Street Edge and Pedestrian Corridor in Urban Flux
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THE STREET EDGE AND THE PREDESTRIAN CORRIDOR IN THE URBAN FLUX THE CASE OF RED FORT - JAMA MASJID CORRIDOR Shivansh Singh Postgraduate Scholar, Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. (email: [email protected]) Abstract Introduction The Public Realm consists of space shared by a lot of people and functions. Streets constitute a major part of the public realm of a city, housing numerous activities that are crucial to the functioning of the city. The intent of this study is to understand the relation between the defined street edges and the pedestrian desire lines. The street to be studied consists of a 2.52 km stretch of Netaji Subhash Marg starting at Delhi Gate and ending at the Lothian Railway Bridge passing through Daryaganj, the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Meena Bazaar, Chandni Chowk, and Lala Lajpat Rai Market. This Corridor is an important link to the historic city of Shahjahanabad. It is perhaps the most intense example of the Indian street and has a very wide & dense range of activities and a large range of motorised and non motorised vehicles. Streets are thoroughfares located in urban areas with buildings and urban open spaces along their edges. Apart from connecting various destinations in a city, the street is also a public space, and is used to distribute utilities in urban areas. The quality of a city’s street network determines how easily people can access livelihood, education, and meet their daily needs. Pedestrian Corridors are movement paths followed by the people for their day to day activities and walks. These movement paths can be traced by closely observing the way people are using the streets. These paths are also called "desire lines" since they are generally the way people move on the street, as per their desire, irrespective of the footpaths provided on the either side. Most often, especially in smaller cities and towns, the street consists of little more than a potholed asphalt or concrete carriageway with open drains on both sides, and an unfinished shoulder. During planning and construction, once the main motor vehicle carriageway has been provided, the street is often considered more or less complete. Little attention is given to finishing the street properly and ensuring that street elements such as streetlights, kerb-cuts, signals, street furniture, and roadmarkings are properly located and provided. Streetlights, signals, electrical poles, transformers, and other utilities are poorly planned and located. They often block traffic and pedestrian movement. The lack of designated spaces for different users and activities, especially pedestrians, street vendors, and paratransport stands results in them using the street in a haphazard manner, often blocking traffic. As space on the street is poorly planned and organized, various street users tend to use the space haphazardly, creating bottlenecks, reducing the overall efficiency of the street, and creating unsafe conditions for all street users. Street repair and retrofitting projects are rarely completed in their entirety and critical details usually tend to be left out. The quality of construction itself is poor and maintenance work is shoddy. Uneven footpaths and potholes are common sights
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Research Paper on Street Edges
Transcript of Street Edge and Pedestrian Corridor in Urban Flux
THE STREET EDGE AND THE PREDESTRIAN CORRIDOR IN THE URBAN FLUXTHE CASE OF RED FORT - JAMA MASJID CORRIDOR
Shivansh SinghPostgraduate Scholar, Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. (email: [email protected])
Abstract
Introduction
The Public Realm consists of space shared by a lot of people and functions. Streetsconstitute a major part of the public realm of a city, housing numerous activities thatare crucial to the functioning of the city. The intent of this study is to understand the relation between the defined street edges and the pedestrian desire lines. The street to be studied consists of a 2.52 km stretch of Netaji Subhash Marg starting at Delhi Gate and ending at the Lothian Railway Bridge passing through Daryaganj, the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Meena Bazaar, Chandni Chowk, and Lala Lajpat Rai Market. This Corridor is an important link to the historic city of Shahjahanabad. It is perhaps the most intense example of the Indian street and has a very wide & dense range of activities and a large range of motorised and non motorised vehicles.
Streets are thoroughfares located in urban areas with buildings and urban open spaces along their edges. Apart from connecting various destinations in a city, the street is also a public space, and is used to distribute utilities in urban areas. The quality of a city’s street network determines how easily people can access livelihood, education, and meet their daily needs.Pedestrian Corridors are movement paths followed by the people for their day to day activities and walks. These movement paths can be traced by closely observing the way people are using the streets. These paths are also called "desire lines" since they are generally the way people move on the street, as per their desire, irrespective of the footpaths provided on the either side.
Most often, especially in smaller cities and towns, the street consists of little more than a potholed asphalt or concrete carriageway with open drains on both sides, and an unfinished shoulder. During planning and construction, once the main motor vehicle carriageway has been provided, the street is often considered more or less complete. Little attention is given to finishing the street properly and ensuring that street elements such as streetlights, kerb-cuts, signals, street furniture, and roadmarkings are properly located and provided. Streetlights, signals, electrical poles, transformers, and other utilities are poorly planned and located. Theyoften block traffic and pedestrian movement.
