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Trees, Temples and Technology : Social values and ecosystem services in a changing urban context, the case of BangaloreSchewenius, Maria January 2011 (has links)
The pressure on natural resources in urban areas increases as cities grow in size and populations; however, informal institutions as norms and values by ‘common people’ can play a major role for protection of urban greens. As the city of Bangalore, India, rapidly grows in size and population, its green areas are disappearing. In rural parts of India, local people’s notion of certain ecosystems as sacred has rendered the ecosystems protection and contributed to sustenance of ecosystem services’ generation. The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of stewardship of urban greens in a changing social context, focusing on religious beliefs and practices surrounding trees in Bangalore. It focuses on the cultural dimension of ecosystem services and connects previous research on sacred groves in rural areas with research on stewardship of urban greens. Methods include interview surveys with visitors to five focus sites of religious significance representing the city's four major religions; semi-structured interviews with key informants; and observations. Results show that on the Hindu sites -the study’s main focus- in the city, a range of trees were sacred themselves and revered through a set of practices. On the other sites, trees were rather an incorporated part of the land areas with religious significance. On all sites a set of cultural services was appreciated as generated by trees. Furthermore, visitors had a strong stake in the trees but the experienced levels of capacity to secure the trees’ protection differed between the sites. The study concludes that ‘common people’ are crucial stakeholders for ecosystem stewardship that ensures protection of the urban greens in Bangalore. The different religions in the city provide a multi-faceted protection of different types of urban greens. The level of protection is the outcome of a complex web of community values and norms, where sacredness is one included element.
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I am still unlearning it : A qualitative study of how Indian journalists perceive their reality from a gender perspectiveAndreasson, Lisa, Olsson Jönsson, Johanna January 2016 (has links)
India experienced huge media coverage from all over the world associated with the Nirbhaya-case in 2012, when a young middleclass girl was brutally raped in a bus by five men in Delhi. After this horrifying incident a lot of demonstrations followed all over India. Women in the urban areas was arguing for the same rights as men and was standing up for a more equal society where everybody is able to live as freely as someone else, no matter what gender you was born with. This study aim to examine what experiences, perceptions and opinions Indian journalists in English written press have of their reality from a gender perspective. We wanted to know how and when Indian journalist represent women and if there is a certain way of thinking about representation of women in the media content. In interviews with a total of eleven journalists and ethnographic observations in two of India’s largest cities we tried to examine the structures and perceptions that influenced the journalist’s worldview and thus also the messages that appears in the news. By using the theory of structuration, agenda setting, performativity and intersectionality we examined what structures that the journalists live and operates within and how this is affecting the media content.
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A critique of "cultural fit" in relation to the recruitment of Indian Information Technologists for the Y2K project in Australia.Booth, Judith, kimg@deakin.edu.au,jillj@deakin.edu.au,mikewood@deakin.edu.au January 2002 (has links)
In this study of intercultural communication, I investigate the multi-faceted meaning of the expression " cultural fit " in the sense that it is used by recruiters when shortlisting Indian information technologists to fill skills shortages for the Y2K project in Australia. The data is in the form of ten videotaped interviews in Bangalore and the recruiter commentary on those tapes in Melbourne. A crucial decision to be made by recruiters in any shortlisting process is " How will the candidate fit into the workplace?" This question becomes more problematical when applied to overseas-trained professionals. I take a critical approach, drawing principally on the research traditions of linguistics where studies of intercultural communication and workplace interaction intersect, employing chiefly the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis and Interactional Sociolinguistics and the more abstract notions of Bourdieu. A bridge between these different discourse approaches is provided by Sarangi & Roberts < 1999 < who show the connection between the larger institutional order and interactional routines, through an elaboration of frontstage talk and backstage talk following Goffman < 1959 < .
An analysis of the interviews < frontstage talk < reveals "cultural fit" to involve a knowledge of institutional talk, in particular, directness. The recruiter commentary < backstage talk < draws attention to issues of intelligibility, body language, technical expertise and workplace values. the study shows that Indian Information Technologists have "partial fit" in that they possess technical fit but do not demonstrate, or lack the opportunity to demonstrate in the interview, Australian workplace values such as small talk, humour and informality. The recruiter judgments were fleeting and apart from checking for intelligibility, were made on the basis of candidates' body language thus highlighting its importance and its relative absence from the discourse approaches mentioned above. This study shows clearly that there is room for more communicative flexibility on the part of all the stakeholders.
