It will be a long road ahead, but the first steps have been made. With more than 10 Metro Lines now in different stages of development and construction, the merits of Transit Oriented and Pedestrian Friendly Development are gaining traction within the City’s Planning Offices.

Mumbai is treasured as one of India’s most entrancing and colourful cities. It is always on the move and changing rapidly into a global economic powerhouse. However, the City’s fast growth has meant that it is now more known for its heavily congested roads, pollution, notoriously overcrowded trains and limited Public Open Space for its 22 million residents.

With the extent of the urban crisis in India becoming more apparent, around the Country the Regional and Local Authorities have started to take a more hands-on approach in integrated planning of large scale urban transformations. Around Mumbai, the City’s Authorities have several new Mixed Use Commercial Areas in the pipeline, planned in combination with upcoming nodes of International standard Mass Public Transportation – which will potentially be a huge step towards creating a more Sustainable and Pedestrian Friendly future for the City.

The Hong Kong based Planning Firm, with an Office in Mumbai – TOWNLAND – is in the right position to have brought some of its high density Transit and Pedestrian Oriented Planning experience to this “Maximum City”.

For the upcoming Mixed Use Commercial District in Wadala of more than 150 ha, TOWNLAND has pushed the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Vision by creating a strong urban design framework for its Master Plan, with a large network of wide pedestrian only streets, parks and plazas lined with retail, leisure and civic amenities, seamlessly connecting all commercial and residential towers to the different monorail, metro and bus stations. A comprehensive network of separate bicycle lanes along all streets, combined with secure bicycle parking facilities at all stations, is part of the Vision to ensure another sustainable alternative (besides walking or e-rickshaws) for last mile connectivity.

To help this Vision to become reality in a difficult planning environment such as Mumbai, TOWNLAND’s Master Plan for the Wadala Commercial District is unique– by Indian Standards – for the very strict and comprehensive Urban Design Guidelines (UDG) that have been set out for the more than 40 individual plots and for all major public spaces. The UDG will help the Wadala CBD to be developed in a cohesive and integrated manner, which at this scale has not been seen in India for a long time.

Two other major TOD/ Pedestrian Developments that are currently being planned in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are: the IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) (50 ha) in the City’s prime Business District of Bandra Kurla Complex and the Kharghar Corporate Park (140 ha) in Navi Mumbai, across the Harbour and close to the upcoming new International Airport. For these new Commercial hubs TOWNLAND has focused once more on the ambition to plan them as vibrant, mixed use developments, that feel safe and inviting, by attracting retail, leisure, hospitality, culture and commercial uses. This will help to establish these modern CBD’s as not just places for business, but as destinations for residents from large parts of the City and not least for tourists. The strategic spatial plans with integral networks of pedestrian only plazas and parks, which are big enough to hold large scale events and festivals, in combination with iconic public buildings (such as a Museum, Theater, Multiplex or Train Station) will give the developments their unique Sense of Place. The well-known city marketing and development strategy of having at least one important public building planned and designed as an Architectural Landmark, has also been introduced to help in placing these ‘new’ parts of Mumbai on the map instantly.

In a crowded, high density urban environment such as Mumbai, it makes sense for Public Pedestrian Streets and Plazas to be planned not only at grade, but also on publicly accessible podium decks, across roads and below grade as sunken shopping plazas and underpasses, in order to create a comfortable and seamless spatial connectivity between different parts of these new developments and the adjoining neighbourhoods, bisecting the busy vehicular corridors. This smart double use of space, which is a familiar sight in many of Hong Kong’s high density central districts, allows for the developments to maximize their Floor Space Index (FSI) whilst also creating enough Public Open Space to comfortably handle the large pedestrian crowds.

To ensure that high standards of planning and design will be followed through in the maintenance of the buildings and most importantly the Public Open Space, it’s inevitable in India that a form of Public Private Partnership – a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will take on the operations and maintenance aspects relating to the Public Realm, from traffic and parking management, hawker policies, safety, events, environment (water, trees and air), and infrastructure utilities (above and below ground).

Once the above mentioned Mixed Use Districts are developed as planned, they will probably remain for a while as islands of walkability in a sea of old-style car-based urbanization. However, their popularity could spread and transform existing areas in a similar fashion, stimulated by an ever increasing and denser network of metro lines, which will at some point be efficient and attractive enough to become the preferred mode of transportation for people from all walks of life. However, to really entice people to start walking – it all starts with rethinking the public space in between buildings: building a City for pedestrians and not for cars is the only way forward.