Kochi to turn pedestrian-friendly as Corporation joins hands with German agency

The project ‘Walkable Kochi’ to involve a review of the current state of pedestrian amenities, based on which improvements will be made to ensure safety, comfort, and accessibility; the work will get under way next month

Streets and roads in the city may turn pedestrian-friendly in another couple of years if the proposed ‘Walkable Kochi’ project being planned by the Kochi Corporation in association with GIZ, a German agency that works in India in areas including urban development, pans out as envisaged.

The work on the initiative being proposed under GIZ’s Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM-ACA) project will get under way next month. The project aims at supporting the Corporation in improving the city’s pedestrian infrastructure by facilitating a detailed audit with support from the Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C- HED), an institution functioning as the civic body’s research and development wing.

“The walkable city initiative was introduced at a session on urban mobility during the Mayors’ conference in Ahmedabad last year. Now, an agency that has executed a similar project in Bengaluru has come forward to collaborate with the Corporation to implement it in Kochi. A presentation on the initiative was held on Friday [November 22],” said Mayor M. Anilkumar. Funds of the Corporation earmarked for urban transport projects would also be used for the project.

The project will involve a careful review of the current state of sidewalks, crossings, and other pedestrian amenities based on which improvements will be made to ensure greater safety, comfort, and accessibility for pedestrians. This may involve works such as constructing new sidewalks, repairing existing ones, creating designated pedestrian zones, and installing appropriate signage and lighting, with the priority being enhancing walkability through the infusion of Information Technology.

To begin with, the priority network of the city may be identified using available studies. This would involve spatial analysis of road connectivity, traffic density, and mapping key destinations, along with site surveys. Discussions will also be held with key stakeholders to draft a plan, based on which a proposal for the Priority Walking Network would be submitted.

A working group comprising various agencies would be formed. A local team of volunteers from the city would be enlisted to carry out comprehensive ward-wise audits along streets identified under the Priority Walking Network. A two-day workshop that covers all aspects of the audit process and applications to be used would be held for volunteers chosen to conduct the audit.

Citizen outreach activities would be carried out in consultation with the respective division councillors. ‘Citizen’s maps’ would be formed for enriching data collection and citizen engagement events in the neighbourhood like ‘walk the talk’ and art projects.

An interactive dashboard would be created for audit data and budgets. The data would be collected on a phone-based app, capturing geo-spatial data and photos. This would be further analysed and visualised on the interactive dashboard, which would be capable of sorting the data by type of issue, number of issues, intensity (percentage of coverage) and display heat maps of the problems. It would facilitate consensus building by enabling both citizens and government representatives to review every aspect of the project.

Published - November 23, 2024 08:14 pm IST