Suushantschool of Art and Architecture

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Management is a huge challenge, especially for mega cities such as Delhi where existing landfills are overflowing and there is hardly any space left to build a new landfill. SWM challenges are multifold as they begin right from collection of household waste and keep on piling up till the waste is disposed. Unmanaged solid waste deteriorates the quality of life by causing nuisance and exposing public to several negative health impacts. To identify specific challenges and opportunities in MSW management, several interactions with municipalities, private consultants and social groups has been done. Major challenges facing Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM), highlighted during the interactions with municipal officials, are land unavailability for setting up decentralized waste treatment plants/landfills, lack of financial assistance for paying salaries and disposal facilities and most importantly, people's reluctance towards waste segregation at source. The primary data collected through design questionnaire for selected colonies based on population density, socioeconomic profile and other influencing parameters. The selected colonies from 12 administrative zones led in apprehending zonal variability and trends of waste generation. Industry professionals are offering various innovative decentralized technologies like composting, pellet making and waste to energy plants which minimizes waste reaching landfill. Prioritizing of appropriate and affordable technologies can be done on the basis of waste generated per day and the availability of land for setting up the facilities.

Like any other developing nation, Indian cities are facing typical problems, namely urban sprawl, affordable housing shortage , access to public transport and lack of equitable access to basic services adversely impacting productivity, mobility and quality of urban life. At the same time, private townships with a minimal land area, wise planning and decentralized systems for optimizing basic services as the solution against accelerating urbanization. The study conceptualizes creation of a conceptual model for an integrated township with support from diverse States policy for amalgamation of residential, institutional and commercial land use pattern. Methodology integrates peculiar features of integrated township from various States policy, residential area distribution based on income group, accordingly providing commercial, social and recreational facilities.This paper traverse the possibilities that sustainable township can provide to residents and other people living close to township. Further, to identify the need and criteria to be considered while the development of sustainable integrated township.

Although there are many similar definitions of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) by different authors worldwide; but, in Indian context, TOD aims to create a moderate to high-density development with mixed land-uses within maximum walking distance of 800 m from a transit
station. Delhi will be surpassing Tokyo as world’s largest city with about 37.4 million population in 2018 by increasing its urban agglomeration population to about 38.9 million till 2030. Thereby, it becomes necessary to identify a set of criteria and indicators related with TOD that can evaluate
the TOD policy enlisted in the recent Delhi’s Master Plan prepared for the year 2041. The study has generated 12 indicators as population/commercial densities, mixedness of land uses, green
public spaces, walkable/cyclable paths, intersection densities, station transit ridership, basic amenities at the station and safety and security of the commuters at the station, access to job opportunities within walkable distance from train station and parking supply of four wheelers/ cycles at the station to be evaluated in the MPD 2041. The data for these indicators is readily available in the secondary sources, particularly Master Plan, either as quantified expression or qualitative in nature. The need is felt in the MPD 2041 to prepare and develop TOD typologies for successful TOD implementation as highlighted extensively in the literature review. Assigning TOD typology will take into account both, built environment and transport characteristics.

To make transit rail services more attractive, the preferred public travel mode and serve as the backbone of any metropolitan area, there arises a need to create a sustainable and inclusive urban environment with access to all. This study aims to map the pedestrian permeability and impermeability by categorizing roads and streets around identified transit nodes in Noida as public, private and nonaccessible by all. By doing so, the study identifies very distinct and spatial divisions like gated communities and urban villages that have emerged as social ghettos in the planned city Noida and thereby, devoid it of being an inclusive city. Initial metro station smart android-based mobile surveys were done across 12 elevated metro stations falling on the blue transit corridor line connecting Delhi with its satellite town Noida using smart apps namely ODK and Kobo Toolbox with the analysis done in QGIS. It was found that trip distance and time had a strong association with walking while age, gender and purpose of the trip had no association with walking to the metro station. Most transit users living within one-kilometer walking distance prefer to walk to the nearest metro station in Noida. Finally, the study shows the area difference between the perceived and actual Isochrones prepared in QGIS as Ped-sheds after deducing areas such as gated communities, superblocks and unplanned settlements like urban villages where the existing road/street network is not accessible by all or safe to use.