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Studies On Urban Sprawl And Spatial Planning Support System For Bangalore, IndiaSudhira, H S 05 1900 (has links)
Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled and uncoordinated outgrowth of towns and cities. Noting the various studies, the pattern of urban sprawl is characterised by using spatial metrics based on the extent of paved surface or built-up areas. The process of urban sprawl can be described by change in pattern over time, like proportional increase in built-up surface to population leading to rapid urban spatial expansion. With an understanding of the patterns, processes and causes of urban sprawl, the consequences of sprawl can be explored which are reflected by the patterns, thus eventually aiding in the design of spatial planning support system. Following the sequence of patterns, process, causes and consequence, sets the research agenda as the framework for this research.
The current research addresses the issue of urban sprawl in the context of Bangalore, India. We propose a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction of planning and governance on the extent of outgrowth and level of services. Reviewing the different indicator frameworks, we also propose urban sprawl indicators and operationalise the same for Bangalore. The indicators comprise spatial metrics (derived from temporal satellite remote sensing data) and other metrics obtained from a house-hold survey. The interaction of different indicators with respect to the core city and the outgrowth is determined by multidimensional scaling. The analyses reveal the underlying patterns -similarities (and dissimilarities) that relate with the different governance structures that prevail here. Subsequently, we attempt to understand the process of sprawl. This might help one to understand the dynamics that lead to such outgrowths. An attempt was made to capture the dynamics using systems approach and finally the insights gained were translated into agent-based land-use model. Noting the evolution of spatial planning support system (SPSS), the consequences of sprawl are explored. The SPSS developed on an agent-based modelling environment, is essentially a process-based land-use model. We highlight the need for an integrated SPSS, illustrating its development and evaluation. The policy analysis carried out using the SPSS offers insights into areas of concern. It is concluded by noting the drawbacks and challenges for future research for managing urban sprawl. In the present context, with the escalating problem of urban sprawl, the evolution of a SPSS in the form of the BangaloreSim model is the first step in this direction. The SPSS aids in undertaking policy analysis for certain policy measures and its consequences on urban land-use. The research concludes outlining the challenges in addressing urban sprawl while ensuring adequate level of services that planning and governance have to ensure towards achieving sustainable urbanisation.
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Selling Sex To Survive: Prostitution, Trafficking And Agency Within The Indian Sex IndustryBurns, Emily K. January 2013 (has links)
No description available.
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The Kabir Project. Bangalore and Mumbai (India)Ancín, Itziar January 2013 (has links)
The Kabir Project (K.P.) was born in Bangalore, India, in 2002, after the Gujarat pogrom, which occurred in the same year. In the context of increasing divisions in Indian society, defined by religion, social class, caste and gender, this research explores how this initiative, through live concerts and documentary films, spreads the folk music traditions of the 15th century mystic poet Kabir along with his messages of unity and understanding between confronted identity groups. This study presents the context of violence between Muslims and Hindus since the Indian Partition and the reasons for gendered violence in the conflict. It focuses also on the connections between globalization and minorities’ prosecution in liberal democracies; on the colonial roots and socioeconomic reasons which led to the Gujarat massacre in 2002; and the social role of the mystic as bridging cultural and religious differences. Through two complementary methods: in-depth interviews to audiences and organizers at the K. P. festivals in Bangalore and survey questionnaires distributed to the Kabir Festival Mumbai audiences, this study tries to answer the following questions: What is the potential for social change of the K. P. in the world-views of today's Indian citizens? Are the messages presented by films and folk music capable of generating positive attitudes towards dialogue between confronted identity categories? In which ways?The research reveals the success of the K. P. to challenge audiences’ minds through communication for development events, whose objectives are reached by spreading Kabir values through artistic forms, and by creating shared spaces between confronted identity sections. Festivals in rural areas help to diminish the distance between those antagonized communities. In addition, urban festivals also generate positive attitudes in elites towards dialogue and coexistence, since that is the social profile of the audience.
