The Value of Design A Study of Pedestrian Perception in New Delhi, India By Pooja Kumar A thesis submitted to the School of Urban and Regional Planning in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada December 2007 Copyright © Pooja Kumar, 2007 Abstract This thesis studies the influence of values and perception on pedestrian behaviour, to recommend how places can be designed to satisfy their user needs. By satisfying needs we mean creating user perceptions that resonate with the environmental values held by the users. This study examines user perception of a number of pedestrian environments in New Delhi, India to identify if the environments satisfy their users’ environmental values, and then to explain how this happens. It studies Kevin Lynch’s performance dimensions for good city form – safety, access, fit, sense, and control – as some environmental values that are common to most people. The study finds that user perceptions of how the environment affects these values will influence user behaviour. It also becomes evident that the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks plays an important role in the mechanics of perception. Legibility is crucial to the pedestrian’s mental image of the environment: the more legible the paths, edges, and landmarks, the easier it is for the user to construct his or her mental image. Legible surroundings will enhance the user’s perception of the environment’s ability to satisfy his or her values. The findings are used to recommend design improvements for the pedestrian environment. The successful application of this study method in New Delhi suggests robustness of Lynch’s analysis regarding how the legibility of the physical environment – especially of paths, edges, and landmarks - is a key determinant of the success of an environment to satisfy important values that are common to most users. ii Executive Summary This thesis explores how the design of the physical environment can improve our everyday experience of walking in the city. It examines public spaces in New Delhi because of the need for pedestrian planning in the Indian capital. It studies environmental values and the process of perception, to explain why pedestrians behave in certain ways. It asks four questions: i. What do people value in their walking environment? ii. How do people perceive their surroundings? iii. How do values and perception affect pedestrian behaviour? iv. How can design help create spaces that accommodate user values? Environmental values originate from people’s needs – to navigate, to feel safe, to enjoy, etc. Common needs create shared values. The literature stresses that the environment affects people’s behaviour because their behaviour depends on how they perceive the environment enhances or threatens their values. The study adopts five of Kevin Lynch’s values – safety, access, fit, sense, and control – as likely values common to most people, regardless of culture. To focus on the design of the built form, it studies the legibility of paths, edges and landmarks; three elements that Lynch sees as building blocks of the physical environment. Overall, it studies the environmental perception of New Delhi’s pedestrians: how the environment (and specifically the three elements) enhances or threatens people’s perception of the five environmental values, and how this perception affects their behaviour as pedestrians. Perception is a key component of the relationship between the environment and its user because it is perception rather than the environment per se that affects behaviour. iii The study identifies five prominent and highly-used sites in New Delhi. It employs interviews, mental mapping, and site observations to analyse the perception of six groups of pedestrians at the sites. Each site is a public space linked to transit facilities. The focus is the pedestrian’s walk across the public space, between the transit point and destination, in both directions. Each pedestrian group comprises 14 people (7 walking in each direction). The total sample consists of 84 people. The groups and sites are: 1. ‘Hospital Visitors’ at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (a renowned government hospital), 2. ‘Working Women’ at Connaught Place (Delhi’s central business district), 3. ‘Tourists’ at Connaught Place (also the city’s main tourist attraction), 4. ‘Office Workers’ at Nehru Place (a commercial plaza that houses Asia’s largest IT market), 5. ‘University Students’ at the Delhi University Metro Station, and 6. ‘Youth’ at Priya (a recreational plaza). Interviews probe perception of how the environment enhances or threatens the five environmental values, as well as the relative importance of these values to the respondents. Mental mapping explores perception of the three physical elements (paths, edges, and landmarks). Site observations are used to verify the physical elements and user behaviour, identified through the maps and interviews. Data are classified by site and organised into two categories – user dissatisfaction with environmental values at each site; and the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks to the users. For each group, dissatisfaction and legibility are measured as high, moderate, or low. The following findings emerge. iv Dissatisfaction with Environmental Values (In Descending Order) Dissatisfaction Site AIIMS CP Nehru Place User Group Spatial NonSpatial Total # of Negative comments Overall Dissatisfaction Fit Control Safety Access Orientation Identity Hospital Visitors 12 10 12 0 2 12 13 61 High Working Women 12 11 12 6 1 6 9 57 High Office Workers 12 2 11 3 1 9 13 51 High CP Tourists 6 5 4 6 3 3 7 34 Moderate DU Metro Station Students 7 0 6 4 0 2 12 31 Moderate Priya Youth 0 1 1 0 2 1 6 11 Low Total 84 49 29 46 19 9 33 60 - - Overall Dissatisfaction at Sites Site User Group AIIMS CP Hospital Visitors a. Working Women b. Tourists Office Workers Students Youth 84 Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Total High 13 10 3 10 3 0 39 Dissatisfaction* Moderate Low 1 4 7 4 7 2 25 Total # of Negative Comments 61 57 51 34 31 11 - Overall 0 0 4 0 4 12 16 High High Moderate High Moderate Low - *Column 6 ‘Overall Dissatisfaction’ is derived from the aggregate of columns 3, 4, and 5, using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. Legibility of Design Elements Site AIIMS CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya User Group Hospital Visitors a.Working Women b.Tourists Office Workers High 10 Legibility** Edge Moderate Low 1 3 Overall High High 9 Landmark Moderate Low 0 5 Overall High Low 6 2 6 Moderate 6 3 5 Moderate 7 2 Low High 5 6 4 2 5 6 Moderate Moderate 6 9 2 1 6 4 Moderate High 5 1 High 4 3 7 Low 11 0 3 High 3 0 High 12 1 1 High 14 0 0 High High 4 Path Moderate Low 3 7 Overall Low 3 3 8 4 7 3 5 8 11 Students Youth **Legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks is derived from map drawings and interview responses, using the formula: High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. v The data reveal that the five values are relevant to Delhi’s pedestrians, but with varying degrees of significance. A hierarchy to the values emerges from the urgency and intensity with which respondents spoke about their problems. The frequency counts in the preceding tables count each respondent’s response once and provide an overview of overall respondent dissatisfaction. Read in conjunction, the interview content and frequency counts reveal the multi-dimensional and inter-related nature of the values. The interviews reveal that safety and orientation were the primary concerns of respondents. Accessibility became a prominent concern at sites where people already felt safe and oriented. Responses regarding the fit of the place to its function often explained why users were satisfied or dissatisfied with a site. The site’s identity usually became prominent only when pedestrians detected that something was remarkable or disturbing about the area. Control emerged as a somewhat catch-all value which was associated with overall dissatisfaction. Respondents felt most in control at Priya, the site where people were also the most satisfied with all other values. Control was lowest at AIIMS and CP where people found safety to be a problem. Overall, people felt a lack of control when they felt disoriented or unsafe, thought an area was inaccessible, etc. Legibility was a crucial factor that aided the pedestrian’s sense of orientation. A strong sense of orientation made the site more accessible to respondents. Paths, edges and landmarks were essential cues that people used to navigate the sites. When people felt intensely about certain issues, it affected their behaviour. For instance, working women who felt that the subway at Connaught Place was unsafe tried to avoid it. The legibility of the three elements also affected pedestrian behaviour because people were more comfortable using areas that they could understand clearly. A vi prominent finding of this study is that legible physical features enhance perception. Design can help provide this clarity. Respondents identified specific problems with the design of the sites when they talked about fit and access. These issue-specific responses are useful in assessing how design can enhance the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks, as well as that of other design features. Highly legible surroundings would allow users to develop a clearer mental ordering of their physical environment. As a consequence, people would appreciate and use these sites more. However, legibility is only half the answer. For legibility to enhance people’s values, the area must first reflect the values. A legible area could still be unsafe or inaccessible. Both design improvements and policy initiatives are required to improve the quality of sites, because design alone cannot resolve concerns such as those regarding anti-social elements (smack addicts, beggars, etc) or garbage disposal. In conclusion, spaces should be designed to take user values into consideration and to be legible. The two factors go hand-in-hand: people prefer not to use an area they perceive as unsafe, and although increasing the legibility of an unsafe site might make people feel safer, it may not eliminate the problem if legibility is not the cause. Finally, the method used in this study can be used to examine perception at different locations and scales – car-drivers, park-visitors, slum-dwellers, etc. The sample size in this study was limited by time and resources. A larger sample could capture a broader picture of the relationship between orientation and direction, or could be used to study other environmental values such as justice or equity. vii Acknowledgements My supervisor, Dr Hok-Lin Leung, is responsible for directing this thesis and giving it clarity. Thank you for the time you devoted, the insight, and the discussions. What I have learned from you goes beyond the scope of this thesis. Thank you to my family, for worrying so and for always being there for me. Thank you Rohit, for putting it all in perspective and never running away. Thank you Alex, for coffee and poetry and smoke-breaks; Doria, for countless all-nighters and a roof to live under; Tasha and Raktim, for being much more than office-mates. And to Megha, who never failed to mirror the exact shade of blue I was feeling, from so far away. Thanks to everybody in the SURP corridors for listening to the rambling. And the moral supporters on Google Talk for helping, in one way or the other, at some stage of this thesis. Thank you to Delhi, a city so persistent that you can’t ignore it, even across continents. And to Kingston, for making it possible. viii Table of Contents Abstract ii Executive Summary iii Acknowledgments viii Table of Contents ix List of Tables x List of Figures and Illustrations xi Chapter 1.0 Introduction 1 Chapter 2.0 Literature Review 4 Chapter 3.0 Method 25 Chapter 4.0 Selection of Sites & Users 34 Chapter 5.0 Analysis 48 Chapter 6.0 Discussion of Findings 71 Chapter 7.0 Conclusion 102 Endnotes 105 Bibliography 110 Appendix A. The Pedestrian in New Delhi 115 Appendix B. A Note on Mental Mapping 119 Appendix C. Sample Interview Format 122 Appendix D. Site Maps and Study Areas 124 Appendix E. Dissatisfaction with Values: Tabulated Data 129 Appendix F. Legibility of Design Elements: Tabulated Data 135 ix List of Tables Table 3.1 Template: Dissatisfaction with Environmental Values at Site 31 Table 3.2(a) Template: Legibility of Design Elements at Site 33 Table 3.2(b) Template: Overall Legibility Scores for Group 33 Table 5.1 Dissatisfaction of Hospital Visitors at AIIMS 51 Table 5.2(a) Legibility of Design Elements at AIIMS 54 Table 5.2(b) Overall Legibility Scores at AIIMS 54 Table 5.3 Summary: Frequency Counts of User Dissatisfaction with all Sites 69 Table 5.4 Summary: Frequency Counts of Legibility with all Sites 70 Table 6.1 Dissatisfaction with the Five Environmental Values for all Sites 75 Table 6.2 Summary: Legibility of Design Elements 76 Table 6.3 Safety and Legibility 78 Table 6.4 Orientation and Legibility 81 Table 6.5 Access and Legibility 87 Table 6.6 Fit and Legibility 90 Table 6.7 Summary of Spatial and Non-Spatial Elements 91 Table 6.8 Identity and Legibility 94 Table 6.9 Control and Legibility 97 x List of Figures and Illustrations Fig. 4.1 (a) Study Area ‘A’: Highlighted Pedestrian Route at AIIMS 38 Fig. 4.1 (b) Study Area ‘B’: Highlighted Pedestrian Route at AIIMS 38 Fig. 4.2 Inconveniently-High Pavement: Study Area ‘A’ 38 Fig. 4.3 Entrance to Crowded Subway: Study Area ‘B’ 38 Fig. 4.4 Highlighted Pedestrian Routes at Connaught Place 41 Fig. 4.5 Well-Used Inner Circle Walkway 41 Fig. 4.6 Outer Circle Block without Traffic Lights 41 Fig. 4.7 Highlighted Pedestrian Route at Nehru Place 42 Fig. 4.8 Informal Pathway Created by Pedestrians 43 Fig. 4.9 Badly-Maintained Plaza Avenue 43 Fig. 4.10 Highlighted Pedestrian Route at DU Metro Station 44 Fig. 4.11 Station Entrance Adjoining University 44 Fig. 4.12 Station View from Across High-Traffic Mall Road 44 Fig. 4.13 Highlighted Pedestrian Routes at Priya 45 Fig. 4.14 Pedestrians Using Main Avenue 45 Fig. 4.15 Walking down Side Avenue to Fountain Hangout 45 Fig. 5.1 Dangerous Crossing of Ring Road, AIIMS 52 Fig. 5.2 Dirty and Crowded, Safdarjung Subway 52 Fig. 5.3 Consolidated Map Drawings by Hospital Patients: Note Emphasis on Paths 55 Fig. 5.4 Example of Hospital Visitor’s Map Drawing of Aurobindo Subway 55 Fig. 5.5 Lack of General Signage in Inner Circle 57 Fig. 5.6 Prominent Sign to Metro Station 57 Fig. 5.7 Consolidating Maps Drawings by Working Women: Note Emphasis on Landmarks 58 Fig. 5.8 Example of Working Woman’s Map Drawing 58 Fig. 5.9 Searching for a Bus Stop: Tourist on Radial Road 59 Fig. 5.10 Consolidated Map Drawings by Tourists: Note the Emphasis on Landmarks 61 Fig. 5.11 Example of Tourist’s Map Drawing 61 Fig. 5.12 Encroached Shaded Walkway 62 Fig. 5.13 Consolidated Map Drawings by Office Workers: Note Paths and Landmarks 63 Fig. 5.14 Example of Office Worker’s Map Drawing 63 xi Fig. 5.15 Narrow and Dull: Underground Train Platform 64 Fig. 5.16 Consolidated Map Drawings by University Students: Note Prominent Path and Landmarks 65 Fig. 5.17 Example of University Student’s Map Drawing 66 Fig. 5.18 Another Example of University Student’s Map Drawing 66 Fig. 5.19 Busy Entrance with Rickshaws 67 Fig. 5.20 Popular Side Avenue Beside Theatre 67 Fig. 5.21 Example of Young Person’s Map Drawing of Main Avenue 68 Fig. 5.22 Example of Young Person’s Map Drawing of Fountain at Far End 68 Fig. 5.23 Consolidated Map Drawings of the Youth: Note the Clear Paths, Edges and Numerous Landmarks 69 Fig. 6.1 Location of CP Subway where Women felt Unsafe 77 Fig. 6.2 Inside the Empty CP Subway 77 Fig. 6.3 Ill-lit Subway at CP 79 Fig. 6.4 Main Avenue: Confusing and Crowded 81 Fig. 6.5 Main Avenue in Relation to Pedestrian Route 81 Fig. 6.6 Prominent in Working Women’s Map Drawings: Plaza Movie Theatre 82 Fig. 6.7 Location of Plaza Movie Theatre, CP 82 Fig. 6.8 Prominent Restaurant in Tourists’ Map Drawings: United Coffee House 82 Fig. 6.9 Location of United Coffee House in CP 82 Fig. 6.10 Foreground-Background Contrast: Edges and Landmarks Making Paths Clear 84 Fig. 6.11 Two tourists trying to cross a busy Outer Circle Road 86 Fig. 6.12 Packed and Dirty, Aurobindo Subway 87 Fig. 6.13 Cutting Through the Parking Lot 88 Fig. 6.14 Pedestrians Crossing Diagonally 88 Fig. 6.15 Men taller than Stairway 92 Fig. 6.16 Looking down the two Avenues 94 Fig. 6.17 Young People Seated on Ledges: Side Avenue 94 Fig. 6.18 Edges Shaping the Main Avenue 95 Fig. 6.19 Past: Gathering around Barista Fountain 95 Fig. 6.20 Present: Filled-in Barista Fountain 95 xii Chapter 1.0 Introduction This thesis rests on the premise that urban spaces are built for people, and should not affect their users adversely. It investigates the role of design in building spaces that serve user needs better. It derives guidelines for appropriate design by studying pedestrian perception of the physical environment, and the influence of perception on behaviour. Understanding perception is the focus of this study because it is perception of the designed environment which affects pedestrian behaviour. It is relevant to study the perception of pedestrians in particular, because they are in immediate contact with their surroundings. The immediacy of their physical environment makes it possible to identify how their surroundings influence them directly (for instance, as opposed to car drivers). New Delhi is used as a case study because there is a lack of planning for pedestrians in India’s capital, and a subsequent need to address it. 1 The thesis asks four questions: i. What do people value in their walking environment? ii. How do people perceive their surroundings? iii. How do values and perception affect pedestrian behaviour? iv. How can design help create spaces that accommodate user values? To survive in the physical environment, people need it to fulfill their basic needs from it. We interpret spaces and impart meaning to them. Our views of the physical environment are value-laden, and determine our behaviour. Our behaviour depends on where we are, in what capacity, and how we interpret our overall experience of the space. If we believe that there is discord between what we need from our environment and what it offers us, such a mismatch can inspire fear or discomfort, and result in 1 traumatic experiences. Too great a gap between what we value and how we judge that the environment reflects our values might impel us to avoid certain areas or use them reluctantly. The Literature Review (2.0) discusses how shared needs create values that are common to most people, such as safety or accessibility. It focuses on values which are relevant to most pedestrians, and investigates how these values underlie perception. 2 Design that induces user perceptions which enhance people’s environmental values would encourage people to use places willingly and frequently. To explore how design can mold a place, the literature review identifies design elements which are studied at each site. The Method (3.0) lays out the logic of the study, clarifies its scope, and describes how the data are collected, classified, and analysed. The study uses interviews, mental mapping, and site observations to gather information. The method discusses the interviews and map drawings, and how they reveal respondent perceptions. Site observations are used to study pedestrian behaviour and the actual design of sites. Five sites, involving six pedestrian groups, are studied in New Delhi – the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS-the largest government hospital in the country), Connaught Place (CP-Delhi’s central business district), Nehru Place (the largest commercial IT plaza in Asia), the Delhi University (DU) Metro Station (the main University campus), and Priya (a recreational plaza with a movie theatre and major retail outlets). 2 These five public spaces have high profiles and therefore the Delhi government is likely to take an interest in improving them. The prominence of the sites is established through interviews with local government officials and a review of media coverage. The pedestrians in this study are everyday commuters who travel mainly by public transit. The focus is their walking experience between a public transit point and a public space (in both directions). Fourteen pedestrians are interviewed at each site (seven walking in either direction). The total sample consists of 84 people. Chapter 4.0 (Selection of Sites & Users) explains the rationale underlying the selection of sites and pedestrian groups, and describes each one. The Analysis (5.0) discusses data derived from interviews, map drawings and site observations. For each site, it classifies this information under two sections: the first assesses respondent dissatisfaction with the sites (the extent to which they perceive that the site enhances or threatens their environmental values), and the second estimates the legibility of the site according to respondents. The analysis in Chapter 5.0 lays the groundwork for the Discussion of Findings (6.0) which identifies pedestrian priorities, teases out the interrelationships between the values, and recognises their influences upon each other. The discussion draws upon commonalities between different sites to discuss how values and legibility influence perception, and therefore behaviour. It suggests improvements for each site. The Conclusion (7.0) summarises the study, outlines its limitations, and reiterates its relevance. 3 Chapter 2.0 Literature Review Most people share common values about the physical environment, regardless of society or culture. People prioritise certain aspects of their lives over others, and the spatial environment is no exception. Whether in Boston or New Delhi, few people stand around in dark alleys where their chances of getting mugged are high. Nor do they sit in the sun when the temperature rises to uncomfortably high degrees. People value attributes of the environment, such as safety or comfort, and their values affect their behaviour. This review explores why, how, and to what extent, values influence pedestrian behaviour. It discusses the physical environment “including all natural features of geography, climate, and man-made features which limit and facilitate behaviour.” 3 It revolves around two themes – the normative facet of perception and the mechanics of perception. The normative aspect is dealt with first. It investigates the origins of environmental values to ascertain what human needs people commonly hope that the physical environment will accommodate. The discussion focuses on five values or qualities of the environment that most pedestrians consider important. This discussion of values confirms that if the design of physical spaces was aimed at addressing user concerns, spaces would serve their users better. The works of Georgy Kepes, Kevin Lynch, and Amos Rapoport lay the foundation for this chapter. The second part of this chapter reviews the mechanics of perception. It first discusses literature regarding successful walkable space design, to analyse whether the five values are reflected in what researchers have identified as necessary components of successful places. It then introduces the process of perception: how people perceive, and 4 what they perceive as a result of this process. The works of William Whyte, Jan Gehl, and Wekerle-Whitzman establish that we value certain qualities of our environment. Inducing appropriate behaviour is the basis for designing places for people, but behaviour depends on perception. The theories of Kevin Lynch, Amos Rapoport, and Thomas Saarinen explain how perception is the link between values and behaviour. 2.1 The Normative Aspect of Perception 2.1.1. Needs: The Origin of Environmental Values People often feel confused, distressed, out of control, or happy because of their surroundings. The physical environment holds the potential to induce feelings of both trauma and pleasure; people try to avoid the first and desire the latter. Their behaviour depends on what they need from their environment. Survival is a basic human need. In the built environment, the individual’s need to survive translates into the very ability to function – to navigate through an area, to reach a destination, to do so without suffering any harm. The ability to function in the environment is the central concern of our existence. It is even more crucial in the physical environment than in the social or cultural, because we have very little control over our spatial framework. Environmental values originate from our need to function within a physical environment which we understand as rigid. If environmental values center around the ability to function, then the ideal physical environment should be congruent with its user’s needs. Minor lapses in such congruence may cause discomfort to the user, and if the environment is not at all conducive to the user’s needs, one’s experience can be traumatic. When people believe 5 that the environment reflects their values, they experience pleasure or a sense of wellbeing. If the physical setting is in tandem with user needs, human tendency sways towards improving it so that people may function more efficiently. This shared need to survive and function efficiently in the physical world creates values that are common to most people. “By deepest instinct, we reject chaos and try to order our experience,” says Kepes. 4 Environmental values stem from the need to order and impart meaning to the environment, from “purpose rooted in human impulses, needs and feelings.” 5 Kepes sees this common ordering as a means of achieving personal independence, as well as allowing for communication at the level of society. 6 2.1.2. What are Environmental Values? Values anchor our perception of the environment, our judgment of it, and our subsequent behaviour. Rapoport understands values as part of a worldview, saying that “they deal with relative importance assigned various elements.” 7 While location, culture, and social ordering may sometimes explain differences in perception, 8 regardless of context, people often fear or appreciate similar aspects of the environment. Similarities exist between the inhabitants of different areas because people have similar needs – gender, age, status, role and cultural similarities are often responsible for such commonalities. 9 Such similarities create shared needs. Values underlie perception but the relationship between this normative base and the mechanical process it underlies is not obvious. Observing the psychological impact of the environment on people makes the connection between values and perception more evident. People’s feelings of fear, anxiety or comfort in a place depend on their 6 perception of the area. Overall, the attractiveness of an area depends on the feelings it induces in people. 10 Kepes believes that we create symbols and images, “to understand both our surroundings and the world at large, individually in our personal images, socially in images we share with men of our time and condition.” 11 Values are the point at which individual images and symbols merge to become common; they explain how perception becomes ‘common perception.’ By creating common symbols and shared images, and by knowing that other people too share them, we feel stable in our surroundings. As individuals amongst individuals, we try to find common meeting ground so as to create a sense of community – “the images we share encode our common culture; our private images encode our inner, unique lives, impressing on us both the richness of the sensed and the order of the understood.” 12 People use common symbols and shared images to develop a stable perception of the physical world because stable perception is the basis of a comprehensible world, and comprehending space is a necessary condition for people to function effectively in it. So the question then is – what is stability all about – for the pedestrian. The literature indicates that stability stems from a sense of control which, in turn, depends on one’s sense of independence. For instance, pedestrians feel stable or in control when they are confident that they can walk through a place easily. According to Appleyard, the individual values this independence highly. He finds that the pedestrian has the “highest degree of personal maneuverability,” (compared to the transit passenger who has less control) but also notes that there are increasing restrictions on this 7 freedom. 13 The pedestrian’s independence has to do with choice – “it is unwanted interaction which is the problem, and there is actually more socializing when choice is available i.e. when one can withdraw at will – when one has fully private space.” 14 Lynch too refers to the individual’s need for a sense of control in his Theory of Good City Form. He judges the city by what its inhabitants value about it. He suggests that vitality, sense, fit, access, control, efficiency and justice are desirable qualities that a ‘good’ city should reflect. He sees these seven aspects of a city as “performance dimensions” and not fixed standards because qualifying them thus makes it possible to measure any place against them, thereby making them universal criteria. 15 People interpret their surroundings and, as Section 2.2 elaborates, their perception of the environment can be different from the actual environment. Therefore it is relevant to examine peoples’ perception of environmental values. Appleyard says that perception cannot be isolated from values - spatial perception in this perspective will always be value-laden to a degree. 16 This is the context for the following discussion of Lynch’s suggested values. 2.1.3. Five Common Values This section examines five environmental values that comprise Lynch’s performance dimensions for good city form – safety, fit, access, sense, and control. It is likely that these values are common to most people, regardless of culture. Therefore, they are used to classify the data regarding respondent perception in Chapter 5.0. The reasons why it is reasonable to assume that the five values are commonly held by people are discussed below. Pedestrian perception of the values is studied because these values meet 8 the following criteria, all of which are relevant to this study’s purpose. They facilitate the observation of: i. pedestrian perception, ii. perception that can influence the pedestrian’s behaviour (or ability to function), and iii. perception that can be manipulated or changed by design. 