In wildlife conservation, there’s a familiar problem: charismatic megafauna—the big, beautiful, crowd-pulling mammals—soak up attention and conservation efforts, while countless other species struggle to survive unnoticed. Logic tells us the most endangered species deserve priority, but emotion usually wins. Cute creatures move hearts, budgets, and policies in ways that less glamorous animals simply can’t. 

Urban transport in India suffers from the same bias. 

Flyovers—the “charismatic megafauna” of our cities

Flyovers, foot-over-bridges, and wide roads are the “charismatic megafauna” of our cities—high-visibility, headline-grabbing symbols of development and aspiration. Footpaths, signage, and pedestrian crossings are their overlooked cousins. Not  visually unappealing perhaps, but certainly less exciting, harder to champion, and rarely the first choice in infrastructure conversations. 

That’s why knowing there is demand for footpaths isn’t enough. People-centric mobility must become aspirational. It needs to be the popular narrative, the default choice, and the shared vision of how cities should move. To get there, we must focus on behaviour change of society at large—and one of the strongest catalysts for change in any society is children. 

Children don’t just represent the future; they influence the present. Some of the most successful road safety campaigns are rooted in schools because their impact extends far beyond classrooms. Children take lessons home, start conversations at the dinner table, and —most powerfully, —hold adults accountable. We may ignore posters and policies, but we rarely ignore our children. We change habits, make safer choices, and strive to be better role models for them. 

At the same time, children are among the most vulnerable users of our streets. Their physical and cognitive development limits their ability to judge speed, distance, and risk. As vehicle ownership rises and streets grow more hostile, children face increasing danger simply navigating their neighbourhoods. This makes the case for safer, child-friendly street design not just compelling, but urgent. 

If we want cities that truly work for everyone, we must start building streets that protect, empower, and prioritise our smallest citizens.  

The Rise of Safe School Zones 

It’s a widely accepted principle in urban design: when we design for the most vulnerable, we design for everyone. Yet, despite this common wisdom, our cities still lack sufficient evidence of street designs that meaningfully respond to children’s specific needs. 

Creating Safe School Zones is a critical first step in addressing this gap and the beginning of a much longer journey toward truly child-friendly streets across the city and not just the school zones. 

In Tamil Nadu, two cities have taken promising strides in this direction. Chennai and Coimbatore have announced Safe School Zone projects aimed at transforming the streets children use every day. 

ITDP India has been supporting both cities in the rollout of these projects. However, from the very start, we took a slightly different approach with these two projects. We kept children and their voices at the heart of it! This is because any public project built on stakeholder consultations ensures inclusivity and democracy.  So, if we are designing streets for children, it is only natural that children themselves become part of the conversation. Yet their voices are rarely heard in urban planning unless we deliberately seek them out. Recognising this gap, we set out to design an ambitious—but fun activity created entirely for children. The goal was simple: to engage them in meaningful dialogue and understand, in their own words, what a truly safe school zone should look and feel like. 

If our streets are meant for children, then their perspectives should help shape them.  

Taking the Engagement into Classrooms 

In Chennai’s K.K. Nagar neighbourhood, six schools and 268 students came together to reimagine their everyday streets. In Coimbatore, the voices of 280 students from four schools added depth to this collective vision. These young citizens became active participants in shaping safer, more inclusive school neighbourhoods. 

Three thoughtfully designed activities were– 

Through this students reflected on their daily journeys, calling out safety concerns, moments of discomfort, and gaps in pedestrian infrastructure. The engagement culminated in an exercise where children articulated, in their own words, the design elements they wished to see on their school streets. Their responses offered a powerful qualitative lens into what truly defines a child-friendly street.  

Beyond insights, the process also produced a tangible outcome: a children-led walking route map, highlighting streets that need urgent improvement, based on the routes they walk every day. Such maps can directly inform the creation of a priority network for implementing safe school street infrastructure. 

