Environment-behaviour relationships and urban planning : Pedestrian behaviour in urban spaces - a case study of New Market, Kolkatta

Abstract

With this research, the aim was to distinguish built environment components of commercial (in this case, retail) areas that affect the pedestrian behaviour. The pedestrian behaviour was translated in terms of their choice of path that they take in a commercial retail area when they do not have a pre-determined destination in mind. When pedestrians do not have a pre-determined destination in mind, they move in response to the built environment. Maptionnaire experiments were conducted to observe visitor’s choice of walking route along with a questionnaire survey to obtain their characteristics in the New Market area, the shopping hub of Kolkata city. Then a path analysis model in the form of regression analysis is used to assess the relationship between the built environment attributes and intrinsic landuse character measured in terms of diversity of stores with pedestrian’s walking behaviour. A number of built environment attributes were speculated to affect pedestrian behaviour, after which a model was developed with the significant variables. It was found that the number and variety informal vendors affect pedestrian behaviour significantly. Pedestrians prefer streets with significant number of informal vendors and their diversity. They also prefer wider streets with safety from vehicles and easy accessibility from public transportation (in this case, Metro) in the study area. In retail environments, real estate prices are high and rent differs significantly by location. The URDPFI guidelines (Section 8.5.3, Page No. 370) prescribe distribution of commercial activities in every hierarchy of commercial centers. But, as seen from the results of this study, diversity of formal shops does not attract pedestrian crowd significantly. So, mandating a general mix of stores lead to unoptimized use of space and these guidelines should be developed case specific. Thus, there shouldn’t be any generalized guidelines for these as the results will be case specific and more research on this is necessary before generalizing the guidelines. Similar observations for other built environments as well. Having studies like these will help municipalities looking to benefit local economy by improving environmental attributes prioritize the design attributes that need to be improved to attract more pedestrians.