1. Safety Safety, or the absence of fear, is the most common value held by pedestrians. It is achieved, or satisfied, by a sense of certainty, security or stability about a place. Differences exist within this broad definition of safety. For instance, people might feel that their “personal safety” is threatened (ex: fear of being attacked or mugged), or they might be afraid of traffic accidents on the road. If pedestrians think that an area is unsafe, they will likely try to avoid it. If pedestrians cannot avoid an area they perceive as unsafe, they may be wary and thus behave in a guarded manner. Knowledge of how the perception of safety can be enhanced by design is useful to planners. Lynch sees ‘physical safety’ as part of the performance dimension of vitality which can be applied to assessing city form. 17 2. Fit (of Spatial and Non-Spatial Elements) Lynch defines fit as how well a place’s “spatial and temporal pattern matches the customary behaviour of its inhabitants.” 18 Pedestrians value the fit between the form and function of a place because it affects their efficiency. They are satisfied with the fit of a 9 place with its form when they perceive that it facilitates their walk through the area, and does not hinder their activities. When pedestrians believe that the form of a place is appropriate to its function, they feel comfortable; conversely, a lack of fit could make it uncomfortable and even difficult for the pedestrian to maneuver through an area. Knowledge of how pedestrians judge fit at a site is useful to planners because by strengthening fit through design, planners can create areas that people find easy to walk through, and therefore use more extensively. To aid data classification, this study divides fit into spatial and non-spatial elements. Walkways, staircases, pavements, walls, and other structures are considered to be spatial elements. Odours, beggars, crowds and urination are considered as non-spatial elements. 3. Access Pedestrians value access because they need and desire access to places, activities, people, and information. For pedestrians to perceive that a place is accessible, it should provide them with information about the uses it accommodates, as well as physical ways of reaching them. If these uses exist but people cannot access them, then the uses fail to serve their purpose. For instance, pedestrians searching for a bus shelter may not be able to locate it without signage and, therefore, may conclude that there is no bus shelter. Access also affects the pedestrian’s overall view of the place. When people think that a place is accessible, this is because it serves their needs. Perception of access affects pedestrian behaviour because people are more likely to use an accessible place than an 10 inaccessible one. Knowledge of pedestrian views of access would allow planners to improve the design of the place and make it easier for pedestrians to walk in the space. 19 4. Sense (Orientation and Identity) Lynch believes that the ‘sense’ of a place reflects the clarity with which people perceive the space. He divides ‘sense’ into five components – identity, structure (for a larger area structure translates into orientation), 20 congruence, 21 transparency (or immediacy), 22 and legibility. This study examines two components of sense – ‘orientation’ (the pedestrian’s frame of reference), and ‘identity’ (the pedestrian’s overall impression of the place). Heightened orientation makes it possible for the pedestrian to navigate an area confidently and purposefully. Identity, on the other hand, determines what the pedestrian thinks of the area’s character i.e. what kind of place it is. Without a somewhat clear perception of these two elements, the pedestrian would feel lost, a word which “means much more than simple geographical uncertainty, it carries overtones of disaster.” 23 This could possibly induce paranoid behaviour, which might veer from caution to recklessness. Knowledge of whether people feel oriented in an area, and what people perceive the identity of a place to be, would provide planners with valuable input into what aspects of design make people use the area in a certain manner. 5. Control Pedestrians value control very highly. They perceive that they have control over a place even when they do not. According to Lynch, control symbolises the person’s rights 11 over space itself - rights to be present in, use and act in, appropriate and modify space, and dispose of this control over it. 24 Hall reinforces that perceived control gives people feelings of power and stability. 25 It makes them feel capable of controlling their own actions in the physical environment. People feel in control when they think that there is enough social and physical space to do as they need, and this perception affects their behaviour. Hall’s categorisation of space into intimate, personal, social, and public distances makes the relationship between control and behaviour clearer. He stresses that behaviour differs in each of these instances because people feel that they lose control when others encroach upon their personal space. 26 Planners would benefit from knowledge of how pedestrians perceive control because they could then design places that induce a sense of control in people without actually giving people control over the space. The discussion till now establishes that pedestrian perception of the five environmental values is relevant to a study of design. However, before examining the findings (Chapter 6.0), it would be inaccurate to assume that these values are either equally or relatively important to the pedestrian. At this stage, it is reasonable to assume that if the design of spaces enhances pedestrian perception of these values, the spaces will serve user needs better. Successful design of walkable spaces therefore, should incorporate these fundamental values. The second half of this chapter begins by reviewing literature on successful walkable space design. This literature provides a context for affirming that design influences perception and perception, behaviour. 12 2.2. The Mechanics of Perception 2.2.1. Environmental Values, Successful Design and Behaviour Successful public spaces are those that numerous users tend to use for a range of activities. Jan Gehl’s study of Copenhagen and William Whyte’s research in New York City both approached successful walkable design through studies of pedestrian behaviour. 27 The observations of these two researchers support the view that pedestrians use spaces extensively when they perceive that the areas embody certain values. For instance, Whyte observes that successful spaces are characterised by the presence of a high proportion of people in groups, a higher than average proportion of women, people of different age groups, the existence of diverse activities, and public display of affection. The higher proportion of women indicates that women perceive such places as safe, and the diversity of people corroborates that people think that these areas are accessible. Wekerle and Whitzman, who studied public spaces in Toronto, lay stress on women’s fear of crime. They deduce that lone women often feel scared in urban public places (ex: public transit stops or parking lots) which are desolate or empty (particularly at night). Their heightened concern for women’s safety in public places reinforces Whyte’s observation. Both Gehl and Whyte observe that most people, not just women, gravitate towards places with other people. Whyte terms this phenomenon as “self congestion,” and Gehl says, “If given a choice between walking on a deserted or a lively street, most people in most situations will choose the lively street.” 28 The presence of other people appears to instill a sense of security in any individual. 13 Design can provide pedestrians with a sense of security in deserted areas, such as the parking lots that Wekerle and Whitzman study. To improve the perception of safety, they recommend measures such as better lighting, the provision of designated waiting areas, maintenance of public spaces, formal surveillance, signage, and increasing the visibility of sightlines. 29 Whyte observes that elements such as food, retailing, greenery, and public toilets facilitate outdoor activity. 30 Gehl and Whyte both find that successful public spaces are those that make many activities available to the pedestrian. A wide range of activities provides the user with access to basic needs such as sanitation (ex: washrooms) or options for recreation (ex: greenery and shopping). As aforementioned, accessible design is that which ensures that people can perceive the presence of uses, else they are wasted. Whyte observes that people will not use a place if they cannot see it. Sightlines such as a row of storefronts can help orient pedestrians in the larger area, making navigation easier. Also relevant to a discussion of access is Gehl’s observation that walkers stop most often at places which are directly related to surroundings – shops as opposed to banks, for instance. This finding also relates to fit because when a place houses uses that relate to it, people understand the area’s form as appropriate to its function. They respond positively to this congruence. Whyte says that choice, and the freedom to choose, determines behaviour. People appreciate being able to choose because it makes them feel in control. In his study of plazas, Whyte finds that people prefer to sit where there are more options – ledges, benches, steps. Where only fixed chairs are provided, this lone provision is often not 14 used. This is perhaps because the availability of different kinds of seating allows people to make and control their choices. Gehl observes that seating preferences differ with age group – the old sit on chairs while the young sit almost anywhere. The older age group may be more concerned about accessing a comfortable seat than choosing from a range, and this indicates that there is a hierarchy to environmental values which may vary with user, location, and situation. Gehl finds that the nature of the edges of spaces influences one’s ‘stay’ in the area, while security, intimacy, microclimate, orientation, and view, are also important in determining seating choices. 31 Gehl and Whyte’s observations affirm that successful pedestrian spaces are those that enhance people’s environmental values and lower their apprehensions. Their observations are very similar even though their subjects come from different sociocultural contexts. This likeness confirms that it is reasonable to assume that the five environmental values chosen for observation in this study are common to people, regardless of context. In particular, the findings regarding seating and sightlines make it apparent that the design of the built environment influences behaviour. However, although the studies indicate that there is a definite connection between design and behaviour, they offer no real explanation of why people behave in different but predictable ways towards different spaces. Perception mediates design and behaviour, and the answers to how and why behaviour varies with the characteristics of space lie in understanding the process of perception. The literature that is discussed next establishes perception as the missing link between the individual and the physical environment. 32 15 2.2.2. Design and Perception Who-Where: The Pedestrian in the Physical Environment The typical city dweller travels to many destinations for different purposes everyday. The traveler’s mode of transport can determine his or her perception because people traveling by different modes may interpret the same route very differently. 33 The speed at which a traveller moves and the scale at which he or she functions, are two factors responsible for such differences in perception. For instance, Rapoport finds that pedestrians and car drivers have different urban schemata 34 – pedestrians know more limited areas but have a much more detailed and holistic idea of them than do car drivers, who have a better idea of routes. 35 It follows that the considered design of pedestrian spaces would differ from the design of routes for car drivers. The urban pedestrian’s physical environment is typically a built walkable space, such as a path or a plaza. This environment consists of designed spatial elements such as signage, pavements, lampposts, landscaping, fountains, and buildings. The pedestrian’s immediate surroundings also include non-spatial elements such as noise, smell, and the speed of passing vehicles. Environmental perception should be understood in these contexts of the pedestrian’s distinct characteristics and specific environment. Rapoport defines perception as, “the present stimulus information, present context information as well as stored stimulus information; also acting are the perceiver’s current and stable characteristics and previous experience, as well as hopes, ambitions, fears, values and various other ‘real’ and ‘imagined’ elements.” 36 He divides the process of environmental perception into three stages: sensation, cognition, and environmental evaluation. 16 Experience of place begins with sensation. Pedestrians experience the distinct elements of the immediate environment first-hand, absorbing its complexities through sensory and kinesthetic faculties. Vision is the most apparent of senses, but olfaction, kinesthetics, hearing, and touch, all affect the pedestrian. Kinesthetics (for instance, where one turns, or climbs a flight of stairs) distinguishes the pedestrian mode from others. Appleyard elaborates on the pedestrian’s heightened need for self-navigation which arises from potential problems along a path that he or she must watch at all times: “Avoidance of street furniture and other people is necessary, but serious hazard only occurs when he has to cross in front of other traffic. For relief, he is able to seek the relaxation of an uncrowded stroll on a stretch of grass where he can shelve for a while the pressures of self-navigation.” 37 Noise, smell, temperature and microclimate, density and crowding, spatial elements (such as the width of walkways), and the rhythm of movement (of a bus or in a crowd) cue the traveler to the passage of time and space, and thereby affect perception. 38 Sensation leads into cognition, i.e. the manner in which people process information from the environment and understand it through naming, classifying and organising. Rapoport finds that meaning is central to cognition 39 because the most basic way to survive in an environment is to assign meaning to it, and to components within it. The built environment is a series of interactions which are given meaning by their interpreter. 40 It could also be understood as the “organisation of meaning” 41 wherein “the individual and the environment form a system and their mutual interaction is partly determined by the physical environment and other people or, more correctly, the individual’s perception and interpretation of them and their significance.” 42 17 The ‘image’ is a “knowledge structure” 43 through which people organise what they perceive. People use the ‘spatial image’ to impart meaning to the physical environment. 44 “Images are the starting point of all our thinking and feeling….through images we participate in the world, responding emotionally to its sensible qualities and rhythms…through images we become aware of the world’s forms and structures…we mobilize ourselves to develop ideas and concepts.” 45 Boulding suggests that with a change in the ordering of the world through images, people adjust their behaviour. 46 However, images themselves do not order space. Common perception or shared imagery is what makes images meaningful – commonality creates meaning from a knowledge base. 47 Symbols originate where individual images meet. Kepes explains the formation of symbols as resulting from the human need to communicate. Images and symbols form a common visual language between people. Schemata and mental mapping create mental frameworks within which images and symbols acquire meaning. Rapoport sees schemata as representative of “the subjective knowledge structure of an individual – a sum of his knowledge, values and meanings organised according to certain rules and affecting behaviour.” He defines mental maps as “those specific spatial images which people have of the physical environment and which primarily affect spatial behaviour. Mental maps are a series of psychological transformations through which people acquire, code, store, recall and decode information about their spatial environment – its elements, relative locations, distances and directions, and overall structure.” 48 Comprehension of space increases with time and familiarity. The frequent pedestrian’s mental map of a certain place is different from the visitor’s, because the 18 former knows the area more intimately, has had more time to assimilate information about it, and has formulated likes and dislikes about it. 49 Lynch says that the image is built by association, its clarity depending either on its familiarity, its conformity to stereotype, or because the image itself is uniquely strong. For the traveler, static images and symbols constitute ‘orientation.’ Orientation concerns three issues – “where one is, how to get where one is going, and how one knows where one has arrived.” 50 Hall links people’s need for orientation to “survival and sanity,” saying that “to be disoriented in space is to be psychotic.” 51 A sense of direction orients the commuter in space 52 and strong orientation gives people a sense of security. But direction is but one means to orient - it is finding a way to direct oneself that is relevant. Design can enhance orientation (section 2.2.4 explores how this happens). Evaluation is the third and final stage of perception according to Rapoport, and cognition is a necessary constituent of evaluation. At this stage it becomes evident that values underlie perception. Hurst, for instance, defines the pedestrian’s “movement space” as “a perceived part of the environment within which movement occurs” and says that it is “filtered through conscious and unconscious brain processes programmed by needs, desires and abilities,” that make it subjective. 53 2.2.3. Perception and Behaviour Evaluation is related to quality, and therefore to standards and the notion of what is valued – this is what influences peoples’ choices and affects their behaviour. 54 When people perceive that the physical environment threatens their environmental values they adapt by changing their behaviour. 19 The influence of perception on behaviour is most obvious when observing people who feel out of control. For instance, Hall says that intimate distances (six to eighteen inches) occur in crowded subways or elevators, but are forced, not chosen. People behave defensively in such situations: “subway riders have defensive devices which take the real intimacy out of intimate space in public conveyances.” The user gravitates towards being immobile, withdraws upon involuntary contact, and the eyes are “fixed on infinity.” 55 The “situational personality” of the pedestrian determines his or her behaviour. 56 The same person who gravitates towards a crowd in a plaza may withdraw in a subway where he or she cannot choose to remain at a comfortable distance from strangers. The pedestrian’s behaviour may vary in these two situations because the ‘physical environment’ differs from the ‘perceived environment.’ 57 Gould and White say that “human behaviour is affected only by that portion of the environment that is actually perceived.” 58 The heightened sensations that pedestrians experience explain why some aspects of the physical environment affect their behaviour more than others. ‘‘Motion through space leaves an even stronger impression. The trauma experienced on entering tunnels or other very confined spaces and the sense of release, surprise and delight of entering a new space, indicate the force of these sensations. Confinement usually induces a heightening of experiential intensity; openness conveys a sense of serenity. Each can be satisfying, if not in excess, but long tunnels, corridors, serpentine paths or the obsessive openness of some expressways and suburban streets can bring on claustro- or agrophobia.’’ 59 However, the built or ‘hard’ part of the environment is only partially responsible for how people perceive their surroundings. Personal, social, cultural, and value systems constitute the ‘soft’ part, and determine the pedestrian’s perception of ‘experienced’ space as much as the space itself. Behaviour is tied to ‘decision-making’ which depends 20 not only upon physical factors, but on other aspects such as memory, socio-economic profile, and age. Cognition determines behaviour through decision-making because there is a limit to each person’s ‘processing capacity.’ The effect of perception on behaviour is most obvious when examining the problem of ‘overload.’ 60 Overload results when there is so much information at hand that it becomes meaningless. Rapoport discusses how situations of overload occur at the scale of the city, or when visitors in a new area need to process information alien and incomprehensible to them. 61 Both situations involve so much information that people feel out of control. They try to avoid this feeling by changing their behaviour and ‘adapting’ in spatially-complex urban areas, sifting out information that is less relevant. Meaning is important because people select and retain information that is more meaningful to them. Their choices are determined by their values and priorities. 62 For instance, Gehl explains why pedestrians usually take the shortest route possible to their destination. He finds that the pedestrian’s choice of route depends on the ‘experienced’ distance (as opposed to actual distance). Even on roads with heavy traffic, pedestrians often follow shorter routes instead of safer ones. The tiresome quality of walking, combined with the perceptory issue of overload, makes the link between the two factors evident, especially in extreme situations. People who travel along the same routes everyday reinforce their mental maps and so their behaviour becomes ingrained. Observing people’s habits reveals visible patterns of behaviour. 63 21 2.2.4. Inducing Appropriate Behaviour: Design that Enhances Perception The planner’s responsibility towards the pedestrian is to induce a certain kind of behaviour – that which increases use of the place, while simultaneously making people feel comfortable in it. The preceding discussion establishes that people can perceive the physical environment both negatively and positively, and that their perception determines their behaviour. It also reinforces that people are more likely to accept their physical environment when it strikes a chord with their environmental values. Both Gehl and the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) show how the spatial components of an area can make people perceive that a place is conducive to human activity. 64 Gehl finds that the quality of the physical environment (and thereby it’s design) influences the ‘number, duration, and scope’ of behavioural activities that occur in it. In areas of poor quality, only necessary activities occur (such as work). If an area is conducive to lingering, people may spend more time, window-shop, or sit and read a book. The PPS advocates functionalism over pure aesthetics and detects a need for emphasis on access, activities, comfort, image, and sociability. 65 Overall, people behave as if a space is welcoming when it enhances their environmental values. Lynch explains how such perception can be enhanced through design. He links design and perception at the most basic level of any individual’s need to function, organise, and survive in the physical environment. 66 Lynch’s study of travelers in Boston, Los Angeles, and Jersey City explores ‘what’ people perceive about their physical environment. He concludes that the ‘legibility’ of the environment is what allows users to function in their physical frame of reference. 22 Lynch defines legibility as “that shape, color, or arrangement which facilitates the making of vividly identified, powerfully structured, highly useful mental images of the environment.” 67 An environment that makes it easy for the pedestrian to understand what his or her surroundings consist of would be considered legible. By facilitating a clear mental imagery of the elements that comprise these surroundings, an environment that supports such mental clarity would allow the individual to use space more effectively. It is in this manner, that legibility can enhance the identity, structure, and meaning of the spatial environment. 68 These are three themes through which the traveler structures his or her perception. For instance, while Bostonians perceive their city has strong identity and character, they find its path system confusing and think that it detracts from the structural clarity of the region. 69 It follows that people may perceive the identity and character of an area as strong and vivid, but still be unclear about what it looks like or about how to traverse it easily. Confusion and legibility influence people’s images of, and behaviour within, a place. The everyday pedestrian’s mental map of an area may be more legible than that drawn by a visitor because images develop clarity with familiarity. According to Lynch, the clarity of an image might also depend on its conformity with stereotype, or because the image itself is uniquely strong. He suggests that design guidelines should increase legibility and provide the urban traveler with clarity of images and joints, simplicity of form, a clear sense of direction and directional differentiation, motion awareness, visual scope, a sense of continuity, and the potential to impart meaning and grow association through techniques such as naming. 23 Lynch identifies five key elements of city form – paths, edges, nodes, districts, and landmarks. He finds that people perceive and organise their physical environment in terms of these elements, and suggests guidelines for their legible design. For instance, paths should be differentiable from their surroundings and have clarity of direction – paving material, trees, signage, and gradient serve this purpose. Similarly, heightening the visibility of an edge through contrasts, gradients, or anchoring increases the user’s sense of orientation. 70 Appleyard too finds that commuters look for cues to orient themselves, cues akin to Lynch’s elements. 71 People try to clarify their surroundings in an effort to avoid situations that make them feel scared, confused or inadequate – situations which induce feelings of fear, insecurity, inadequacy, discomfort, etc. They search the physical environment for sensory cues that enhance their perceptions of environmental values such as safety and orientation. Legible design can provide these indicators. However, legibility is but one tool to address pedestrian problems, not an all-encompassing solution, because people’s values are shaped within their social, cultural and economic contexts as well. Along with the five values of safety, access, fit, sense, and control, this thesis examines three elements of the designed environment identified by Lynch. It studies how users perceive paths 72 , edges 73 , and landmarks, 74 to explore how legible design affects perception and resultant behaviour. 75 24 Chapter 3.0 Method This study explores pedestrian perception in New Delhi, India, to understand how perception affects behaviour, and to determine how design can make spaces more welcoming for their users. It examines the views and behaviour of pedestrians walking between transit facilities and public spaces in New Delhi. It observes the design of the built form and matches it to people’s perceptions of the same design. For the sake of simplicity, the term ‘environmental perception’ refers to the entire process from sensation to evaluation. The literature reinforces the thesis that the design of the physical environment influences pedestrian behaviour by enhancing or threatening people’s environmental values. The environmental values studied are derived from Kevin Lynch’s work on good city form, 76 and the Lynchean method in Image of the City guides this study. 77 3.1 Selection of Sites and Users 3.1.1 Site Selection New Delhi was selected as a case study because it has a large pedestrian population whose experience of walking has not been studied. It is also my home city, and I am familiar with it. These two factors increase the relevance and credibility of the study respectively. Five sites in the urban area of New Delhi were selected. The first criterion for selection was to study spaces with high pedestrian usage, because places used by many people clearly merit design consideration. To satisfy this criterion, all sites are public 25 spaces linked to transit, and consequently see high pedestrian traffic. However, while numerous spaces in Delhi fit this profile, hardly any comparative data exists about them. Therefore, to further narrow down on sites, ‘prominent spaces’ were chosen. ‘Prominent spaces’ are understood as areas that have a high public profile and that the government is attentive towards. A study of prominent spaces is relevant because these are areas that the government may actually show interest in improving (they are government-owned and the city governs approval, funding, and implementation of plans for them). Prominent public spaces linked to transit are even more relevant in the current timeframe, with New Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Sprucing up public spaces is currently a priority for both the city and state governments, and a multimodal transportation system is also being planned. Prominent spaces were identified through conversations with local planners, government officials, transit authorities, and consultants. 78 Media coverage of proposed re-development initiatives in the city core supplemented these informal interviews. 79 Five sites were selected through this process – AIIMS (Delhi’s largest government hospital), Connaught Place (the central business district), Nehru Place (Asia’s largest IT district), Delhi University (DU) Metro Station (an area of Delhi University), and Priya (a commercial recreational plaza). 3.1.2 Selection of User Groups The perception of pedestrians is examined because they comprise the largest group of commuters in New Delhi and their views have not yet been studied in-depth. 