Our mission
Transform urban mobility and create livable, accessible and equitable cities through data insights, safe & sustainable infrastructure, and collaboration.
India's citizen movement for people-first streets
Streets belongto people.
Since the first car-free Sunday in Gurugram in 2013, Raahgiri has grown into a movement across 100 Indian cities — reclaiming roads for walking, cycling, breathing and belonging.
- Raahgiri Days held
- 2,800+
- Indian cities reached
- 100+
- Footfalls on car-free streets
- 14M+
Who we are
A city is only as kindas its streets.
Raahgiri Foundation is a non-profit trust working to improve the quality of life in India's cities and towns. Established in 2015, we grew out of a citizen movement into a coalition of state governments, city administrations, non-profits, businesses and funders.
We work where policy meets pavement: gathering evidence, redesigning junctions, training the people who build and police our roads, and handing streets back to the citizens who use them every day.
Our vision
Design sustainable, vibrant and safe habitats where everyone has access to safe roads for mobility and clean air to breathe.
Our core principles
Compassion
We embrace diversity and extend care to others, fostering an environment of empathy and understanding.
Collaboration
We cultivate connections grounded in trust, championing the co-creation of visions, ideas and solutions.
Culture
We stay inquisitive, welcome feedback and draw lessons from both triumphs and setbacks.
The four pillars we build on
- Road safety
- Ending deaths and serious injuries on Indian roads.
- Gender in mobility
- Streets that women and girls can move through with dignity.
- Public health
- Active travel, cleaner lungs, healthier neighbourhoods.
- Environmental awareness
- Low-emission choices as everyday civic habit.
How change happens
From an ideato a city habit.
Engage · Demonstrate · Accelerate
01
Engage
Listen to citizens, convene unlikely allies and build a shared understanding of the street.
02
Demonstrate
Turn research into tactical pilots people can walk through, use and evaluate in real life.
03
Accelerate
Translate proven ideas into policy, institutional capacity and city-scale adoption.
Twelve years of streets
2025
Urban Adda
A three-day gathering from World Bicycle Day to World Environment Day brings changemakers, artists, youth and policymakers together in New Delhi.
2024
Measuring the air we breathe
With the TRUE Initiative and ICCT, real-world tailpipe emissions are tested on Delhi and Gurugram roads using remote sensing — evidence for low-emission zones.
2023
Design that saves lives
Within a year of intersection redesign work, pedestrian deaths in Gurugram fall by 12.7% and three black spots are resolved.
2022
Gurugram Vision Zero
Launched as part of the global effort to bring road fatalities to zero, combining redesigned intersections with community engagement.
2015
A movement becomes a foundation
Raahgiri Foundation is established as a non-profit trust, turning a Sunday habit into long-term work on mobility, safety and clean air.
2013
The first car-free Sunday
Raahgiri Day launches in Gurugram — India's first sustained car-free citizen initiative. Streets close to cars for a few hours and fill with people instead.
Our impact
Numbers that startedas ordinary Sundays.
Every figure below began with a street, a citizen and a question: who is this road actually for?
- 2,800
- Raahgiri Days organised
- 14M+
- Footfalls
- 100+
- Cities
- 36M+
- People reached
Car-free mornings held since 2013
People who have walked, cycled and played on reclaimed streets
Indian cities that have hosted a Raahgiri Day
Lives touched through programmes and campaigns
What changed on the ground
- −12.7%
- Pedestrian deaths in Gurugram
- 3
- Black spots resolved
- 4
- SDGs advanced
In one year of Gurugram Vision Zero intersection redesign
High-risk locations rebuilt for safety
SDG 3, 5, 11 and 13 sit at the centre of our work
Recognition
- Recognised by the Earth Day Network as one of 24 most inspiring stories for “Pathways to Green Cities”
- Documented by the Ministry of Urban Development as a best practice in urban transportation
A movement with a footprint
Raahgiri Days, street redesigns, low-emission zone studies and training programmes across northern and central India.
