Series 1 | 2023-2024:  Walk 3 - Janakpuri

The third walk took students to Janakpuri - a part of the city that features contrasting neighbourhoods. In addition, the contruction of the Delhi Metro system has significantly impacted the area. The walk started at the Dabri Mor metro station, and participants admired the lush neighbourhood parks and canopy cover in multiple blocks of Janakpuri.  Speaking to local residents brought to light various interesting aspects of the social fabric of the area. 

A Janapuri resident kindly walked us through her part of the neighbourhood. She highlighted the changes in the area, including attempts to raise the floor level of the ground floor as a means to keep out rainwater, trees that were meaningful to her childhood but have gone missing in recent years, and open spaces that are guarded but rarely used. Clearly Janakpuri is not one homogenous area. Appearances and amenities vary across its various 'blocks' and 'pockets'. 

Crossing over to Sitapuri was instructive for understanding the value of planning over unplanned growth. Sitapuri was built incrementally by private developers, on formerly agricultural land. The area is not as dense as other areas previously featured in the UrbEx series. But the famililar issues of water quality, inadequate sewage systems, lack of open spaces etc. were identified by the participants. Residents also indicated that the metro system is perceived as being 'far away' (even though the nearest station is only about 2 km away) and has not impacted their travel choices or everyday life very much. This opinion is quite surprising considering that the area is close to two metro lines and thus well connected with the rest of the city. The ticket pricing, along with lingering issues with last-mile connectivity, have meant the Metro has had uneven impacts even on different sides of the same station.