26 However, many pedestrians with varying profiles visit the five sites, and time and resource constraints necessitated imposing a limit on the sample size. Within the limited sample, this study would not have done justice to a random sampling of all pedestrians. Therefore, particular pedestrian groups were selected. To select users, I visited each site and observed the mix of people in each area. Certain groups of users engaged in different activities emerged at each site, and their presence appeared reasonable. For instance, there were high concentrations of working women and tourists at Connaught Place (the central business district) and many young people at the Priya plaza. The study narrowed down on six pedestrian groups who were distinguished by activity: hospital visitors (at AIIMS), working women and tourists (at Connaught Place), office workers (at Nehru Place), university students (at DU Metro Station) and the youth (at Priya). Each group consists of 14 pedestrians – half walking from the transit point towards their destination in the public place, the other half walking in the opposite direction. Two groups were studied at Connaught Place and one at each of the other sites. The total sample comprises 84 pedestrians. The size of user groups is similar to Lynch’s sample sizes of 30 people in Boston and 15 each in Jersey City and Los Angeles. While Lynch used trained observers, this study involved one-time interaction with respondents. Even so, Chapter 4.0 establishes that the user groups visit the sites on an almost daily basis, and a great degree of familiarity exists with the area. 80 All pedestrians are frequent users of their respective sites, and travel by public transit. 27 Another theme connects the six groups; all these users are ‘constrained’ to their respective sites. Students at the university, visitors to the low-cost government hospital, or people at their places of work, are all bound to their choice of location. Even if these users feel unsafe or helpless at the sites, they cannot avoid going there without compromising highly on factors such as time, money, travel distance, etc. Nor is there any official government forum where they might seek solutions to their problems. Their lack of choice and their constriction to the area indicates that they lack control over their physical environment, and ties into the normative discussion in Section 2.1. Chapter 4.0 describes site selection and user groups, and elaborates on the rationale underlying their selection. 3.2 Method of Data Collection Interviews, map drawings, and site observations were used to gather data. The interviews and map drawings reveal user perceptions of the respective sites. Site observations are used to examine the design of the site and verify data regarding perception. The use of these techniques is guided by the Lynchean method which employs people’s narratives of their experience in traversing the city, their drawings of the same, and collation of this data. Interviews were conducted informally. I approached pedestrians who appeared to belong to the selected groups at each site and began conversations by introducing the study. Each interview lasted for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. With half of the pedestrians, the conversation began when the person was disembarking from public transit and continued till he or she reached a destination in the public place; interviews 28 were conducted in the opposite direction for the remainder (Chapter 4.0 provides site descriptions). Conversations began with general questions about what respondents did and how often they visited the area. Questions regarding the route steered respondents towards talking about what they saw around them and what they thought of it. At the end of each session, the respondent was asked to draw a map of the path he or she had just walked along. (Appendix C contains the set of questions that guided interviews). Even though people found the request to draw a map odd, mental mapping is a valuable technique in perception analysis. Rapoport says that, through a mental mapping process, people “identify spatial domains, define their place in them, orient themselves in space and move through it” 81 (Appendix B elaborates on mental mapping). The interviews were minimally structured and were not time-bound. Respondents were encouraged to lead the conversation, touching upon issues of consequence to them. This approach allowed people to look around themselves as they talked, and also to draw upon their past experiences of the place. The literature indicates that the time of day when pedestrians are interviewed affects findings. 82 If a place is usually crowded and pedestrians find themselves pushed around, they may find it dissatisfactory but if spoken with when the area is relatively empty, a respondent may deem it acceptable. Conversely, an area may seem safe when pedestrian traffic is at its peak, but this may not always be the case. To counter this timerelated issue, interviews were conducted from morning to night, over many days. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. I re-visited each site, concentrating on themes that emerged from the data, and photographing the area to supplement findings. 29 3.3 Method of Analysis Chapter 5.0 classifies the data for each site under two themes. The first theme explores perception of the five environmental values – safety, fit, access, sense, and control – and assesses each group’s degree of dissatisfaction with the site. The second theme ascertains whether respondents perceive that the design of the three design elements – paths, edges, and landmarks – is legible or not. Chapter 2.0 has already introduced the five environmental values and three design elements. 3.3.1 Dissatisfaction The first theme is the respondents’ degree of dissatisfaction about the extent to which they think that the site reflects the five environmental values – safety, access, fit (of spatial and non-spatial elements), sense (orientation and identity), and control. It draws mostly upon interviews, personal profiles of respondents, and site observations. Dissatisfaction is studied as opposed to satisfaction because responses about dissatisfaction immediately and directly identify the shortcomings of the site. Results for each group are tabulated (Fig. 3.1 is a template). Each respondent is assigned a number in the first column. The personal profiles of the 14 respondents run down column 2. Column 3 indicates the direction in which each respondent was walking. The next seven columns mark people’s negative responses for each of the five values – a checkmark (x) is placed against the respondent if he or she conveys that: a. the site is unsafe (ex: “the subway is scary. I don’t like walking through it”) b. the spatial elements of the site are a misfit with its function (ex: “this place is so crowded but there is no proper ventilation”) 30 c. the non-spatial elements of the site are a misfit with its function (ex: “this isn’t a place for beggars or smack addicts”) d. the site is inaccessible (ex: “Is there a bus stop here? I can’t find one”) e. the site is disorienting (ex: “I’ve been trying to find this address for two hours now”) f. the identity of the site is unclear (ex: “it doesn’t feel like the center of Delhi”) g. they lack control in the site (ex: “the traffic goes by so fast, there’s no way to cross the road”) Table 3.1 Template: Dissatisfaction with Environmental Values at Site Resp. * R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6-14 Total • Personal Profile Tourist (France) Tourist (U.K.) Tourist (China) Tourist… Tourist… Tourist... 14 Dir. ** Safety Spatial Fit Non Spatial Fit Identity In X - - - In X - - In - - … … … … … … … 2 … … … 0 Orientation Control Access X - - Overall Dissatisfaction (per resp.*) Moderate - X X - Low - - - - X Low … … … 0 … … … 0 … … … 2 … … … … … … 1 … … … Low 1 *Resp. = Respondent, ** Dir=Direction: In = From transit into public space; Out = From public place to transit. The last column records each respondent’s response to the question of overall dissatisfaction – a specific question was posed to each respondent (see Appendix C). The frequency counts in the last row of Table 3.1 record the total number of respondents who said that they were dissatisfied with safety, fit, access, etc, at the site. The group’s dissatisfaction (column 11, row 8) was calculated along a three-point scale of high, moderate, and low: dissatisfaction was high if half or more respondents were highly dissatisfied with the site, moderate if half or more respondents were moderately dissatisfied, and low if half or more expressed low dissatisfaction. 31 Interviews revealed that respondents spoke urgently and intensely about certain values. People’s responses to the specific question of overall dissatisfaction corresponded with the intensity with which they spoke repeatedly about certain problems. Although the frequency counts provide a good overview of user concerns, they do not capture this relative importance of values, because they only record one response per person. Therefore, pedestrians who did not face many problems with the site usually recorded low frequency counts for dissatisfaction, although they spoke with intensity about the few problems that they did counter. For instance, a man who felt disoriented looking for an office at Nehru Place for two hours did not have many other concerns, but he was extremely dissatisfied with the site and said so when asked about overall dissatisfaction. 3.3.2 Legibility The second theme concerns the degree to which respondents found the design of the paths, edges, and landmarks to be legible. This study uses mental mapping to deduce legibility. Table 3.2(a) illustrates how these findings are tabulated. The first column records the respondent; the second notes the direction in which he or she was traveling. Columns 4, 5, and 6 assess how legible each respondent found paths, edges, and landmarks, based on map drawings and interviews. Column 7 summarises characteristics of the maps drawn by respondents. As with dissatisfaction, legibility counts for each respondent’s view of paths, edges, and landmarks were also separated into three categories – high, moderate, and low. Legibility was assessed as high if half or more respondents regarded the element as highly legible, low if half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility, and moderate if half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or 32 if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Table 3.2(b) records overall legibility scores for the group. Table 3.2(a). Template: Legibility of Design Elements Resp.* R1 R2 R3 Dir.** In In Out R4-14 Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L High Legibility Moderate X Physical Element Characteristics Narrow Not represented in map Bus stop. Self-created Wall Not represented in map … … … Not represented in map … … Low X X X X … … … … … … X … … … … … … … … … … … … Table 3.2(b). Overall Legibility Score for Group No of Respondents 14 14 14 Design Element Path Edge Landmark High Moderate Low … … X X … … … X … *Resp. = Respondent, ** Dir=Direction: In = From transit into public space; Out = From public place to transit. Legibility refers to the pedestrian’s level of clarity about his or her surroundings. Chapter 5.0 (Analysis) explores the dissatisfaction and legibility findings for each site and corroborates them with site observations of pedestrian behaviour and site design respectively. The Discussion of Findings (6.0) explores commonalities between the groups, and correlates the findings about values with the findings about legibility, to understand how design enhances or threatens the environmental values at each site. It then examines how perception influences pedestrian behaviour and how design might remedy problems that respondents identified at the sites. The Conclusion (7.0) summarises the study. 33 Chapter 4.0 Selection of Sites and Pedestrian Groups The Delhi government is currently focusing on sprucing up the capital and its public spaces in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The political climate triggered by the Games provides an opportunity to increase the use of public spaces and transit linked to them. New pedestrian subways, overhead bridges, and underpasses are being planned, as are improvements to shopping arenas, recreational centers and tourist areas. 83 An integrated multi-modal transportation network is expected to be functional before the Commonwealth Games commence. 84 At present, buses, a newly-constructed metro rail system, autorickshaws, taxis, and non-motorised cycle rickshaws comprise Delhi’s public transport. 85 In this context, five urban public spaces were studied. These spaces are linked to public transit and consequently encounter high pedestrian usage. The sites were chosen from many similar ones because they are prominent and there is high government interest in them. This interest increases the likeliness that the sites might receive approval and funding for improvement. The five sites are: 1. The All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) 2. Connaught Place (CP) 3. Nehru Place 4. Delhi University (DU) Metro Station 5. Priya (also known as Basant Lok) The prominence of the sites was established through communication with government officials, local planners, transit authorities and consultants; and supplemented by media coverage. As a resident of Delhi, I too believe that these sites are 34 vital to the city’s functions and character. Connaught Place (CP) is the central business district of the city. 86 AIIMS is Delhi’s most renowned government hospital. 87 Nehru Place is Asia’s largest IT hub and a major commercial plaza. 88 Priya is a popular upscale plaza, well-frequented by the youth. 89 Delhi University is the city’s most prestigious university. 90 Although many areas in Delhi are as significant to the city, it is undeniable that these five are integral to it. H.S. Dhillon, Joint Director, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) views the five sites as ‘important activity areas.’ “These are civic areas where public transportation and pedestrians require more attention,” says Dhillon whose division plans pedestrian facilities. 91 Targeting tourists in particular, the DDA intends to use empty space under flyovers to develop cultural spots with food courts, cafés and bookstores. The AIIMS flyover has been approved for such development. 92 Ashok S. Ghodeshwar, Sr. Architect, DDA says, “These five areas are planned developments which provide civic amenities in the heart of the city. But they lack basics like way-finding signages. We are currently working towards proper guiding systems at Nehru Place. At Priya flooring is being revamped, signages redone, and information kiosks provided. We are also exploring triparty agreements between the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), DDA, and builders to maintain DDA-owned areas profitably.” 93 Delhi Government Transport Secretary Abhijit Sarkar offers a reason for the gap in pedestrian facilities: “Physically safe and attractive walking access in areas like AIIMS and Nehru Place would help realise goals of fewer and shorter motorised trips. But pedestrian plans hardly ever get acted upon because decision-makers travel by car,” he says. 94 The variance in authority over the city’s public spaces is also responsible for haphazard pedestrian planning. Connaught Place (CP) falls under the jurisdiction of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Priya and Nehru Place are owned by the 35 DDA, the Delhi University Metro Station is managed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and the AIIMS study area is managed by the Public Works Department. Once the sites were chosen, site visits were undertaken to select users. Based on a number of visits, the user groups that emerged were: a. Hospital Visitors at AIIMS, b. Working Women at CP, c. Tourists at CP, d. Office Workers at Nehru Place, e. University Students at the DU Metro Station, and f. Youth at Priya. Almost all respondents had been visiting the respective sites regularly, often over a long-term period (six months to over a decade). These groups were some of the highest concentrations of pedestrians visible at sites. Their prominence was reasonable because they were visiting the areas to engage in activities that the sites facilitated. For instance, students use the DU Metro Station because it adjoins the university. Office workers dot Nehru Place and CP because the sites are commercial hubs. Young people frequent the Priya plaza and visit its movie theatre, bars, restaurants and stores. Using activities to group users is also a meaningful way of classifying them because the literature shows that grouping and activities are both relevant when studying perception. Lynch finds that there are commonalities between people in the same group and differences between groups. Rapoport contrasts pleasure and business trips in Paris to illustrate how activity and purpose reinterpret one’s experience of place. 95 Researchers also note that outsider and resident understandings of the same area differ dramatically. 96 36 Comparing the perceptions of working women and tourists about CP is one way of observing such differences. A connecting theme also runs through the groups: they are all constrained to their particular sites, and not in a position to effect changes or choose alternatives. Students are restricted to DU for education. The youth living near Priya may not have the resources to go elsewhere. Similarly, people visit AIIMS because private hospitals are more expensive. The group profiles elaborate on these constraints. The similarities between groups make it possible to draw comparisons between them. For instance, all respondents were walking between a break in transit and a public space. A break in transit is relevant to this study because people perceive such areas more clearly than others. Lynch explains that user perception of transit junctions is clear because people need to make decisions at these points.97 Appleyard too says, “At points of spatial transition expectation and vulnerability become acute. The kind of transition, its gradient and complexity, can spell the success or failure of a spatial experience.” 98 Other similarities also exist between groups. University students and the youth are roughly the same age. Working women are studied specifically at CP but all groups include women. The discussion of findings (6.0) draws upon these common threads to assess what young people value in places and what women perceive about their surroundings. It also examines the aforementioned differences between tourist and resident perceptions of CP. The rest of this chapter describes the five sites and six user groups. Diagrams and photographs highlighting the routes studied at each site accompany the descriptions. Appendix D contains the formal plans for each site. 37 1. Hospital Visitors at AIIMS a. The Site: AIIMS is located in south-central Delhi, next to a flyover. Its two main entrances are studied (Figs. 4.1 a, b). Both entrances fall on two major arterials which see heavy traffic (Inner Ring Road and Sri Aurobindo Marg) (Figure 4.2). Fig. 4.1 (a) Study Area A: Highlighted Pedestrian Route at AIIMS Fig. 4.2 Inconveniently-high Pavement: Study Area ‘A’ Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.1 (b) Study Area B: Highlighted Pedestrian Route at AIIMS Fig. 4.3 Entrance to Crowded Subway: Study Area ‘B’ Fig. 4.3 Both roads have bus stops and underground pedestrian subways (Fig.4.3). When the AIIMS flyover was constructed in 2004, the PWD removed the old traffic lights which allowed pedestrian crossing at the surface to facilitate uninterrupted car traffic. As a consequence, pedestrians who cross the road at the surface level have no option but to wind their way through fast-moving traffic. The Aurobindo Road subway connects AIIMS to Safdarjung Hospital, another major public hospital situated across the road. This subway houses drugstores, food stalls, and telephone and copy services. The Ring Road subway has shuttered stores and is relatively empty. Neither the subways nor the roads have seating or washrooms. DDA 38 Planner Dhillon says, “Hundreds of people visit AIIMS everyday. Its pedestrian exchange should be much larger.” 99 Transport Secretary Sarkar finds that the biggest hurdle for pedestrians is the fast traffic that descends off the flyover. 100 b. User Group Hospital Visitors: Patients and caregivers comprise the visible majority of visitors at AIIMS. Patients are a vulnerable population and, as the country’s largest hospital which offers subsidised health care, AIIMS is frequented by patients of all economic classes. Most visitors are not well off and usually travel by bus or walk part of the way. These users have no means by which to make their problems with the site known to those who may have solutions. Their perception was studied along four routes – the two subways on Ring Road and Sri Aurobindo Marg, and informal surface crossings on both roads (Figs. 4.1, 4.2, 4.3). 2 & 3. Working Women and Tourists at Connaught Place a. The Site: Connaught Place (CP) is Delhi’s central business district and was constructed by the British in the early twentieth century. It is a circular area structured around a central park. Three roads – inner, middle, and outer circle – form concentric rings around the park. Eight radial roads intersect the inner circle and twelve emanate from the outer circle, creating equal building blocks which are numbered alphabetically. Stores, restaurants and offices line the blocks (Fig. 4.4). CP is a popular tourist destination, in close proximity to Paharganj (Delhi’s lowbudget tourist hub) and the New Delhi Railway Station. A recently-constructed metro rail station is located at the inner circle and the Shivaji Stadium bus terminal is situated at the outer circle. People also use autorickshaws and taxis to reach CP. The inner circle allows 39 one-way vehicular traffic and is open to autorickshaws but closed to buses. There are no traffic signals to facilitate road crossing at the radial roads but many roads have underground pedestrian subways (Fig. 4.6). Spurred by the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the NDMC is currently implementing a redevelopment plan to strengthen CP’s identity as Delhi’s central business district. 101 Proposals to pedestrianise the inner circle have often been initiated but strong opposition from traders, who fear that their businesses will suffer, has kept them at bay. There is no single entrance to CP. Working women and tourists were interviewed as they walked between the inner and outer circles; those entering the area were approached at the outer circle, and those exiting at the inner circle (Figure 4.5). b. User Group Working Women: As women have transitioned from homemakers to professionals, concerns regarding their safety have also escalated. 102 Women who work at CP are constrained to the site because it is where their offices are located. They were interviewed while they were walking between the Shivaji Stadium bus terminal and the Inner Circle (Fig.4.4). c. User Group Tourists: Almost all tourists in Delhi visit CP because it is a major shopping center with historical significance. Guided by tourist books to the ‘center’ of the city, tourists are often unable to choose their modes of transport or the paths that they walk because they do not know their surroundings well. This increases their vulnerability. Tourists were interviewed when walking between the main tourist shopping area at Janpath, and Inner Circle (Fig.4.4). 40 Fig. 4.4 Highlighted Pedestrian Routes at CP Fig. 4.5 Fig. 4.6 Fig. 4.5 Well-Used Inner Circle Walkway Fig. 4.6 Outer Circle Block Without Traffic Signals 4. Office Workers at Nehru Place a. The Site: Built in the 1960’s and located in south Delhi, Nehru Place is a paved plaza which accommodates the largest computer products market in Asia. Planning consultant J.K. Mittoo estimates that the plaza accommodates over 100,000 employees. Street vendors selling hard discs coexist with the blue-collared professional at Nehru Place, and both stop by at the inexpensive local sweets shops to buy lunch every 41 afternoon. Bus stops are located on either side of the main road, facing the parking lot. A subway is provided for pedestrian crossing. The plaza has several entrances and many pedestrians cut straight through the parking lot into the plaza (Fig.4.8). This route is studied herein (Fig.4.7). A 2002 panel identified inadequate services, parking shortage, and encroachment as the main problems at Nehru Place. 103 The DDA is currently working on improvements to the area. Planning consultant Mittoo says, “The area is growing fast but its pedestrian system is hardly addressed. Walkways are planned but not implemented properly, which is why people start walking on the carriageway. There is no pedestrian culture either – women want to be dropped off at their office doorsteps, VIP’s too.” 104 b. User Group Office Workers: The majority of pedestrians at Nehru Place are office workers. They are daily travelers with fixed transit routes, and their choice of a mode of transport is restricted by their income. Office workers have no input into Nehru Place’s maintenance or improvement. Interviews with office workers were conducted as they walked between the Ring Road and the main avenue of the plaza (Figs. 4.7, 4.9). Fig. 4.7 Highlighted Pedestrian Route at Nehru Place Fig. 4.9 Fig. 4.8 42 Fig. 4.8 Informal Pathway Created by Pedestrians Fig. 4.9 Badly-Maintained Plaza Avenue 5. Students at the Delhi University Metro Station. a. The Site: The recently-constructed DU Metro Station, with its air-conditioned trains and clean premises, provides the traveler with a radically different experience from bus travel. In a short span of time, the metro rail has absorbed a large proportion of the student traffic to the main campus of Delhi University in North Delhi. The station is walking distance from university buildings (Fig. 4.10). Tripta Khurana, Chief Architect, DMRC says, “The DMRC is planning to provide feeder buses to increase connectivity with the station. We also intend to undertake beautification.” 105 The station has two entrances or exits, one on either side of the busy Mall Road (Fig.4.12) An underground pedestrian subway, which is part of the station premises, connects them. Cycle-rickshaws line the road in front of the station, adjoining the university. Food vendors are present along the pavement and some seating is provided. Private parking is located behind the station (Fig. 4.10). The inner area of the station has three levels – ground level, middle level (underground), and the platform level (one further level underground). The ticket counter is the commuter’s first stop inside the station. Fares vary with distance and destination. A 43 security check is conducted as one enters. Escalators lead to an underground passage; platforms are a level lower. Fig. 4.10 Highlighted Pedestrian Route at DU Metro Station Figure 4.11 Station Entrance Adjoining University Figs. 4.11, 4.12 Fig 4.12 Station View from Across High-Traffic Mall Road b. User Group Students: University students travel by a fixed transit route and mode. Income restrictions and class schedules make students a ‘captive’ or constrained group that has little choice regarding its mode of transit or timings. Even though students dominate the area, they have no fora to articulate their concerns. Students were interviewed as they walked between the immediate exterior of the station and the train platform at the lowest level of the station premises. 44 6. Youth at Priya. a. The Site: Located in upscale south Delhi, Priya, Basant Lok was built in the late 1960’s and was one of the first recreational plazas in Delhi. Today, it houses many pubs, bars, coffee shops, and stores, including international chains such as TGIF, Pizza Hut and McDonalds. It is a favorite destination with youngsters – be it students bunking school, people reminiscing about their college days, or junkies in shady corners. Priya is an L-shaped paved plaza with a movie theatre at its centre and two main avenues that lead to the theatre (Fig. 4.13). The main entrance to the plaza is at one end of the main avenue (Fig. 4.14). Autorickshaws and a bus stop line the road fronting this entrance. The other large avenue ends in a circle of stores around a non-functional fountain (Fig. 4.15). Parking is provided all around the plaza. Fig. 4.13 Highlighted Pedestrian Routes at Priya Fig 4.15 Fig 4.14 Fig. 4.14 Pedestrians Using Main Avenue Fig. 4.15 Walking down Side Avenue to Fountain Hangout 45 People using public transit usually enter and exit from the entrance of the main avenue (Fig. 4.14). Therefore, interviews have been conducted at two spots (Fig. 4.13): those entering the plaza were approached at the main entrance (Fig. 4.14), and those leaving were approached at the end of the second avenue near the fountain till they left from the main entrance (Fig. 4.15). A secondary route along a side avenue leading to the Barista circle was also examined because many respondents walked along this path (Fig 4.13). b. User Group The Youth: Recreational plazas are popular destinations for the youth, which is seen to fall roughly between the ages of 15 and 25 years. The high concentration of young people at Priya may be because there are many schools and colleges in the vicinity. Traffic jams are a regular feature at peak hours and parking provisions often prove inadequate. People mainly use autorickshaws and private vehicles to reach the area. It is ironic that this group has no direct input into its needs from Priya because its indirect influence on the plaza is substantial, and immediately visible. Bars, pubs, and coffee shops have mushroomed at Priya because commercial interests notice the concentration of youth. This user group is constrained to the area because it lacks choice: obvious hangouts for young people are scarce. Young people are also constrained because they often have no regular source of income apart from the allowances their parents provide them. This compels them to abide by restrictions imposed by their families, such as how far from home they are allowed to travel, how late they can stay out at night, or how they commute. 