Pedestrian safety in Kandy Heritage City, Sri Lanka: Lessons from World Heritage Cities

Abstract

New urbanism covers a wide range of essential urban features and aims to sustainably reshape urban areas. Many historic cities in the contemporary world could shift from a manufacturing and informational economy to a cultural economy by adopting the concepts of new urbanism, particularly improved walkability. The objective of this study is to explore possible ways to ensure pedestrian safety in Kandy Heritage City, Sri Lanka, by incorporating the principles of new urbanism and learning lessons from other World Heritage Cities. In this research, first, pedestrian safety issue in Kandy Heritage City is studied using secondary data and an empirical method; second, relevant literature is reviewed, and scholarly ideas on different concepts is explored; third, international cases are reviewed, particularly those of World Heritage Cities, to learn how these cities have adopted new urbanism’s principles; and, fourth, conclusions are reached through a review of existing proposals relevant to Kandy Heritage City. By conducting this research using a normative case study approach, I hope to convince critics of the need to ensure pedestrian safety and hope that planners will be inspired by potential sustainability concepts and learn lessons from the international case studies.