Side-walks and footpaths: character of a city

Cities like Brussels, Stockholm, and Paris are very friendly for pedestrians. Unfortunately Indian cities are extremely hazardous for any one foolish enough to walk. Oases like IITs exist where one can walk safely but for many citizens walking can be dangerous.

The Hindu : Cities / Chennai : Footpaths maketh a city: "The single biggest activity promoting good health is walking, but Chennai is notorious for its hostility to walkers

Governments investing tax money of citizens should naturally consider whether their projects benefit the maximum number of people. At the very least, they should refrain from spending money in a way that adds to the misery of the population.

Chennai’s administrators are colossal failures in this regard. To them, a good city is measured by ever wider roads, no footpaths, and constantly flowing vehicular traffic — and they will not hesitate to spend staggering amounts to ensure that. Our civic leaders should rethink their unintelligent policy approaches for a variety of reasons. Here are some compelling ones.

There is a strong connection between the nature of the city — or built environment — and public health. The single biggest, near-universal activity that promotes good health is walking, but Chennai is now globally notorious for its hostility towards walkers — the Union ministry of urban development notes that the city has the worst ‘walkabililty index’ among comparable centres in the country, with non-existent or unusable footpaths."

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