46 Summarising Site Selection Researchers acknowledge the need for improved pedestrian facilities in New Delhi but there are no comprehensive studies of what the city’s pedestrians value about their walking environment. It is hoped that a study of these groups and sites may contribute towards filling this gap. 47 Chapter 5.0 Analysis This chapter reviews the findings of the interviews, map drawings, and site observations. The interviews reveal respondent dissatisfaction with the sites, and the map drawings exhibit the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks. Site observations confirm the accuracy of these results. The interviews focused on respondent dissatisfaction regarding safety, control, fit, accessibility, orientation and identity of the sites. Several significant observations emerged through these conversations with respondents. The first and most obvious of the observations was that these five values were not equally important to the respondents. A hierarchy emerged with regard to these values and, in particular, pedestrians were most concerned about the safety of the area and their sense of orientation while walking in it. The second observation that emerged was that at sites where people felt dissatisfied regarding safety and orientation, these concerns dominated their overall perception of the area. This observation supports the broader finding that dissatisfaction with one value influenced other values. Some values clearly influenced one another. For instance, pedestrians often found unsafe places inaccessible. They also found disorienting places inaccessible. Respondents who were disoriented found places more inaccessible than respondents who felt unsafe. Therefore, the values affected each other unequally. The third main finding was that the respondent’s overall dissatisfaction with the site reflected the relative importance of the five values. At sites where overall dissatisfaction was high, conversations tended to remain focused on safety, orientation, or 48 accessibility issues. Where respondents were satisfied about safety and orientation, they often concentrated on accessibility. If respondents were satisfied with access, they commented on the fit of the place to its function. At such sites, respondents were usually moderately dissatisfied. If respondents were highly satisfied, they talked positively of the area’s identity and character. Finally, control emerged as a somewhat catch-all value. Many respondents expressed feelings of helplessness, but this phenomenon was not tied to any value in particular. Respondents often expressed a lack of control at sites that they found unsafe, disorienting, or inaccessible. They also expressed anxiety where they found the site’s form did not fit its function. Control is regarded as a catch-all value because it was observed widely, whenever respondents were dissatisfied with other aspects of the site. Chapter 6.0 is a discussion of the findings summarised above. The rest of Chapter 5.0 facilitates that discussion by reviewing the specific findings for groups at each site. For each pedestrian group, it describes the following: a. the pedestrian group, b. the group’s degree of dissatisfaction with the site, and c. the legibility of design elements at the site. On-site observations of pedestrian behaviour and site design inform this analysis. Tables 5.1 and 5.2 illustrate the tabulated findings about dissatisfaction and legibility regarding the first site: AIIMS. Tables for each 14-member group can be found in Appendices E and F. Overall results are summarised at the end of the chapter. 49 5.1 Hospital Visitors at AIIMS a. Group Description. The pedestrian group at AIIMS consisted of elderly people, children, and ailing men and women of different ages. The two pedestrian routes were between the hospital and the bus stops across from the two hospital gates (one on Aurobindo Road and the other on the Ring Road). Five respondents crossed the road at the surface level (one at the Ring Road, and four at Sri Aurobindo Marg) and nine respondents used the subway. b. Dissatisfaction. Table 5.1 illustrates the group’s dissatisfaction with AIIMS – with regard to each value, as well as overall dissatisfaction. It displays their opinions regarding safety, access, fit (of spatial and non-spatial elements), sense (orientation and identity), and control at the site. The frequency counts in the last row of Table 5.1 (pg. 51) show the group’s dissatisfaction regarding each value. Each individual’s overall dissatisfaction was a separate and discrete question to respondents (last column of Fig. 5.1). The group’s total dissatisfaction score is calculated as high, moderate, or low (Section 3.1 has explained the logic behind this scale). Overall, the pedestrian group at AIIMS appeared highly dissatisfied (Table 5.1). A majority (12 of 14) felt a lack of control while walking in the area. 10 respondents thought the site was unsafe and 12 respondents considered it inaccessible. Most users believed that the site’s spatial and non-spatial elements did not fit its function; 12 were dissatisfied with spatial elements and 13 with non-spatial elements. Two thought that the government hospital’s identity was problematic. None had orientation problems. 50 Table 5.1 Dissatisfaction of Hospital Visitors with AIIMS Resp. Personal Profile Dir. Safety Spatial Fit Non-Spatial Fit Identity Orientation Control Access R1 Elderly mother w/ son Boy with fracture Elderly lady w/ cast Middleaged man Elderly man Young housewife Elderly lady Young woman Mother and 2 1/2 year child Young woman w/ husband Mother w/ handicap daughter Elderly lady Middle aged man Mother w/ brainfever child 14 In - X X - - X X Overall Dissatisfaction High In X X X - - X X High In X X X - - X X High In - X X - - - - Moderate In X X X - - X X High In X X X - - X X High In - X X - - X X High Out X X X - - X X High Out X - X X - X X High Out X - X - - X X High Out X X X X - X X High Out X X - - - X X High Out - X X - - - - High Out X X X - - X X High - 10 12 13 2 0 12 12 High* R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 Total * The group’s dissatisfaction (column 11, row 16) Column 6 is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. Respondents crossing the road at the surface level felt unsafe, fearing accidents because of high-speed traffic (Fig.5.1). Those using the Ring Road subway were wary because it was deserted, and users of the Safdarjung subway complained about crowding and suffocation. The two mothers with children did not use subways because they doubted their safety. Overall, respondents said that it was difficult and time-consuming to walk in the area. 51 Fig. 5.1 Dangerous Crossing of Ring Road Fig. 5.2 Dirty and Crowded, Safdarjung Subway In the Safdarjung subway respondents identified problems of garbage, dirty water, lack of ventilation, narrowness of space, and the presence of too many shops (Fig. 5.2). They complained about overcrowding, chaos, congestion, fear of pick-pocketing and falling down, heat, open food, and urination. Many mentioned that the beggars and smack addicts in this subway were intimidating. Observations confirmed that people using the Safdarjung subway walked with a constant eye on the floor, watching for puddles, garbage, and other obstructions. They walked in a zigzag fashion to avoid the crowd and if they stopped, it was usually in a corner. Many people covered their faces with scarves; mothers protected children’s faces. Road and subway users both talked negatively about the Safdarjung subway, using terms including ‘dirty,’ ‘smelly,’ ‘garbage in piles,’ ‘flies,’ ‘puddles of water,’ ‘no ventilation,’ ‘drug-users,’ ‘crowded,’ ‘too narrow,’ ‘chaotic,’ ‘pickpocketing,’ ‘filthy,’ ‘unhygienic,’ ‘congested,’ ‘disease-spreads,’ ‘fear of falling,’ ‘difficult to walk,’ and ‘flies.’ Some respondents held the public responsible for littering, and said that the hospital authorities were bad administrators. 52 At the other entrance of the hospital (Entry Gate 2), people using the South Extension subway said it was deserted and walked as fast as possible through it, wives clinging to their husbands, and children to parents. Most people pointed out the lack of public toilets and drinking water in both subways. Elderly women found that climbing subway stairs was difficult and mentioned that the high pavements and lack of zebra crossings were problems at the surface level. Observations revealed that even though people feared accidents, their walking behaviour was far from cautious. People only desisted from running across roads with high-speed traffic when the traffic was bearing down on them (Fig. 5.1). People who crossed at the surface level used the shortest route available. They squeezed through broken railings and scaled the railing where it was unbroken. Overall, the interviews indicate that people were most concerned about lack of control, access, safety and fit at AIIMS. Their concerns affected their behaviour (discussed in Chapter 6.0). c. Legibility. Table 5.2(a) tabulates the degree – high, moderate, low – to which respondents at AIIMS perceived that paths, edges, and landmarks were legible. Table 5.2(b) displays the overall legibility scores for the group. Paths had low legibility, while edges and landmarks both had high legibility. Respondents’ drawings of the site were used to deduce legibility (the last column of Table 5.2(a) cites key descriptors of how people depicted the three design elements in their drawings). Section 3.2 has explained the logic used to calculate the group’s overall legibility score in Table 5.2(b). 53 Table 5.2(a) Legibility of Design Elements at AIIMS Respondent Dir. R1 In R2 In R3 R4 R5 In In In R6 In R7 In R8 R9 Out Out X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Out E L P E L P E L X X Out R14 X X Out R11 Out Degree of Legibility Moderate Low X X X X X Out R13 E L P E L P E L P E L P High E L P E L P E L P R10 R12 Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P X X X X X X X X X X X X Characteristics of Physical Elements Subway 1 – lacks space, encroached, dirty. Not represented in map Subway, bus stop. Self-created path cutting across traffic Hospital wall Subway (on map but not placed properly) Subway 1 – deserted, dirty. Not represented in map Subway, bus stop. Subway 1 – no ramp, dirty. Not represented in map Subway Road – unclear, pavement too high, encroached. Hospital wall. Bus stop unclear Subway 2 - wide, surrounded all sides Subway corridor lined with shops & stairs Not represented in map Subway 2 - Unclear, dirty Corner of subway Pile of garbage, bus stop Along hospital wall Hospital wall enclosure Subway, cancer hospital, parking lot. Subway – too narrow, encroached, garbage all over Shops lining subway Vendors at crowded entrance Subway – unclear path, crowded, unsafe. Not represented in map No landmarks Road – no defined path Road with two hospitals, divider on road Bus stop Road – self-created straight line, cutting traffic Ends of road, divider Not represented in map Road – self-created winding line, cutting traffic End of road with hospital Bus stop Road - no clear identified path Ends of road Two hospitals on either side of road Table 5.2(b) Overall Legibility Score for AIIMS No. of Respondents 14 14 14 Overall Legibility Score for AIIMS** Design High Moderate Low Element Paths 4 3 7 Edges 10 1 3 Landmarks 9 0 5 Overall Low High High **Legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks is derived from map drawings and interview responses, using the formula: High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (of legibility was evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 54 Subway users drew different paths from those crossing at surface level. Figure 5.3 consolidates all the drawings. Pedestrians using the Ring Road subway drew the entry and exit points to the subway and linked them across a large space. They showed little between the two points on their maps. Fig. 5.3 (a, b) Consolidated Map Drawings by Hospital Patients: Note the Emphasis on Paths Fig 5.4 Example of Hospital Visitor’s Map Drawing of Aurobindo Subway Interviews confirmed that respondents along this route walked quickly, which perhaps led to their unclear idea of it. In comparison, maps of the subway under Sri Aurobindo Road were detailed, and filled with shops, stairs, and vendors. People highlighted their drawings with labels such as ‘vendors (crowded entrance)’ or ‘no 55 safety for women at night.’ They also drew in elements like vendors and garbage (Fig. 5.4). Respondents depicted edges and landmarks more clearly on their maps. Those crossing at the surface level drew in road boundaries, the central divider, and the hospital wall along which they walked. Those using the subway drew shops along its edges. The subway, bus stop, parking lot, and vendors were depicted as landmarks. The two main roads dominated maps. This may reflect that people thought these roads were large and difficult to cross. 5.2 Working Women at Connaught Place a. Group Description. Elderly women, working mothers, young girls, and an illiterate sweeper woman comprised this sample. Most respondents worked in offices and commercial buildings in CP’s inner and outer circles. Many respondents traveled from far off residences in west and north Delhi. Most traveled by bus, and some by the Metro rail. b. Dissatisfaction. Most respondents were highly dissatisfied with the site. Twelve of 14 respondents felt a lack of control at the site and found it inaccessible; 11 believed it was unsafe, 6 found it disorienting and thought that the spatial elements of the site were a misfit. 9 judged non-spatial elements as a misfit. Only one respondent thought that the identity of the area was unclear. Respondents talked mainly about the poor quality of subways and the danger of crossing roads in CP. Safety emerged as a major concern because almost all the respondents said that they feared walking through the subways. They described the subways as deserted and badly lit in the day, and dark at night. They identified beggars, 56 smack addicts, hawkers and eunuchs as anti-social and vulgar people who frequented the subway. The women felt safer using surface paths although they were aware that traffic was dangerously fast. Six respondents mentioned that they only felt safe using crowded subways. Every respondent identified the need for security guards in the subway. Observation confirmed that women did not use subways unless they had to wait a very long time for road traffic to allow them to pass. They usually avoided the subway after dark. Respondents complained about out-of-order traffic signals and said that where signals did work, crossing time was inadequate. They were uncertain about the location of bus stops and complained that the ones they could locate were too far apart. They also complained about the long wait for buses. When buses arrived, respondents receded to the periphery if there was a large crowd getting on. They were often left behind. They said that there was no room to stand on the pavements because they were encroached by beggars and hawkers. They also found dustbins and comfortable seating inadequate. Respondents said that it was difficult and time-consuming to find buildings in CP. They stressed that they often got lost in the area, and noticed an absence of general street signage (Fig 5.5). Specifically, they identified a need for signage to buses, contrasting it with the clear signage to the metro station (Fig. 5.6). Despite problems, many noticed the government’s efforts in the area and said that cleanliness had improved over the years. Fig. 5.5 Lack of General Signage in Inner Circle Fig. 5.6 Prominent Sign to Metro Station 57 c. Legibility. Map drawings reveal that for this group, the legibility of paths was low, while edges and landmarks were moderately legible. People depicted numerous landmarks in their maps, including ‘Palika Bazaar,’ ‘Shankar Market,’ ‘Janpath,’ the Plaza movie theatre, Gopal Das Building, and Jantar Mantar (Fig.5.7). From their maps it appears that women in CP were thinking in terms of landmarks and walking along edges (Fig. 5.8). Most respondents drew vague one-line paths but they drew them along the radial roads or the edges of blocks. Although CP’s blocks are organised alphabetically, only one woman labeled blocks. Direction was mostly missing and the drawings were not detailed, perhaps because of the large area of the site. Some people labeled radial roads, which may indicate that knowledge of the area imparted meaning to the space and directed people. This issue is explored further in the Chapter 6.0 discussion on orientation. Fig. 5.7 Consolidated Map Drawings by Working Women: Note Emphasis on Landmarks Fig. 5.8 Example of Working Woman’s Map Drawing 5.3 Tourists at Connaught Place a. Group Description. All respondents were foreigners to India and represented a variety of countries - namely Belgium, the Netherlands, the United States, England, Israel, 58 Australia, Germany, France and Turkey. Most were first-time visitors to Delhi, and the total time they had spent in the city ranged from approximately a week to a month. b. Dissatisfaction. This group was moderately dissatisfied with CP. Four people had low dissatisfaction and three were highly dissatisfied. Six people perceived a lack of control at the site, four found the area inaccessible, and five thought it unsafe. Six tourists felt disoriented while walking in CP and three said that it did not have a strong identity. In all, three respondents thought that there was a spatial misfit while seven said that there was a non-spatial misfit. Tourists appreciated the variety of shops and restaurants in CP. Many said that they enjoyed the walking space and shaded areas, but mentioned that lighting and ornamental water were missing. Tourists were more attentive than the ‘working women’ to the absence of trees, water and benches. They placed a premium on enjoyment and the memorability of the place. Respondents identified garbage and Fig. 5.9 Searching for a Bus Stop: Tourist on Radial Road construction material as obstructive to walking, and congestion and noise as problematic. They found fault with the public’s attitude regarding littering and urination. Respondents also said that touts and hawkers frequenting the area were pushy and violent, and that they felt harassed by them. They made a conscious effort to stand at a distance from the crowd in general. Tourists said it was hard to get lost in CP but very difficult to find one’s way. They found it difficult to orient themselves and said that streets were confusing, and 59 signage (to buses in particular) wanting (Fig. 5.9). They often walked from landmark to landmark (mostly international brand names such as Nike, Reebok, Benetton and Pizza Hut). Some circled the inner and outer circles several times, stopping in the middle of open areas, near greenery; reading maps, looking for signs. The respondents felt that traffic was dangerously fast and this group was more cautious than working women while crossing roads. While many tourists deemed CP wonderful, three said that the central park did not draw people to it, and that Delhi was missing a forceful center which could symbolise its identity as a capital city. c. Legibility. Respondents appeared to think that paths had low legibility while edges and landmarks were moderately legible. Major tourist hotspots such as Janpath were depicted in most maps. So were other areas of relevance to tourists, including the Citibank office, Pizza Hut, United Coffee House (a popular restaurant from colonial times), Mahatta (a highly reputed camera store), Reebok, Nike, Jet Airways, and Paharganj (Fig.5.10). Tourists depicted the separate blocks in CP more distinctly than working women, but these blocks did not seem to play a major a role in how they navigated the site, perhaps because respondents lacked knowledge of these elements (Fig. 5.11). While one respondent drew in arrows and another tried to draw north-south markers, a sense of direction was largely missing. A second-time tourist from Istanbul insisted on drawing what he considered an ideal center for CP – a visualisation of the former Nehru Park that used to stand in the center of the circle, with its a pool of water, seats around, and surrounding greenery. This indicates the strength of past association with the area. 60 Fig. 5.10 Consolidated Map Drawings by Tourists: Note the Emphasis on Landmarks Fig. 5.11 Example of Tourist’s Map Drawing 5.4 Office Workers at Nehru Place a. Group Description. This group consisted of bank employees, computer salesmen, IT professionals, textile manufacturers and other office workers. Most respondents had been working at the plaza from anywhere between six months to a decade. b. Dissatisfaction. As with visitors to AIIMS and women at CP, this group was highly dissatisfied with the site. Twelve people felt a lack of control at the site, 11 found it inaccessible, three felt disoriented while walking in it, two believed it to be unsafe, and one found its identity unclear. Nine thought its spatial elements were a misfit and 13 thought the non-spatial elements were a misfit. Respondents found it difficult to access the plaza because of the distance from the bus terminal to the subway and haphazard parking. They usually used the subway and said that crossing the Ring Road at the surface level was unsafe due to fast moving traffic. A few respondents doubted their safety in the alleyways leading to the plaza. When entering or exiting the plaza, most people took the most direct path between the Ring Road and the plaza, cutting across the parking lot. Site observations showed that 61 respondents watched their step, keeping an eye on the ground while walking, because the path they used was informal. Within the plaza, respondents said that development was too dense and the area was congested. Some added that there was not enough space to walk without bumping into strangers. While the DDA is in the process of relocating vendors to the main avenue of the plaza, the shaded walkways were still encroached upon illegally by hawkers and beggars (Fig. 5.12). Respondents said that the presence of ‘low class people’ and the lack of designated space for them were problematic. They also complained about heat, rain, and crowding, and also pointed out a lack of amenities Fig. 5.12 Encroached Shaded Walkway such as safe drinking water, public bathrooms, and dustbins. Respondents identified garbage, waterlogging and construction material as obstructions to walking. They also found seating and greenery inadequate. Office workers found it very difficult to locate buildings aside from their own places of work. Many said that the place was complex and hard to decipher, and that they wasted time in finding places. They looked around constantly for signs to direct themselves and asked others for directions. Most people gravitated towards the center of the plaza when looking for a particular place, circling the area to gain an overall idea. They crowded in front of popular shops like ‘Sona Sweets’ and searched for comfortable seating away from the sun. 62 Nehru Place had few social spaces for interaction – respondents said it was only a work environment and had the wrong ambience as a recreational space. They said that the area was deteriorating, disorganised, and mismanaged, and considered municipal authorities responsible for the lack of maintenance of the plaza. c. Legibility. Office workers found paths and landmarks highly legible. Edges were moderately legible. Respondents drew clear linear paths, even though the path they used was informal. Although both Nehru Place and Priya are plazas, respondents at Nehru Place seemed less familiar with the area, and were unsure of it. The maps show that office workers saw this activity centre as part of a larger geographical context. They drew the plaza in context of the outer ring road and flyover, the adjacent housing areas, the Park Royal Hotel, and the petrol pump across the road (Fig. 5.14). Respondents drew in landmarks located at the edges of the plaza, such as the Paras movie hall, the bank, and Sona Sweets. These landmarks gave the edges more clarity than other spots (Fig. 5.13). Only one respondent drew the actual plaza in detail. Most respondents included corridors, and the central walkway, labeling these as encroached upon by hawkers. Fig. 5.13 Consolidated Map Drawings by Office Workers: Note the Prominent Path and Landmarks Fig. 5.14 Example of Office Worker’s Map Drawing 63 5.5 University Students at the Delhi University Metro Station a. Group Description. This sample consisted of seven female and seven male students. It included undergraduate students in history and animation, graduate students in English, PhD candidates, and distance learning students. b. Dissatisfaction. This group was moderately dissatisfied with the site – only 2 of 14 people were highly dissatisfied. Nobody doubted safety or identity and only two people mentioned a spatial misfit. Twelve respondents however, said there was a non-spatial misfit, four felt disoriented, and seven felt they lacked control. Six found the area partially inaccessible. Interviews explain the most dominant issue of non-spatial misfit. Most students complained about the lack of public toilets, no provision for drinking water or food stalls, no storage facilities for luggage, and inadequate seating and standing space within the station. Some said that the number of ticket counters was inadequate and that train frequency was often low during rush hour. Others said that the ticket rates were beyond their daily budget. Some students expressed discontent with the ‘gray’ and ‘boring’ walls, one suggesting that they could accommodate murals, local artwork, and information about cultural events in the city (Fig. 5.15). Most said that interconnectivity was high. Orientation was the other notable problem at Fig. 5.15 Narrow and Dull: Underground Train Platform this site. Most students professed that signage was not very helpful, and said that they were almost always confused about where to go within the station. Site observations corroborated this view: people slowed down visibly when they approached stairs to the train 64 platforms, trying to decide which direction to move in. Some suggested that DMRC staff should be available to guide users because this problem resulted in missed trains and lost time. Unlike other sites where obstructions existed along walking paths, here most user looked straight ahead while walking. c. Legibility. The group found paths Fig. 5.16 Consolidated Map Drawings by University Students: Note the Prominent Path and Landmarks and landmarks highly legible, but edges had low legibility. The central passageway, ticket rickshaws, counter, escalators, and entrance, security platform check, were common to most drawings (Fig. 5.16). Respondents used such breaks along this path to direct themselves, and they drew their maps around the central path (Fig. 5.17). The area Fig. 5.15 outside the station was not depicted in most maps, which could be a result of people’s individual judgment of how large the area on the map should be, especially since one might think the outside area encompassed the entire university. Respondents knew the few elements within the station very well but its threelevel structure confused them (Fig. 5.16). Most people depicted all three levels, but their manners of doing so differed (Fig.5.17, 5.18). Many used horizontal and vertical lines to depict a transition in level, while others used angles and curves. Upward and downward arrows, as well as a clear labeling of elements, ordered direction. People who depicted 65 the station without drawing different levels, labeled the levels instead (Fig. 5.17). They used terms including ‘up to the platform’ next to an arrow, ‘above the platform,’ and ‘underground stairs’ (Fig. 5.17). Different Views of the DU Metro Station Fig. 5.17 Example of University Student’s Map Drawing Fig. 5.17 Another Example of University Student’s Map Drawing 5.6 The Youth at Priya a. Group Description. This group comprised mostly high school and university students, others in-between the two, and young professionals. Six girls and eight boys were interviewed. All respondents had been visiting the plaza regularly – some for over a year, others for many years. b. Dissatisfaction. The group had very low dissatisfaction with the site. Only one person thought it unsafe and inaccessible, and none felt a lack of control or disorientation within it. Two found its identity problematic, six said that there was a spatial misfit, and nine mentioned that non-spatial elements were a misfit. Explaining the main problem of spatial fit, interviewees identified potholes, digging, construction material, and stacked-up hoardings as obstructions to walking. 66 Observation confirmed that people looked at the ground while walking, keeping an eye out for such obstructions (Fig. 5.20). Like tourists at CP, this group stressed that it appreciated the variety of uses in the plaza, and said that Priya was a fun area to walk in. Respondents walked as part of the crowd, taking time to look around, and window shop. Most respondents mentioned that the area was very safe. Many contrasted it with other places, mentioning that no eve teasing occurred at the site. Respondents thought that the area was easily accessible (most traveled by autorickshaws) and that parking was haphazard and inadequate. Ten respondents said that they had switched their mode of transport from cars to autorickshaws because of parking problems (Fig. 5.19). Respondents mentioned litter and drainage problems. Many said greenery was insufficient and that the seating area was very inadequate. Observation revealed that people sat in a variety of places but predominantly at visible corners in the plaza. They sat on ledges, steps, pavements, and low walls, often preferring these to the chairs put out by cafes. Bringing up Priya’s identity, some respondents said that the beggars, homeless people, and tramps at the plaza did not fit Priya’s image as a prime locality. Fig. 5.19 Busy Entrance with Rickshaws Fig. 5.20 Popular Side Avenue beside Theatre Overall, respondents expressed that the area had a strong identity. Many identified themselves as ‘regulars’ at the place, associating it with past visits. Some said that the 67 plaza had deteriorated over the years and held government inaction and shop-owner complacency accountable. c. Legibility. The group found all three elements - paths, edges, and landmarks - highly legible. Their drawings reveal that the group had a good idea of the shape and proportion of the site. They drew a box-like structure which enclosed the area (Fig. 5.21) and rows of rectangles to depict the shops that lined the edges of the two main avenues. Paved walking space was represented in this manner, entrances and exits to the plaza left open. People used circles to represent the two fountains in the plaza (one of which has recently been filled in, Figs. 5.21, 5.23). A number of well-known stores and restaurants in the area appeared in the maps (Fig. 5.23). For such a large area, respondents identified many landmarks. This indicates that the user group was very familiar with the site. The maps do not show any attempt at direction but the detail in labeling and knowledge of the area show it to be well understood. The movie theatre was a prominent element in every map (Figs. 5.21, 5.22). While most maps centered the area around the main avenue, smaller sub-spaces within the plaza - such as the Nirulas circle and the corner which houses Barista - were singled out and drawn with paths leading to them (Fig.5.21). Fig. 5.21 Example of Young Person’s Map Drawing of Main Avenue Fig. 5.22 Example of Young Person’s Map Drawing of Fountain at Far End 68 Fig. 5.23 Consolidated Map Drawings of the Youth: Note the Clear Paths, Edges, and Numerous Landmarks 5.7 Summary Table 5.3 summarises the earlier findings. Columns 3, 4, and 5 are tallies of individual expressions of overall dissatisfaction. Column 6 is averaged overall dissatisfaction for each group, and is assessed as high, moderate, or low. Group dissatisfaction estimates also correspond with the total tallies of negative comments at each site (column 7 of Table 5.3). This correspondence confirms the relevance of the frequency counts to the interviews, and strengthens the Chapter 6.0 discussion which relates the two. Table 5.3 Summary: Frequency Counts of User Dissatisfaction with all Sites Site User Group AIIMS CP Hospital Visitors a. Working Women b. Tourists Office Workers Students 13 10 3 10 3 1 4 7 4 7 0 0 4 0 4 High High Moderate High Moderate Total # of Negative Comments 61 57 51 34 31 Youth 84 0 39 2 25 12 16 Low - 11 - Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Total High Dissatisfaction* Moderate Low Overall* *Column 6 is derived from the aggregate of columns 3, 4, and 5, using the formula: (See Appendix E for each site) High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 69 Table 5.4 summarises results pertaining to the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks. Priya is the only site at which user rating of the legibility of the three design elements is uniformly high. At all the other sites legibility ratings vary for each element. Table 5.4 Summary: Frequency Counts of Legibility with all Sites Site User Group High 4 Path Moderate Low 3 7 Overall Low High 10 Legibility** Edge Moderate Low 1 3 Overall High High 9 Landmark Moderate Low 0 5 Overall High AIIMS Hospital Visitors CP a.Working Women 3 3 8 Low 6 2 6 Moderate 6 3 5 Moderate b.Tourists Office Workers 4 7 3 5 7 2 Low High 5 6 4 2 5 6 Moderate Moderate 6 9 2 1 6 4 Moderate High 8 5 1 High 4 3 7 Low 11 0 3 High 11 3 0 High 12 1 1 High 14 0 0 High Nehru Place DU Metro Station Students Priya Youth **Legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks is derived from map drawings and interview responses, using the formula: High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. Chapter 6.0 discusses the link between dissatisfaction and lack of legibility, and explores design solutions. 