Improving walkability at tourist destinations in a historic city: a case study of Udaipur

Abstract

People visiting a place as a tourist intensively used t he urban places, its facilities and services, but usually these facilities, spaces and services were not designed specifically for tourists‟ use. Such places, where the main income generation is tourism, they should be highlighted as tourist-friendly places as walkable tourism would intensify the tourist magnets and the focal elements which would increase the place attachment. In view of the lack of concern as to how to provide quality and memorable walking experience for visitors, this thesis study the routes used by tourists and identifies the issues in regards to walkability and the pedestrians‟ experience of tourism places in the city of Udaipur, Rajasthan. Udaipur, a peaceful and relatively small city, having only a population of approximately 4.5 lakhs is world renowned as the „city of lakes and palaces‟ and „Venice of the east‟ and is one of the leading tourist attraction in Rajasthan with the tourist season starting by August and lasting until March offering palaces, museums, parks and market areas. A place, as defined by Southworth (2005) is walkable when “the built environment supports and encourages walking by providing for the pedestrians‟ comfort and safety, connecting people with varied destinations within a reasonable amount of time and effort, and offering visual interest in the journey throughout the network”. It also brings life to streets by depicting elements of tourists‟ interest, temporary distraction and rest and at the same time livable streets contribute to safer urban environments. This walkability factor plays an important role to support pedestrian activity, comfort and meaningful experience for visitors and also there should be an understanding on how visitors actually use the city. The research aim is to create a plan for development of pedestrian network with focus on Tourist in the city of Udaipur by identifying the various routes used by tourists to reach the tourist destination and documenting the current scenario of the walkability parameters and heritage parameters for the identified routes and prepare a plan of intervention for introducing the required facilities will be carried out, which will ultimately reduce the tourist accident rates.