India, June 21 -- In a move that's part surprise and part long overdue, the Chandigarh Road Safety Committee has approved countdown timers at 45 major junctions across the city - all with heavy foot and vehicular traffic. On paper, it's a small tweak. But for anyone who's ever sprinted across a roundabout or played traffic roulette near Sector 26's grain market, it signals something rare: that pedestrians may finally be entering the urban planning conversation.

A city that planned the path, but forgot the pedestrian

Chandigarh - the city that walks in straight lines - has never quite figured out how to walk with its people. Le Corbusier's 1950s utopia was designed to be pedestrian-friendly: verdant green belts, quiet pathways, and the n...