70 Chapter 6.0 Discussion of Findings 6.1 Behaviour, Values, and Legibility: Emerging Patterns This chapter builds upon the findings in Chapter 5.0 by focusing on how the legibility of the physical environment influences environmental values, and how that affects pedestrian behaviour. It then suggests design strategies that could enhance legibility and reduce dissatisfaction. The findings confirm that legibility influences dissatisfaction with values, and that in turn influences people’s behaviour. Therefore, legibility is crucial to the design of pedestrian spaces. The focus of this discussion is dissatisfaction, which helps to locate and address design failures. The influence of dissatisfaction on behaviour is quite evident in the findings. For instance, at AIIMS and Connaught Place, people were dissatisfied with safety; therefore they avoided the subway, even though that meant they had to use the surface roads (which were more traffic accident-prone but perhaps ‘safer’ for the person). People behaved according to how safe they ‘felt’ (as opposed to how safe the area actually was). They were afraid of traffic accidents, but more afraid of ill-lit subways where they might be attacked. Dissatisfaction about access also affected behaviour. At Nehru Place, pedestrians cut diagonally across the main square of the plaza instead of walking along the shaded but encroached walkway that took longer to traverse (Fig.6.14). 106 At Priya, young people were least dissatisfied. They enjoyed sitting on ledges, steps, pavements, and low walls, often preferring these informal seating arrangements to traditional benches and chairs. These observations exhibit how the design of a site might affect behaviour. 71 Respondents were at ease in certain areas and used them extensively, and this occurred when they felt their environmental values were safeguarded or satisfied. In this regard, the six Lynchean values that were chosen for this study proved to be an accurate reflection of pedestrian priorities. The interviews revealed that people valued safety, orientation, access, fit, identity, and control but did not bring forth new issues. However, these six values were not equally important to people, and each respondent’s overall satisfaction hinged more on some factors than others. Common across groups, a hierarchy emerged among the values. This was evident in the intensity – the urgency, emphasis, or frequency of repetition - with which respondents spoke of their problems. Safety and orientation came forth as anchoring values. Respondents valued safety more than any other factor. This was followed by orientation. When a site lacked either of these qualities, respondents often became emotional. Anger, frustration, and a sense of helplessness characterised their interviews, and these respondents remained focused on what was most important to them. Their conversations centred around safety or orientation, and the site’s accessibility and character became less important. Safety and orientation were problematic at four sites each, and at these sites they determined the overall dissatisfaction of the respondents. At some sites, only a few respondents mentioned these anchoring values, but this minority felt more strongly about them than respondents who talked about other aspects of the site. Often, respondents led the conversations back to the issues that concerned them, repeating certain problems over and over. The repetition and emotion with which people addressed the questions revealed that there was an ordering to their values. 72 When people talked about fit, they tended to elaborate on their overall problems, which can further our understanding of other values. For example, fit often helped to explain people’s dissatisfaction because people identified spatial and non-spatial elements that they found troublesome when they talked about fit – such as garbage blocking access to paths at AIIMS, or poor lighting making them feel unsafe at CP. Another major finding was that the six values were not disjointed. In fact, dissatisfaction with one value influenced the respondent’s perception of other values. The stronger values of safety and orientation had most influence - for instance, dissatisfaction about safety is often also associated with dissatisfaction about access, because people tried to avoid areas they feared, and hence found them inaccessible. People felt a lack of control when they were disoriented or when they could not access parts of the site. Control emerged as a somewhat all-encompassing value, which was associated with how satisfied respondents were with other values at the sites (49 of the 84 respondents expressed a feeling of helplessness and a lack of control). For some respondents, this feeling stemmed from fear, for others disorientation, and so on. This wide observation of a lack of control is perhaps predictable because vulnerable groups such as hospital patients and women were studied. Respondents’ expressions of lacking control are more a reflection of their vulnerability than their desire for actual control over the site. The youth and student groups complained least about control, which makes sense because they are the least vulnerable of the six groups. Dissatisfaction about control clearly affected behaviour. Most noticeable across sites was that pedestrians felt a lack of control when they found themselves in small spaces with a large number of people. Pedestrians who used the subway at AIIMS 73 stopped frequently in corners because they needed relief from the crowd. In Nehru Place, people looking for an office in the mass of buildings moved from the encroached corridors towards the relatively-empty centre of the area. Both groups of pedestrians adapted to crowding by changing their behaviour in an attempt to regain their lost sense of control (which in this case was associated with disorientation). Dissatisfaction was greatly influenced by the legibility of the sites. Comparing respondent depictions of paths, edges and landmarks in their map drawings with the actual features at the site, it becomes evident that respondents were less dissatisfied with sites which are more legible, especially when clearly legible paths enhanced orientation and access. To a lesser extent, visible landmarks and defined edges also help to orient people. All three elements were highly legible at Priya but not at other sites. The influence of legibility on satisfaction levels creates an opportunity for design. The remainder of this chapter discusses design solutions that can enhance safety, orientation, access, fit, and identity of the sites. 6.2 Discussing Core Findings Table 6.1 arranges dissatisfaction with the sites in descending order of the total frequency counts of complaints. The dissatisfaction counts are highest for hospital visitors at AIIMS, working women at CP, and office workers at Nehru Place. Tourists and students are moderately dissatisfied with their respective sites. The youth at Priya is the least dissatisfied. 74 Table 6.1 Dissatisfaction with the Five Environmental Values for all Sites Dissatisfaction Site User Group Fit Control Safety Access Orientation Identity Spatial NonSpatial Overall Dissatisfaction Total # of Negative Comments High Mod. Low Aveage AIIMS Hospital Visitors 12 10 12 0 2 12 13 61 13 1 0 High CP Working Women 12 11 12 6 1 6 9 57 10 4 0 High Nehru Place Office Workers 12 2 11 3 1 9 13 51 10 4 0 High CP Tourists 6 5 4 6 3 3 7 34 4 5 5 Mod. DU Metro Station Students 7 0 6 4 0 2 12 31 3 7 4 Mod. Priya Youth 0 1 1 0 2 1 6 11 0 2 12 Low Total 84 49 29 46 19 9 33 60 - - - - - *Mod. = Moderate The total negative comments for each group are a simple sum of all negative responses to issues (column 10). This tally corresponds well to the overall dissatisfaction, which was a separate question posed to respondents (columns 11, 12, and 13). From Table 6.1 it is evident that the total number of negative comments is highest for the three sites where overall dissatisfaction was also highest – AIIMS, CP and Nehru Place. This match between frequency counts and individual responses strengthens the study’s overall findings, and the remaining sites too reflect this pattern. Note: It should be noted that the frequency counts were based on one answer to one question, which did not reflect any intensity of feelings. For instance, 29 and 19 respondents expressed dissatisfaction with safety and orientation, respectively, yet these responses were much more adamant and emotive (and included much repetition by the same respondents). However, Table 6.1 does show that the “total frequency of negative counts” do bear a direct relationship to “overall dissatisfaction.” The explanation of that relationship between the dissatisfaction with each value and the overall dissatisfaction with the site is much more complex and nuanced. Table 6.2 summarises overall findings about legibility. Site observations clearly showed that respondents who professed they felt disoriented used physical elements to guide them. Closer observation confirmed that all pedestrians used physical cues to reach their destinations. 75 Table 6.2 Summary: Legibility of Design Elements No Site 1 AIIMS 2 CP 3 4 5 User Group Hospital Visitors Working women Overall Legibility Path Edge Landmark Low High High Low Moderate Moderate CP Tourists Low Moderate Moderate Nehru Place DU Metro Station Office workers High Moderate High Students Moderate Low High 6 Priya The youth High High .High - - 84 - - - The following is a discussion of the relative importance of the five environmental values and the relationships between the dissatisfaction findings (Table 6.1) and legibility findings (Table 6.2). Design recommendations are then suggested. 6.3 Issues of Importance 1. Safety: The Pedestrian’s Primary Concern a. Perception of Safety Safety was the primary concern of respondents at AIIMS and working women at CP. The respondents who spoke most forcefully about their problems were the 10 at AIIMS and 11 at CP who believed the area was unsafe. 107 Many echoed the sentiments of an agitated elderly lady: “I have to take the subway…people die crossing the road like this. If I cross, there will definitely be an accident. But even the subways are at such distances. Personally, I avoid coming to the hospital as much as possible. I only come when I really need to.” Working women at CP were also most vehement about their personal safety: 11 women said they found the subway between Shivaji Stadium and the inner circle unsafe (Figs. 6.1, 6.2). Most comments followed the tone of a young girl: 76 “I rarely use subways…they are very unsafe…specially in the afternoon because in the afternoon they are completely empty…all the people there are shopkeepers…it’s very unsafe in the afternoon.” Fig. 6.1 Location of CP Subway Where Women Felt Unsafe Fig. 6.2 Inside the Empty CP Subway Fig.6.2 Even the three women who said safety was not a problem at CP thought it was a good idea to station a security guard or plainclothes policeman in the subway. Gender may be an explanation for why working women found CP subways unsafe. With the tourist group which also used the CP site, only five respondents said safety was a problem. Over one-third of the total sample (29 of 84) said safety was an issue (Table 6.1), but 22 were women. It is understandable that women overall feel more vulnerable than men. 108 The literature indicates that most women generally face similar problems. An Edinburgh study found that women were dissatisfied with their town centre because of bad lighting, inadequate bus services, and the fear of sexual harassment. 109 This indicates that personal characteristics can shape perception – patients at AIIMS were also very aware of their vulnerable state and said that they felt unsafe at the site because it was not designed for sick people. It is also useful to note that the two CP groups – working women and tourists – had different views of safety at the same site. 11 working women were dissatisfied with 77 safety (all their concerns were regarding personal safety in the subways). Only 5 tourists expressed safety concerns, but they were talking about their fear of accidents while crossing high-traffic surface level roads. Group characteristics might explain this difference in dissatisfaction, for working women obviously use the area on a daily basis and use fixed routes to and from their workplaces, while tourists are engaged in shortterm recreational activities. 110 b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour Hospital visitors at AIIMS Table 6.3 Safety and Legibility Site and working women at CP both thought that path legibility was low. Interviews revealed that hospital visitors avoided the AIIMS CP CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Safety Problems 10 Path Low Legibility Edge High Landmark High 11 Low Moderate Moderate 5 2 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 0 Moderate Low High 1 High High High subway on the Ring Road at AIIMS because of deserted shops. Smack addicts, beggars, hawkers and eunuchs were the reasons women cited for avoiding the CP subway. The fears of CP and AIIMS respondents resulted in avoidance of the subways. This behaviour may be set off by the low legibility of paths only at these two sites (low legibility also resulted in dissatisfaction with other values, as is discussed in the following pages). People usually avoided unsafe areas like badly-lit underground subways, either because they clearly thought an area was unsafe or because they could not discern how safe it was (i.e. if it was illegible). The length of the route also influenced their decisions. Concerns regarding personal safety (attack and harassment in subways) overrode concerns about traffic safety, especially when surface level routes were shorter. For instance, even though pedestrians at AIIMS feared accidents while crossing roads at the 78 surface level, they used the shorter surface route. The tendency to veer towards the shortest route was also typical of women and tourists running across CP’s radials. Gehl explains this tendency, saying that ‘experienced distance’ (versus actual distance) determines peoples’ walking choices. “People reluctantly accept large deviations from the determined main direction and if the goal is in sight, they tend to steer towards it,” he says. Such behaviour can become ingrained and habitual. 111 In contrast, at Nehru Place people used the subway to cross the road, but here it was not possible for them to cross the road since, unlike at AIIMS, there was not a single break in the central road divider. Overall, the observations suggest that respondents seemed to be most adamant, and modified their behaviour the most, when they were dissatisfied about safety. Where safety did not dominate their concerns, other issues came to the forefront. For instance, for tourists at CP, safety was only a minor issue, and dissatisfaction about fit, access, and control loomed larger. At Nehru Place, DU Metro Station and Priya, access, orientation, fit, and identity became more dominant. Fig. 6.3 Ill-lit Subway at CP c. Design Solutions At AIIMS, proper railings may discourage people from running across hightraffic roads. They do at Nehru Place. Similarly, better lighting in the CP subway (Fig. 6.3), or a combination of lighting and vibrant stores in the 79 subway on the Ring Road at AIIMS, could enhance safety. Stationing a guard in these subways might also instill more confidence in women, prompting them to use such facilities. 2. Orientation: Structuring Movement a. Perception of Orientation Only 19 people out of 84 found their environment disorienting. These were at CP, Nehru Place, and DU Metro Station. However, for them, disorientation eclipsed all concerns (perhaps with the exception of safety). CP had the highest number of disoriented pedestrians – six working women and six tourists. A common refrain amongst tourists was “I’ve walked this circle twice now, but I still can’t find the bookshop.” A woman working in inner circle too complained repeatedly about how difficult it was to find offices on the outer circle. The circular shape of CP may contribute to people’s feelings of disorientation, but it also explains why more pedestrians did not raise orientation as a concern. Since the area is circular, if pedestrians keep searching for a spot, they are likely to find it after some effort. As one tourist put it, “the area is such that although I am not lost, I don’t know where I am.” The three people at Nehru Place who felt disoriented were also very distraught. The woman searching for an office for over an hour at Nehru Place echoed the sense of frustration and helplessness that came across through most disoriented respondents (Figs. 6.4, 6.5). This corroborates Lynch’s view that orientation is the ‘framework of cognition’: “Access and territory are aspects of the mental image in space, considered as potential movement and action. But the identification of places, as well as their organisation into mental structures, not only allows people to function effectively but is also a source of emotional security, pleasure and understanding. We have powerful 80 abilities for recognizing places and for integrating them into mental images, but the sensory form of those places can make that effort at understanding more or less difficult.” 112 Fig. 6.5 Main Avenue in Relation to Pedestrian Path Fig. 6.4 Main Avenue: Confusing and Crowded Fig. 6.4 b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour At Nehru Place, two of three respondents felt Table 6.4 Orientation and Legibility Site AIIMS CP disoriented while entering the site and one while leaving. The absence of a formal path CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Orientation Problems 0 Path Low Legibility Edge High Landmark High 6 Low Moderate Moderate 6 3 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 4 Moderate Low High 0 High High High commonly used by people, coupled with the confusing layout of the area might have induced this feeling of disorientation (Fig.6.5). Respondents who said that they were disoriented were noticed using the few landmarks (mostly alongside the edges that enclose the plaza) to guide themselves. The use of landmarks to orient is substantiated by map drawings of respondents who were disoriented at CP, DU Metro Station and Nehru Place (which contained many landmarks). At CP, both groups found that path legibility was low. This could be because there is little to distinguish one path from another (both groups point this out). Edges and 81 landmarks were moderately legible at CP and both groups appeared to orient themselves using landmarks, many of which were in the area but not along their routes. These landmarks were usually located at prominent edges of CP. The Plaza movie theatre for instance, does not fall on the route studied, but is drawn in by women walking along an adjacent path (Figs. 6.6, 6.7). Similarly, remembering the location of the United Coffee House allowed tourists to orient themselves as to where they were in the inner circle (Figs. 6.8, 6.9). Fig. 6.7 Location of Plaza Movie Theatre in CP Fig. 6.6 Prominent in Working Women’s Map Drawings: Plaza Movie Theatre Fig. 6.6 Fig. 6.8 Prominent Restaurant in Tourists Map Drawings Fig. 6.9. Location of Restaurant in CP Fig. 6.8 The mental image then, stretches beyond the immediate. While personal characteristics influence the landmarks people choose (as with tourists’ identification of 82 international brands), landmarks do not necessarily have to be en route to be part of the pedestrian’s mental frame of reference. Direction was also a major component that affected the pedestrian’s sense of orientation. Respondents’ sense of orientation depended on the direction in which they were moving and was closely connected to their activity. Most working women, office workers, and university students who were rushing to reach their offices and schools on time in the morning already knew the area well and did not face problems directing themselves. However, at the DU Metro Station, there were a few respondents who said that the underground passageway looked the same in any direction. Although this passageway has signage, two students who were exiting the station said that it did not provide enough guidance. The need for orientation was felt to be more important by students exiting the station because the two exits to the metro station lead pedestrians out to different sides of the high-traffic Mall Road. If a pedestrian exits opposite the university by mistake, he or she has to either cross the high-traffic road at the surface level or buy another subway ticket to cross underground again (because the subway is part of the Metro Station premises). When en route to class, students lose time in such situations. On the other hand, students entering the station were not as disoriented because they were not on their way to class and eventually found the train. In contrast, the youth at Priya had a clear idea of the plaza layout and this oriented them. The high legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks enhanced respondent values and influenced their behaviour. Here, respondents’ maps are filled with different shops and restaurants that structure their walk through the site. The storefronts collectively create 83 well-defined edges that make distinct the linear avenues of the plaza. They also enhance the clarity of paths in a manner that captures the interest of pedestrians, creating an effect that distinct paths alone may not have achieved. Although respondents found path legibility to be low at AIIMS, this was because of safety. Hospital visitors did not complain about disorientation, perhaps because their destinations were immediate and in clear sight. Their satisfaction and the dissatisfaction of university students reinforce that orientation varies with the design of the area. c. Design Solutions Appropriate design can enhance orientation at the three sites where pedestrians find it lacking – Nehru Place with its undefined paths and dense development, circular CP, and the underground section of the DU Metro Station. Since these sites are already built areas, it is necessary to concentrate on design solutions that can be applied to their current form. Fig. 6.10 Foreground-Background Contrast: Edges and Landmarks Making Paths Clear (Lynch, 1969) At Nehru Place, the design of edges could reinforce the informal path that pedestrians commonly use (if the government were to formalize the informal path). Whether along this path or another, the gradient of the edge could enhance orientation and the distinct landmarks that pedestrians identified could anchor the edges, creating a foreground-background contrast to guide the pedestrian. 113 Material, planting and texture 84 could also impart clarity to paths. Lynch suggests that path legibility can be increased through “concentration of specific use or activity along margins, characteristic spatial quality, special texture of floor or façade, particular lighting pattern, unique set of smells or sounds, typical detail or mode of planting.” 114 With respect to the DU Metro Station too, increasing the legibility of edges can enhance the clarity of paths. Lynch suggests that edge elements can be enhanced by using materials that create contrast, by transitions in gradient, or through anchoring edges to landmarks. Although the DU Metro Station passage has what Lynch describes as edges which are “continuous and self-closing” and ends that have “definite termini, recognizable anchors which complete and locate the line,” the bareness and uniformity of the passage disorient users. The pedestrian’s sense of direction in the passage could be enhanced by providing seating, locker space, or artwork at different points along its length. 115 Signage is a valuable design element that can orient pedestrians. It is low cost, and can easily be introduced into such built areas. The effectiveness of signage is contingent on its location, and signs are rendered useless when people have to search for them. Signage needs to be easy to read, visible from a distance, and in the pedestrian’s line of vision. Both groups at CP voiced a need for clear signs to bus stops on the outer circle. At CP and Nehru Place, signage could enhance orientation by making the organisation of these complex sites more obvious. Currently, buildings at both sites are numbered block-wise, but block numbers are fading in paint or lettered into old brass plates in dusty corners. And although new signage is required, it should be in keeping with the character and identity of each site. 116 85 In summary, paths can orient pedestrians, with some help from the surrounding area. Signage along a walkway, artwork on walls, and shops that line a pavement may enhance legibility. 3. Access a. Perception of Access Accessibility was high at Priya and the DU Metro Station. It faltered at AIIMS, CP, and Nehru Place. At AIIMS, elderly users found the site inaccessible because pavements were too high to climb onto comfortably; they also referred to the narrowness of the subway and its lack of ventilation. At Nehru Place encroached corridors were the main impediment to access. Office workers thought that the too-dense development, low stairway height, and inadequate seating detracted from access. At CP, both groups attributed problems of access to a lack of surface pedestrian crossings and uncertainty about the location of far-off bus stops (Fig. 6.11). Here again, group characteristics and similarities between groups become relevant. The three groups that were most dissatisfied about access were hospital workers, working women, and office workers – these were the groups that had least choice about using the site. Fig.6.11 (a, b) Two tourists Trying to Cross a Busy Outer Circle road, CP A B 86 b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour Access ratings are a reflection of legibility because when things are legible, people can access them, and vice versa. Table 6.5 Access and Legibility Site AIIMS CP CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Access Problems 12 Path Low Legibility Edge High Landmark High 12 Low Moderate Moderate 4 11 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 6 Moderate Low High 1 High High High For instance, hospital visitors at AIIMS found the Aurobindo Marg subway inaccessible because it was packed with people, strewn with garbage, and housed puddles of water. The crowded area had low legibility, Fig 6.12 Packed and Dirty, Aurobindo Subway and was therefore inaccessible (Fig. 6.12). The surface paths at AIIMS also had low legibility and were inaccessible because distinct paths were missing. Since there was no clear path, people crossed both the roads at different points, depending on oncoming traffic and breaks in the road divider. On the other hand, path legibility was high at Nehru Place because people carved out an informal path and commonly used it (Fig. 6.13). The low satisfaction with accessibility at Nehru Place is mainly because people cannot use the encroached inner corridors of the plaza. The low accessibility of CP’s paths corresponds with the low legibility that arises from garbage, construction material, and encroachments along the way. Such 87 obstructions block paths and lower their accessibility because people cannot use the paths (edges at DU had low legibility but because of orientation, not access). Overall, clarity of all three elements was highest along the linear avenues at Priya which are wide and paved. This made them the most accessible, which is the effect that design should be aimed towards. Inaccessible places exaggerate typical pedestrian behaviour. Returning to the discussion of how pedestrians tend to take the shortest route possible, it was observed that within Nehru Place too, pedestrians cut diagonally across the main square of the plaza instead of taking the shaded walkway that went around (Fig.6.14). 117 This time, the reason is that the walkway is inaccessible because it is encroached. Distance and encroachment may both be responsible for determining pedestrian behaviour at Nehru Place. Creating the Shortest Paths Possible Fig. 6.13 Cutting Through the Parking Lot Fig. 6.14 Pedestrians Crossing Diagonally In summary, pedestrians do not use paths they consider inaccessible and inaccessible places are usually illegible. The later discussion on identity discusses how access also affects the identity of the site. c. Design Solutions Increasing a site’s accessibility is the most direct way to draw pedestrians to it. Pedestrians seem to find accessible sites safer, and feel more oriented and in control in 88 them. The built environment at AIIMS could be designed taking visitor concerns into account. For instance, to combat the problems of pavements that elderly people said were difficult to walk along, paving material with deep grooves, heavy aggregates, and large joints could be avoided. Studies have also found that provision of handrails, judiciouslyplaced benches, wider walkways, and the introduction of more gradual grading can enhance access at hospitals. 