The lack of designated spaces for different users and activities, especially pedestrians, street vendors, and paratransport stands results in them using the street in a haphazard manner, often blocking traffic. As space on the street is poorly planned and organized, various street users tend to use the space haphazardly, creating bottlenecks, reducing the overall efficiency of the street, and creating unsafe conditions for all street users.
Street repair and retrofitting projects are rarely completed in their entirety and critical details usually tend to be left out. The quality of construction itself is poor and maintenance work is shoddy. Uneven footpaths and potholes are common sights
regardless of which city you are in. When maintenance work is undertaken it is usually ad-hoc and of poor quality, focusing primarily on resurfacing motor vehicle lanes. Footpaths and other areas of the street are rarely repaired and are usually let to deteriorate.
Understanding the Indian Street
The Pedestrian Movement
The streets in most Indian cities are basic and inadequate. They do not meetinternational best practices, current codes, and standards.
Despite the large numbers of pedestrians and non-motorised vehicles found on Indian Streets, current planning and design interventions and practices focus on the needs of motor vehicles. Pedestrians account for a fifth of all road accidents in India. In most Indiancities, less than 30 percent of the streets have footpaths1. Where footpaths are present, they are often in a state of disrepair and difficult to climb. Intersections are particularly dangerous for pedestrians; signalling systems at intersections are designed for vehicular traffic, providing little time for pedestrians to cross roads.
Non-motorized vehicles such as bicycles and cycle rickshaws provide nonpolluting means of commuting in a city. In spite of increasing trip lengths due to the sprawling of cities, a substantial share of trips undertaken involves the use of non-motorized transport. The mixing of non-motor vehicles with motorized traffic on major streets is unsafe, and also has an adverse impact on motor vehicle speeds. . Bicycles may account for as much as a fifth of the traffic in some cities. Yet, Indian cities have little infrastructure for bicycle and other non-motorised vehicle users.
The Right of Way of a street is not adequately enforced. Encroachments significantly reduce the effective space available on a street for movement and other functions.Private users do not provide do not make adequate provisions for themselves within their property and encroach onto the street to supplement their space requirements. Steps and ramps providing access to adjacent land uses routinely project onto the street. Shops and other local business use street spaces as extensions of their business often completely taking over footpaths to store, display, and sell merchandise and small road-side shrines expand into large temples taking over footpaths and carriageways. In residential areas it iscommon to find street edges enclosed by private users to accommodate generators or as gardens.
The right-of-way available on a street is limited, and the additional vehicles have been taking space away from other users and activities. The more vehicles one has on a street the less space one has for people to walk, to provide trees, for street vendors or any other users. Consequently, one sees a significant deterioration in the quality of public realm in urban areas.
Pedestrians are one the most vulnerable street users. It is essential that streets be designed to ensure their safety and comfort.
Spaces for pedestrians should be open and clearly visible. It is important that these spaces are active and give a sense of safety to those walking through them. Dark and empty streets discourage people from walking through them. It is also important that streets be well lit at night to ensure safety. The presence of street vendors, bus stops, and paratransport stands on a street helps maintain a minimum level of activity on a street and improve safety. Streets feel safer when there are windows from adjacent buildings looking onto it. It allows locals to keep an eye on their surroundings and gives a sense of security to a person walking through that there are people nearby whom will come to help ifthere is a problem.
Pedestrians should not be required to take long detours from their paths. Walking takes up considerable energy and effort. Pedestrians are less likely to stay on their designated path if there are obstructions or are required to take large detours to cross streets. It is important that pedestrian crossings and other places where pedestrians are required to change routes are seamlessly integrated with their routes to ensure that they do not take alternative paths through NMV or MV lanes.Spaces for pedestrians need to be comfortable. Footpaths and plazas should be adequately shaded during the day for comfort. Streets should also have adequate places for pedestrians to stop and sit when they are tired. This is especially important in shopping districts and tourist areas where you have people walking considerable distances and needing to take a break.
The Issues on Street Edges and Pedestrian Movement
When there are no footpaths, the pedestrains walk on the streets. This image of Nanded, Maharashtra shows how a Street without a defined edge is used by pedestrains and vehicles.
This image of a crossroad in Delhi, shows how the use of streets and the different factors responsible.
The factors responsible for the pedestrain movement on streets.
Another example of Delhi, showing the usage of roads.
