The street selected for design is a national highway in Nagpur,India. Therefore, there is heavy vehicular traffic and noise on the road. Due to this reason the pedestrian participation on the street is low. But this issue will soon be solved with the introduction of a flyover above the highway thus,helping to distribute the current vehicular traffic.
There is enough space and scope for increasing public participation as the footpaths are wide enough for interventions to engage the people living nearby.The aim is to organise and divide the existing elements efficiently along with designing interactive pause points for people.
Through the design an attempt was made to induce a character of play, to make it more lively and pedestrian friendly. According to the built use and type of people along the street, certain activities and potential spots were identified thereby designing the existing footpath to develop an interactive stretch engaging the people. Along the road the footpaths were divided such that the inner part was developed as a walkway for pedestrians and seating spaces were designed in a stepped manner facing inwards, with trees planted along the edge to create a buffer between the road and footpath. The street furniture is designed using composition of curves and straight lines with subtle levels to make it playful. At both ends of certain footpaths multiplayer games like hopscotch, snakes & ladders etc are painted for people of all ages to pause,play and enjoy, thus increasing interaction between them.
The seating spaces which step down inwards provide a surface facing the road which becomes a canvas for display of various mediums of art, information,environmental awareness which can be viewed by the people passing by.
Thinking about the larger picture, the street design will set an image of the city since this road comes from the airport, acting as an entry to the city.