After growing up, and then training as an architect in India, I had come to unconsciously believe that streets were to be avoided (during traffic jams), waded (during monsoon) and crossed (over potholes) as fast as the creaking Indian transport Infrastructure allowed me, so as to reach the destination (an AC building) of respite, leisure or work.
Living in London for 10 years and walking Central London daily made me live-learn something totally opposite regarding the streets. These streets unlike the ones I was used to, were full of life and provided a truly pleasurable experience of the city, its art, culture, people and cuisine. To the extent that in parts of Central London (like Covent Garden) I can say that the streets don’t have to lead to any destination but are often the destination to enjoy.
I moved down to Vijayawada to work on Amaravati City in 2017 and during past two years I have been jotting down some learnings by contrasting my experience here to London and more importantly seeing first-hand the impacts on my body, mind and well-being.
During past two years of busy work life in Vijayawada, I started gaining quite a few kilos of body weight. Is it due to my busy routine? I had long working hours in London too and in fact, I used to travel longer distances every day to reach my office and back. Despite being reasonably good with my food habits, the weight gain has crept up on me. I have since found the true reason. It was that somehow in London I was easily walking about 8,000-10,000 steps (6.5 - 8 km approx.) almost daily as part of my normal routine, while today in Vijayawada, I am struggling to keep an average of 4,000 steps (3.2 km), despite making conscious efforts. Somehow, I am unable to get too far from my air-conditioned car.
This got me thinking about why am I (and possibly many others) so unincentivized to walk here. This I believe would be of interest to most of us since there is growing medical research pointing to the rise in lifestyle-related diseases like diabetes which are directly related to decrease in physical activity levels. Today, the rise in economic status in India implies the purchase of a motorcycle or a car, which eventually leads to decreasing of physical activity.What can we do to make our Vijayawada streets more walkable as this is important for quality of our lives, productivity, sustainability and health?
1) Provide pedestrian infrastructure: This is so obvious that it’s often not interesting enough for a serious discussion. Most of the roads don’t have pedestrian footpaths and the ones like MG Road, which do have them, they are inadequate or badly designed, often encroached or disrupted with utility objects like light poles and dust bins.Continuous uninterrupted footpath and road crossings is the most basic and simplest action which can have the biggest impact on increasing walkability.
2) Improve microclimate: Not an often discussed topic, study of microclimates is a complex science and today it is important to access thermal comfort of urban streets. In simple terms, microclimate (temp, humidity, wind speed etc) in a small part of the city (e.g. like a street canyon ) can become worse or better than prevailing climatic conditions due to the impact of human action like type of buildings form, use of vegetation and water bodies and anthropogenic heat. Hence, this science says that correct design of urban spaces can improve microclimate and pedestrian thermal comfort and is very relevant for a hot humid climate like that of Vijayawada city.During the peak summer month of May, I dared to venture out in the heat carrying a thermal imaging camera which shows temperature of surfaces. I share some readings from MG Road which is the main commercial street of Vijayawada, used by thousands daily. The images show you a photo clicked from a normal camera and a comparable image clicked with a thermal camera. That specific day the air temperature was 41.8 degree Celsius in the afternoon but you can see that the surface temperature of the unshaded asphalt road was touching 60 degree Celsius!
3) Provide continuous shaded paths: During the intense summers with air temperatures touching 46 degree Celsius this year, the need to increase shaded walking paths on the streets like MG Road can’t be overemphasised. It can drastically improve thermal comfort for pedestrians. They may even be economical, temporary shading structures made with fabric or palm leaves. Increasing comfort will indirectly increase number of visitors (during daytime) and the revenue for the shop owners.
4) Better use of materials: Incorrect materiality of the pavement and road surfaces can easily make the pedestrian experience worse. Instead of black asphalt surfaces what if the road was made of lighter coloured material like rough concrete or ceramic which will be cooler during the day? In and around pedestrian walking zones, bus stands etc such intelligent use of innovative materials available today can help reduce heat load on people.
5) Use less polluting, E vehicles: Thermal imaging on MG Road also revealed how the conventional vehicles emitted a lot of heat and noise and since they are not separated from pedestrian movement, they further added to the heat of the summer months on the streets. The streets are presently designed for private air-conditioned cars but it’s time to redesign them from the perspective of a common pedestrian. If intelligent street design is not taken up then overall impact on pedestrians (air temperature, surrounding hot surfaces, humidity, low wind speed ) can result in the perceived/equivalent (felt) temperature conditions on the roads becoming much higher than the air temperature. Outdoor comfort indices like Universal Thermal Comfort Index ( UTCI) and others prove that pedestrians on such exposed streets like MG Road may feel the temperature to be equivalent to 50 degree Celsius, while actual temperature may be only 41 degree Celsius.
No wonder, most of the year, it is a very uncomfortable experience walking on such hot surfaces and most of the activity shifts indoors. Such intense microclimates decrease the use of urban realm, negatively affecting productivity and leisure. They increase the use of air conditioning and private cars further deteriorating the environment.
Importantly long exposure to such intense environment can contribute to health issues like heat strokes. Thus, making senior citizens using the streets, especially vulnerable. Monsoon has now come with cool breeze and I am hoping to have more comfortable walking on the streets. However, with the rain, now the open sewage drains in Vijayawada become a risk to common pedestrians. The sewage gets mixed with the overflowing rain waters and spill on to the roads. The serious health and hygiene implications for all the eateries located next to these sewage drains are quite obvious.
Sensitive and scientific design of the streets can help improve the situation. With this firm belief, I continue my efforts of walking in Vijayawada searching for more comfortable streets, the elusive parks and pedestrian-friendly spaces which will allow me to enjoy the rich culture and life of this vibrant city.
The author is the local representative for Fosters + Partners, the master architect of Amaravati. The article is written in his personal capacity as an architect (environmental designer) and sustainability expert with experience of working in Amaravati and London. Email: harshbuilds@yahoo.com