Community Drawing and Storytelling to Understand the Place Experience of Walking and Cycling in Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Abstract

Transit infrastructure is a critical determinant of the layout and sustainability performance of residential landscapes and neighborhoods. Though the spatial aspects of transit design and their associated impact on health, congestion, air pollution, accident rates, and emissions of greenhouse gases are well understood, the experiential-qualitative aspects of mobility have often been ignored in the travel and transport literature. This paper presents the place-understandings of pedestrians and cyclists concerning neighborhood safety in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan. Community perspectives were captured through drawing and storytelling workshops as a method of public engagement through creative experience. While reporting on the veracity of this collaborative, creative, and place-based methodology, the paper presents workshop outcomes that describe problematic non-auto neighborhood transit experiences that, if unchecked, could constitute a significant challenge to the sustainable post-Soviet transformation of Dushanbe’s residential neighborhoods.

Cairenes’ Storytelling: Pedestrian Scenarios as a Normative Factor When Enforcing Street Changes in Residential Areas

“…Moreover, people perceive these issues differently depending on their age, education, and sociocultural background. This difference shows how familiarity with a location's sociocultural aspects affects attitudes, which is consistent with findings from previous studies, such as those by Avineri et al (2012), El-Kadi (2013), and Smith (2023.…”

“…The problems discussed in the literature arise when decision-makers attempt to improve the urban street network without involving pedestrians (Moura et al 2017), or considering public participation (Smith 2023), pedestrian behaviors (Avineri et al 2012), and pedestrians' preferences in their everyday lives (D'Acci 2019). In this vein, two challenges regarding pedestrian safety and reliable access in residential areas arise.…”

Geography's lens, landscape architecture, and the green recovery

“…Folding public engagement into collaboration resonates with the decades-long work of another landscape architectural pioneer, Randolph 'Randy' T. Hester, who states that '… we need to be aware of, experience, and understand the interrelationships … of the inhabited landscape' (Hester, 2010, p. 49). If consideration of grassroots perspectives is to be a hallmark of Geography's green recovery practice, then so it should also be for landscape architecture; especially if it can engage through spatial imaginaries and sensitivities to inculcate a reflective and engaged public (Smith, 2022) (Figure 2).…”