118 There is also a need to enhance access at Nehru Place, CP, and inside the DU Metro Station, where pedestrians complained about the absence of public toilets and drinking water facilities. 119 Creating storage space for luggage at the DU Metro Station, and placing bus stops at CP within walking distance, could increase access to transit facilities at these two sites. Potholes, digging, construction material, and overflowing drains are some spatial factors that detract from the accessibility of Priya and Nehru Place. Garbage is another factor that can be eliminated if the government ensures sweepers report for work regularly, educates the public about littering, and monitors or fines defaulters. Government campaigns and public education that targets pedestrians themselves would address many respondents’ concerns about how their fellow-walkers litter and dirty the surroundings, and perhaps instill a more responsible pedestrian culture. 4. Fit as an Explanation a. Perception of Fit The majority of respondents identified problems of fit at the sites. 33 respondents said they were dissatisfied with spatial fit at the sites – most of them at AIIMS, CP, and Nehru Place. For instance, office workers at Nehru Place commented on the encroached 89 walkways, pot-holes, digging, ongoing construction and the lack of public toilets. These are examples of misfits of spatial elements to the site’s function. 60 respondents said they were dissatisfied with non-spatial fit at the sites – most of them at AIIMS, Nehru Place, and DU Metro Station. Working women said that the smack addicts, beggars, hawkers and eunuchs in the CP subway did not belong there, and their presence made the respondents feel scared. These are examples of misfits of nonspatial elements to the site’s function. The findings about fit are associated with other values and provide clear indicators of what elements people actually dislike at the sites. b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour At all sites but Priya, most respondents were dissatisfied with the fit of elements to the space’s function. The low legibility of some elements at each site – paths at AIIMS and CP, and edges at the DU Metro Station – explains this dissatisfaction. Table 6.6 Fit and Legibility Site AIIMS CP CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Fit Problems Spatial NonSpatial 12 13 Path Legibility Edge Landmark Low High High 6 9 Low Moderate Moderate 3 9 7 13 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 2 12 Moderate Low High 1 6 High High High For instance, paths at AIIMS had low legibility because of garbage, puddles of water, narrowness, and crowding. In their conversations, respondents immediately identified the spatial and non-spatial aspects of the site that were responsible for low legibility. Even though the legibility of edges and landmarks is higher at AIIMS than CP, edges and landmarks do not affect fit as much as paths do at these sites because accessible paths are very hard to find at AIIMS. On the other hand, low legibility of 90 edges at DU Metro Station affects dissatisfaction greatly because in this enclosed space, edges play a much greater role. The findings regarding fit suggest that it works together with other environmental values. In most groups, fit (or lack of it) seem to relate closely to feelings of an unsafe, disorienting, or inaccessible environment and induces the behavioural changes that stem from them. c. Design Solutions Table 6.7 lists misfits at the site and may be useful to the development of design strategies. 120 Table 6.7 Group/Site Hospital Visitors At AIIMS Working Women Connaught Place Tourists Connaught Place Office Workers Nehru Place Students DU Metro Station The Youth Priya Summary of Spatial and Non-Spatial Elements 121 Spatial Elements Subway: -garbage and puddles of water - poor lighting -lack of ventilation -narrow corridor -inaccessible to handicapped (no ramps) -no public toilets or drinking water facility Outside: -high pavement height -no zebra crossing Outside: -non-functional traffic signals -location of bus stops uncertain -inadequate pavement space (encroached) -inadequate no. of dustbins -inadequate seating area Subway:-inadequate lighting -garbage -inaccessible to the handicapped -garbage -variety of stores and uses appreciated Inside: -stairway height too low Plaza -development too dense -shaded walkway encroached -drainage problem (waterlogging) -potholes/digging/construction -inadequate greenery and inadequate seating -no public toilets or drinking water facility -inadequate no. of dustbins, garbage Outside: -large distance b/w bus stop & subway Plaza -haphazard parking -no sitting area -inadequate standing space on platform -no storage space -no drinking water facility -narrow corridors -dull walls -potholes/digging/construction -inadequate seating area and greenery -inadequate & disorganised parking -wide variety of stores and uses Non-Spatial Elements -beggars and smack addicts -crowding - heat - urination - littering - bad odours - open food Outside: -traffic signals defunct -bus frequency irregular -inadequate signal time -indisciplined bus drivers -crowding -heat -absence of traffic police Subway: -smack addicts, beggars, hawkers and eunuchs -touts and hawkers -crowding and noise -urination, odours and littering -beggars (encroaching) -hawkers (encroaching) -musclemen (locking up toilets) -heat -rain -crowding - thelawalas -clean interior of station -inadequate train frequency -crowded trains -ticket rates too high -food/water not permitted -beggars -the homeless 91 Looking at Table 6.7, better design might re-consider the height of new stairways at Nehru Place (Fig. 6.15), introduce better lighting in the dimly-lit subways at CP and AIIMS, increase ventilation in the Sri Aurobindo Marg subway, and introduce lower pavements which are handicapped-accessible at AIIMS. These problems are listed in the spatial misfit section of Table 6.7 (column 2) and solving them can enhance the legibility of the sites. Fit strategies to improve non-spatial fit Fig. 6.15 Men Taller Than Stairway, Nehru Place often extend beyond design (column 3 of table 6.7). For instance, in CP, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) could improve fit by providing a more regular bus service. The Delhi Traffic Police could repair mal-functioning traffic signals on the outer circle and station more traffic police in the area. At the DU Metro Station, the DMRC could investigate students’ claims that ticket fares are too high and train frequency is inadequate during peak hours. Alternative government intervention is often necessary because design cannot single-handedly remedy such problems. 5. Identity a. Perception of Identity People began talking about identity as they elaborated on their problems and overall dissatisfaction with the sites. Respondents at AIIMS were displeased with hospital authorities and questioned the site’s identity as a government hospital because basic spatial elements such as toilets and drinking water were lacking. University students at 92 the DU Metro Station said that the area would have more character if its walls were less bare – they felt that their everyday stop missed elements that made it memorable. Respondents at Priya were the least dissatisfied and talked positively about the site. Many of them called themselves ‘regulars’ at the plaza, and this reflected their attachment to the area. Even though no pedestrians associated themselves with Nehru Place, respondents said that the site had a strong identity as an IT market. While both Priya and Nehru Place are plazas, people perceive the first as a recreational hub and the second as an office space. The difference in how people perceive the two sites’ identities stems, to an extent, from the uses these sites house, and the activities that they support. The textile shopkeeper who said he would not stay after work in Nehru Place because it did not have the right mix of people or places, and the IT professional who said he would if there were more coffee joints like Costa Coffee, both touch upon how Nehru Place is singularly geared to be a commercial area. In contrast, respondents at Priya said that the range of bars and cafes in the plaza were very inviting. Group characteristics also determined respondent priorities. Both the tourist and youth group were engaged in recreation and therefore prioritised social spaces more than other groups. Age also seems to shape perception: university students and the youth both fall within the same age group of 15 to 25 year olds: many university students emphasised the that the DU Metro Station was lacking in ‘identity’ and ‘character,’ and respondents at Priya called themselves ‘regulars.’ People’s perception of the identity of an area also seems to depend on their socio-cultural conditioning, as is evidenced through a conversation with a boy at Priya who said that the beggars in the plaza did not ‘fit’ the high-end profile of the site. 93 b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour Most respondents made few direct references to the identity Table 6.8 Identity and Legibility Site AIIMS CP of sites (they concentrated on other issues).Therefore, although the findings indicate that CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Identity Problems 2 Path Low Legibility Edge High Landmark High 1 Low Moderate Moderate 3 1 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 0 Moderate Low High 2 High High High legibility would enhance a site’s identity to a degree, the results do not establish this connection clearly. Akin to fit, identity is also influenced by other values. For instance, orientation problems at the DU Metro Station’s underground enclosed path may partially explain its moderate legibility and lack of identity. Students described this path as dull and characterless, which may detract from its clarity, again creating a gap that design could fill. Lynch says: “So we take delight in physically distinctive, recognizable locales and attach our feeling and meanings to them. They make us feel at home, grounded. Place character is often recalled with affection; its lack is a frequent subject of popular complaint…place supports our sense of personal identity.” 122 The observation that legibility enhanced identity at Priya supports this hypothesis. Edges, for instance, defined behaviour at Priya and their subtle but definite effect aligns with Lynch’s observations on the understated character of the edge. 123 Here, edges act as seams to the avenues along which people walk back and forth, criss-crossing, shopping bags in hand, latte straws in mouth, carefree(Fig. 6.16, 6.17, 6.18). Fig. 6.16 Looking down the two Avenues Fig. 6.18 Fig. 6.17 Fig. 6.17 Young People Seated on Ledges: Side Avenue 94 Fig. 6.18 Edges Shaping Main Avenue The stark difference in the behaviour of the same age group at the DU Metro Station reinforces the idea that edges influence behaviour. Here the edges are bare walls and people walk quickly through the passageway, with no reason to linger. c. Design Solutions Design can often reinforce a site’s identity. Signage in the tone of the existing area may enhance the site’s character. Site observations at Priya show that young people enjoy sitting on ledges, steps, pavements, and low walls, often preferring these informal seating arrangements to traditional benches and chairs. Increasing seating at Priya could enhance the site’s appeal for the youth, as well as for other groups like tourists. The DDA could increase the quantity and diversity of informal seating. 124 Ironically, the improvements that the DDA has recently carried out at Priya actually reduce such seating arrangements. At the beginning of this study, the south-west corner of Priya accommodated a smaller sunken circular area with a dysfunctional fountain (Fig. 6.19). Facing the Barista café, young people gathered at this spot – groups of friends met there in the evenings, workers from an NGO came to teach basic language and arithmetic to local street children, and the area was always lively. Fig. 6.19 Past: Gathering Around Barista Fountain Fig. 6.20 Present: Filled-in Barista Fountain 95 Now a gas pipeline runs through this erstwhile haunt (Fig. 6.20. The pipeline is underground, and the sunken spot was filled in to accommodate it). Its ‘regulars’ have been displaced and the spot is an eyesore. This example shows that there are indeed highly-used public spaces, and people appreciate and inhabit them, but the government planner in New Delhi is blissfully unconcerned about protecting them. 125 At sites such as Priya, where users are already satisfied with aspects such as safety and orientation, planners should seek to reinforce the character of the place, thereby drawing more people to the site. At sites like Nehru Place too, reinforcing identity could increase the appeal of the area. For instance, at both Priya and Nehru Place, respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of ‘greenery’ within the paved plazas. This shows that people appreciate views and greenery, regardless of whether they visit the site for pleasure or work. 6. Control a. Perception of Control Control appears to be a catch-all value because people felt a lack of control when they had problems with the other values. Control is strongly influenced by dissatisfaction with orientation and access, and is enhanced by identity. At every site at least some respondents felt a lack of control, with the exception of the youth at Priya. Twelve hospital visitors, working women and office workers, seven university students, and six tourists talked of their feelings of helplessness. University students and youth (the two groups in the younger age bracket) were the two groups that appeared most satisfied about control, perhaps because they were less vulnerable than hospital patients, working women, office workers, or tourists. 96 b. Linking Legibility and Behaviour The effect of legibility on control may be via other environmental values such as safety and orientation. The legibility of specific elements is not seen to affect control directly. Lynch finds that a sense of control symbolises the individual’s Table 6.9 Control and Legibility Site AIIMS rights over a space, and this study notes that people feel a lack of control when they feel unsafe or disoriented, or when they think an CP CP Nehru Place DU Metro Station Priya Group Hospital Visitors Working Women Tourists Office Workers University Students Youth Control Problems 12 Path Low Legibility Edge High Landmark High 12 Low Moderate Moderate 6 12 Low High Moderate Moderate Moderate High 7 Moderate Low High 0 High High High area is inaccessible. Hall studies the instability people feel when forced into proximity with others (Chapter 2.0) and how their ensuing helplessness affects their behaviour. 126 For instance, overcrowding was raised as a major problem by all groups (except the youth at Priya). Pedestrians felt a lack of control over their environment when they found themselves in small spaces with a large number of people, and this clearly affected their behaviour. The girl who disliked the crowded train platform at the DU Metro Station and the middle-aged man at AIIMS who feared the crowd in the subway would shove him and further injure his damaged leg both tried to edge as far away from other people as possible, and were very uncomfortable in the areas. Although Whyte and Gehl both observe that crowds are a positive phenomenon, 127 Gehl stresses a basic need about walking: it needs space where the pedestrian is not pushed around and does not have to maneuver too much. 128 97 Overcrowding creates sensory overload for the pedestrian; in such a situation there are too many factors for human faculties to process simultaneously (Chapter 2.0). Hall links overcrowding, illness and crime, to consequent fear regarding personal safety and well-being. 129 Pedestrians who used the subway at AIIMS stopped frequently in corners because they needed relief from being in the crowd. In Nehru Place, people looking for an office in the mass of buildings moved from the encroached corridors towards the relatively-empty centre of the area. Both groups of pedestrians adapted to overload by changing their behaviour in an attempt to regain the sense of control they lost in the crowd. Crowding is but one instance of how the perceived lack of control affected pedestrians in Delhi. At Nehru Place, CP, and the DU Metro Station, disorientation, and the pedestrian’s inability to counter it, creates a sensed lack of control. At all sites (except Priya), respondents felt vulnerable because their physical environment threatened their sense of stability. However, working women in CP declared that they would rather walk in a crowded place than a deserted one. There were two factors at play in this case – fear for personal safety in a deserted subway, and discomfort in a crowded one. Evidently, the former outweighed the latter. In fact, women also raised negative associations with crowds when they complained that they missed buses because the crowd rushed to board them. Site observation confirmed that women often stepped back, out of the crowd. It is in such situations, when there is so much sensory information to deal with that the person is not able to process it fast enough, that ‘overload’ occurs. 130 98 c. Design Solutions There is no direct way of increasing control. A sense of control can be enhanced by increasing satisfaction with other environmental values. 6.4 Summary a. Summarising Perception of Values A physical space should leave the pedestrian with an experience that he or she wishes to revisit (or at least not be put off by). Planners should use the knowledge of what pedestrians value to enhance their usage of the sites by satisfying their environmental values, especially since the groups studied here have little choice about using the sites. In this regard this discussion has identified respondent priorities. The findings indicate that safety was the primary concern of pedestrians at all five sites. This was followed by orientation. Feeling unsafe or disoriented can also create a sense of lack of control. When people feel a lack of control they lose interest in other positive aspects of their surroundings. When people feel safe and oriented, their attention is drawn to other issues, such as access. Dissatisfaction with access also influences fit and identity. Control seems to be a catch-all value that is influenced by all the other values (safety, orientation, access, fit, and identity). b. Summarising Legibility and its link to Behaviour Legibility affects satisfaction levels, which in turn affect behaviour. A legible environment allows pedestrians to navigate their surroundings more easily, and with 99 greater confidence. With respect to the legibility of paths, edges, and landmarks, legible paths orient pedestrians more powerfully than edges and landmarks. If pedestrians think that paths are clear and accessible, they feel more in control (as at Priya). In the absence of a legible path system, edges and landmarks play a more significant role in the pedestrian’s walking experience. Legible landmarks allowed pedestrians to reinforce informal paths at Nehru Place and AIIMS, and also oriented pedestrians at CP. At Priya, edges organised the plaza into a coherent walkable whole for the person who goes there to wander, and ends up lingering. Although the good design of paths, edges, or landmarks could increase the legibility of a place for its pedestrians, all three evidently work best in combination. At AIIMS and Nehru Place it was the edge-landmark combination, rather than either one of them, that created a navigable pedestrian system at points where the legibility of the path faltered. At Priya, strong edges, distinct landmarks, and the two strong central paths combined to create a place people actually like to walk in. Finally, a legible environment should not be regarded as a complete solution to pedestrian problems. Although legibility can enhance user satisfaction, it cannot singlehandedly solve problems such as inappropriate public policies or their faulty implementation (respondents raised many such issues). Legibility is a tool that should be employed alongside other appropriate initiatives to enhance site usage. c. Summarising Design Solutions Good design should focus on legibility. Often, simple design solutions can enhance values considerably. For instance, bright lighting enhances safety, signage helps 100 orient pedestrians, uncluttered paths increase access, a sense of space enhances control, and so on. It is useful to return to the Table 6.7 findings regarding fit when considering design solutions, because responses about this value have identified specific problems at the sites. Legibility can improve pedestrian satisfaction with sites by enhancing people’s values. It is, however, only one tool of many that can increase pedestrian use of spaces. In situations where legibility does not provide a holistic solution to a site’s problems, policy measures or their improved implementation may be necessary to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment. 101 Chapter 7.0 Conclusion My interest in the topic emerged from an association with New Delhi and its neglected pedestrian. There is much research on pedestrian perception and behaviour in the developed world but there is little work on India. I wanted to study how walking environments should be designed, based on what pedestrians value in their surroundings. 7.1 Revisiting Research Questions In conclusion, it is relevant to revisit the four research questions with which this thesis began. The first of these was “What do people value in their walking environment?” This study finds that people have certain environmental values. Their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with these values affects their behaviour. The behaviour of Delhi’s pedestrians varied substantially, depending on whether they believed that their surroundings enhanced or threatened their environmental values. The five Lynchean values – safety, access, fit (spatial and non-spatial), sense (orientation and identity), and control - chosen for study accurately captured the range of environmental concerns of the pedestrians interviewed. Respondents did not bring forth any other values. The study finds that, for pedestrians in New Delhi, the five environmental values are rated differently. Personal safety was the most important. A sense of orientation was a close second. The findings also suggest that direction of movement of the pedestrian (from the transit point to the destination, and from the destination to the transit point) plays a major role in orientation. However, the sample size of seven people moving in each direction at each site did not facilitate an in-depth analysis of direction. 102 The thesis also finds that respondents do not think of the five values separately, but relate them, and that the interrelations among these issues are useful in understanding overall dissatisfaction with the physical environment. The second research question was, “How do people perceive their surroundings?” The thesis found that perception depended on legibility, and that legibility of the physical environment influences satisfaction ratings. The legibility of the three design elements suggested by Lynch – paths, edges, and landmarks – is integral to the pedestrian’s ordering of space and his or her ability to navigate it. The third research question was, “How do values and perception affect pedestrian behaviour?” The study found that people tried to avoid areas when they were dissatisfied with their values (which often happened at sites with low legibility), and vice versa. The fourth and final research question was, “How can design help create spaces that accommodate user values?” The study found that good design should enhance legibility of elements that increase satisfaction with environmental values. This will enhance pedestrian usage of the environment. 7.2 Directions for Future Research This research is a starting point for further studies in environmental perception. Limitations of resources and time have confined the scope of this thesis in many ways. The sample size at each site was only 14 people, for a total of 84 people interviewed. A larger sample is necessary if we were to explore the spatial and contextual differences in greater depth. In addition, time constraints limited interaction with respondents to a onetime affair. 103 New studies could also investigate the perceptions of different user groups with different income, age, gender, and activity types. To some extent, this thesis identified how common characteristics between groups influenced perception. Future studies in Delhi could focus on the lower income group that Appendix A identifies as the most disadvantaged of the city’s pedestrian population. In Delhi itself, numerous other sites could be studied. Planning consultant J.K Mittoo identified the Nizamuddin Railway Station, Karol Bagh, and Sarojini Nagar as high-density pedestrian areas where similar research is required. These are larger sites and could even include Lynch’s legibility concepts of “districts” and “nodes.” The recommendations in this thesis provide general guidelines and there is also scope for more detailed design guidelines and an in-depth examination of the policy aspects identified as problematic in this study. Finally, the study method used can be applied to any city. It can be employed to study the perception of any user group, and at any physical scale. This thesis did not explore Lynch’s performance dimensions of justice and equity although such would be an especially interesting focus in the developing world. 104 Endnotes 1 Researchers have written extensively about the lack of pedestrian planning in Delhi. See for instance: Mohan, Dinesh. “Planning for Safety of High Capacity Bus Systems.” Urban Transport for Growing Cities: High Capacity Bus Systems, Ed. By Geetam Tiwari, New Delhi: MacMillan IndiaLtd., p.42-56.; Padam, Sudarsanam and Sanjay Kumar Singh. “Urbanisation and Urban Transport in India: The Search for a Policy” European Transport. n.27 (2004): 26-44; Singh, Sanjay K. “Review of Urban Transportation in India” Journal of Public Transportation, Vol.8, No.1, 2005; Tiwari, Geetam. “Traffic Flow and Safety: Need for New Models for Heterogeneous Traffic” Injury Prevention and Control, 72; Tiwari, Geetam. “Towards a Sustainable Urban Transport System: Planning for Non-Motorized Vehicles in Cities” Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology. Appendix A (A Note on New Delhi: Putting the Pedestrian in Context) elaborates on this issue. 2 The reference point for this study is Kevin Lynch’s seminal work in perception analysis (Lynch, Kevin. Image of the City. Cambridge, The Technology Press & Harvard University Press, 1960), and his normative study of what people value in the built environment (Lynch, Kevin. A Theory of Good City Form. The MIT Press, 1981). 3 This thesis is informed by Amos Rapoport’s study of perception and the built environment. He sees the environment as comprised of individual, physical, personal, suprapersonal, and social spheres; see Rapoport, Amos. Human Aspects of Urban Form. Towards a Man-Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1977, 8. 4 Kepes. The New Landscape. 1956, 204. 5 Ibid, 204. 6 Ibid, 18. For instance, Kepes views the boundary line as a reference point that orders images. 7 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 20, Figure 1.9. 8 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 37, 14, cites the differences between the Australian’s aborigine’s perception of a sacred place and a white man’s, or how that between residents of a Chinese city and outsiders. 9 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 37, 14. 10 Milgram, 1973, pp.24 in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form. 11 Kepes. The New Landscape. 1956, 18. 12 Kepes. The New Landscape, 50. 13 Appleyard, Donald. “Motion, Sequence, and the City” in Georgy Kepes’ The Nature and Art of Motion. London: Studio Vista, 1965, 180. 14 Ittelson, 1960; Ittelson and Proshansky n.d.; Michelson 1969 in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 203. 15 Lynch, A Theory of Good City Form, 112, 119. Lynch sees the meta-criteria of efficiency and justice as an intrinsic part of the five dimensions. 16 Appleyard, Donald. Planning a Pluralist City: Conflicting Realities in Ciudad Guayana. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1976. 17 Lynch, A Theory of Good City Form, 1981. Lynch defines a safe settlement as one where fear of encountering hazards is low, but his definition is broad and refers to natural calamities. 18 Lynch, A Theory of Good City Form, 1981, 151. 19 Ibid. 20 Structure refers to how the parts of a place fit together in a small area. At a larger scale, it becomes orientation, Lynch, 1981, 150. 21 Congruence is defined as the relationship of the physical space to its function, Lynch, 1981, 150. 22 Immediacy is interpreted as how visible the processes of the place are to its user, Lynch, 1981, 150. 23 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960, 4. 24 Ibid. 25 Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1966. 26 Ibid. 27 Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Tr. Jo Koch. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1987; Whyte, William H. The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. Washington D.C.: The Conservation Press, 1980. 28 Ibid. 29 Gerda R. Wekerle and Carolyn Whitzman. 1995. Safe Cities: Guidelines for Planning, Design and Management. New York: John Wiley. 30 Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, 1980. 31 Gehl, Life Between Buildings, 1987. 105 32 Other major works about perception include: Appleyard, Donald. “Motion, Sequence, and the City” in Georgy Kepes’ The Nature and Art of Motion; Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension; Kepes, Georgy. The New Landscape; Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City; and Saarinen, Thomas F. Environmental Planning, Perception and Behavior. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1976; 1969. 33 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 141. 34 ‘Schemata are persistent, deep rooted and well organized classifications of ways of perceiving, thinking, and behaving’, Vernon 1955, p.180 in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 43. 