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Modeling and Analysis of Water Distribution SystemsManohar, Usha January 2014 (has links) (PDF)
In most of the urban cities of developing countries piped water supply is intermittent and they receive water on alternate days for about few hours. The Unaccounted For Water (UFW) in these cities is very high due to aged infrastructure, poor management and operation of the system. In the cities of developing countries, supplied water is not able to meet the demand and there is huge gap between supply and demand of water. To meet the water demand people are depending on other sources of water like groundwater, rain water harvesting, waste water treatment, desalination etc. Huge quantity of groundwater is extracted without any account for the quantity of water used. The main challenge for water authorities is to meet the consumer demands at varying loading conditions. However, the present execution of decisions in the operational management of WDS is through manual control. The manual control of valve throttling and control of pump speed, reduces the efficiency and operation of WDS. In such cases, system modeling coupled with automated control can play a significant role in the appropriate execution and operation of the system. In the past few decades, there has been a major development in the field of modeling and analysing water distribution systems. Most of the people in Indian mega cities are facing water problems as they are not able to receive safe reliable drinking water. In rapidly growing cities, the water resources management has been a major concern for the Government. There is always a need to optimize the available water resources when the rate of demand constantly beats the rate of replenishments.
Mathematical modeling of WDS has become an indispensible tool since the ages to model any type of WDS. Development of mathematical models of WDS is necessary to analyse the system behavior for a wide range of operating conditions. Using models, problems can be anticipated in proposed or existing systems, and solutions can be evaluated before time, money, and materials are invested in a real-world project.
In the present study, we have developed a model of WDS of a typical city like Bangalore, India and analysed them for several scenarios and operating conditions. Bangalore WDS is modeled using EPANET. Before a network model is used for analysis purpose, it must be ensured that the model is predicting the behavior of the system with reasonable accuracy. The process of matching the parameters of the developed model and the field observed data is known as calibration. All WDS require calibration for effective modeling and simulation of the system. Demand and roughness are the most uncertain parameters and they are adjusted repeatedly to get the required head at nodes and flow in the pipes. The calibration parameters usually include pipe roughness, valve settings, pipe diameter and demand. Pipe roughness, valve settings and pipe diameter are associated with the flow conditions and the demands relate to the boundary conditions. For Bangalore WDS, the values of roughness coefficient and demand are available; and the values of valve settings are not available. Hence, this value is estimated during calibration process. Dynamic Inversion (DI) nonlinear controller with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) features (DI-PID) is used for calibrating WDS for valve settings on the basis of observed flow and roughness coefficient. From the obtained results it is observed that, controllers are capable of achieving the target flow to all the GLRs with acceptable difference between the flow meter readings and the simulated flow. After calibrating any real WDS to the field observed data, it will be useful for water authorities if the consumer demands are met up to certain extent. This can be achieved by using the concept of equitable distribution of water to different consumers.
In the urban cities of developing countries, often large quantities of water are supplied to only a few consumers, leading to inequitable water supply. It is a well known fact that quantity of water supplied from the source is not distributed equitably among the consumers. Aged pipelines pump failures, improper management of water resources are some of the main reasons for it. Equitable water to different consumers can be provided by operating the system in an efficient manner. Most of the urban cities receive water from the source to intermediate reservoirs and from these reservoirs water is supplied to consumers. Therefore, to achieve equitable water supply, these two supply levels have to be controlled using different concepts/ techniques. The water requirement of each of the reservoirs has to be calculated, which may depend on the number of consumers and consumer category. Each reservoir should receive its share of water to satisfy its consumer demand and also there must be provision to accommodate shortages, if any. The calibrated model of Bangalore WDS is used to achieve equitable water supply quantity to different zones of Bangalore city. The city has large undulating terrain among different zones which leads to unequal distribution of water. Dynamic Inversion (DI) nonlinear controller with Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) features (DI-PID) is used for valve throttling to achieve the target flows to different zones/reservoirs of the city at different levels. Equitable water distribution to different reservoirs, when a part of the source fails to supply water is also discussed in this thesis. From the obtained results it is observed that, controllers were responding in all the cases in different levels of targets for such a huge network. When there is change in supply pattern to achieve the equitable supply of water to different zones, the hydraulics of the WDS will change. Therefore, it is necessary to understand whether the system is able to handle these changes. The concept of reliability can be used to analyse the performance of WDS for wide range of operating conditions.