Perhaps most striking was what children already knew. Their reflections on “good” and “bad” streets revealed a strong awareness of safety and accessibility, even if they did not know the terminology to explain them. Across both cities, their top priorities were clear: road safety and traffic management, street maintenance, and pedestrian infrastructure. Listening to them reminds us that the path to safer streets begins by seeing the city through the eyes of its youngest pedestrians. 

Seeing the success of this approach, we at ITDP India are now striving to ensure that working with children is embedded within the scope of all “Safe Streets to School” design projects. As part of this resolution, design consultants are required to conduct surveys and interviews with students to ensure that street designs are sensitive, inclusive, and scaled to the needs of young users. 

School streets or school zones envisioned through this process are places of calm and care: slow-moving traffic, interactive street edges, brightly coloured pedestrian crossings, clear and attractive wayfinding, reflectorised signage (that glow in the dark), and wide, comfortable walkways with dedicated pick-up and drop-off bays. While colours and motifs can be standardised citywide, each street is carefully contextualised to its surroundings. 

School Zones as a Planning Paradigm for the Whole City 

While school streets are daily lifelines for children, caregivers, and communities, Safe School Zones could be more than a safety intervention – they could be the strategic lens we need to reimagine truly accessible streets. When designed thoughtfully, a network of pedestrian pathways around a dense cluster of schools can do far more than serve students. It can seamlessly overlap with neighbourhood markets, bus termini, and other civic anchors, creating a walkable ecosystem that benefits everyone. 

This idea closely mirrors the promise of first- and last-mile connectivity (FLMC) to public transport. Yet, in our planning priorities, the footpath is profoundly underrated as an FLMC service. It is often sidelined in favour of the more “charismatic” mini-buses or other forms of Intermediate Public Transport, despite being the most universal and inclusive mode of access. 

Footpaths are the city’s quiet first responders—used by every road user, every day, often without notice, yet indispensable to the functioning of urban life. Investing in them, especially through the lens of Safe School Zones, is not just about mobility. It is about dignity, safety, and building cities that place people first. It may not be the most glamorous piece of infrastructure, but it is definitely the one needing collective attention and support.   

By Sanchana S, Senior Associate, ITDP India

Edited by Donita Jose, Senior Associate, ITDP India

---

At ITDP India, everything we do is guided by three goals: Increase public transport ridership, electrify urban transport systems, and secure funding at scale, to make the former two goals possible.
And what’s our grand vision? People-first, low-emission cities. In 2025, every win was shaped by these three goals, and this shared vision.
Some wins may look small on their own like a humble brick: a policy here, a budget allocation there, a guideline approved. But stack them together and you start to see the city being built to enable people moving smoothly, one sustainable decision at a time. Check out our crisp listicle on 25 wins from 2025 that Shaped Urban Mobility. This captures the winning moments of everyday work towards the big picture.

Brick by Brick: 25 Milestones that Shaped Our Cities

---

Assessments are a part of everyone’s life. Ask a student, a professional, or even a patient, almost everyone is put through a series of tests, to check whether their performance is upto the mark or not. In the same way, don’t you think our cities need a thorough assessment, once every few years? 

Assessments and analysis can help a lot, as if holding a report card up the face of city decision makers to assess what works and what doesn’t. It is with this thought that in 2023-2024, ITDP India’s team, embarked on an ambitious journey to assess and score the situation of the city’s streets and how walkable they are! 

But why assess walkability?

Walking is the most fundamental and natural mobility for most people in the city. It is a birthright for everyone to have and own, and to move, and access different parts of the city, that often gets taken for granted. 

Picture this in fact! Almost 23% of trips in Chennai are made by ‘walking’, as per the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMP), 2023. However, walking on arterial and sub-arterial (internal) streets continues to pose a high risk for pedestrians.  

