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How this Pune-based urban designer is helping make school zones safer for kids
Updated On: 01 October, 2023 08:31 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
An urban designer collaborating with the Pune municipality for a one-of-a-kind project to make school zones safer, says cities have a chance to get children on the roads
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A 3D visual of the plan Kharadi South Main Road in Pune, which has nine schools on the stretch, shows segregated cycle tracks and walkways, play areas along multi-utility zones, painted junctions designed for safe crossing of school children, pedestrian signals, traffic calming measures, and signage. Courtesy/Abhijit Kondhalkar
Pune-based urban designer Abhijit Kondhalkar’s obsession with a safe school travel plan began when he first read a quote by Enrique Peñalosa, mayor of the Colombian capital Bogotá. “Children are a kind of indicator species,” Peñalosa had stated, “If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.” “That quote stayed with me,” Kondhalkar tells us over a phone call. “I kept thinking what I could give my kids as an architect and urban designer. I was looking to demonstrate the ideas that I had in mind to create a clean, safe and resilient city for children.”
The opportunity came in June last year, when the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) organised an urban design competition for its proposed School Travel Improvement Plan. “As part of the competition, the PMC had identified school zones, each with around 10 schools. Participants had to select one zone, study it, understand how people and children move within it, and demonstrate an idea to improve it.” Kondhalkar, who is co-founder and principal architect of ARKMIRA Architects and Planners, says their idea was declared the winner. This set the ball rolling for a unique project that is being spearheaded by the Pune municipal body.
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