Reliability analysis of a WDS for both normal and likely to occur situations will give a better quality of service to its consumers. Calculating both hydraulic and mechanical reliability is important as the chances of occurrence of both the failure scenarios are equal in a WDS. In the present study, a methodology is presented to model the nodal, system and total reliability for water supply networks by considering the hydraulic and mechanical failure scenarios. These two reliability measures together give the total reliability of the system. Analysing a real and complex WDS for the probable chances of occurrence of the failure scenarios; and then to anlyse the total reliability of the system is not reported in the literature and this analysis is carried out in the present study for Bangalore city WDS. The hydraulics of the system for all the operating conditions is analysed using EPANET. Hydraulic reliability is calculated by varying the uncertain independent parameters (demand, roughness and source water) and mechanical reliability is calculated by assuming system component failures. The system is analysed for both the reliability scenarios by considering different chances of failure that may occur in a real WDS; and hence the total reliability is calculated by making different combinations of hydraulic and mechanical failure scenarios. Sensitivity analysis for all the zones is also carried out to understand the behavior of different demand points for large fluctuation in hydraulics of the system. From the study, it is observed that, Hydraulic reliability decreases as the demand variation increases. But, as the roughness variation increases, there is no much change in the nodal or system reliability. Consumer demand or reliability of the WDS can be increased by saving the water lost in the system. This can be achieved by tracking the water parcel from the source till the consumer end, which will give an idea about the performance of different stages and zones in achieving the target flows.
Huge quantity of water is lost in WDS and hence it is necessary to account for the water lost at different levels, hence the system can be managed in a better way. In most of the intermittent water supply systems demand is controlled by supply side; there is also a need to understand the demand variation at the consumer end which in turn affects the supply. Matching this varied supply-demand gap at various levels is challenging task. To get a better control of such problem, water balance (WB) equations need to be derived at various levels. When we derive these WB equations it should be emphasized that UFW is one of the major component of this equation. Given this back ground of the complex problem, for a typical city like Bangalore, an attempt is made to derive WB equations at various levels. In the present study, stage-wise and zone-wise WB is analysed for different months based on the flow meter readings. The conceptual model developed is calibrated, validated and also the performance of the model is analysed by giving a chance of error in the flow measurement. Based on all the above observations, stage-wise and zone-wise water supply weights are also calculated. From the study it is found that, there is no much loss of water in all the four stages of supply. Water loss is minimal of about 3 % till water reaches from source to GLRs. Water is transferred between the stages during some days of the month, may be due to shortage of water or due to unexpected demand. Huge quantity of water is lost in the distribution main which is of about 40 to 45% for all the moths which is analysed. This type of model will be extremely useful for water supply managers to manage their resources more efficiently and this study is discussed in detail as a part of this thesis.
As mentioned above, huge quantity of groundwater is used in urban cities and the quantity of water extracted is not accounted. In the present study, zone wise and sub zone-wise piped water and ground water used in different parts of the cities is analysed with the help of available data. From the study it is observed that, the quantity of piped water supply and UFW is consistent for the time period analysed and the quantity of water withdrawn from the borewells are varying considerably depending on the yield of the borewlls in different zones.
The main components of urban water supply are piped water, ground water, rainfall and runoff generated, UFW, waste water produced and other water quantities which may be minute. In future, to manage the water resources properly, integrated water management is necessary in city scale which will give an idea about the total water produced and the water utilized at the consumer end. Therefore, integrated water management concept is carried out in Hebbal region, (a small part of Bangalore) using the available data. From the analysis we noticed that, domestic water supplied to North sub zones are better when comparing to East sub zones. This type of total water balance can be studied in other parts of Bangalore, to understand the behavior of different water components and to make better decisions.