35 Steinitz, 1968 in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977. 36 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 26. 37 Appleyard in Kepes, The Nature and Art of Motion, 1965, 177. 38 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 125. 39 Ibid, 136. 40 The individual’s need to find meaning in the physical environment is central to Kepes’ view of perception. 41 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 11. 42 Ibid, 26. 43 Boulding, Kenneth E. The Image. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1956, 6. 44 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 43. 45 Kepes, The New Landscape, 1956, 22. 46 Boulding, Kenneth E. The Image. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1956, 6. 47 Kepes sees our surroundings in the modern urban environment as confusing to us, necessitating a need to clarify them, The New Landscape, 1956. 48 Ibid, 119-120. 49 Overload refers to ‘a system’s inability to process inputs from the environment because there are too many inputs for the system to cope with,’ in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 123. 50 Ibid, 142. 51 Hall, The Hidden Dimension, 1966, 99, says that orientation differs with culture, categorising it as ‘mold into which a great deal of behaviour is cast.’ 52 Rapoport’s example of Moroccans who direct themselves by areas that they know, or people who orient themselves towards shopping areas, brings to light other ways of directing oneself, Rapoport, 1977. 53 Hurst 1971, in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 250-254. 54 Tyler, 1969 in Ibid, 108. 55 Hall, The Hidden Dimension, 1966. 56 ‘the situational personality is associated with responses to intimate, personal, social, and public transactions,’ Ibid, 109. 57 Gould, Peter and Rodney White. Mental Maps. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1974. 58 Gould and White refer to ‘environmental perception’ when they say, ‘our views of the world, and about people and places in it, are formed from a highly filtered set of impressions, and our images are strongly affected by the information we receive through our filters.’ 59 Appleyard in Kepes. Nature and Art of Motion. 1965, 178, elaborates on differences between the traveler’s perceived and real motion, which also connects with Rapoport’s (Appleyard in Kepes, 1956; Rapoport, 1977). Prediction, judgment, and accuracy become important in an environment as one moves through it. 60 Milgram in Saarinen, Thomas F. Environmental Planning: Perception and Behaviour. Atlanta: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1976, 130. 61 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 197. 62 Saarinen, Thomas F. Environmental Planning: Perception and Behavior, 1976. 63 Relating perception to habit-formation, Rapoport says, ‘expectations based on prior knowledge affect initial behaviour so that the desire to use something comes first, then knowledge of its spatial location, the ability to find it and then action.’ 64 Gehl, Life Between Buildings, 1987, 17-23. 65 Project for Public Spaces. How to Turn a Place Around, 2002. PPS: New York. 66 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960 67 Ibid, 9. 68 Ibid, 16-25. Lynch sees the imageability of a place, which is associated with legibility, visibility, and apparency, as perceptible over time and allowing for its user to have a heightened awareness of his or her environment. He advocates accessibility, adequacy, diversity, adaptability, and comfort, as performance criteria for metropolitan form: Lynch in Banerjee, Tridib and Michael Southworth. City Sense and City Design: Writings and Projects of Kevin Lynch. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1990. 69 Ibid, 16-25. Strong character is akin to the strong images of areas such as the Back Bay – Beacon Hill area. 106 70 Ibid, 102. Penetrable boundaries can increase the imageability of districts or nodes. ‘Transparencies, overlappings, light modulation, perspective, surface gradients, closure, articulation, patterns of motion and sound’ are some such techniques. 71 Appleyard in Kepes, The Nature and Art of Motion, 1965, 181. 72 Lynch, 1960, 47 defines paths as ‘channels along which the observer customarily, occasionally, or potentially moves. They may be streets, walkways, transit lines, canals, railroads. For many people these are the predominant elements in their image.’ 73 Ibid, 47 sees edges as ‘the linear elements not used or considered as paths by the observer. They are the boundaries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity; shores, railroad cuts, edges of development, walls. They are lateral references rather than coordinate axes. Such edges may be barriers, more or less penetrable, which close one region off from another; or they may be seams, lines along which two regions are related and joined together. These edge elements, although probably not as dominant as paths, are for many people important organizing features, particularly in the role of holding together generalized areas, as in the outline of a city by water or wall.’ 74 Ibid, 48 finds landmarks to be ‘another type of point-reference, but in this case the observer does not enter within them, they are external. They are usually a rather simply defined physical object: building, sign, store, or mountain. Their use involves the singling out of one element from a host of possibilities. Some landmarks are distant ones, typically seen from many angles and distances, over the tops of smaller elements, and used as radial references…other landmarks are primarily local, being visible only in restricted localities and from certain approaches. These are the innumerable signs, store fronts, trees, doorknobs, and other urban detail, which fill in the image of most observers. They are frequently used clues of identity and even of structure, and seem to be increasingly relied upon as a journey becomes more and more familiar.’ 75 Ibid, Lynch identifies five elements as constituting the physical environment: Path, Edge, Node, District, and Landmark (PENDL). He defines districts as the ‘medium-to-large sections of the city, conceived of as having two-dimensional extent, which the observer mentally enters “inside of,” and which are recognizable as having some common, identifying character.’ He defines nodes as ‘points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is traveling. They may be primarily junctions, places of a break in transportation, a crossing or convergence of paths, moments of shift from one structure to another. Or the nodes may be simply concentrations, which gain their importance from being the condensation of some use or physical character, as a street-corner hangout or an enclosed square.’ The nature of these definitions would perhaps find Connaught Place itself to be a district and the remaining sites to be nodes. Since it is the specifics of these sites which are being studied, these two elements are thought to be too large in terms of scale to study as an element within the sites. 76 Ibid. 77 Ibid. 78 Site prominence is established through communication with planners, government officials, architects, and engineers from the Delhi Development Authority, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission, the state Ministry of Transportation, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and private planning consultants. 79 Media coverage from leading national dailies including the Hindu, the Times of India, the Telegraph, and the Hindustan Times has also been used. 80 Lynch. Image of the City. 1960. 81 Rapoport. Human Aspects of Urban Form. 1977, 114, 131. 82 Krambeck, Holly and Jitendra Shah. “The Global Walkability Index: Talk the Walk and Walk the Talk.” The World Bank, 2005. 83 “Delhi Government Gearing Up to Host Commonwealth Games 2010,” Hindu, 8 January 2005. 84 Singh, Amarjit. Proposed Traffic Management Plan for Common Wealth Games – 2010, Delhi, India. ASJ Scale International.. 85 The metro rail is operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., buses are run by both the Delhi Transport Corporation and individual private operators, and taxis, auto-rickshaws and cycle rickshaws by private operators. 86 Connaught Place (CP) was established as the central business district of Delhi by the British empire in India during the early twentieth century. Since the 2003 decision that New Delhi would host the Commonwealth Games in 2010, the national and state governments have focused upon redeveloping the area. For further information see: “Corporates Returning to Connaught Place,” Businessline (Chennai), 12 July 2002; “Janpath: Oxford Street in the Making,” Businessline (Chennai), April 10, 2004; “New Metro Section waits for VIPs,” Businessline (Chennai), 16 June 2005. For general information on Connaught Place, refer the district’s commercial website “Connaught Place Mall,” at http://www.connaughtplacemall.com. Note: Connaught Place was officially renamed Rajiv Chowk in 1996. However, it is most popularly referred to as the former, and this study will use the same. 107 87 Built in 1956 and now India’s most renowned government hospital, AIIMS provides free/subsidised medical and hospital services. For an overview of the hospital and facilities refer its official site, http://www.aiims.edu. 88 Nehru Place is a planned commercial and office plaza in South Delhi which today is the largest hub for IT related products in Asia. For an overview, see the area businesses’ official website at http://www.npithub.com; “Nehru Place, New Delhi,” Indian Architect, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 87-95, Apr 1973. 89 Basant Lok, popularly known as Priya and referred to herein as the latter, is one of the oldest planned plazas in Delhi which has developed into a recreational hotspot. Retaining the area’s popular name is appropriate because young people unanimously use this name when referring to the area. For an overview of the development of the area, see “The Delhi Development Authority: Some Recent Projects.” Design, vol. 12, pp. 15-25, July 1968. For current information on the area, see the local shopowners’ association website at http://www.basantlok.com. 90 Part of the first phase of the Delhi Metro (portions of which are currently under construction), the yellow line of the service reaches Delhi University’s main campus in north Delhi. Opened in 2004, this line sees constant student traffic. The site falls under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. For further information, see the corporation’s official website at http://www.delhimetrorail.com. 91 H.S. Dhillon, Joint Director, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Delhi Development Authority, interview with author, April 23, 2007. 92 “New Look Flyovers Before Commonweath 2010,” Hindu, 5 February 2005. 93 Ashok Ghodeshwar, Senior Architect, South Zone, Architecture Department, Delhi Development Authority, interview with author, April 23, 2007. 94 Abhijit Sarkar, Secretary to Minister of Transport, Government of Delhi, interview with author, April 22, 2007. 95 Lynch. Image of the City,1960; Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977, 39. 96 Gans 1971; Fellman and Brandt 1970, in Rapoport, Human Aspects of Urban Form, 1977. 97 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960. 98 Appleyard, Donald. “Motion, Sequence, and the City” in Georgy Kepes’ The Nature and Art of Motion. London: Studio Vista, 1965, 178-9. 99 H.S. Dhillon, Joint Director, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Delhi Development Authority, interview with author, April 23, 2007. 100 Abhijit Sarkar, Secretary, Minister of Transport, Government of Delhi, interview with author, April 22, 2007. 101 Proposed changes include redesigning roads and streetlights, traffic regulation, parking augmentation, restoration of the heritage façade, uniform signages, and modernisation of existing structures, “CP Redevelopment Plan Yet to Begin,” Hindu, 5 July, 2005. 102 Incidents of rape, assault and kidnapping have been a growing concern in New Delhi. Along with the National Commission for Women, numerous women’s groups and NGOs have concerned themselves with the issue, and conduct safety audits and offer free self-defense workshops for women. For additional information on women’s safety in New Delhi see: “GPS Technology to Enhance Safety for Women Workers,” Hindu, 25 April 2007; “Jagori doing its bit for Delhi women’s safety,” Meri News, 11 November 2006, retrieved from http://www.merinews.com, April 10, 2007; “On their Day Women Tak Safety,” Times of India, 8 March 2006; “Punch, Bang: Police Teach Safety,” Times of India, 21 May, 2005; “Women’s Safety Issue: NCW Writes to Patil,” 23 July 2005; “NCW asks Delhi Government to Increase Women in Police,” Hindu, 22 January 2005; official website of Delhi Commission for Women, at http://dcw.delhigovt.nic.in; Jagori NGO website at http://safedelhi.jagori.org. 103 “L-G Sets up Panel to Spruce Up Nehru Place,” The Times of India, 22 April, 2002. 104 J.K. Mittoo, Planning Consultant to Government of Delhi, Interview with Author, April 20, 2007. 105 Tripta Khurana, Chief Architect, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Interview with Author, April 27, 2007. 106 Gehl, Life Between Buildings, 139, 140. 107 The frequency counts (one count for each respondent) do not reflect that safety was relatively more important than other aspects of the site. For instance, at AIIMS, 12 of 14 respondents cited a lack of control and felt that the site was inaccessible; 13 thought that the misfit of non-spatial elements created problems. 108 Madanipour, Ali. Design of Urban Space: An Inquiry into a Socio-spatial Process. Wiley, 1996, 86-87. Ibid. 110 Lynch, 1969, finds that similar people share group images. Rapoport, 1977, 39 finds that different activities activate a different mental ‘code’ for the traveller. Group characteristics such as age or sex determine this distinction and an ‘operational environment’ exists within realm of the physical ‘within which people work and which affects them (Sonnenfield in Saarinen, 1969, 6.)” 109 108 111 Relating perception to habit-formation, Rapoport says, ‘expectations based on prior knowledge affect initial behaviour so that the desire to use something comes first, then knowledge of its spatial location, the ability to find it and then action.’ 112 Lynch, Kevin. Managing the Sense of a Region. 1976, the MIT Press, 23. 113 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960, 79, 96-97, 100. 114 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960, 79, 96-97, 100. 115 Lynch discusses the design of edges in Image of the City, 1960, 100. 116 Ibid, 79, 96-97, 100. 117 Gehl, Life Between Buildings, 139, 140. 118 Ed. Lang, John, Charles Burnette, Walter Moleski & David Vachon. Designing for Human Behaviour.1974, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross Inc., Pennsylvania, 275-278 which discusses hospital outdoor spaces. 119 As early as 1980, Whyte (78) pointed out the necessity of toilets necessary in public spaces. 120 Ed. Lang, John, Charles Burnette, Walter Moleski and David Vachon. Designing for Human Behaviour.1974, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross Inc., 217-219. Pennsylvania suggests checklists for appropriate design should ask whether the layout of space reflects relationships among activities. Other questions ask whether all man’s needs have been provided for, and whether enough landmarks exist in the area. 121 Rapoport, 1977, 65-80, in Table 2.1 provides a summary of other studies’ identified components of environmental quality. US Wiggins, 1973 identified physical components as the degree of closure, size of space, character of space, nature of enclosing elements, amount of greenery, visual quality – signs/distinct districts/orientation, air quality and weather, transportation, social components included activity, function/uses, and the variety and quality of goods and services. Appleyard and Lintell (1972) found physical elements to include traffic hazard, noise/vibration/pollution/trash, maintenance, privacy, greenery, complexity/variety, spaciousness, clean air, microclimate, topography and view. Lynch and Rivkin (1970) found physical components to comprise spatial quality (interest, contrast, greenery liked – dirt, constriction disliked), intrinsic interest of features, specific buildings, nature of traffic and parking. 122 Lynch, Kevin. Managing the Sense of a Region. 1976, the MIT Press, 23. 123 Lynch, 1960, 47 says that ‘edge elements, although for many people are not as dominant as paths, are for many people important organizing feature, particularly in the role of holding together generalized areas, as in the outline of a city by water or wall.’ 124 Whyte, 1980, 27 found that the popularity of plazas depended on the amount of sittable space, and advised that design should ‘maximise the sittability of inherent features.’ Pedestrians often sit and rest, or linger. Whyte identifies the depth of the seat as important for it to be comfortable. 125 Marcus, Clare Cooper & Carolyn Francis. People Places: Design Guidelines for Urban Open Space. 1990. Van Nostran Reinhold. 9-68. The authors address subspaces as devices encouraging use of the area and talk of how the transition of different levels, seating, and planting appeals to the passer-by more than blank space, 29. The erstwhile derelict fountain area may be compared to the Alcoa Plaza example from San Francisco which is deemed a successful subspace which “offers seating around a central circular planter, looking out over enclosing eye-level planters that square off the space, which is about twenty feet square,” 30. 126 Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. 1966. Doubleday & Co., New York. 161 & Lynch, Image of the City, 1969. 127 Whyte, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, 19; Gehl. 128 Gehl, Life Between Buildings, 135. 129 Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. 1966. Doubleday & Co., New York. 161. 130 Saarinen, Perception and Behavior, 130. 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Alexander, Christopher. Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964. Appleyard, Donald. Planning a Pluralist City: Conflicting Realities in Ciudad Guayana. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1976. Appleyard, Donald. Liveable Streets. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981. Armstrong, D.M. Perception and the Physical World. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961. Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking. London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1969. Bacon, Edmund N. Design of Cities. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1969. Eds. Banerjee, Tridib and Michael Southworth. City Sense and City Design: Writings and Projects of Kevin Lynch. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1990. Eds. Birenbaum, Arnold and Edward Sagarin. People in Places: The Sociology of the Familiar. New York: Praeger, 1973. Boulding, Kenneth E. The Image. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1956. Ed. Buisseret, David. Envisioning the City: Six Studies in Urban Cartography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Eds. Carlstein, Tommy, Don Parkes and Nigel Thrift. Timing Space and Spacing Time, Volume 1. Making Sense of Time. London: Edward Arnold, 1978. Churchill, Henry S. The City is the People. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1945. Crawford, J.H. Carfree Cities. Utrech: International Books, 2000. Downs, M. Roger and David Stea. Image and Environment: Cognitive Mapping and Spatial Behavior. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1973. Downs, M. Roger and David Stea. Maps in Minds: Reflections of Cognitive Mapping. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Freedman, Jonathan E. Crowding and Behavior. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1975. 110 Eds. Gastil, Raymond W. and Zoe Ryan. Open New Designs for Public Space. New York: Van Alen Institute, 2004. Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space. Tr. Jo Koch. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1987. Golledge, Reginald G. and Robert J. Stimson. Spatial Behaviour: A Geographic Perspective. New York: The Guilford Press, 1997. Gould, Peter and Rodney White. Mental Maps. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1974. Hall, Edward T. The Hidden Dimension. New York: Doubeday & Co., 1966. Ittelson, William H. Environment and Cognition. New York: Seminar Press, 1973. Keller, Suzanne. Building for Women. Massachusetts: D.C. Heath & Co., 1981. Ed. Kepes, Gyorgy. 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JOURNAL ARTICLES DAC, and PR Fouracre. “Non-Motorised Travel in Third World Cities” Institute of British Geographers’ Annual Conference on Managing Our Environment, Coventry, 3-6 January 1989, 6. “The Delhi Development Authority: Some Recent Projects.” Design, Vol. 12, pp. 15-25, July 1968. Deb, S.K. “Influence of the Culture of the City and Its Transportation on a Sustainable Campus Life.” Krambeck, Holly and Jitendra Shah. “The Global Walkability Index: Talk the Walk and Walk the Talk.” The World Bank, 2005. Mohan, Dinesh. “Planning for Safety of High Capacity Bus Systems.” Urban Transport for Growing Cities: High Capacity Bus Systems, ed. By Geetam Tiwari, New Delhi: MacMillan IndiaLtd. Padam, Sudarsanam and Sanjay Kumar Singh. “Urbanisation and Urban Transport in India: The Search for a Policy” European Transport. Vol.27 (2004). Pucher, John, Nisha Korattyswaroopam, Neha Mittal, and Neenu Ittyerah. “Urban Transport Crisis in India.” Transport Policy, Vol.12, Issue 3, June 2005. “Nehru Place, New Delhi,” Indian Architect, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 87-95, Apr 1973. Ranganathan, N. (1995) “National Urban Transport Policy – A Framework”, Indian Journal of Transport Management, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 85-98. Saarinen, Thomas F. “Perception of Environment. Resource Paper No.5”, Association of American Geographers. Washington D.C.: University of Arizona, 1969. 112 Singh, Sanjay K. “Review of Urban Transportation in India” Journal of Public Transportation, Vol.8, No.1, 2005. Tiwari, Geetam. “Traffic Flow and Safety: Need for New Models for Heterogeneous Traffic” Injury Prevention and Control, 72. Tiwari, Geetam. “Towards a Sustainable Urban Transport System: Planning for NonMotorized Vehicles in Cities” Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, Indian Institute of Technology. Tiwari, Geetam “Urban Transport Priorities: Meeting the Challenge of Socio-Economic Diversity in Cities – Case Study, Delhi, India.” Conference paper presented at ‘Meeting the Transport Challenges in South Africa,’ 20th South African Transport Conference, South Africa, 16-20 July, 2001, 6. Tiwari, Geetam. “Pedestrian Infrastructure in the City Transport System: A Case Study of Delhi,” World Transport Policy and Practise, Vol.7, No.4, (2001), 13-18. Trowbridge, C.C. “On Fundamental Methods of Orientation and ‘Imaginary Maps’.” Science, New Series, Vol.38, No.990, 19 December 1913, 888-897. MEDIA “GPS Technology to Enhance Safety for Women Workers,” Hindu, 25 April 2007. “On their Day Women Talk Safety,” Times of India, 8 March 2006. “Women’s Safety Issue: NCW Writes to Patil,” Times of India. 23 July 2005. “CP Redevelopment Plan Yet to Begin,” Hindu, 5 July, 2005. “New Metro Section waits for VIPs,” Businessline (Chennai), 16 June 2005. “Punch, Bang: Police Teach Safety,” Times of India, 21 May, 2005. “New Look Flyovers Before Commonwealth 2010,” Hindu, 5 February 2005. “NCW asks Delhi Government to Increase Women in Police,” Hindu, 22 January 2005. “Delhi Government Gearing Up to Host Commonwealth Games 2010,” Hindu, 8 January 2005. “Janpath: Oxford Street in the Making,” Businessline (Chennai), April 10, 2004. “Corporates Returning to Connaught Place,” Businessline (Chennai), 12 July 2002. 113 L-G Sets up Panel to Spruce Up Nehru Place,” The Times of India, 22 April, 2002. WEB RESOURCES All India Institute for Medical Sciences (AIIMS) official website at http://www.aiims.edu. “Connaught Place Mall,” commercial traders’ website at http://www.connaughtplacemall.com. Delhi Commission for Women, official website at http://dcw.delhigovt.nic.in. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, official website at http://www.delhimetrorail.com. Government of India, National Commission on Population. [www.populationcommission.nic.in], May 2007 Jagori NGO official website at http://safedelhi.jagori.org. “Jagori doing its bit for Delhi women’s safety,” Meri News, 11 November 2006, retrieved from http://www.merinews.com, April 10, 2007. Priya, Basant Lok commercial traders website at http://www.basantlok.com. Nehru Place commercial traders website at http://www.npithub.com. PERSONAL COMMUNICATION Abhijit Sarkar, Secretary to Minister of Transport, Government of Delhi, interview with author, April 22, 2007. Ashok Ghodeshwar, Senior Architect, South Zone, Architecture Department, Delhi Development Authority, interview with author, April 23, 2007. H.S. Dhillon, Joint Director, Traffic and Transportation Planning, Delhi Development Authority, interview with author, April 23, 2007. J.K. Mittoo, Planning Consultant to Government of Delhi, Interview with Author, April 20, 2007. Tripta Khurana, Chief Architect, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Interview with Author, April 27, 2007. OTHER Powerpoint Presentation: Singh, Amarjit. Proposed Traffic Management Plan for Common Wealth Games – 2010, Delhi, India. ASJ Scale International. 114 Appendix A. The Pedestrian in New Delhi. At 1.11 billion people – 15 percent of the world’s population – India is a significant starting point for a study of pedestrian facilities in lower income countries. 1 The UK’s Transportation Research Laboratory in 1989 estimated that 40 percent of the trips made in Delhi were walk trips with average distances of 1.1 kilometres. 2 Delhi’s population grew by 51.9 percent between 1990 and 2000, with approximately 68 million new urban settlers during the 1990s. 3 Pedestrians comprised 42 percent of all road accident fatalities and Delhi had a higher pedestrian fatality rate than Bandung, Colombo, China, Australia and the United States. 4 Such data indicate the absence of adequate pedestrian facilities. Most dependant on public transport are Delhi’s urban poor. A survey of slum residents in Delhi found 70 percent of the respondents quoting their commute to work as the most dangerous part of their work. Members of this lower-income group are categorised as “captive pedestrians.” 5 However, the diversity in land uses and the informal sector together constitute a unique pedestrian landscape of unauthorised developments, encroachments, hawkers on pavements, etc. This environment is experienced by the entire population, and therefore relevant to all. This informal sector also has its own legitimacy because it has evolved of market demand which exists and grows. 6 Pedestrian facilities exist - such as crossings at traffic signals, pedestrian underpasses, and bridges - but this study’s interviews reinforce the TRL’s findings that these facilities are often poorly designed and maintained. An IIT Delhi study found that pedestrian facilities such as subways and footbridges are underused because of location 115 and safety issues. Pavements narrowed to increase road width, encroachment by hawkers and vendors who provide services on the pavement, combine with management issues in pedestrian areas to further exacerbate poor pedestrian infrastructure. Government studies state that around 50 percent of the space adjoining roads is encroached in certain areas. While crossing roads on the surface, it was found that road medians did not provide waiting space, and were often constructed in a manner restrictive to pedestrian usage – with railings and high medians. 7 “Pedestrians are expected to walk among parked cars, street furniture such as electricity poles, telephone poles, traffic signs, litter bins, redundant phone boxes and commercial waste. The situation is made worse as a result of poor public management of streets and public spaces, including litter and uneven pavements.” – Tiwari holds these hostile road conditions responsible for the decline in pedestrian and public transport users in New Delhi over the years. 8 The urban poor are forced to take longer walking trips, but pedestrians also include other populations such as students, working women, the elderly and the disabled and migrants. Ranganathan provides a split for per person trips by purpose on a daily basis for Delhi’s population. Work, education, others, and all purpose trips are the four categories discussed – in 2001 it was estimated that the average number of trips per person per day for education would comprise 0.15, work 0.45, others 0.50, and all purpose 1.10. The user groups selected for this study reflect these purposes. 9 The rise in car ownership in Delhi, and the government’s facilitation of car usage, may explain Delhi’s lack of pedestrian facilities to some degree. In the 1970’s, New Delhi noted the lowest car ownership amongst India’s four metropolitan cities, but during the 1990’s New Delhi crossed that of the other three combined. 10 The Delhi 116 government’s approval to funding for 30 new flyovers in 2005 is one such move that prioritises car users over pedestrians. The growing number of grade-separated intersections in New Delhi makes it even more difficult for pedestrians to cross or change modes of transport (currently, commuters having to walk on average at least 200 metres when changing bus routes for instance). Besides discouraging people from using public transport, this automobileoriented trend also increases risks to special populations such as the disabled, and children. Deb puts describes some problems that Delhi’s pedestrian faces today. 11 He says, “The high speed nonstop vehicles are not considerate to the on-foot people and completely ignore them. In most of the places there is no under-pass. Even if there is some under-pass in very few places, these are not safe even for a male and that too during the day also as there is no illumination either due to some electrical breakdown or those elements have been stolen away.” 12 Although the current construction of the metro rail and proposed revamping of the city’s public transport infrastructure (primarily buses) is meant to facilitate travel, Mohan states that high density metro corridors with an increased pedestrian presence would result from the construction of a metro rail system and lead to an increase in the number of buses, which could in turn “result in higher accident rates if special measures for traffic calming, speed reduction, and provision of better facilities for bicycles and pedestrians were not put in place in parallel.” 