Streets are for everyone, not just motorists

BENGALURU: Why do people walk on the roads instead of on footpaths? The short answer is: the road is the only continuous stretch of reasonably level surface for any kind of movement. Therefore, every mode of transport is forced to use it, regardless of what plann e r s m ay h ave d e c i d e d .Pedestrians and bicyclists jostle for space with motor vehicles in the same space.
And it is unfair competition. A mechanised vehicle is simply too big to contend with, and pedestrians and cyclists risk life and limb while using this common space. On all but a minuscule number of roads, there is simply no other option.

That's starting to change. In a few neighbourhoods in some cities, people are starting to take back the streets and demanding that there should be equitable use of the roads and other public spaces for everyone, not just cars and motorbikes. For some hours each week, a few streets are closed, the residents are encouraged to come on to the streets to use them in ways that are at other times risky .

Some people walk around, others cycle, still others skate.Some children play games.Occasionally , a clown or jester perfor ms for the children.Some people sell food or trinkets. In short, the street is turned into a park and a playground and a market and there are plenty of smiles all around.

Which tells us a lot about the problems and the solutions. If there were more useable footpaths, parks and playgrounds, it may not be necessary to try to do these things on the streets.But city planners and administrators have reduced most urban areas to badly designed concrete jungles in which even the simple pleasures of life are no longer possible routinely . So, it is only by taking over public spaces that we can now recover some lost ground.

Of course, there are those who are inconvenienced by this.And there are emergencies, which cannot be scheduled to accommodate the celebration of open streets. But those are matters of detail and with adequate planning, they can -and must -be addressed.Alternatives must be established to facilitate routine movement and even on closed streets, emergency vehicles must be able to pass.

But let there not be a furore over street closures itself. The focus in the `open streets' controversy has so far been on the `street' part of the debate.Instead, it needs to shift to the `open' side. If we did that, we would admit that for too long, the shoe has been on the other foot and that we need to right the original error of the way we have thought about roads and about our cities.

If we build cities that recognise the diversity of modes of movement and allow each of those modes space, life would be much easier for everyone.

Density and open spaces are perfectly compatible. Some of the densest places in the world have great open spaces for the public. But it takes effort to create those open spaces. We need better planning that does away with layouts and promotes vertical housing instead. We need a guaranteed minimum area of parks and playgrounds in every neighbourhood. And we need streets on which vehicles and pedestrians alike can move with equal ease and without risk of injury .

But all of this requires us to first understand that the streets are for everyone, not only vehicles. Once that is accepted and becomes an anchor of all decisions about how to use the streets, the rest will be easy.