The developed model, analysis and operating conditions of this study can be applied to other similar cities like Bangalore. This type of study may be useful to water authorities for better control of the resources, or in making better decisions and these types of models will act as decision support systems.
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High Resolution Reconstruction of Rainfall Using Stable Isotopes in Growth Bands of Terrestrial GastropodRangarajan, Ravi January 2014 (has links) (PDF)
Reconstruction studies of seasonal rainfall utilizing stable isotope based proxy approach suffer from the limitations of time resolutions. Conventional methods and archives limit the achievable resolution to annual scales. However, high resolution reconstruction (seasonal to sub-weekly scale) can be achieved in proxy records where growth rates are high enough to leave spatial signatures in an organically or inorganically deposited layer such as growth bands. In this study, aragonitic skeleton of the gastropod Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich, Giant African Land Snails) is investigated with an aim to achieve sub-weekly scale reconstruction of the Indian monsoon rainfall. These terrestrial gastropods are native of Africa and highly invasive. Their evolution in the geological time period dates back to the Pliocene and is presently distributed across the tropical belt. They exhibit a high growth rate in the presence of water and high relative humidity in the environment. As a result, they are ideally suited for the task of palaeo seasonality reconstruction. The isotopic patterns recorded in their growth bands reveal composition of environmental water at seasonal time scales. In vitro studies were carried out on L. fulica to estimate their growth rates and growth responses to changes in the physical conditions within the
culture chamber.
The Indian monsoon rainfall exhibits characteristic dry spells that are generally sandwiched between periods of active phases of high rainfall during the South West monsoon season. These dry spells are typically characterized by rainfall with low intensity. Isotope fingerprinting of the rain water at daily time resolution, covering the years of 2007-10 exhibited distinct isotopic ratios for the dry and wet spells. Dry spells were clearly demarcated in the
record with isotopically enriched signature. In addition, the study indentified the role of three distinct moisture sources on δ18O of rain water at Bangalore, India. The variability in the oxygen isotopic composition of the Indian monsoon rainfall is predominantly controlled by this source moisture variability at inter annual time scales, while temperature and amount of rainfall tend to dominate the variability in the precipitation isotopes at seasonal and weekly scales.
Simultaneous isotopic analyses of both rainwater and shell carbonates growth bands were undertaken to understand their relationship to aid in high resolution reconstruction. Carbonate found in the growth bands of the gastropods, which is precipitated under equilibrium condition from rainwater, preserves the signature of rainfall. This provides an opportunity to reconstruct rainfall parameters (i.e. amount and moisture sources) knowing the variability in shell carbonates. Stable isotopic ratios measured across the growth bands of live shell specimens collected from the southern and eastern Indian regions (Bangalore and Kolkata, respectively) were compared with the rainfall isotope ratios at these two locations; signature of dry spells were clearly identified from the study of isotopic composition in the growth bands of the gastropod specimens.
The approach was also extended to older samples from historical archives from eastern Indian region (Kolkata, East India). Individual specimens belonging to the same species of gastropod, which were collected during the monsoon season of the year 1918 were used for reconstructing the seasonal pattern in monsoon rainfall over the region. The record of variation in the isotopic composition seen in the shell was compared with the rainfall data from Indian Metrological Division observatory at Kolkata station. The year 1918 was characterized as a
major drought year and the signature of dry period was seen preserved in the specimen. The work under taken in this thesis will widen the scope of seasonality reconstruction using terrestrial shell fossils from palaeo records, which have been rarely investigated in paleoclimate studies from the perspective of understanding the seasonal precipitation variability.
