Jogging tracks, gardens, on-the-go shopping, eating spots on the skywalks - are some of the recommendations made by a group of students to ensure a more pedestrian-friendly city.
Jogging tracks, gardens, on-the-go shopping and eating spots on the skywalks, convenient bus-stops that do not encroach on the pavements - these are some of the recommendations made by a combined group of architecture students from India and France to ensure a more pedestrian-friendly city.
The students of Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture (BVCOA), Navi Mumbai, in association with a group from Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecturede Paris La Villette (ENSAPLV), France, studied varied crowded spots in Navi Mumbai before formulating these suggestions.
Their recommendations are soon to be presented to CIDCO and NMMC by the college, and can easily be applied to the rest of Mumbai.
“While most of the major stations have skywalks and some more are under construction, we can make good use of them instead of cursing them all the time. Skywalks can have shelters from the sun and rain shelters. If small, simple gardens can be developed on both sides of the skywalks along with jogging tracks, this will help bring a totally different look to them,” said Anvay Gayan, a student of BVCOA, who studies areas in and around Kharghar station.
Another member from Anvay’s group, Solen Fluzin, from ENSAPLV, France, said, “We have compared skywalks in Navi Mumbai with those in New York City. The comparison itself has led to several useful recommendations, to understand the importance that the makers there have given to the pedestrians. Skywalks are not a short route generally, so why not have small eateries there?”
Another group that studied Nerul proposed that the station and the residential area could be connected by a skywalk through the ancient village area, giving pedestrians a new experience. The group also studied bus stops in the city that are inconvenient for commuters. The bus stops, it said, can be made more convenient by using the old patterns where people form proper queues. Also, the space behind bus stops should be free from any encroachment by hawkers.
Pierre Bouché, architect and assistant professor at ENSAPLV, France, said, “We have observed several informal pathways founded by pedestrians, whereas there is good room to create formal pathways in Navi Mumbai.”
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