Sustaining ‘Walkability’ in the Future City : with Special Reference to Central Business District of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Colombo was founded as an outpost by Portuguese in 1505. Later it fell in the hands of Dutch and British. This nonorganically produced city later became the capital of the independent Ceylon. Throughout the history this colonial structure was in a constant negotiation with the indigenous community. Despite the historical prominence present city existence is at a risk. Streets congested with vehicles affecting the environment, economy, well-being of the community is the most prominent issue of modern Colombo. This situation was once common to most of the developed cities, and they termed this issue as an ‘urban crisis’. Main reason behind this urban crisis was cities being oriented on auto mobiles. To overcome this crisis ‘Walkability’ was the best alternative. This study was basically aimed to find the compatibility of the Walkability concept with the socio-spatial structure of Colombo. Location specific indicators of walkability identified through a questionnaire survey and universal indicators identified through the literature were used to assess the four selected case studies within the limits of Central Business District (CBD) of Colombo, to list out the prospective and retro-prospective lies in the social-spatial structure of the city. As the number of prospective are greater than the retro-prospective and as most of the retroprospective are potential to be amended into prospective Walkability can be sustained in the CBD of Colombo. A change in planning conception, innovation to mix the land use and improvement in the physical attributes are the few needs to sustain walkability in the Colombo CBD.