Behaviourally-Informed Urban Mobility Interventions for Congestion Management in Dehradun, India
Diptansu Roy
*
Department of Geography, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, 110007 NCT of Delhi, India.
Radhika Singh
Department of Geography, Miranda House, University of Delhi, 110007 NCT of Delhi, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Dehradun, a fast-urbanising hill city, is witnessing critical levels of vehicular traffic congestion, particularly during peak school and office hours. This report presents a strategically layered, behaviourally informed urban mobility plan to reduce congestion sustainably. Drawing on globally validated behavioural models (Behavioural Urbanism, COM-B, EAST), criminological frameworks (CPTED, SCP, Defensible Space), and national-international precedents, this proposal leverages a hybrid of digital nudges, infrastructural adaptation, and social norm activation to drive sustainable modal transition.
Peak hour congestion is attempted to be solved from a Geographical perspective with the help of Transport Science, large scale network maps tying up with the previously mentioned Behaviour Science principles. Case studies of congestion hotspots are analysed with ground level solutions often involving changes in appearance of infrastructure and its presentation rather than changes in infrastructure capacity.
These solutions aim to be affordable, easy to implement and bring drastic change in how transportation is viewed in the hill city. Hotspot analysis is followed by a cost feasibility assessment, list of potential funding sources, implementation risk analysis and implementation roadmap. Lastly, areas for future research are specified.
Keywords: Behavioural urbanism, CPTED, SCP, defensible space, behavioural economics, economical-tactical urbanism, sustainable congestion management