Patel Chowk
SAFETY SCORE: 3.9/5
SafetiPin is a map-based mobile phone and online application, which works to make communities and cities safer by providing safety-related information collected by users and by trained auditors. At the core of the app is the Women’s Safety Audit. A Women’s Safety Audit (WSA) is a participatory tool for collecting and assessing information about perceptions of urban safety in
public spaces. The audit is based on nine parameters – Lighting, Openness, Visibility, Crowd,
The audit is based on nine parameters – Lighting, Openness, Visibility, Crowd, Security, Walk path, Availability of Public Transport, Gender Diversity, and Feeling.
The audits were conducted by female architects from NDMC along with Safetipin team. The assessment was done post sunset till 9 pm. Patel Chowk is an underground metro station on Delhi Metro’s Yellow line. It is surrounded by various government offices like Jeevan Tara, Dak Bhawan, Sanchar Bhawan, Yojana Bhawan etc. Additionally, it caters to tourists visiting Jantar Mantar, Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, and National Philatelic Museum.
An area of approximately 500m radius around the metro station has been studied and 113 audit pins have been generated. The area outside the metro entry/exit and the bus stop were studied. Safety Audits indicate that the area around the metro station is safe. Due to lack of activity and pedestrians, the lane behind Akashwani Bhawan has been rated lower in terms of safety. The parameters of Lighting
and Walkpath has been rated Good.
Public Transport parameter is rated Above Average. The number of pedestrians decreases after office hours. Therefore, People and Gender Usage parameters have been rated Below Average and Poor respectively. Visibility and Security parameters have been rated Below Average as well. Overall, auditors have rated the Feeling in this area as Average.
Lighting
Lighting Parameter has been rated 2.5/3 i.e. Good. Throughout this audit area, streetlights are installed along the edge of footpath facing the road. The illumination is bright on the vehicular carriageway but low on pedestrians path. Additional street lights are needed along the footpath to ensure uniform illumination.
Care should be taken while installing streetlights in midst of trees along the footpath. Some streetlights were found to be hidden behind trees’ foliage, resulting in low illumination. Regular maintenance checks should be carried out to prune tree leaves in this area. The height of streetlights should be lower than that of trees to avoid disrupted and partial illumination.