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High Resolution Reconstruction of Rainfall Using Stable Isotopes in Growth Bands of Terrestrial GastropodRangarajan, Ravi January 2014 (has links) (PDF)
Reconstruction studies of seasonal rainfall utilizing stable isotope based proxy approach suffer from the limitations of time resolutions. Conventional methods and archives limit the achievable resolution to annual scales. However, high resolution reconstruction (seasonal to sub-weekly scale) can be achieved in proxy records where growth rates are high enough to leave spatial signatures in an organically or inorganically deposited layer such as growth bands. In this study, aragonitic skeleton of the gastropod Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich, Giant African Land Snails) is investigated with an aim to achieve sub-weekly scale reconstruction of the Indian monsoon rainfall. These terrestrial gastropods are native of Africa and highly invasive. Their evolution in the geological time period dates back to the Pliocene and is presently distributed across the tropical belt. They exhibit a high growth rate in the presence of water and high relative humidity in the environment. As a result, they are ideally suited for the task of palaeo seasonality reconstruction. The isotopic patterns recorded in their growth bands reveal composition of environmental water at seasonal time scales. In vitro studies were carried out on L. fulica to estimate their growth rates and growth responses to changes in the physical conditions within the
culture chamber.
The Indian monsoon rainfall exhibits characteristic dry spells that are generally sandwiched between periods of active phases of high rainfall during the South West monsoon season. These dry spells are typically characterized by rainfall with low intensity. Isotope fingerprinting of the rain water at daily time resolution, covering the years of 2007-10 exhibited distinct isotopic ratios for the dry and wet spells. Dry spells were clearly demarcated in the
record with isotopically enriched signature. In addition, the study indentified the role of three distinct moisture sources on δ18O of rain water at Bangalore, India. The variability in the oxygen isotopic composition of the Indian monsoon rainfall is predominantly controlled by this source moisture variability at inter annual time scales, while temperature and amount of rainfall tend to dominate the variability in the precipitation isotopes at seasonal and weekly scales.
Simultaneous isotopic analyses of both rainwater and shell carbonates growth bands were undertaken to understand their relationship to aid in high resolution reconstruction. Carbonate found in the growth bands of the gastropods, which is precipitated under equilibrium condition from rainwater, preserves the signature of rainfall. This provides an opportunity to reconstruct rainfall parameters (i.e. amount and moisture sources) knowing the variability in shell carbonates. Stable isotopic ratios measured across the growth bands of live shell specimens collected from the southern and eastern Indian regions (Bangalore and Kolkata, respectively) were compared with the rainfall isotope ratios at these two locations; signature of dry spells were clearly identified from the study of isotopic composition in the growth bands of the gastropod specimens.
The approach was also extended to older samples from historical archives from eastern Indian region (Kolkata, East India). Individual specimens belonging to the same species of gastropod, which were collected during the monsoon season of the year 1918 were used for reconstructing the seasonal pattern in monsoon rainfall over the region. The record of variation in the isotopic composition seen in the shell was compared with the rainfall data from Indian Metrological Division observatory at Kolkata station. The year 1918 was characterized as a
major drought year and the signature of dry period was seen preserved in the specimen. The work under taken in this thesis will widen the scope of seasonality reconstruction using terrestrial shell fossils from palaeo records, which have been rarely investigated in paleoclimate studies from the perspective of understanding the seasonal precipitation variability.
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Non Motorized Transport Planning for an Indian CityRahul, T M January 2015 (has links) (PDF)
Indian cities are currently facing various transportation issues like congestion, pollution, urban inequity, high fatality rate due to accidents etc. because of an increase in the ownership of private motor vehicles and their usage. This has prompted many policy makers to search for alternate modal options that are more sustainable than motorized modes. Non Motorized Transport (NMT), which includes mainly walking and cycling in an urban context, do not produce many of the issues associated with motorized modes like congestion, pollution, fatal accidents etc. But, promotion of NMT requires a clear-cut planning strategy, with a lucid understanding of various strategies and their effect on the NMT usage.
Present study tries to answer certain pertinent questions, particularly with respect to walking and cycling, which can arise while preparing a plan for promoting NMT in Indian cities. The following are the questions that the author seeks to answer in the present study.
1) Which are the areas inside a city that a planner shall target for promotion of NMT?2) Where shall a planner locate the infrastructures for NMT in these areas?3) What may be the possible impacts of providing these NMT facilities?4) What may be the possible effect of built environment factors on the choice of NMT?