And these risks are translating into fatalities. Between 2019 and 2023, for instance, while Chennai took extraordinary measures to reduce the total number of accidents and fatalities, pedestrian fatalities still constituted a significant number. As per data assessed and analysed by ITDP India, pedestrian deaths made up 43% of all road accident deaths in Chennai. Furthermore, of all pedestrian related accidents in Chennai in 2023, 30% ended up as fatalities. This is an increase from 11% and 22%, respectively in 2019.  

The above data point is crucial to delve into given that the city adopted the Non Motorised Transport (NMT) Policy in 2014, and it followed through by developing over 170 km of footpaths on key Bus Route Roads. This begs the question; what happened to those footpaths? Are they intact? Are they being utilised as was once imagined? Do they need improvements? These are some of the questions that ITDP India’s latest study, called Situational Analysis of Chennai’s Footpaths, attempts to answer.  

What is a Situational Analysis?

A situational assessment aims to understand the current condition of infrastructure in detail, highlighting the merits and demerits of footpaths in comparison to standards. It also builds a good database of the infrastructure and develops a scoring system to prioritise streets where footpaths require immediate attention. The study in Chennai identified 14 streets across different zones of Chennai, in which 32 km of footpaths were mapped and observed, and over 1700 user perception surveys were conducted.  More importantly, this study also provides a framework to analyse the impact of this humble piece of infrastructure on its users, for the future as well.   

How was Situational Analysis done? What parameters were used?

 Every pedestrian infrastructure was viewed from three dimensions:

The data collected was then analysed through the lens of 4 key parameters of Healthy Streets:   

1. Ease of Mobility – The ease with which pedestrians can walk on wide, seamless, continuous footpaths free of obstructions.  

2. Safety—The availability of dedicated pedestrian crossing infrastructure, traffic calming elements, a buffer between carriageway and footpath, street lighting, and active property edges ensures pedestrians’ personal and physical safety.   

3. Universal Accessibility – Inclusion of the vulnerable sections of society, such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, and persons with other physical challenges, through design.  

4. Livability – A sense of comfort and belonging created by the presence and integration of street play, street commerce, and other socio-economic activities, in addition to providing functional footpaths.   

What were the key findings of the Situational Analysis?

The study provides insights into the importance of footpaths as well as having good footpaths to improve their usability.    

To further make the analysis granular, a scoring framework was used which helped rate the performance of the footpath infrastructure across all 14 streets on all 31 indicators of performance. It also helped identify the nature of intervention required, based on varying performance:  

1. A street with a rating of 25 or more can be improved through strict enforcement and minor repairs and interventions.   

2. Streets rated 19 to 25 would require enforcement to remove obstructions, improve footpath surfaces, and introduce accessible crossing infrastructure.  

3. Streets with a rating of 14 to 19 would require repairs to improve the continuity of footpaths, remove obstructions, and introduce safe midblock crossing infrastructure.  

4. Streets with ratings below 14 should be redesigned and restructured completely. 

Here the winning street was Pedestrian Plaza, scoring a brilliant 25.71, whereas the poorest performing street was CP Ramaswamy Road scoring just 12.72 on 30.

The following inferences can be drawn from the studies, as well as the score card. 

1. Streets prioritising pedestrians are safer, more accessible, and liveable: Pedestrian Plaza, CSIR, and Wallajah Road have exceeded basic footpath requirements, catering comprehensively to pedestrian needs. 
    

2. Continuous and consistent footpath standards across the entire street length are crucial for ensuring ease of pedestrian mobility. Streets such as Sardar Patel Road and Peter’s Road demonstrate that design and perception scores do not align with each other.  

3. Pedestrian crossings and traffic calming measures should be prioritised alongside footpath provision: Despite adequate pedestrian infrastructure, streets like Perambur High Road, Peter’s Road, and Sardar Patel Road show moderate performance.  

4. In streets without formal footpaths, stormwater drains double as walking zones but lack pedestrian safety and comfort. This necessitates efficient drainage design for clear walking zones, as is evident in streets such as C.P. Ramaswamy Salai, Anna Main Road, Eldams Road, and Broadway.  

