Pedestrians’ challenges in Imphal city surveyed

Imphal: In an effort to include its citizens in the urban development process and to ensure participatory planning, Imphal Smart City Limited (ISCL) carried out a city-wide survey as part of the Streets for People Challenge an initiative of Smart Cities Mission, ministry of housing and urban affairs with the India Programme of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

The survey was rolled out for six weeks to get citizen’s perspective on walking in the city and the different barriers they face. It has registered 102 number of responses, from 75 men and 27 women.

It has been more innovative and adventurous with the people participation in carrying out the perception survey under the Street for People Challenge (S4P) : K. Jaapeth (OSD, Imphal Smurt City Ltd.)

Among the key findings of the perception survey the top three problems faced by pedestrians in the city include broken foutpaths, obstructions such as parked vehicles, encroachments, etc., and garbage, stagnant water and open drains, CEO, Imphal Smart City Ltd.Th. Harikumar Singh said on Monday.

Over 90 percent of the survey respondents would like the streets of Imphal to have places to sit, rest, socialise, exercise and for children to play.

At least 87 percent of the respondents chose to have wide footpaths over many parking places.

About 80 percent of respondents would like to have a public park within 15 minutes of walking distance and about 70 percent of the respondents don’t feel safe walking in the city, the CEO said.

On January 17, a walking audit was heid as part of the ongoing challenge where over 20 people participated and they were joined by the respective ward corporators and officials from ISCL and MUDA.

The walking audit was held at two locations selected for the purpose of this competition — Flagship Public Space – Governor Road and Liveable Neighbourhood -Turel
Mapal (New Lambulane) Road-Khongnang Makhong
Road in New Checkon.

On the same day, an art competition for kids was also held at the City Convention Center. The objective of the art competition was to understand how children perceive their streets and what their aspirations are of how streets should be. The winning artworks will enable the S4P Challenge design competition participants to incorporate the key essence of a child’s imagination in their proposals.

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