Study on walkability for sustainable development in central business district Motijheel, Dhaka

Abstract

'Walkability' within the urban context is one of the prime issues for a sustainable city. In the context of Bangladesh, walkability is considered a fundamental factor for sustainable urban development as per rule. But the strategic measures here are limited only to a few paragraphs and are not context specific. Still, the standing guidelines in Bangladesh conferring on the existing user demand have not been followed practically in most cases. The Motijheel, Dhaka's core business center, where the city's walkability is gravely endangered, exhibits little distinction from the rest. Though a substantial share of users prefers to walk for daily transit, regrettably, a lack of adequate infrastructure, discontinuity, surface deformation, and obstructions creates a greater inefficiency in the walkable context. The walkability agenda regarding sustainable development constitutes the parameters of physical features, legibility, and individual perceptions. Among these, this research concentrated on investigating the physical attributes concerning the user's experience to explore the current walkability situation. However, retrofitting the walkable network within the built-up area is challenging but not impossible. This research seeks to identify the challenges and suggest strategic means to improve walking condition within the living commercial CBD context to aid sustainable urban design and alleviate related problems in other local contexts.

A Case Study Research approach including Quantitative and Qualitative analysis has been used here. The level of service (LOS) and sidewalk condition index (SCI) analyses were utilized as a quantitative assessment technique to determine if the Motijheel CBD is sufficiently walkable considering the growing number of pedestrian traffic. As a qualitative assessment technique, questionnaire analysis is considered to investigate the public experience mixed with pedestrian activity. Findings show that, according to the quantitative analysis of Level of Service (LOS), 87% of available walking segments are extremely crowded and incompatible with the volume of regular users. The qualitative survey results are then combined with the observational evaluation for the SCI analysis, resulting in highly obstructed walking circumstances. Among different aspects, the disorganized retail industry (40%) and informal parking (29%) with uneven surfaces (18%) are the major obstructions endangering the current walkability in the study area. Based on these findings, this research suggests the idea of hawking free wide walkways for 53.34% of primary roads to avoid congestion and enhance the walkability of this CBD area. In addition, 33.34% of streets are recommended for being shared walkable spaces with vending activities for prioritizing walkability considering local regulations.