5. The absence of an enforcement/O&M framework results in footpath encroachment, diminishing clear walking zones for pedestrians. Streets that perform fairly, such as Old Jail Road, Thirumalai Pillai, Gandhi Irwin, and Thiru Vi Ka High Road, illustrate this issue as they were all once refurbished under the 170km of BRR road transformation project, benefits of which did not continue due to poor maintenance. 

Recommendations for Chennai to improve its network of streets

Good footpaths are a win-win for all citizens. On one hand it can reduce travel costs for low-income households, on the other hand, it boosts physical health and improves inclusivity by encouraging more women, elderly, children, and vulnerable people to use public spaces. An overarching benefit for all sections is also that it lowers emissions by promoting walking and cycling and can address congestion. The results of the study helped identify key priorities to improve footpaths:  

Way Forward

An assessment is good as long as the feedback is implemented on. At ITDP India we are happy to share that the results and recommendations of the study were showcased to the city engineers. This was presented during a workshop organized by ITDP India, focusing on the significance of Healthy Street Design guidelines to enhance footpath design and usability in the city.  

Since then, the Greater Chennai Corporation has committed to several initiatives aimed at strengthening pedestrian infrastructure. These initiatives include identifying new networks for footpath repairs and reconstruction, conducting audits to assess the condition of existing street infrastructure, and creating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the operations and maintenance of the city’s footpaths. To boost these initiatives further, the state allocated a Rs 200 crore budget to build and improve over 200 km of footpaths in Chennai in 2025, which is the first dedicated budget for pedestrian infrastructure. This work is being carried out with technical assistance from ITDP India. 

It is also pertinent to note that this exercise has been replicated in multiple cities by ITDP India, showcasing a powerful methodology that can be embraced by many more.  

This isn’t just about rating pavements; it’s about reimagining streets as spaces of safety, accessibility, and shared humanity. The path ahead is clear: Chennai’s footpaths need more than repairs, the city does need to prioritise the scale-up of footpaths across the city. They demand a collective awakening—to see sidewalks not as afterthoughts, but as lifelines. The data is here. The solutions exist. Now, will we walk the talk? 

---

By Sanchana S, Senior Associate, ITDP India

Edited by Donita Jose, Senior Associate, ITDP India

---

For years, major cities in Tamil Nadu have prioritised vehicles through budgetary allocations and infrastructure. This is despite the fact that two-thirds of all trips in the state are made by walking, cycling, or using public transport. This year, however, the tide is turning. The Tamil Nadu Budget 2025 marks a pivotal shift with Chennai and Coimbatore taking the lead, placing Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) —like walking and cycling—at the heart of mobility planning, and reimagining streets as spaces for people, not just cars. What sets this budget apart is not just the scale of funding, but the values it reflects—equity, safety, and access for all. 

While this development is a step in the right direction and is still in its nascent stages, Chennai’s strides towards creating walking and cycling friendly streets echo some of the early moves seen in cities like Singapore. Singapore has long been a role model for Southeast Asia, known for its  integrated public transport and walkable, people-friendly streets, backed by landmark investments like the 1 billion Singapore Dollars’ fund for last-mile connectivity in 2016, and forward-looking policies such as the Active Mobility Act (2017) and Multi-Modal Transport Act (2021). Anchored by the Tamil Nadu Budget 2025, which earmarks significant investments in footpaths, smart parking, and Safe Routes to School pilots, Chennai’s journey could chart a similar course—if implementation keeps pace with vision. 

A Historic Leap for Walkability in Chennai 

A landmark first – ₹200 crore dedicated funding for 170 km of footpaths in Chennai  

This year’s budget has earmarked ₹200 crore for the implementation of 170 km of high-quality footpath in Chennai. This is the largest investment for pedestrian infrastructure in the city to date, and the first time since the Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) Policy of 2014 that footpath development has received such focused financial backing. Announced by Hon’ble Minister K.N. Nehru on March 25, 2025, this move is more than just a line item in a budget—it is a powerful reaffirmation of the state’s commitment to safer, more inclusive streets for all, especially vulnerable road users including children, the elderly, and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).  

