Exploring the relationship between the urban built environment and elderly pedestrian mobility in South Asian cities
Abstract Cities in South Asia have traditionally been dominated by pedestrians for their daily trips. As the elderly population is increasing in the last two decades, the dynamics of designing appropriate walkways to serve elderly people are getting more attention from urban planning scholars and policymakers alike. However, few studies in planning in the context of southern cities have considered the significant issue of elderly mobility and walkability in cities in South Asia beyond the realm of large metropolitan cities. In this paper, we attempt to understand the challenges encountered by elderly pedestrians in existing street conditions and summarizes information that may be useful for enhancing elderly mobility. Using cases of Rourkela in India and Khulna city in Bangladesh, we have collected both primary and secondary information by conducting a structured questionnaire survey in both cities at a similar period. Further to this, we analyzed statistical models to understand relationships among built environment and mobility issues based on subjective evaluation (i.e., infrastructure, street design, lighting, overcrowding condition, and encroachment). Most of the elderly pedestrians surveyed in both cities demand improvement of micro-scale urban design features and planning guidelines that they assume are absent in the statutory planning documents. This study may be employed as a useful document for city-level planning taking into account elderly perception about the built environment and their mobility concerns in future policy and planning projects. Consequently, a more comprehensive study may be incorporated highlighting elderly pedestrian’s mobility within the formal/informal transportation planning system.
