Could Delhi Transform Its Polluted Canal System Into Verdant Bikeways?
Thanks this morning to City
Parks Blog for tipping us off to this CNN
report on what could be a revolutionary initiative in Delhi, India
(you’ll have to sit through a BASF ad to watch the video).
Architect Manit Rastogi is hoping to transform the city’s polluted
network of drainage canals, or nullahs, into clear-flowing
streams with bicycle and pedestrian paths running alongside.
The project, says Rastogi, is about “fixing Delhi” with a holistic
approach that’s not just about clean water. It is also, he says,
fundamentally about addressing “the lack of engagement of the people of
the city with the city itself” by creating a safe infrastructure for
non-motorized transportation. If Rastogi can get Delhi’s recalcitrant
bureaucracy to cooperate (yes, that’s a big if) three pilot projects
could be up and running by the end of the year.
In a city of 17 million that that adds 1,000 cars every day — and
where 47 percent of traffic fatalities are pedestrians — it could be
transformative. And it could also be replicated, in the developing world
and in industrialized nations.
More from around the network: Bike
Delaware News assesses the impact of complete streets legislation a
year after it was signed into law. I
Bike T.O. has an in-depth analysis of bike safety, vehicular
cycling and the politics thereof. And How
We Drive asks, what if everyone in the airport got to ride in those
cool little carts? Wouldn’t it be kind of like car culture?
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