Transit-oriented development (TOD), by integrating land-use planning with transit system is gaining importance in Indian Metropolitan cities as a new urbanism strategy however, lack of similar research for large satellite towns like Noida with medium to high densities is lacking. This paper attempts to assess and measure TOD based-pedestrian mobility by performing a land-usage QGIS-based 500 meters walkability buffer analysis across 6 consecutive TOD stations in Noida operational since 2009 based on identified TOD indicators characterized as urban development characteristics (density, diversity and design) and transport characteristics (destination accessibility, distance to transit station and travel demand management), combined into TOD index using Spatial multiple-criteria analysis (SMCA), which influence pedestrian movement in and around TOD station areas. Determining pedestrian accessibility to navigate and access wide range of mixed land uses falling within walkable limits from transit station using explicitly spatial types of analyses has still been lacking in smart efforts towards TOD projects. Methodology used for this study is based on quantifying TOD-ness around existing Noida Transit station areas using TOD index, calculated using SMCA to measure walkability levels with urban planning and express TOD-ness and potential development of these TOD station areas. The results show calculation done for various TOD indicators influencing pedestrian accessibility in and around metro station areas and identify on ground issues impeding TOD based local pedestrian accessibility in Noida. Conclusion assigns TOD typology to all the six metro stations based on the surrounding land-uses, activities and the role each station is performing in the transit corridor.

Accessibility is a prime concern faced by urban planners to design pedestrian-friendly cities that are healthy, walkable and sustainable. Walkability has mainly been evaluated and measured using urban design principles; however, no such study has been done in India to measure pedestrian accessibility for all at the transit station or corridor level. This study looks forward to identifying typical pedestrian barriers that impede pedestrian accessibility for all in Noida. Thereafter, developing a brownfield pedestrian-oriented transit-oriented development (TOD) index using the innovative method of spatial multiplecriteria analysis (SMCA) to assign TOD station values to 12 elevated consecutive metro stations in Noida based on identified TOD dimensions that influence pedestrian accessibility. The chi-square test has been used to identify which transportation and socio-demographic characteristics have a positive association with walking to the metro stations in Noida. Only three TOD dimensions namely distance to the metro station, time to reach Metro station by different travel modes and parking facility at the metro station were found suitable to influence pedestrian accessibility to easily access metro stations in Noida.

It becomes vital for urban planners to apprehend functions performed by individual transit stations along the transit corridor, which is hard to infer from the land use distribution suggested in the static master plan prepared. This research proposes a novel approach to examine whether the existing road and street layout pattern supports pedestrian accessibility to nearby transit stations. The study builds on the assumption that by taking into consideration pedestrian behavior dimensions and identification of major pedestrian barriers on the identified walkability routes using smart innovations and smartphone applications, their sufferings could be addressed better by urban planners and designers.
Presently, in the Indian context, no such study has been done, particularly by urban planners to evaluate and improve the walkability pattern of the metro stations using walkability-enhanced information and communications technology (WICT). This research study aims to identify major urban planning-related pedestrian barriers within walkable limits from 12 consecutive metro stations in Noida using Kobo Collect, an open data source-based Open Data Kit (ODK) smart android application. The Garmin eTrex 10 GPS device was used to physically evaluate and verify the typical pedestrian routes terminating at the metro stations in Noida city. The three pedestrian-related barriers are identified in this study in Noida, each with its peculiar spatial characteristics namely planned townships, unplanned urban villages, gated communities, and large commercial
and institutional blocks.

Worldwide, most previous studies based on the transit-oriented development (TOD) concept focused heavily on the three Ds (3Ds) application in TOD (e.g., urban density, design, and land use diversity). Along with the 3Ds, three other TOD dimensions of transportation characteristics, such as destination accessibility, local distance to metro station, and travel demand management (TDM), and sociodemographics, which is the seventh dimension, significantly contribute to decision-making in TOD policies. It is hard to infer the actual travel behavior of transit riders when assessing transit nodes on foot from the static land use distribution that is assigned in the master plan. The novelty of this study is that an aggregated TOD index equation is formulated that uses an expert questionnaire, which involves 31 respondents and a spatial multiple criteria analysis (SMCA) tool, to assign weights and ranks to three identified TOD criteria that strongly influence pedestrian accessibility to metro stations. This study has examined all seven dimensions of TOD along with the impact of seasonal variation on short-distance walking to transit stations in the grid-layout planned Indian city of Noida (Uttar Pradesh, India), which used a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based metro station survey questionnaire. The path walkability evaluation of typical pedestrian routes that use GPS devices identifies typical pedestrian barriers in the urban planning of Noida that dissuade pedestrian accessibility for all. Three suitable TOD criteria, such as distance to the metro station, pedestrian destination accessibility, and availability of two-wheeler parking areas near a metro station, have a statistically significant association with walking to transit nodes. The TOD policy for brownfield urban areas should look at improving pedestrian accessibility for all and revise pedestrian guidelines for Indian cities to address inequitable walking environments.