Walking on the roads of our cities has become challenging these days due to various reasons like wider roads, heavy traffic, rash driving, speed of the vehicles, etc. At many places there are no footpaths and where they are provided, they are with full of obstructions.

Walking is a very fundamental activity in which almost everyone is involved. And therefore, everyone is a pedestrian at one time or the other. Pedestrian trips account for most of the trips in many Indian cities.

Our life starts and ends on the streets. After our birth and discharge from hospital, we travel from hospital to home by street. After dying, from home to the crematory place, we travel by streets. After home and workplace, perhaps the street is the place where we spend most of our daily time.

Streets are an integral part of our life. Streets are the lifeline of mankind and indication of prosperity and mobility.

Streets are dynamic in India. They exhibit social life. We celebrate birthday events, play cricket, solemnize marriages, build religious places, hold political rallies and agitations, everything and anything on the streets.

It may seem strange to write on a topic other than the dreaded pandemic in these troubled times but it is actually related to COVID in more ways than one.

In many cities around the world, the forced distancing caused by the epidemic has seen a boost for cycling and ‘pop up’ cycle tracks leading to an increase in this mode – as much as 10% to 15% in some cases. Other innovative moves towards sustainable transport include creation of 30 Km/hr zones to ‘keep road traffic speeds down and boost so called soft mobility’.

The Rue de Rivoli in central Paris

One can find large parts of the road occupied with parked vehicles. This forces people to walk on the carriageway.

One of the aims of public planning is to provide easy access for different people such children, senior citizens, and differently abled people. The benefits that walking and walkable areas can provide include community involvement, health, and recreation all of which have positive effects. Walkability is the basis of a sustainable city. When we talk about equitable share of road space, it means giving higher importance to walkability as well.