<p>Bengaluru: Jana Urban Space Foundation (JUSP) and Janaagraha jointly convened 'Walkable Bengaluru', a roundtable on enhancing walkability, at Sabha Blr on Kamaraj Road on Thursday.</p>.<p>The event brought together senior government officials, civic practitioners, and community representatives to explore how a walkable city could ease congestion, boost women’s workforce participation, and enhance safety.</p>.<p>Despite Bengaluru’s population growing by 62% between 2011 and 2022, the city’s share of walking and cycling trips dropped sharply — from 35% in 2011 to 10% in 2022.</p>.High-rise buildings likely to pop up in most-sensitive green zones along tunnel road in Bengaluru .<p>To reverse this trend, Janaagraha proposed a five-step framework to create a walkable Bengaluru: </p>.<p>* Legally mandate road design standards such as TenderSURE and IRC 86/103.<br />* Amend cadre and recruitment rules to institutionalise the BBMP’s urban design cell across all five corporations.<br />* Reform tendering and procurement by preparing model tender documents.<br />* Introduce certification-based skilling for municipal engineers and contractors.<br />* Develop financing and procurement strategies for citywide implementation.</p>.<p>The roundtable featured participants, including Basavaraj Kabade and Lokesh Mahadevaiah, Chief Engineers of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA); GT Prabhakara Reddy, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations), BMTC; V Ravichandar, Member, Brand Bengaluru Committee; Magizhan Selvan, CEO, Namma Yatri; Arun Pai, Founder, Bangalore Walks; and Naresh Narasimhan, Co-founder, MOD Foundation. The session was moderated by Srikanth Viswanathan, Executive Director, JUSP, and CEO of Janaagraha.</p>.<p>Discussions centered on street design, implementation, technology, traffic management, and community participation.</p>.<p>“We have to make Bengaluru a truly walkable city. We have taken several initiatives in this direction — the first and most important being the TenderSURE concept. We have implemented these roads across most of the CBD areas and are now planning to extend them further so people can walk without obstruction,” said Lokesh Mahadevaiah, Chief Engineer, GBA.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Jana Urban Space Foundation (JUSP) and Janaagraha jointly convened 'Walkable Bengaluru', a roundtable on enhancing walkability, at Sabha Blr on Kamaraj Road on Thursday.</p>.<p>The event brought together senior government officials, civic practitioners, and community representatives to explore how a walkable city could ease congestion, boost women’s workforce participation, and enhance safety.</p>.<p>Despite Bengaluru’s population growing by 62% between 2011 and 2022, the city’s share of walking and cycling trips dropped sharply — from 35% in 2011 to 10% in 2022.</p>.High-rise buildings likely to pop up in most-sensitive green zones along tunnel road in Bengaluru .<p>To reverse this trend, Janaagraha proposed a five-step framework to create a walkable Bengaluru: </p>.<p>* Legally mandate road design standards such as TenderSURE and IRC 86/103.<br />* Amend cadre and recruitment rules to institutionalise the BBMP’s urban design cell across all five corporations.<br />* Reform tendering and procurement by preparing model tender documents.<br />* Introduce certification-based skilling for municipal engineers and contractors.<br />* Develop financing and procurement strategies for citywide implementation.</p>.<p>The roundtable featured participants, including Basavaraj Kabade and Lokesh Mahadevaiah, Chief Engineers of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA); GT Prabhakara Reddy, Chief Traffic Manager (Operations), BMTC; V Ravichandar, Member, Brand Bengaluru Committee; Magizhan Selvan, CEO, Namma Yatri; Arun Pai, Founder, Bangalore Walks; and Naresh Narasimhan, Co-founder, MOD Foundation. The session was moderated by Srikanth Viswanathan, Executive Director, JUSP, and CEO of Janaagraha.</p>.<p>Discussions centered on street design, implementation, technology, traffic management, and community participation.</p>.<p>“We have to make Bengaluru a truly walkable city. We have taken several initiatives in this direction — the first and most important being the TenderSURE concept. We have implemented these roads across most of the CBD areas and are now planning to extend them further so people can walk without obstruction,” said Lokesh Mahadevaiah, Chief Engineer, GBA.</p>