Chennai’s journey: From marginal to meaningful investments!

Chennai’s journey toward walkable streets began with ambition. Following the adoption of its pioneering Non Motorised Transport Policy in 2014  the city saw average annual footpath investments rise to ₹72 crore, resulting in the creation of over 170 km of footpaths between 2014 and 2019—most of it funded through the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF). During this time, the city also tapped into the Smart Cities Mission’s Area-Based Development (ABD) funds to implement the now-celebrated Pedestrian Plaza and its feeder streets in T. Nagar.    

To scale up its efforts, Chennai launched the Complete Streets program in 2020 (earlier known as “Mega Streets”) with a dedicated ₹100 crore allocation under the Chennai City Partnership with the World Bank. The project aimed to reimagine neighbourhood-level street networks by integrating underground utility upgrades and walk and cycle-friendly above-ground infrastructure. However, the first implementation phase, under progress, covers only around 11 km, leaving behind the demand for a city-wide network of functional footpaths largely unmet.   

Analysing the budgetary spending, we found that from 2022 to 2025, Chennai’s investment in footpaths plummeted to just ₹13 crore per year on average. A modest recovery came in FY 2024–25, with ₹25 crore earmarked for 21 km of footpaths, but this was still far from enough to undo years of underinvestment.  

However, our analysis also pointed out that over all these years, road resurfacing and carriageway upgrades continued unhindered, reflecting an annual average spending of ₹84 Crores, and a consistent focus toward vehicle-centric planning.  

A renewed push: Bringing safety and equity to the forefront 

Any policy without dedicated, sustained funding is just a wish. For Chennai to become truly walkable, sustained investment and quality implementation must now follow the city’s renewed aspirations, and 2025 marks a good beginning with this significant dedicated allocation for NMT infrastructure. Analysis of spending patterns on NMT infrastructure over the last three years, reveals that footpath implementation in Chennai relied on piecemeal funding drawn from state and city-level schemes—such as the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Fund (TURIF) and Singara Chennai 2.0. In the absence of a dedicated budget, investments in Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) remained inconsistent and limited in scale. This year’s ₹200 crore commitment by Chennai, marks an eightfold increase over last year’s spending on walking and cycling. This signals a much-needed shift from fragmented support to focused investment.

This renewed focus on walkability couldn’t have come at a more critical time. While Chennai has made commendable progress in reducing overall road crashes, the proportion of pedestrian fatalities has seen a troubling rise from 11% in 2019 to a staggering 43% in 2023.  

This persistent gap between mobility patterns and infrastructure safety highlights the urgent need for course correction, which this budget begins to address. The ₹200 crore allocation is a long-overdue shift toward building streets that are shared public spaces where everyone can move freely and safely. To transform this intent into tangible impact and ensure that the budget is effectively utilised, aligned with diverse mobility initiatives, and executed on time, a dedicated coordinating agency like the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) is crucial.  

Bringing It All Together: CUMTA as the institutional backbone  

Much like Singapore’s shift to a car-lite city was steered by its Land Transport Authority through various institutional reforms and proactive policymaking, Chennai’s mobility transition is now gaining momentum through the leadership of the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). With a clear mandate to coordinate mobility efforts across the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), CUMTA is emerging as the anchor institution for Chennai’s people-first mobility vision. 

As part of the Budget 2025, Honourable Minister for Housing & Urban Development, Thiru S. Muthusamy announced an array of progressive initiatives led by CUMTA.  

• Building on the newly adopted Parking Policy, CUMTA will pilot Smart Parking Management in Anna Nagar, reclaiming public space and improving local access. 

