Make more space in cities for people to walk

Encouraging people to walk goes hand in hand with the drive to increase the use of public transport.

WHEN it is going well, a nation’s progress is like a steady, purposeful walk. Sometimes the pace quickens over a stretch, but it is still about moving ahead step by step, on its own power and with a natural rhythm.

It helps if the people understand what it takes to keep on walking no matter how far the destination and how eager they are to get off their feet. This requires patience, stamina and determination.

And yet, few of us walk a lot in our daily lives. Or at least, few of us do it unless we have no choice.

In Malaysia, there is definitely little appreciation for the art of walking, although it is kinder to our health and the environment than are most other transport modes.

We often blame the weather; travelling in air-conditioned vehicles is way better than battling the heat and humidity here.

We cannot change our equatorial climate, but there are ways to make it more pleasant to go on foot in Malaysia. And yet, many of our urban centres are hostile to pedestrians.

As StarMetro reported on Thursday, it is challenging to walk around in many parts of the Klang Valley mainly because of poor infrastructure planning. This is a familiar problem in most other Malaysian cities and towns.

One traffic planning expert points out that the Klang Valley is not pedestrian-friendly because it is designed for motor vehicles.

This ignores the fact that everybody, like it or not, is a pedestrian at one time or another.

When drivers get out of their parked vehicles to head somewhere, they are pedestrians. Similarly, trains and buses do not operate door to door. Passengers have to walk to and from train stations and bus stops.

A city that overlooks the needs of pedestrians is not doing itself any favours. Apart from making life harder for the people who live and work in the city, this weakness hurts the city’s appeal as a travel destination. After all, wandering around on foot is the best way to get to know a place and its people.

The local authorities say they are wrestling with the classic chickenand-egg situation – how do they justify the cost of providing facilities and convenience for pedestrians when so few people choose to walk?

One way to unknot that conundrum is to look at one of the 11th Malaysia Plan strategies for investing in competitive cities.

The strategy is to develop city competitiveness master plans for Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu based on principles such as creating density, expanding transit-oriented development ( TOD), strengthening knowledge-based clusters, enhancing liveability, encouraging greenbased development and practices, and ensuring inclusivity.

Particularly relevant is TOD, which centres on the mixed use of residential and commercial development in urban areas so as to be pedestrian-friendly and to have maximum access to public transport.

“City authorities will adopt TOD as part of the city’s competitiveness master plan to provide mobility options to residents, add vibrancy to city spaces, reduce pollution and energy consumption by reducing commute times and increasing the use of public transport or walking, and also revitalise brownfield areas within the city,” says the Government in the 11MP.

This is a clear signal. Encouraging people to walk goes hand in hand with the drive to increase the use of public transport.

The elevated walkways in Kuala Lumpur (such as the one linking Bukit Bintang and the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, and others that connect train stations) are prime examples of what it takes to convert people into habitual pedestrians.

These are the things that help make a city great. Make it safe, easy and comfortable, and people will walk.