Kira Shamsutdinova
In November 2025, Tashkent ranked as the third most polluted city in the world, with PM2.5 levels reaching 229 micrograms per cubic metre, approximately 45 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended limit. The government’s response was swift: banning older vehicles, relocating heavily polluting industries, and establishing a special commission. While these measures addressed transport and industrial emissions, they overlooked a critical factor, urban planning. This omission is significant because Tashkent’s deteriorating air quality is, to a large extent, a consequence of how the city has been designed and developed.
Tashkent’s street layout was originally planned around Soviet-era levels of car ownership and has changed little since then. Today, nearly 730,000 vehicles circulate through the capital every day. Nationally, the number of registered vehicles increased by 46 percent, rising from 3.14 million in 2021 to 4.6 million in 2023.
According to the World Bank’s 2024 assessment, the transport sector accounts for 16 percent of PM2.5 emissions in Tashkent, with older vehicles running on low-quality fuel representing a major source of pollution. At the same time, sidewalks across many residential neighbourhoods remain narrow, fragmented, or entirely absent, making walking both inconvenient and unsafe.
This is fundamentally a failure of public policy rather than public behaviour. Walkability refers to designing cities that allow people to move safely, comfortably, and efficiently on foot. It is among the most cost-effective tools available to municipal governments for improving public health, reducing emissions, and stimulating local economic activity.
The World Health Organization identifies cities as critical spaces for promoting health and well-being. Numerous studies demonstrate that neighbourhoods designed for walking, with easy access to shops, services, public spaces, and public transport, experience lower rates of disease and premature mortality.
Tashkent is trapped in a self-reinforcing cycle that only effective policymaking can break. Poor pedestrian infrastructure encourages greater dependence on private vehicles, increasing traffic congestion and air pollution. As pollution worsens, walking becomes even less attractive, further reinforcing reliance on cars.
According to the World Bank’s 2024 report, annual PM2.5 concentrations in Tashkent remain more than six times higher than the WHO’s recommended guideline. Air pollution is estimated to contribute to 15 percent of all deaths in Uzbekistan. While restricting older vehicles addresses one element of the problem, redesigning streets for pedestrians addresses the system as a whole.
Cities that have prioritised walkability demonstrate what is possible. Barcelona’s Superblocks Programme, launched in 2016, reorganised neighbourhoods by diverting through-traffic to surrounding roads while returning interior streets to pedestrians. The results were substantial. Nitrogen dioxide concentrations fell by 33 percent in the Sant Antoni district, local commercial activity increased by 30 percent in Poblenou, and residents reported improvements in sleep quality, mental well-being, and social interaction.
The World Health Organization estimates that a citywide expansion of the programme could prevent nearly 700 premature deaths annually. Paris has pursued a similar vision through its 15-minute city model, ensuring that schools, healthcare, workplaces, and shops are reachable within a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride. Neither city achieved these outcomes because of exceptional wealth; they succeeded because pedestrian-centred planning became a political priority.
Tashkent already possesses a model for this transformation. New Tashkent, the planned satellite city, has been designed around a radial layout that prioritises public transport, cycling, and walking. Urban planners have openly stated that these modes of transport are intended to become the easiest and most convenient ways for residents to travel. However, the challenge lies in scale. Most of Tashkent’s 2.6 million residents will continue living in the existing city rather than relocating to the new development.
Tashkent therefore has a rare opportunity to become a genuinely walkable city before existing development patterns become irreversible. Urban expansion is proceeding at an unprecedented pace. Under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s November 2025 decree, annual housing construction is expected to reach 421,000 units by 2040. Every new neighbourhood built around private vehicles creates future costs for expensive retrofitting.
Barcelona required decades to reverse earlier planning decisions. Encouragingly, air pollution has already elevated urban planning on the national policy agenda. The 24 November 2025 presidential decree also proposed a “Green Tashkent” master plan and the development of a continuous green corridor throughout the city.
Political momentum already exists. What remains is recognising that walkability is not a luxury to be pursued after prosperity is achieved, it is a prerequisite for the health, productivity, and quality of life that sustainable prosperity depends upon. Tashkent cannot afford to keep building for cars. It is already paying the price.
Kira Shamsutdinova researches post-communist transitions, soft power, and urban governance in Central Asia. She holds a degree in International Relations from Webster University in Tashkent.
