Chandigarh addresses the issues involved in making streets safer and more convenient for pedestrians and cyclists.
Healthy Streets Capacity Building Workshop conducted in Smart City Chandigarh
Chandigarh, December 19th, 2022: Chandigarh Smart City Limited & Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, organised the Second ‘Healthy Streets Capacity Building Workshop’ on 19th & 20th December, 2022 in The Lalit Hotel, in partnership with the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, ITDP, the knowledge partner, Patiala Foundation and Municipal Corporation Chandigarh.
Ms. Anindita Mitra IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Chandigarh Smart City Limited welcomed Sh. Nitin Kumar Yadav, Secretary Local Government, UT Administration, Chandigarh, Sh. Rahul Kapoor, Director, Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Councillors of Municipal Corporation Chandigarh, Mr. Sivasubramanium, National Lead Transport Systems and Electric Mobility, participants, partners from ITDP and Media for being a part of Healthy Streets Capacity Building Workshop.
“Walking and cycling are the cleanest ways to get around a city, and both can have enormous benefits for health, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, road safety and equity. Despite it being the most environment friendly, healthy and low-cost mode of travel, cycling, for many upper-class urban Indians, is merely another way to keep fit. However, for a sizeable number of people who are employed in the informal sector, cycling is a vital component of their work lives.”, said Shri Nitin Kumar Yadav, Secretary Local Government, UT Administration, Chandigarh during the inaugural session of the workshop.
Sh. Rahul Kapoor, Director, Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs said- “Through the India Cycles4Change and Streets4People Challenges, we have collectively achieved more than 500km of healthy streets in the last few years. These Challenges have helped us imagine and realise a world beyond cars. However, the real success will be when we scale up not just across, but beyond the cities enrolled under these Challenges.”
“Lately, walking, cycling, and public transport have become so rare that we find people celebrating their occasional usage on social media. We are forgetting that these were an integral part of our lifestyle earlier. So, it is crucial to explore and understand how to bring back this culture of cycling and walking, to embed it in our lifestyles, and collectively move towards healthy streets and healthy lives.”, said Mr. Sivasubramanium, National Lead Transport Systems and Electric Mobility.
Speaking about the experiential learning sessions, Ms. Anindita Mitra IAS, Chief Executive Officer, Chandigarh Smart City Limited, Chandigarh said- “We have planned Site visits to Capitol Complex, Sector 17 Pedestrian Underpass, Sector 17 Pedestrian Plaza & Urban Park Public Space. These pedestrian prioritised public spaces & monuments are unique jewels of Chandigarh and demonstrate how safety, health and comfort of the people are prioritised. We shall also try to demonstrate how the “neighborhood concept” in Chandigarh’s planning, promote cycling.”
She further added that the workshop is envisioned to provide site based learnings for cities. We have arranged a full-fledged cycling experience for the participants wherein they shall be able to see and experience the bicycle infrastructure, the cycling tracks, the intersections and junctions. The routes have been selected carefully to ensure that the site visit gives you a 360-degree experience of the City Beautiful.
The dignitaries unveiled the Healthy Streets Vision and Design Workbook which will guide Chandigarh to carry out strategic changes to make its streets better for everyone. Through the Healthy Streets Vision, the city will prioritise walking, cycling, and public transport to enable all citizens to access work, education, and nearby amenities easily, safely, and comfortably. The Design Workbook will guide the city on planning and implementing Healthy Streets for walking and cycling.
The workshop is being attended by over 100 city officials joining from 35+ cities across India, consisting of Smart City CEOs, Corporation Commissioners & Engineers. This workshop is the second workshop hosted for the cities who are part of the India Cycles4Change & Streest4People Challenges. ITDP India is the knowledge partner of the Smart Cities Mission for these national challenges.
The intent behind the workshop is to scale up walking and cycling transformation across the nation and accelerate progress of street design projects. The two-day capacity building workshop is focussed on how cities can create and scale up high-quality street design projects— through expert presentations and panel discussions with city officials.
The agenda of the workshop also includes knowledge-sharing sessions with cities & technical experts to facilitate peer-to-peer learning between cities. Experts from international & national organisations are leading the sessions and panel discussions with the city leaders on how cities can scale up the walking & cycling transformation across the city, finance street transformation projects, embed street design guidelines and institutionalise campaigns to create walking and cycling habits among citizens
