Sustainable mobility in hilly regions
Student name: Mr Rohit Singh
Guide: Dr Seema Sangita
Year of completion: 2015
Host Organisation: Ecorys India Pvt. Ltd.
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Tarun Sharma
Abstract: Hilly Regions have historically been considered as places of spirituality, rejuvenation and purity. In India, Himalayas are considered to be the abode of God, and people seek peace of mind and body, away from clutches of hectic and unhealthy life of cities. The reality has changed for hilly regions. They too are facing the heat of Urbanization due to migration, tourism, infrastructure development, vehicular movement etc. There is a need of study to establish the relation between urbanization and ecology of hilly regions to mitigate the negative impacts. There is a need to set sustainability goals and formulation of proactive strategy to plan and manages urbanization in hilly regions. One of the major causes of ecological degradation of hilly regions is transport sector. Hilly Regions are experiencing high increase in tourism activity and thus high mobility demands. Residents of the hill cities are also prospering and have better social and economic status further increasing the demand. At state level as well as city level, increasing motorized transport is causing environmental degradation, traffic congestion which has direct as well as indirect impact on livelihoods of the native population. NMT is losing its popularity and demand is shifting to other modes of transport. Bus transport services are the lifelines of mobility for native people, but they are inefficient and lack good quality of services. Other modes of transport like rail, ropeway, escalators, lifts etc. have to be explored for Indian scenario. Globally the hill cities have developed innovative mobility solutions transforming the livelihood as well as mitigating the negative impact on ecology. There is a need to study the public transport specifically w.r.t. infrastructural, technical, and institutional framework. The primary field study of city of Shimla has been done to understand the growth of city and its demands. The secondary survey of global best practices and primary field study further support the aim of need of making people more sensitive towards hilly regions of India. The study discusses sustainable mobility strategies which can be adopted by hill states to achieve their goals. So, a vision statement is required at center, state and local level for sustainable development of Hilly Regions of India.
Key Words: Sustainable Transport, Hill Cities, Hilly Regions, Urbanization, Public Transport
