Improving walkability and pedestrian facilities is one of the less prioritized measures for sustainable urban transport by policymakers and development organizations. Clean Air Asia with support from the Asian Development Bank and the Fredkorpset conducted walkability surveys in various Asian cities to better understand the state of walkability in Asian cities. The cities were Cebu, Colombo, Davao, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kota, Lanzhou, Metro Manila, and Ulaanbaatar.

As a follow-up work, the cleanairasia with support from the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation is looking at this issue more closely in Indian cities. The Indian cities are - Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Rajkot, Surat and Indore. See Walkability Study in Indian Cities

The survey used a methodology based on the Global Walkability Index developed by the World Bank, which includes a field walkability survey, pedestrian preference survey and a government policy and institutional survey. The survey provides an overview of the current pedestrian infrastructure and policies in selected cities and will be used to develop and propose pedestrian focused solutions for Asian cities. The "walkability index" can help raise awareness and generate interest among policy makers and city officials and help them improve walking in their cities.

Walkability photos can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cai-asia

Read the walkability survey tool factsheet here.

Donor: Asian Development Bank

Duration: November 2009 - May 2010

Clean Air Asia Contact:
Bert Fabian, bert.fabian(at)cleanairasia.org
Sudhir Gota, sudhir(at)cleanairasia.org