• CUMTA is also developing Comprehensive Street Design Guidelines for the entire Chennai Metropolitan Area—including Tambaram, Avadi, and Kanchipuram—to create safer, more inclusive streets across jurisdictions.  

• Complementing this, CUMTA is also drafting the Traffic Impact Assessment Guidelines to help cities manage congestion and ensure new developments align with sustainable transport goals.  

These initiatives go hand-in-hand with Tamil Nadu’s growing investment in Non-Motorised Transport—signalling not just a shift in budget priorities, but a change in how cities are planned and governed. With institutions like CUMTA at the helm, Tamil Nadu is building long-lasting systems to realise its people-first mobility vision. 

---

Coimbatore Steps Up: Scaling Sustainable Mobility Initiatives 

Building on Chennai’s momentum, Coimbatore is making its own strides towards a more people-centric mobility scenario with this year’s budget embedding sustainable mobility into the city’s planning priorities. Two key initiatives are set to guide this: revising the Coimbatore Street Design Guidelines and developing a comprehensive NMT Action Plan. These tools will help the city set a strong foundation for designing safer, more inclusive streets at scale. 

Coimbatore has been grappling with concerns on road safety, with road fatalities rising over 1000 in 2023; ranking highest in the state. In addition to various other initiatives to address this, a ₹2.5 crore allocation has been announced for a Safe Routes to School pilot on Trichy High Road, covering 2.5 km of critical access routes. Together, these moves reflect Coimbatore’s growing commitment to creating well-planned, safe, walkable streets and mark a step forward in scaling sustainable mobility across Tamil Nadu. 

A Decade of Partnership: ITDP’s Ongoing Commitment 

Since 2009, ITDP in India has worked closely with the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA), and Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation to help shape their sustainable mobility vision.  

Over the years, ITDP has supported with technical research and guidance on key policies and guidelines adopted by city governments, such as the Non-Motorised Transport Policy, Parking Policy, and the Complete Streets Framework. We are also continuing to help cities build the capacity to implement them through on-ground workshops, experiential street audits, and engagements with city leaders. Our role has also included providing technical support and data-driven insights to guide decision-making and strengthen the case for healthier, more equitable streets. 

We are happy and proud to have contributed to realising these milestones and are extremely grateful for the past and present city leadership for their sustained support in championing these initiatives. 

---

A Win Worth Celebrating—and Building On 

These announcements are worth celebrating, especially for cities like Chennai and Coimbatore, that are leading this change at the forefront. However, the real measure of success lies in how well we translate this vision and intent into long-lasting impact on the ground. 

Here are a few pointers for the city governments to make this fruitful:  

• Chennai’s ambitious plan to implement 170 km of footpaths must be guided by a clear network planning strategy and aligned with CUMTA’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan. 

• Bringing on board qualified technical experts and consultants will be key to ensuring street designs meet the standards laid out in the city’s adopted guidelines. 

• Facilitating capacity building for contractors and engineers is equally important to ensure high-quality street implementation. Field engineers must closely monitor implementation quality using well-defined performance indicators to ensure accountability at every step.  

• Cities must also embed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) systems right from the planning stage, to ensure infrastructure remains functional and safe for all users. 

• Annually recurring budgets for NMT including dedicated budgets for O&M must be institutionalised, so cities can plan consistently and scale.  

• One persistent challenge our cities face is siloed execution, where lack of co-ordination leads to utility works disrupting newly built footpaths and guidelines/policies exist on paper without enforcement. Addressing this will require strong inter-agency collaboration, clear mandates, and sustained leadership from institutions like CUMTA. 

Chennai and Coimbatore have taken a significant first step. Now, they must stay the course—scaling these successes across other cities of Tamil Nadu, building systems, and creating streets where walking, cycling, and shared mobility are not just possible, but preferred. 

---

By Varsha Vasuhe, Senior Associate, ITDP India

Edited by Kashmira Dubash, Deputy Director, ITDP India