Why 22km of covered walkways won’t be enough to fix KL

 If DBKL simply installs roofs over disconnected or dangerous paths, the RM55 million project risks becoming performative infrastructure.

From Boo Jia Cher

The federal government’s plan to build 22km of covered pedestrian walkways across Kuala Lumpur is a welcome breath of fresh air.

For a city long dominated by cars, seeing Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) invest RM55 million in walking infrastructure shows an encouraging shift in mindset.

It reflects the recognition of a basic truth: people won’t walk to buses and trains if they are soaked by sudden downpours or exhausted by intense heat, so they opt for the car instead.

A roof over our heads is a strong start, but it will not magically turn Kuala Lumpur into a walkable city overnight.

The theory of walkability

American urban designer Jeff Speck popularised the “General Theory of Walkability”, which states that for people to choose walking over driving, a path must meet four conditions at the same time: it must be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting.

A covered walkway addresses only part of one of these conditions — making the walk more comfortable by blocking out rain and sun. On its own, shelter leaves the other three major gaps untouched:

• Useful: A sheltered roof is useless if the path suddenly stops at a dead end, fails to connect to a train station, or nearby homes or shops. KL’s fragmented design often leaves transit stations, housing and shops all cut off from one another.
• Safe: A roof cannot protect a pedestrian from a six-lane road with fast and dangerous traffic. If there are no safe crossings, traffic lights, or bollards separating people from speeding cars, walking will seem unsafe and people will still stay in their cars.
• Interesting: Streets need active shopfronts, trees, and open views to feel secure and inviting. Just looking at how crowded certain parts of KL like Petaling Street or Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman get, even with their flaws, shows that with lots to see while walking, people will enjoy the walk.

If DBKL simply installs roofs over disconnected or dangerous paths, the RM55 million project risks becoming performative infrastructure; a ribbon-cutting gesture rather than a genuine transformation.

Get the right people involved

To get this right, the government needs more than just a construction budget; it needs an inclusive walkability commission.

This commission should carry out thorough, ground-level walking audits across every planned route. Crucially, these audits must be inclusive.

The team cannot just sit in offices looking at blueprints. They must walk the paths alongside wheelchair users, parents pushing strollers, senior citizens, visually impaired residents, and daily transit commuters, at different times of the day.

An inclusive audit asks practical, everyday questions:

• Is the curb ramp too steep for a wheelchair user?
• Does the covered walkway suddenly drop off into a high-speed slip road?
• Are tactile paving tiles correctly aligned for visually impaired walkers?
• Is there adequate street lighting to make the route safe at night?

More than roofs over walkways

Putting a roof over KL’s streets sends an important message: that walking matters.

But if we genuinely want people to leave their cars behind and use public transport, we need more than covered walkways. We need paths that are safe, continuous and accessible to everyone.

Even a covered walkway can feel uncomfortable when the surrounding streets are dark and deserted at night, with businesses shuttered.

A lack of activity after hours can make a place feel unsafe and discourage people from walking. This is part of a much bigger conversation about walkability, one that is inseparable from how we plan and build our cities.

Let’s not just cover our walkways. Let’s fix the walk, and the city around it. - FMT

Boo Jia Cher is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT