Reclaiming footpaths, taking cities back from cars
Walkable footpaths are essential urban infrastructure because they determine whether streets are safe, accessible, and usable for everyone.
- Indian street design in many cities has prioritised motor vehicles over pedestrians and safe footpaths.
- Broken sidewalks, unsafe crossings, and weak enforcement make cities difficult to use for children, older persons, and people with disabilities.
- Street redesign, parking enforcement, and protection of footpaths from encroachment are necessary for more inclusive cities.
Indian cities are being designed too much for cars and too little for pedestrians. The Hindu editorial argues that walkable footpaths are a basic urban necessity because they shape safety, accessibility, and everyday mobility for people who walk, cycle, or use public transport.
Broken footpaths, blocked sidewalks, unsafe crossings, and weak enforcement create a hostile urban environment for children, older persons, and people with disabilities. Poor pedestrian infrastructure also reduces the usefulness of public transport because last-mile access becomes difficult.
The Hindu calls for a mobility shift in city planning. It supports redesigning streets for people first, enforcing parking rules, protecting footpaths from encroachment, and making city spaces more inclusive and livable.
UPSC can frame the issue as a policy trade-off between vehicle movement and universal access to streets, linking it to municipal governance, road safety, disability inclusion, and sustainable urban transport.
