Image source: Divisare

Pedestrian Island: Sidewalks

Tagore Memorial Hall

Paldi, Ahmedabad

Mitali Vadher | UG190862 | CEPT University

Question: What encourages or discourages pedestrians from using the street edge with heavy

vehicular traffic? How important is the presence of sidewalks here?

Hypothesis: Traffic discourages pedestrians from being on the street, but the street still has

pedestrians.
Keywords: sidewalks, vehicular streets, streets as places, access, eyes on the street, public,

pedestrians

Abstract:

Tagore Hall in Ahmedabad is chosen as a site to study the nature of its urban space. A question was

asked, what encourages or discourages pedestrians from using the street edge with heavy vehicular

traffic? How important is the presence of sidewalks here? A research was conducted to prove the

hypothesis which speculates the importance of sidewalks for the pedestrians to use the street edges.

The observations from carrying out research on site are connected to relate to the idea of what makes

a street more than a connector of destination, a place for people to be in.

The site chosen for the study of urban spaces and places is Tagore Memorial Hall in Paldi,

Ahmedabad. The Hall was designed by B.V Doshi in 1966. It is a part of a larger plot with Le

Corbusier’s Sanskar Kendra as its neighbouring building. The hall is setback in the plot and separated

from the street with green cover and high boundary fencing. The hall is used for conducting theatrical

events and performances from time to time. It is only during an event when the building interacts with

the public. The plot is located one street away from the riverfront which is a large catchment zone for

activities (figure 1). Because of the temporal public nature of the Tagore Hall, the street edges become

of more importance as a public space (figure 3)

Source: Author’s collection

Each of the four edges of the site is different in nature and physical characteristics of urban elements

(figure 2). The South edge has the primary entry into the plot. It is a very busy and wide lane street. It

contains and helps a great amount of vehicular traffic to flow from one side of the city to another

across the river. The edge has a 1.3 m wide sidewalk running from the West to the East corner.

Towards the East street, the sidewalk narrows down to 1 m and terminates at the junction. East street

is a parallel to the riverfront and passes underneath the bridge. It is a secondary street that branches

out to tertiary streets. One such street becomes the North edge of the site. It is a narrow and low

profile residential street. Shaded during most of the time, this street is used to park cars by the
residents of the housing apartments and does not expect strangers. Where it meets the West edge of

the site, it houses informal settlements on its edges, tucked away from the main street.

Figure 2: Drawing indicating the streets in the periphery of the site

Source: Author’s collection

Source: Author’s collection

Of the four edges, South street is the most crucial one. It is because of its importance as a container of

vehicular traffic, presence of a generous sidewalk, and corporate buildings that open out on that street.

Even though the heavy vehicular traffic limits and discourages the scope of engagement of pedestrians

with the street, it is not a pedestrian-less street. This raises the question of what urban elements on this

street edge encourages the pedestrian to use the street and what discourages them. It pokes the

fundamental relationship between people and the streets, where the edge of the street defines the

nature of this relationship. This naturally pointed out to speculate the importance of sidewalks as well.

A hypothesis was put saying that even after there being heavy traffic on the street, pedestrians still use
the street edge (figure 4). This helped to provide a lens to view the edge: to find out what all is

conducive for pedestrians.

To test the hypothesis and find out the answer to the research question, observations were drawn out

of the site. The observations were noted in the form of a diary. Quick sketches were made to support

the textual observations ( and also because capturing photographs made the pedestrians

uncomfortable). The observations were taken by being a pedestrian and noting down the activities that

were happening on the street edge. In addition to that, the pause points and urban elements on the

edge were mapped. This method helped to grasp the overall usage of the street edge with respect to

particular elements. It also helped to understand what are the elements a pedestrian would look for in

the given condition of the street. Witnessing the heavy traffic even in the afternoon hours and

constantly choosing to stay on the sidewalk realised the importance of the sidewalk on the street edge.
 Figure 4: Activities happening in and around the site

Source: Author’s collection

Nature of vehicular traffic

The main entrance to the site is in front of a crucial junction of roads. This junction has cars, autos,

2-wheelers and transit buses - essentially all modes of transport - going from one street to another.