Providing NMT infrastructures requires knowledge of location characteristics such as the trip distance of NMT. Present study tries to elicit the existing distance characteristics of walking and cycling in terms of an acceptable trip distance. The household travel data of Bangalore city, for the year 2009, are used in the study. First, a description and a statistical analysis of the walking and cycling trip distances across the subcategories of socio-demographic and regional factors is done. Secondly, the acceptable distance is computed from the cumulative trip length distribution based on the results of the statistical analysis. The socio-demographic and regional factors used in the study include purpose, age, gender, educational level, occupational status, and motor vehicle ownership. The major results include a significant difference between the mean trip distances on foot for the subcategories of variables such as gender (z value, 4.94), whether the respondent owned a private vehicle (z value, -21.2), and whether the trip was made inside the Central Business District (CBD) (z value, -3.93). One of the major implications of this study pertains to requirement of a footpath around main activity centers like bus stations, at least up to a distance of 1385 meters (maximum value for walking as the main mode) and around the bus stops, at least up to a distance of 750 meters (maximum value for walking as the access mode).
Next, the present study analyzes the influence of built environment factors –density and diversity -on the mode choice and trip distance of the residents in the Bangalore city. The built environment factors are analyzed, for their marginal effects in the presence of various socio-demographic and alternative attributes, for the two segments -respondents owning at least a personal vehicle and respondents not owning any personal vehicle. The density used is the total density, which was the sum of population density in a zone and employment density in a zone. The diversity index, which was an explainer of the land-use mixture, was set such that, when a zone with small area had employment opportunities comparable with its population, the diversity index would be high. When tested on a holdout sample other than the ones used in the estimation of the mode choice model, for the vehicle-owning group, the model estimated produced a validation accuracy of 93% and 91% respectively for two-wheelers and walking. For the vehicle non-owning group, the prediction success rate was highest for walking (97%), and lowest for public transit (84%). For the vehicle non-owning group, an increase in the density increased the trip distance (parameter values of 0.016 for total density at origin and 0.002 for total density at destination) and decreased the NMT usage (parameter values of -0.036 and
0.038 respectively for cycling and walking for total density at origin, and -0.092 and
0.073 respectively for cycling and walking for total density at destination), but for the vehicle-owning group, the inverse was true. The results for the vehicle non-owning group highlighted the requirement of a policy framework to control the employment and housing location of them in order to reduce their trip distance. In the mode choice model for the personal vehicle-owning group, the similarity between the parameters of the built environment factors across the two-wheeler and NMT reflected the need for adopting policies that would change the attitude of people towards NMT. Also, the trip distance model determined that females preferred a shorter working distance, with a parameter value -0.109 for the vehicle-owning group and -0.04 for the vehicle non-owning group, when compared with males.
Lastly, the study develops a methodological framework to determine the sustainability impact on providing NMT infrastructures using a Composite Sustainability Index (CSI). More specifically, the study develops a methodological framework to determine the variation in the CSI on providing NMT -walking and cycling – infrastructure. The methodology establishes a link between the proposed NMT infrastructures and the CSI using two explanatory indicators: 1) number of motorized vehicles and 2) vehicle-kilometers travelled by the motorized modes. The main components of the framework include the estimation of a mode choice model for a study area, calculation of the explanatory indicators for the scenarios before and after providing NMT infrastructures, and determination of the sustainability impact. The proposed framework, along with the acceptable distance determined in the earlier step, is then used to determine the sustainability impact on providing NMT facilities, for a future scenario, inside the CBD of Bangalore and around the bus stops carrying trips to the CBD. Three case studies are presented with the first one considering only intra zonal (CBD) trips, the second one considering only inter zonal trips having CBD as destination, and the third one considering both above mentioned the trips. The results of all the three case studies found an increase in the CSI (0.002 for the first case study, 0.076 for the second case study, and 0.100 for the third case study) for the peak-hour trips inside the CBD, on providing NMT infrastructures. This increase showed an improvement in the sustainability. Further, for the case study 1, which consisted of high percentage of short distance trips, the major beneficiaries of the NMT infrastructures were the low-income group. There was a reduction in public transport trips, of which the main contributors were the low-income group, from 142706.2 to 96410.2.
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