Walkability Concerns in Built Environment of NOIDA City

Abstract

Walkability has remained a cause of concern since the dawn of civilization. Its importance has risen in the present times in the vehicle dominant urban environs. Rapid urbanization and unprecedented growth of private vehicles have kept the planners focusing on constructions of roads without giving much regard to pedestrian facilities. NOIDA has come up as an industrial and economic opportunities node in 1972 resulting into immense migration and urban sprawl. As per the NOIDA Master Plan 2031, the mode share of walkers is higher than any other mode. Around 45.4 percent people prefer walking to travel from one place to another. Despite being a planned city, it lacks infrastructure for the walkers. A study conducted on walkability along the metro corridor of NOIDA reveals that either the infrastructure for walkability is missing in majority of areas or not adequate to use by all kind of users or is not in usable condition due to lack of maintenance. Due to these reasons, people prefer walking on roads which is not safe as evident from increasing number of accidents and fatalities in NOIDA city. The study has identified the problems, issues and challenges to propose universally accessible walkable infrastructure through design elements to provide safe, comfortable and user friendly walking experience to increase the number of walking trips in the city. Providing a good walkable experience includes making the spaces easily accessible to all.