13 Lack of awareness, financial resources, and political will are cited by the World Bank’s 2005 walkability study as some reasons offered by way of explanation of ‘chaotic pedestrian environments’ in cities like New Delhi. 14 117 The most obvious explanation of negligence towards pedestrian facilities and areas is that it is dependent on government priority and monetary resources, and has no immediate or direct returns. The World Bank’s 2005 walkability study which explores how a walkability index should be constructed and what it may or may not constitute, lends weight to the findings collected in this study. The authors warn that walkability surveys be conducted by local populations in order to avoid bias from an external perspective and ensure that findings be related to the local context (“local, political, and economic conditions”). 15 My background as a resident of the city and context as a former journalist working in the area of New Delhi’s transportation and pedestrian network, it is hoped, lends confidence that findings from interviews and drawings will be viewed in New Delhi’s local context. Endnotes 1 Government of India, National Commission on Population. [www.populationcommission.nic.in], May 2007 Maunder DAC, and PR Fouracre. “Non-Motorised Travel in Third World Cities” Institute of British Geographers’ Annual Conference on Managing Our Environment, Coventry, 3-6 January 1989, 6. 3 Padam, Sudarsanam and Sanjay Kumar Singh. “Urbanisation and Urban Transport in India: The Search for a Policy” European Transport. n.27(2004): 26-44. Averaging a growth rate of approximately three per cent annually, India’s urban population approximately doubled between 1981 and 2001 (160 million to 285 million) – this rate is not expected to vary much in the next 20 years3. 4 Singh, Sanjay K. “Review of Urban Transportation in India” Journal of Public Transportation, Vol.8, No.1, 2005. 5 Tiwari, Geetam “Urban Transport Priorities: Meeting the Challenge of Socio-Economic Diversity in Cities – Case Study, Delhi, India.” Conference paper presented at ‘Meeting the Transport Challenges in South Africa,’ 20th South African Transport Conference, South Africa, 16-20 July, 2001, 6. 6 Tiwari, Geetam. “Traffic Flow and Safety.” Injury Prevention and Control, 2001, 71-88. 7 Tiwari, Geetam. “Pedestrian Infrastructure in the City Transport System: A Case Study of Delhi,” World Transport Policy and Practise, Vol.7, No.4, (2001), 13-18. 8 Ibid. 9 Ranganathan, N. (1995) “National Urban Transport Policy – A Framework”, Indian Journal of Transport Management, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 85-98. 10 Deb, S.K. “Influence of the Culture of the City and Its Transportation on a Sustainable Campus Life.” 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. 13 Mohan, Dinesh. “Planning for Safety in High Capacity Bus Systems.” In: Urban Transport for Growing Cities: High Capacity Bus Systems, edited by G.Tiwari, New Delhi: Macmillan India Ltd., p. 42-56.] 14 Krambeck, Holly and Jitendra Shah. “The Global Walkability Index: Talk the Walk and Walk the Talk.” The World Bank, 2005. 15 Krambeck, Holly and Jitendra Shah. “The Global Walkability Index: Talk the Walk and Walk the Talk.” The World Bank, 2005. 2 118 Appendix B. A Note on Mental Mapping The image is an organising element in the interaction of man and the environment and encompasses “notion, stereotype, plan or map, plan of action, concept, and self concept.” 1 Images develop over time, in value systems and socio-cultural-contexts. They differ from individual to individual. Lynch believes the individual’s image of space to comprise “immediate sensation” and “memory of past action.” In The Image of the City, Lynch views the image as “a framework for reference, an organizer of activity or belief or knowledge” and clear images as serving the purposes of facilitating movement at the functional level. He finds that the “clarity” of an image serves as “a basis for individual growth,” and offers the individual security, and depth and intensity of experience. 2 Connecting image to the form of space, Kepes acknowledges the “boundary line” or “contour” as what stands out most clearly in man’s perception of the world. Kepes says, “the perception of the boundary line enables man to populate his inner world with the forms and patterns which correspond to the outer world’s objects.” According to him, the human mind processes shifts in contours of the physical form to build an image of the environment which reflects, and at the same time develops and refines, the individual’s understanding of the outside world. Kepes finds that the line defines shape, and has evolved to define motion, direction, rhythm and speed. The images in The New Landscape reveal how the use of lines evolved from the outlining of common shapes to the depiction of movement; “spreading out,” “stretching,” “connections,” “symmetry,” “different planes and viewpoints,” and “interrelatedness.” 3 “People’s movement space is the starting point from which the map is constructed and this depends on the meaning which places have for people.” 4 Lynch too notices that most maps were drawn either along lines of movement or with an initial outline which 119 was later filled in with detail. Familiar elements and surroundings were added later; alternatively, adjacent regions lead towards a center. He also marks that people did not tear up their maps and start over (as was also observed in this study), which reinforces Kepes’s view that the meaning of the line is mentally developed enough for individuals to use it to depict coherent thought. Characterising maps in terms of relative density, vividness (clarity) abstraction, rigidity or fluidity, Lynch observed that some maps immediately conveyed a sense of movement through them. In others an evolution was visible, wherein the map’s rigidity increased as the individual drew in more interconnections. Distinguishable structures grew with such interconnections, and the images were organized “usually from the broad to the specific, hierarchical at times.” 5 In his study of Ciyudad Guyana, Venezuela, Appleyard too classified the mental maps through a similar hierarchy in two broad categories – sequentially dominated maps (fragments, chains, branch and loop, and network maps) and spatially dominated maps (cluster and scatter, mosaic, link, and pattern maps). 6 The validity of mental mapping is well summarized by Rapoport who says that a mapping process exists in space as people “identify spatial domains, define their place in them, orient themselves in space and move through it.” 7 The use of mental mapping to study perception derives its significance from such observation. Although each individual’s mental mapping process differs to a degree, similarities too exist; this is explained through symbol-formation. Symbols may be seen originate where individualspecific images find common meeting grounds. Kepes attributes the existence of symbols to the individual’s need for communication; he says the specific is abstracted to form a ‘general’ image characteristic of what is represented, and ‘symbolic,’ or understandable 120 by more than oneself. The commonality between map drawings of respondents at the same and different sites is the focus of the mental mapping approach in this study. Identifying what people ‘see commonly,’ and why, will aid an understanding of respondent perceptions. As an approach, mental mapping has been studied as early as 1913 by Trowbridge who spoke specifically to the errors in direction and orientation in the imaginary maps of people between their homes and the outside world. Trowbridge found that peoples’ sense of orientation centred around where they lived, and became more inaccurate in areas they could not place in relation to home ground. 8 Gould and White in 1976 studied mental maps of the world in peoples from different part of the globe. They discuss how blank areas on mental maps often result from a lack of knowledge about the area which may be due to a gap in information, or psychological factors such as fear which have resulted in people not venturing into the specific place. 9 This feeds into Lynch’s findings of how perception depends on the legibility of mental images. Frequency of route repetition internalises learning while diversity in routes expands the traveller’s mental geography. 10 Time is essential to the development of mental images and maps drawn by newcomers to an area differ from those depicted by the everyday user. Endnotes 1 Rapoport, Amos. Human Aspects of Built Form, 1977. Lynch, Image of the City, 1960. 3 Kepes, The New Landscape, 1956. 4 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Built Form, 1977, 136. 5 Lynch, Image of the City, 1960. 6 Appleyard, Planning a Pluralist City, 1976. 7 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Built Form, 1977, 114, 131. 8 Trowbridge, C.C. “On Fundamental Methods of Orientation and ‘Imaginary Maps’.” Science, New Series, Vol.38, No.990, 19 December 1913, 888-897. 9 Gould, Peter and Rodney White. Mental Maps. Boston, Allen & Unwin, 1974. 10 Rapoport, Human Aspects of Built Form, 1977, 140. 2 121 Appendix C. Sample Interview Format Following an introduction of the study and the respondent having agreed to the interview, I asked the following questions. Questions 1 to 4 are preliminary questions necessary to identify pedestrian groups. 1. What is your age? 2. What is your occupation? 3. Where do you live? 4. How long have you lived in New Delhi? If not a long-term resident of the city, what is your hometown? 5. How do you usually travel to this area? (Mode of transit: car, bus, three wheeler, minibus, etc are identified). 6. How often do you walk along this route? (daily users of the route are identified) 7. What time are you usually here? (This will identify whether the respondent is in the area at peak hour, or a time when the area is relatively unoccupied). 8. Is there an alternate route that you could use? 9. If so, why do you use this one? (addressing sense of space, control) 10. If not, is this space an ideal space to walk in? Do you like anything in particular about walking through this area everyday? Are there any places you stop at in particular? (A street vendor, a newspaper stand, a store, etc) Could you point out what you like in particular about walking through this space? (addressing fit) 122 11. Do you face any problems walking through this area on a regular basis? Could you point out what you do not like in particular about walking through this space? (addressing fit) I accompany the pedestrians as they walk through the area and ask them point out any particular problems that they identify as hindering their journey in the area. 12. Do you feel safe walking here? (addressing safety) 13. Do you find it easy to walk here for the purposes you need? (addressing accessibility) 14. Do you find it easy to navigate the area? (addressing orientation) 15. How do you feel while walking in the area (confident, etc)? (addressing control) 16. Overall, are you satisfied with your walking experience of the area? (addressing overall dis/satisfaction) 17. What kind of area is this? (addressing identity) 18. Are there any changes you would like to see brought about in this area, which you believe would make your journey through here easier/more pleasant? (Request respondent to draw map of their walk through the area). 123 APPENDIX D. SITE PLANS AND STUDY AREAS Figure D.1 Overview of AIIMS Site Scale. 1:2500 Figure D.2 Highlighted Study Areas at AIIMS 124 Figure D.3 Overall Layout of CP Scale. 1:13,000 Figure D.4 Pedestrian Routes studied at CP 125 Figure D.5 Plan of Nehru Place with Study Area Scale. 1:1000 Figure D.6 Pedestrian Route Studied 126 Figure D.7 Site Plan of DU Metro Station Scale. 1:1500 Figure D.8 Pedestrian Route Studied. 127 Fig. D.9 Site Plan of Priya with Study Area Highlighted Scale. 1:1000 Fig. D.10 Pedestrian Routes at Priya 128 APPENDIX E. Dissatisfaction with Values: Tabulated Data 1. Hospital Visitors (at AIIMS) Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction - Lack of Control X X High - - X X X X High High X X - - X X Moderate High X X X X - - X X X X High High X X X - - X X High Out X - X X - X X High R10 Out X - X - - X X High R11 Out X X X X - X X High R12 Out X X - - - X X High R13 R14 Out Out X X X X X - - X X High High Unclear Identity Disorienting. X NonSpatial Misfit X - X X X X X X In In X X X R6 R7 In In X - R8 Out R9 Personal Profile Resp. Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Elderly mother with son Boy w/ leg fracture Elderly lady with cast leg Middle-aged man Elderly man (checkup) Young housewife Elderly lady accountant Young working woman Mother w/ 21/2 year old child Young woman w/ husband Mother w/ handicapped daughter Elderly lady R1 In - R2 R3 In In R4 R5 Middle aged man Mother w/ brainfever child Total 14 Respondents 14 - 10 12 13 2 0 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for Hospital Visitors at AIIMS High Moderate Low 13 1 0 12 12 High* Overall High* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 129 2. Working Women (at CP) Unclear Identity Disorienting. Lack of Control Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction - Non\Spatial Misfit X - - X X High X X X X X - X - - X Moderate High In - - - - X X X Moderate R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 In In In Out Out X X X X X X X X X - - X - X X X X X X X X X X High High High Moderate High R10 Out X - X - - X - Moderate R11 R12 R13 R14 - Out Out Out Out - X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X High High High High High* Personal Profile Resp . Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Middle-aged, store employee Young travel agent. Middle-aged bank worker. Elderly illiterate sweeper. Young working girl. LHMC grad. Young working girl. Working mother. Elderly retired employee Young store employee. Elderly employee. Middle-aged lady. Working girl Working mother. Total R1 In X R2 R3 In In R4 Respondents 14 11 6 9 1 6 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for Working Women at CP High Moderate Low 10 4 0 12 12 Overall High* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 130 3. Tourists (at CP) Unclear Identity Disorienting Lack of Control Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction - NonSpatial Misfit - - X X X - Moderate Moderate X - - X X X - X - X X - X - Low High Moderate Low Low Low X X - X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X High Moderate Low Moderate High High Pers. Profile Resp. Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Belgian man. Boy from Netherlands Girl fr. US Israeli lady British man British girl German man Australian man French woman Man fr. US French boy Turkish man British girl Australian man Total R1 R2 In In X X R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 In In In In In Out R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 Out Out Out Out Out Out - - Respondents 14 5 3 High 4 7 3 6 6 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for Tourists at CP Moderate Low 6 5 4 Moderate* Overall Moderate* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 131 4. Office Workers (at Nehru Place) Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction X X - Lack of Control X X - X X - High High Moderate X - X X High X X X X - - X X X X X X - High High Moderate Moderate X X - - X X High - X X - - X X High Out Out Out Out X - X X X X X X - X X X X X X X X Moderate High High High - 2 Unclear Identity Disorienting. X - NonSpatial Misfit X X - - X X In In In Out - X X X R9 Out - R10 Out R11 R12 R13 R14 Pers. Profile Resp. Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Girl. IT consultant Bakery lady Young man – store mgr. Elderly man – govt. office Young man Shopkeeper woman Working woman Young lady. bank employee Middle-aged man bank employee Middle-aged man bank employee Textile shopkeeper IT profnl. IT profnl. Middle-aged woman electronics store worker Total R1 R2 R3 In In In X - R4 In R5 R6 R7 R8 - Respondents 14 9 13 1 3 12 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for Office Workers at Nehru Place High Moderate Low 10 4 0 11 High* Overall High* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 132 5. University Students (at DU Metro Station) Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction - Lack of Control - - Moderate - - - X - Moderate Low X - - - - Low - X - X X - High - X - X X X - X - X X X X X - Moderate Moderate Moderate Out - - - - X X X High R10 Out - - X - - X X High R11 Out - - X - - - - Low R12 R13 Out Out - - X - - - - X - Moderate Low R14 - Out - - Pers. Profile Resp . Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Non-Spatial Misfit Unclear Identity Disorienting. Boy PHD history Girl PHD Girl MA English Girl MA History Boy – BA History Boy BA Boy BA Girl – fashion Girl admission Girl correspond Girl – correspond Boy PHD Boy BA Animation Boy BA Total R1 In - - X - R2 R3 In In - - X X R4 In - - R5 In - R6 R7 R8 In In Out R9 Respondents 14 X 0 X 2 12 X 0 X 4 7 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for University Students at DU Metro Station High Moderate Low 3 7 4 6 Moderate Moderate* Overall Moderate* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 133 6. The Youth (at Priya) Unclea r Identity - Disorienting Lack of Control Inaccessible Overall Dissatisfaction X NonSpatl. Misfit - - - X Low - X X - - - - Low In In In In In Out X X X - X X X X X - - - Low Low Low Low Low Moderate R9 Out - - X X - - - Moderate R10 R11 R12 R13 Out Out Out Out - X X X X - - - - - Low Low Low Low R14 Out - X - - - - - Low - 1 Pers. Profile Resp. Dir. Unsafe Spatial Misfit Girl – MA English Boy – Advertising Profnl. Schoolgirl Schoolgirl College girl College girl College boy Boy high school grad Boy high school grad College boy College boy College girl Boy high school grad Boy high school grad Total R1 In - R2 In R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 - Respondents 14 6 High 12 9 2 0 0 Overall Dissatisfaction Ratings for Youth at Priya Moderate Low 2 0 1 Low* Overall Low* Each respondent’s overall dissatisfaction (last column) is a response to a specific interview question. The group’s overall dissatisfaction* is derived using the formula: High: Half or more respondents expressed high dissatisfaction. Moderate: Half or more respondents expressed moderate dissatisfaction. Low: Half or more respondents expressed low dissatisfaction. 134 APPENDIX F. Legibility of Design Elements: Tabulated Data 1. Hospital Visitors (at AIIMS). Respondent Dir. Physical Elements R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P R6 In R7 In R8 R9 Out Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 R13 R14 Out E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P Degree of Legibility High Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X E L X Out P X X X Out E L P E L X X X X Physical Element Characteristics Subway 1 - lacks space, encroached, dirty. Not identifiable from map Subway, bus stop. Self-created path cutting across traffic Hospital wall Subway (on map but not placed properly) Subway 1 - deserted, dirty. Not identifiable from map Subway, bus stop. Subway 1 – no ramp, dirty. Not identified Subway Road – unclear, pavement too high, encroached. Hospital wall. Bus stop unclear Subway 2 - wide, surrounded all sides Subway corridor lined with shops & stairs Not identifiable from map Subway 2 - Unclear, dirty Corner of subway Pile of garbage, bus stop Along hospital wall Hospital wall enclosure Subway, cancer hospital, parking lot. Subway - too narrow, encroached, garbage all over Shops lining subway Vendors at crowded entrance Subway - unclear path, crowded, unsafe. Not identifiable from map No landmarks Road – no defined path Road with two hospitals, divider on road Bus stop Road - self-created straight line, cutting traffic Ends of road, divider Not identifiable from map Road - self-created winding line, cutting traffic End of road with hospital Bus stop Road - no clear identified path Ends of road Two hospitals on either side of road Overall Legibility Score for AIIMS No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 4 3 7 Low 14 Edges 10 1 3 High 14 Landmarks 9 0 5 High Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 135 2. Working women (at CP). Respondent Dir. Physical Elements R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In R6 In R7 In R8 Out R9 Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 Out R13 Out R14 Out Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L Degree of Legibility High Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Physical Element Characteristics Circular path in inner circle, narrow, encroached. Inner circle blocks A, B, C,D Plaza movie hall at edge of block Unclear path to inner circle Circular blocks Metro station in inner circle Not clear Concentric circles to depict area Not identifiable from map Unclear Not identifiable from map Jantar Mantar monument, placement unclear Unclear Not identifiable from map Gopal Das Building, Metro station in inner circle Clear circular pavement path from LHMC to CP Unclear Shivaji Stadium bus stop. Circular path inner circle, narrow, encroached, dirty. Inner circle blocks, Barakhamba radial road Shankar Market Vague path to metro station Unclear Not identifiable from map Vague path from inncer circle to bus stand on outer Inner circle blocks forming path boundary Not identifiable from map Unclear Unclear Metro station in inner circle Clear route from Inner metro station to Plaza outside. Circular edge of inner circle, radial roads Shopping areas (Palika, Janpath) and Plaza moviehall. Unclear from inner circle to outer Inner circle blocks and radial roads Not identifiable from map Unclear General circle, unclear Not identifiable on map Around inner circle Inner circle blocks Radial Roads from inner circle to out Overall Legibility Score for Working Women at CP No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 3 3 8 Low 14 Edges 6 2 6 High 14 Landmarks 6 3 5 High Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 136 3. Tourists (at CP). Respondent Dir. R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In R6 In R7 In R8 Out R9 Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 Out R13 Out R14 Out Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L Degree of Legibility High Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Physical Element Characteristics From outer circle to inner circle Outer, middle, inner circle blocks, rds Stores – Nike, Reebok; Jet Airways Clear path from outer to inner circle Outer, middle, inner circle blocks, rds Not identifiable from map Path from Paharganj to Inner Circle Basic boundary of circular structure Not identifiable from map Not identifiable from map Basic boundary of circular structure Not identifiable from map Not identifiable from map Clear boundary of circular structure Mahatta Photo store, United Coffee House restaurant. Path from outer road to inner circle Not clear Not identifiable from map Not identifiable from map Very basic circular structure Metro station, United Coffee House Clear path in inner circle Shops defining inner circle block Pizza Hut restaurant Vague path in inner circle Clear edges of inner circle and blocks Not identifiable from map Pavement path from inner to outer circle Basic edges of circular structure Palika Bazaar inner circle, Citibank office on outer circle. Not identifiable from map Basic concentric circles Park in middle of inner circle Walking path from inner to outer circle Not identifiable from map Very clear identification of central park Clear path from inner circle to Paharganj Clear inner and outer circle bll.boundary Janpath market, govt.shops, Palika market, hotel where boarding. Basic path along radial Janpath road Defined by road and block boundaries Not identifiable from map Overall Legibility Score for Tourists at CP No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 4 3 7 Low 14 Edges 5 4 5 Moderate 14 Landmarks 6 2 6 Moderate Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 137 4. Office workers (at Nehru Place). Respondent Dir. R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In R6 In R7 In R8 Out R9 Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 Out R13 Out R14 Out Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P Degree of Legibility High Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X E L P E X L P X X E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Physical Element Characteristics Vague path from road to inside No clear edges identified Basic boundary of parking lot Path along road in to plaza Along boundaries of shops Paras cinema at boundary From subway to main plaza Box to depict plaza Not represented on map Clear footpath from across road to center of plaza Boundaries of plaza, parking, shops Bus stand, Paras cinema. Clearly encroached path along linear avenue into and along central plaza. Buildings and shops lining avenue. Not represented on map Clear path across subway to plaza. Boundaries determined by buildings and parking structures. Flyover, parking. Clear path from plaza entrance near cinema to bank at other end. Not represented on map Paras cinema, Sona Sweets, Modi tower. From road to parking to center of plaza Defined by parking, road, and shop blocks Not represented on map Path from parking to center of plaza Defined by road and shop blocks. Paras cinema, bank, telephone exchange. Path from across road to parking and plaza Boundaries of parking lot and cinema. Paras cinema, parking lot. Basic path from footpath near parking to cinema. Not represented on map Paras cinema, parking. Vague path from outside to plaza Not represented on map Not represented on map Clear path from parking to central plaza Park Royal Hotel at boundary. Paras cinema, Costa Coffee shop. Clear path from parking to corner of plaza Defined by parking, Paras cinema Paras cinema. Overall Legibility Score for Office Workers at Nehru Place No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 7 5 2 High 14 Edges 6 2 6 Moderate 14 Landmarks 9 1 4 High Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 138 5. University students (at DU Metro Station). Respondent Dir. R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In R6 In R7 In R8 Out R9 Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 Out R13 Out R14 Out Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L Degree of Legibility High Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Physical Element Characteristics Clear direction of path through levels Not represented on map Ticket counter and stairs Basic path surrounded by elements Defined partially by shape of path Track, road outside, university area Clear, directed, across levels Not represented on map Ticket counter, passageway, escalators. Depicted but unclear levels, direction Not represented on map Entrance, ticket counter, platform Unclear about levels and areas Defined by elements, walls of path Entrance, ticket counter Clear levels, direction, elements Partially defined by elements in station Ticket counter, stairs, checking area Clear levels, path winding, direction Not represented on map Ticket counter, stairs, university, transport. Clear path across levels from train, up escalators, through passage to outside. Defined partially by elements in station. Platform, ticket counter, rickshawwalas. Basic lines to depict path taken Not represented on map Not represented on map Winding path unclear direction Not represented on map Vague placement of gate & ticket counter Clear path across levels - up escalators through passage to exit point Walls enclosing path define edges Entry/exit point, ticket counter, main gate From train through escalators to outside Walls enclosing path define edges Not represented on map Clear path across levels Defined by walls, escalators, shape of stn. Levels of station, escalators, entrance Clear path across levels Not represented on map Ticket counter, stairs underground Overall Legibility Score for University Students at DU Metro Station No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 8 5 1 High 14 Edges 4 3 7 Low 14 Landmarks 11 0 3 High Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 139 6. The youth (at Priya). Respondent Dir. R1 In R2 In R3 In R4 In R5 In R6 In R7 In R8 Out R9 Out R10 Out R11 Out R12 Out R13 Out R14 Out Physical Elements Path Edge Landmark P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L P E L High X X X X X X X X X X Degree of Legibility Moderate Low X X X X X X X X X X X X X X P E L P E L P X X X E L P E L P E L P E L X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Physical Element Characteristics Path from entrance down plaza avenue Boundaries enclsd. by paths & stores Petrol pump, movie hall, many stores Clear path from road to coffee shop Boundaries of complex enclose area Taxi stand, movie hall, restaurants Clear path along plaza avenue Shops, plaza shape enclose area Movie hall, restaurants, entrance Straight path fr. entrance to restaurant Not represented in map Stores, pubs, restaurants Straight down avenue, turn to restaurants Partially defined by store boundaries Movie hall, stores, restaurants Straight path down avenue Defined by stores on either side Movie hall, auto stands, stores, restaurants Straight down avenue, turn to other end Structure of plaza enclosing walking area Movie hall, restaurant, fountain, stores No clear path – walking area defined Defined by stores and plaza structure Movie hall, stores, restaurant, garden, seating area, fountain. Straight down plaza, turn to stores Well defined by stores, walk area enclosed Movie hall, stores, restaurants Basic path down plaza avenue depicted Store boundaries enclosing walking space Movie hall, stores, restaurants Clearly defined path turns down main avenue Sharp edges enclosing walking space Movie hall, restaurant, shop Clearly defined straight path which turns Sharp edges enclosing walking space Movie hall, hotel at edge, shops, fountain Clear path down avenue, turn to fountain Sharply defined edges enclosing space Movie hall, fountain, shops, restaurants Basic straight path along main avenue Shops enclose walking space Movie hall, restaurant, fountain Overall Legibility Score for the Youth at Priya No. of Design High Moderate Low Overall** Respondents Element 14 Paths 11 3 0 High 14 Edges 12 1 1 High 14 Landmarks 14 0 0 High Legibility scores per respondent are derived from map drawings and interview responses. Overall legibility scores for the group are derived using the formula:** High: Half or more respondents thought the element had high legibility. Moderate: Half or more respondents thought the element had moderate legibility (or if legibility was more or less evenly divided between high and low). Low: Half or more respondents thought the element had low legibility. 140