Because the junction comes right at the end of a bridge, having traffic signals there will not work

properly. But there are traffic signals there that never turn red. At night in the rush hours, traffic police

manage the junction. It creates a very uncomfortable surrounding for the pedestrians even in the

afternoon hours. Even though there exists zebra crossings, pedestrians are hardly able to cross the

road.
 Figure 5: Sketch describing the nature of the critical junction at the the intersection of main roads

Source: Author’s collection

Use of street edge by the pedestrians to walk and pause (figure 6)

The only safe place for pedestrians to stand becomes the sidewalks. It was used by pedestrians to walk

from one destination to another. Benches were laid out on the sidewalk to provide pause, but lack of
shade discouraged its occupancy. On the other hand, while the sidewalk was majorly used in

commute, presence of street food vendors had created small zones of activities on the edge. This made

a part of the sidewalk a destination. Next to the gate of the Command and Control Centre building, a

tea stall has been set up (figure 7). The vendor has strategically set up his stall between the only two

trees with large canopies on that edge. He had expanded his territory on the sidewalk by placing

seating stools. This small zone provides shade, a place to sit and treat oneself with a cup of tea. It uses

the sidewalk and gives the pedestrians a reason to be on the street. Employees from the control room

were observed to sit and have unplanned encounters with their colleagues. Walking towards the

South-West corner of the street, a sudden recess in the sidewalk opens up (figure 8). The sidewalk is

nearly 4 metres wide and has a nice shade from trees. This becomes the second zone of activity. There

are 5 benches and 3-4 street food vendors who have set up their stalls on the wide sidewalk itself.

Because of the generous shade of the trees and the luxury of setback on a busy street corner, this

corner calls a lot of pedestrians. It becomes a destination around the street corner. In addition to that,

this corner was very diverse in terms of the kind of pedestrians that came here.
 Figure 6: Street edge conditions described in the sketch

Source: Author’s collection

Figure 7:Image of the activities involving pedestrians happening on the edge because of the presence of tea stall

Source: Author’s collection

Source: Author’s collection

Streets as places for people to be in

Streets are designed to establish meaningful movement from one place to another. They are not only

connecters, but containers of the public realm. They are the most public places. Their edges host

commercial activities, temporary commerce, markets, places to sit and observe the street and so much

more. Jane Jacobs points out how there must be eyes on the street by having users on the sidewalk,

and this inturn inspires the people in the buildings to look out at something on the street because

nobody enjoys watching an empty street. In this time when we are witnessing how vehicles have

taken over the need for streets for pedestrians, it becomes crucial to understand why streets are of so

much importance. The street edges connect streets with people and bring them together by being the

threshold. It is essential that we negotiate between the rights of pedestrians and vehicles over the

streets.
The research conducted on site proves the hypothesis that even in streets with heavy traffic,

pedestrians are participating in activities on the street. The sidewalk proved to be of great importance

on the street edge. It allowed for the creation of pools of activities. It gave reasons to people to come

out and be a part of the street. This increases the eyes on the street and makes it come alive. If there

were to be no sidewalk on the edge, a threshold between the street and plot would have lost. It would

not have allowed any activities to take place on the edge, as is the case on the East edge of the plot.

Lack of human activities on the streets would have robbed the street from its natural guards who keep

an eye on the street and by being there.

Observations from carrying out the research on site backs up the importance of sidewalks on a street

with heavy vehicular traffic (although they are important on all streets). The presence of people on the

street, opportunities for them to walk as well as pause, is what allows the street to become a place to

be in. The presence of shade, public furniture, and vegetation supports pause on the edge. It is

supported by the observation that the benches without shade were not occupied as opposed to the ones

which were placed under some tree. Presence of people on the street also brought in other people to be

there.

Bibliography:

Kim Dovey, "Access," Urban Design Thinking, 2016.

Jane Jacobs, "The Uses of Sidewalks," The Death and Life of Great American Cities, 1961.