Why our walkways are unwalkable

Often, when I try to step off a footpath in Dhaka, I miscalculate its height and lose my balance. For a long time, I thought I was the only one experiencing this. But one day, while walking over a typical uneven and cracked walkway with a friend, I heard him complaining about it too.

We both tried to identify a point on the footpath where it was easier to get down from, where it was a little lower, but we failed. 

The standard of mobility-related services is a crucial element of a healthy city. Unfortunately, none of the cities in Bangladesh currently possess those services. 

A footpath system is one of the most important components of an urban system, as it works both separately and in concert with the road and street network. They are also crucial for the transportation system as footpaths help create a walkable environment, which in turn is essential for ensuring a high standard of living in urban areas. 

Yet, the most fundamental and important form of transportation — walking — has not been promoted as our cities have grown.

It is difficult to find walkable footpath in our cities which are even and does not have cracked surfaces. Photo: Noor A Alam

In Dhaka, there are no designated zones for a proper walking environment. A walkway is usually a collective belt of activities, so it is necessary to have a variety of streetscapes, including building facades, trees, and grasslands. The walking belt should have other zones in addition to the pedestrian zone, which we commonly refer to as the footpath, to make walking more enjoyable. 

So here are 10 things, in the eyes of an architect, which are wrong with our footpaths:

1. The lack of zoning

Do you ever feel distracted and irritated by the pace of walking while using the footpaths of Dhaka? This is because there are no designated zones for different functions within the footpaths. Most building fronts and other structures directly land on walkways creating unnecessary disruptions.

According to global urban design standards, a walkway should be split in three zones.

There should be an eight-foot space from the front of any structure, which includes a building's front area, which serves as the building's external system buffer zone. 

A pedestrian or walking zone, can be the next eight-foot space, which should only be utilised for continuous walking journeys. Finally, there should be trees and other furnishings or vendors in the following four-foot space.

2. Uneven and cracked surfaces

It is difficult to find a walkable footpath in our cities which are even and does not have cracked surfaces. When walking on these broken surfaces, people face many difficulties, and some might even suffer from foot sprains. 

A footpath must have a levelled surface that is hard and smooth, which is suitable for both pedestrians and wheelchairs. Use of properly textured paving tiles on the surface will make the path smooth for those who are blind as well. 

For uninterrupted walking, manholes and gratings should also be avoided on the walkways. Cobblestones, coarsely exposed aggregate concrete, bricks, and other materials with irregular surfaces often result in a bumpy walk and could put strain on your feet. 

After walking a few steps, you will find there’s a change in level due to an intersection with building entrances. The height of these levels could be as high as a foot at times. Photo: Noor A Alam

3. Uneven height, steep drop

You are walking, and after a few steps there's a change in level, so you step down, walk past a building's entrance, and then again climb up to walk on the footpath. The height of these levels could even be as high as a foot at times. 

There are elderly people and children who face the most difficulty with this situation. When health issues are involved, it becomes even more problematic. These uncomfortable walking conditions can result in long-term orthopaedic health problems. I have come across several people who had been injured while miscalculating the step height. 

Walkways should actually be like a ramp with slopes up and down in a proper walking ratio (1:20), between building entrances and any other nodes. Going by ergonomics, the step height (raiser) from the road to the footpath should be a maximum of 4-6 inches for easier access.

4. Street vendors

You may often shop from street vendors, whose most prominent space to settle their business is on the footpaths. But with such little space on most of the walkways, it gets difficult to walk. These small businesses can be a good urban practice, but only if they are staying within the spaces designated to them while designing the footpaths.

People often shop from street vendors but with such little space on most of the walkways, it gets difficult to walk. Photo: Noor A Alam

5. Random poles and trees

 Electric poles, random trees, tree roots and many other random impediments are very common and come in our way every day as we walk on the footpaths of Dhaka. The solutions to these are not complicated: electric wires can be pulled from beneath the ground, avoiding the poles. Trees can be planted uniformly and in proper alignment. And the base of the trees should be covered with tree grates. 

To provide a uniform surface, the perforated tree grates can be positioned at the same level as the pedestrian pavers. The perforation can then allow water to get in, keeping the trees nourished. 

6. No shade

Under the scorching sun, what we miss the most while walking on a footpath is a cool shaded walkway. A green belt with grass, plants, and large canopy trees providing shade should be included in the zones adjacent to the road. This will also serve as a fence separating the sidewalk from the traffic lanes. Adding trees does not only provide shade, but also helps keep the space cooler as well.

7. Unlit and unclean

Safety and cleanliness are very important for a walkway. At night you might feel unsafe walking on a dark footpath. Due to the lack of garbage cans, people randomly litter on the footpaths. To ensure safety at night, adequate street lighting should be arranged. There should be enough garbage cans. We must maintain the city's cleanliness. 

There are very few wide walkways in Dhaka and the spaces are not properly utilised. The lengths of pathways often exceed 100 feet without any resting facilities at intervals. Photo: Noor A Alam

8. No resting area

Walking can be tiring at times. We notice random benches in the name of bus stops, but not in every area. The length of the pathway, ideally, must not exceed 100 feet. If it exceeds 200 feet, a resting area in the form of benches or resting chairs should be provided at 100-feet intervals. 

9. Illegal parking

The practice of parking vehicles on walkways is quite common. These vehicles need to have designated and appropriate parking locations within the area.

10. Lack of drainage

During the rainy season, we often notice that the drain entrance is blocked and that there is standing water close to the landing intersections. To prevent water from flowing down steps and ramps, the top, bottom, and landings should be adequately drained. The drain inlet needs to be at least a foot wide and properly perforated so that the excess water may pass.

Increased mobility, access to opportunities for individual independence and wellbeing, and social cohesion, are all advantages of walking and walkability. A city is clean, healthy, joyful, and sustainable if it has an organically well-planned and well-connected network of routes that affords its citizens a walking environment. 

Many of the environmental, socioeconomic, and public health problems that most urbanites face can be resolved by changing the urban design and planning paradigm to create more walkable cities.