GurugramHaryana
Raahgiri Day · Vision Zero · Complete Streets
DelhiNCT
Raahgiri Day · Emissions testing
PanchkulaHaryana
Road safety & crash investigation
ChandigarhChandigarh
Traffic police collaboration
RohtakHaryana
Raahgiri Day
ManesarHaryana
Street safety
MathuraUttar Pradesh
Low-emission zone · EV adoption
VrindavanUttar Pradesh
Low-emission zone · EV adoption
VaranasiUttar Pradesh
Clean mobility in heritage zones
Loading map…
- Gurugram, Haryana — Raahgiri Day · Vision Zero · Complete Streets
- Delhi, NCT — Raahgiri Day · Emissions testing
- Panchkula, Haryana — Road safety & crash investigation
- Chandigarh, Chandigarh — Traffic police collaboration
- Rohtak, Haryana — Raahgiri Day
- Manesar, Haryana — Street safety
- Mathura, Uttar Pradesh — Low-emission zone · EV adoption
- Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh — Low-emission zone · EV adoption
- Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh — Clean mobility in heritage zones
Gurugram Vision Zero
Junctions being rebuilt
Under Gurugram Vision Zero, the city's most dangerous intersections are being redesigned one by one — from tactical trials in cones and paint to permanent construction.
IMT ChowkPermanent execution 
Khushboo ChowkPermanent execution 
Iffco ChowkUnder execution 
Rajiv ChowkUnder execution 
Hero Honda ChowkUnder execution 
Kanhai ChowkUnder execution
Our work
Five programmes.One people-first city.
Each one starts on a real street, with the people who use it — and ends in policy, capacity and habit.
Design for everyone
Complete Streets
Vulnerable road users — people walking and cycling — carry the heaviest cost of poor street design. Complete Streets puts them first.
We redesign streets so that walking, cycling, transit and access all have a place. From MG Road to Sectors 58–67 in Gurugram, footpaths, crossings, cycle infrastructure and junctions are rebuilt around people rather than vehicle speed.
- Street redesign and redevelopment with city agencies
- Safer-by-design interventions, from paint-and-cone trials to permanent works
- Continuous footpaths, safe crossings and protected cycle lanes
No death on the road is acceptable
Vision Zero
Traffic deaths are not accidents. They are the predictable outcome of choices we can change.
Gurugram Vision Zero launched in 2022 as part of the global effort to bring road fatalities to zero. Safe road design, speed management, targeted enforcement and education work together — and in one year pedestrian deaths fell by 12.7% while three black spots were resolved. The approach now extends across Haryana and Punjab.
- Black spot diagnosis and intersection redesign
- Speed management and enforcement support with traffic police
- Capacity building for engineers, police and city officials
Reclaiming clean air
Clean Mobility
Indian cities live with some of the world's worst air. Much of it comes out of a tailpipe.
We advocate low-emission zones, electric vehicle adoption and better public transport. In Varanasi, Vrindavan and Mathura we are building clean mobility in heritage and tourism zones in line with the Uttar Pradesh EV Policy 2022. With the TRUE Initiative and ICCT, on-road vehicles in Delhi and Gurugram were tested using non-intrusive remote sensing to give policymakers real-world emissions evidence.
- Low-emission zones for high-footfall and heritage areas
- Remote-sensing emissions studies with the TRUE Initiative and ICCT
- EV adoption, walking and cycling as everyday options
Where the movement began
Raahgiri Days
For four to five hours every Sunday, a stretch of street stops belonging to cars.
Launched in Gurugram in 2013, Raahgiri Day is India's first sustained car-free citizen initiative. It has reached 100 Indian cities and over 14 million footfalls — and it works because people experience the street differently, then start asking for it to stay that way.
- Car-free Sunday mornings in participating cities
- Tactical urbanism that turns citizens into co-designers
- A downloadable toolkit so any city can start its own
Change needs people who can build it
Community Empowerment
Lasting change comes from shared knowledge and collaborative problem-solving.
Our workshops and “walk-shops” bring city officials, police, engineers, school students, senior citizens, RWA members and volunteers onto the same footpath. Participants experience infrastructure firsthand, document what they find, analyse it and design people-friendly solutions for their own neighbourhood.
- Police and engineer training led by industry experts
- Walk-shops with students, teachers, RWAs and citizen groups
- Collaborations with partners such as WRI India and GMDA
Streets are our largest public spaces. The level of quality in citizenship, along with the quality of infrastructure and services, collectively shapes the quality of life.
Stories of change
Proof, one streetat a time.
Not pilots on paper. Junctions, school gates and whole roads that look and feel different today.
Gurugram, HaryanaFull street redevelopment
From Anath to Sanath Road
A neglected stretch was rebuilt end to end — continuous footpaths, safe crossings, drainage and lighting — proving what a complete street can look like in an Indian city.