The Red Fort - Jama Masjid Corridor
The Red Fort - Jama Masjid corridor is a very important link connecting major commercial streets of the old city, like the Meena Bazaar, Chandni Chowk, Daryaganj, etc. It is heaveily used by the pedestrians, who are mostly seen walking on the streets. The street consists of a 2.52 km stretch of Netaji Subhash Marg starting at Delhi Gate and ending at the Lothian Railway Bridge passing through Daryaganj, the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Meena Bazaar, Chandni Chowk, and Lala Lajpat Rai Market.
The Corridor is an important link to the historic city of Shahjahanabad. It is perhaps the most intense example of the Indian street and has a very wide & dense range of activities and a large range of motorised and non motorised vehicles. The conflict between the various activities on the street and lack of organisation generates extreme chaos and
has resulted in deterioration of the area. Appropriate space needs to be allocated to the various functions and requirements to ensure an orderly, pleasant and efficient functioning of the street. Western models of Street design can not accommodate the physical and cultural complexities of the site. The street requires a site specific solution that would give it an efficient and coherent structure and open up the links to the key buildings,monuments & streets.
RED FORT
JAMAMASJID
NETAJI SUBHASH MARG
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LOTHIANBRIDGE
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Key Plan of Red Fort - Jama Masjid Corridor
Red Fort Entrance
Footpath near Lothian Bridge
Daryaganj intersection
Pedestrian movement near Chandni Chowk
R E D F O R T
DARYAGANJ INTERSECTION SUBHASH PARK JAMA MASJID ENTRANCE PARKING LOT
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The Red Fort - Jama Masjid Corridor Plan - Part 1
R E D F O R T
DARYAGANJ INTERSECTION SUBHASH PARK JAMA MASJID ENTRANCE PARKING LOT
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T O U R O P E R A T O R S
RED FORT - CHANDNI CHOWK INTERSECTION LUDHIAN BRIDGE INTERSECTIONPARKING LOT LAJPAT RAI MARKET
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The Red Fort - Jama Masjid Corridor Plan - Part 2
T O U R O P E R A T O R S
RED FORT - CHANDNI CHOWK INTERSECTION LUDHIAN BRIDGE INTERSECTIONPARKING LOT LAJPAT RAI MARKET
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Base Analysis NotesDARYAGANJ INTERSECTION
Pedestrian Movement
• No Pedestrian movement on the Foot Over Bridge
Parking
• Large Parking of Phat-Phat Service vehicles• Ansari Road completely blocked due to parking of private vehicles.
SUBHASH PARK
Vehicular Movement
• Smooth flow of Traffic and intersection functions unhindered by any encroachments
Pedestrian Movement
• Hawker activities are relatively less and does not hinder pedestrian movement
Pedestrian Activity
• Urinals are draining out on to the paths• Relatively scarce hawkers in this stretch - mostly
selling beads and talismans, watches• The park is a popular recreation destination and is
largely used by the people hawking or vending in the vicinity.
JAMA MASJID ENTRANCE
Vehicular Movement
• Vehicular movement is hampered by the spill over activities at the entrance to Meena Bazaar road.
Pedestrian Movement
• Pedestrian path is completely taken over by Hawkers & Vendors. There is no clear movement space for pedestrians
Parking
• Cycle Rickshaw parking at the entire lenght of the footpath blocks up the pedestrian movement
MEENA BAZAAR
Vehicular Movement
• Service Lane the vehicular movement is extremely slow moving due to encroachment by Hawker activity.
Pedestrain Movement
• There is no clear space available to pedestrians as the hawkers & vendors have occupied the space allocated for Foot Path.
PARKING LOT
Vehicular Movement
• Present service road has very slow moving due to congestion by hawker activities
Pedestrian Activity
• Entrance to the main parking lot is completely blocked by pedestrian activity due to encroachment by hawkers & vendors
RED FORT CHANDNI CHOWK INTERSECTION
Vehicular Movement
• Traffic is congested by spillover activities from the road edge
Pedestrian Activity
• There are two subways for pedestrian crossings. One subway which has a Police station is in use, other is not in use. Pedestrians at this junctions cross at the traffic signal.
LAJPAT RAI MARKET
Parking
• Large parking requirement which is not possible to cater to in the given area. This gives rise to haphazard on-road parking resulting in traffic congestion.
Pedestrian Movement
• There is virtually no defined space for pedestrians as the foot paths are taken over by vehicles and hawkers.
• Phat-Phat Service vehicles are parked at the entrance to Meena blocking half the acess to Jama Masjid.
