Ahmedabad, November 15: A city should ensure that if children play on the streets, their parents are not worried of them getting hit by a car, said Enrique Penalosa, the man who turned the drug and crime infested Bogota around to make it a people-friendly city.
Coming on Children’s Day, this inspired Ahmedabad municipal commissioner IP Gautam to declare four car-free days in a year for the city. Impressed by the thriving culture of the walled city, Penelosa suggested an exclusive BRTS connecting the east and west banks of Sabarmati. “Walled city is crucial for growth of the city and it can have only BRTS running through it to make it more accessible for all classes. Some streets should be reserved only for BRTS and pedestrians in the walled city,” he said.
Between shopping for a chania choli at Law Garden and riding the Atal Express at Kankaria, the former Bogota mayor, whose TransMilenio inspired Ahmedabad’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), took a 30-minute BRTS bus ride from the GMDC bus stop. He said, “The bus stops and buses are really impressive but pedestrian accessibility and sidewalks need huge improvement. Also, the cycle tracks need a lot of improvement and it needs to be consistent. The city has large chunk of cyclists and they need good environs to ride.” According to him, “A good city is where people want to live outside. A city that is good for children, the elderly, handicapped, the poor and everyone else.” BRTS, he said, was about “democratising the roads rather than just for a privileged few”.
“In today’s urban planning of the cities people are not really considered. The real issue here is whether we want city friendly to cars or a city friendly to its people,” he said. Critical of the mushrooming shopping mall culture, Penalosa says, “These malls are killing the city life and are signs of sickness. These malls are new forms of clubs meant for exclusive class which kills the spirit of a city. These structures are coming up and public spaces are slowly vanishing.”
—Agencies