Gurugram, HaryanaBlack spot transformed
Kanhai Chowk, reimagined
One of the city's most dangerous intersections was redrawn: tighter turns, shorter crossings and protected refuge for people on foot, first in paint and cones, then in concrete.
Kadipur, GurugramSafe school zone
Chalo, safely school chalein
Around a school gate, speeds were calmed, crossings marked and children brought into the design process — so the walk to class stops being the most dangerous part of the day.
Panchkula, HaryanaPolice, city & science together
Panchkula's safety blueprint
With ICCT, Panchkula Police and Municipal Corporation Panchkula, work on crash investigation, traffic management and community awareness created a model other districts can follow.
Mathura · Vrindavan · VaranasiLow-emission zones
Heritage cities, cleaner air
In three cities where tourism is livelihood and heritage is fragile, we are building EV adoption, pedestrian pathways and low-emission zones around the places people gather most.
Delhi & GurugramEvidence for policy
Emissions, measured on the road
Remote sensing captured what real vehicles actually emit in traffic, giving city and state governments hard evidence to design low-emission zones around.
Gallery
What a street looks likewhen it belongs to us.
16 photographs from Raahgiri Days, walk-shops and street transformations
On film
Watch a streetchange its mind.
What's on
Come standon the street with us.
Some of it happens every Sunday. Some of it happens once a year and changes how a city talks about itself.
Every Sunday · Participating cities across India
Raahgiri Day
Four to five hours of car-free street, open to everyone. Walk, cycle, dance, play, or simply sit down in the middle of the road.
Find out moreGet involved
Give a Sunday.Change a street.
Raahgiri has always been a citizens' movement. Volunteers marshal car-free mornings, run activities for children, survey footpaths, audit school zones and carry the idea home to their own neighbourhood.
- Raahgiri Day volunteer
Set up, marshal and host activities on a car-free morning.
- Street auditor
Walk a stretch, document footpaths, crossings and lighting, feed data into redesign.
- School zone champion
Work with teachers and students to make the journey to school safer.
- Skills on loan
Design, research, film, translation, data — bring what you already do well.
Why you can trust us
- Registered non-profit trust, established 2015
- Works with state governments, city administrations, funders and non-profits
- Annual reports published in our Learning Hub
- Aligned to SDG 3, 5, 11 and 13
- SDG 3
- Good health & well-being
- SDG 5
- Gender equality
- SDG 11
- Sustainable cities
- SDG 13
- Climate action
Support the work
Fund the streetyour city deserves.
Our work is unglamorous and long: crash data, junction drawings, cones and paint, training halls, Sunday mornings. Your support pays for the parts of change nobody photographs.
- EvidenceCrash and speed data, street audits and emissions testing that make the case for change.
- DemonstrationTactical trials in paint, planters and cones — safety you can experience before it is built.
- CapacityTraining police, engineers, teachers and citizen groups so change outlives any one project.
- The movementCar-free Sundays, walk-shops and campaigns that keep streets on the public agenda.
Together
Nobody changesa city alone.
Raahgiri works as a coalition: state governments and city agencies, traffic police, research institutions, funders and businesses.
Government partners
Knowledge & funding partners
Newsroom
Reading, listening,reporting.
Blog18 November 2024World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2024On the third Sunday of November we remember those lost on our roads — and confront the scale of India's road safety crisis.
ReportLearning HubAnnual reports & toolkitsOur annual reports, the Raahgiri Day toolkit, workshops and training material — everything a city needs to start.
PodcastLearning HubConversations on cleaner, safer citiesExperts, officials and citizens on air quality, road safety and what it takes to change a street.
Questions
Everything youmight be wondering.
Still unanswered? Write to us — we read everything that lands in the inbox.
info@raahgirifoundation.orgFor four to five hours on a Sunday morning, a designated stretch of street in a participating city becomes car-free. People walk, cycle, play, exercise and meet their neighbours on the carriageway. Launched in Gurugram in 2013, it is India's first sustained car-free citizen initiative and has since reached 100 cities and more than 14 million footfalls.
Contact
Start a conversationabout your street.
Whether you are a city official, a school, a resident group, a funder or a citizen with one bad junction in mind — we would like to hear from you.
Find us
Registered address
D-2204, IREO the Grand ArchGolf Course Road Extension, Sector 58Gurgaon, Haryana – 122007Gurugram office
C-74, LGF, SuncitySector 54Gurugram, Haryana – 122011