Empirical Investigation of the Initiatives to Allieviate the Development, Management and Protection of Urban Green Spaces, -A Comparitive Analysis of Twin City Ahmeadabad and Gandhinagar in State of Gujrat, India

Empirical Investigation of the Initiatives to Allieviate the Development, Management and Protection of Urban Green Spaces, -A Comparitive Analysis of Twin City Ahmeadabad and Gandhinagar in State of Gujrat, India

Prashanti Rao1 Yogesh M. Keskar2

Dr. Kshama Puntambekar3

1PhD Research Scholar, School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, 2PhD Research Scholar, School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, (Former Asst. Professor- Planning, Govt. College of Engineering, Pune)

3Assistant Professor- Planning, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal

Abstract This paper aims to study the initiatives taken by various stakeholders to attain minimum standards of per capita green standards in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, twin cities in Gujarat, India. It also investigates the impact of Urbanization and city character on the available green spaces in vicinity. It highlights the initiatives taken to alleviate the development, management and protection of Urban Green Spaces by various stakeholders as a step towards environmental sustainability beyond the regulatory compliance. This can be studied through a comparative analysis of those Indian cities whose Per Capita Green Spaces is less than that specified in Indian UDPFI standards Eg. Ahmedabad, with those Cities whose Per Capita Green Spaces are more than standards. Eg.Gandhinagar.

Key Words Initiatives, Per Capita Green Space, Stakeholders, Urban Green Spaces

Introduction –

Due to rapid urbanization trend worldwide, distance between city inhabitants and nature is increasing day by day. In order to bridge this gap between people and nature it is necessary to promote urban green spaces in city vicinity. High population density is one of the reasons for ignorance of urban greenery sector. Considering the global perspective, there is a wide variation both in coverage as well as per capita availability of green spaces. Cities worldwide renowned for their urban green spaces often has 20 to 40 % coverage of total geographical area and 25 to 100 m2 urban green space per capita respectively. (Pradeep Chaudhry, April 2011)

Most of the Indian cities, with the exceptions of Gandhinagar and Chandigarh, are far behind in per capita urban green availability in comparison to European/Australian/American

cities e.g. Average green cover is about 19 % for 22 largest Dutch cities (about 228m2per capita); estimated per capita green space availability in Canberra, Australia and Greater Paris region is 80 m2. (Pradeep Chaudhry, April 2011)

New Delhi, the capital city of India, has grown to be one of the greenest capitals in the world due to the consistent emphasis to grow more trees and strict monitoring of tree cutting permissions. At present, about 20 % of Delhis geographical area is under green cover, making per capita green space availability to around 22 m2. (CUGS, 5 – 7 march 2012)

BACKGROUND

As per 2011 census 53 Million plus Cities and approximately 475 Urban Agglomerations (UAs) in India are in existence. And it is projected about 600 million urban populations for 2030. (UAs-cities-RV.ppt,2011)

Issues related to Urban Green Spaces:

There are lot many issues which are related to urban green spaces affecting for its rapid loss at urban areas. At national level some of the policies, notifications acts which are as milestone for forest and green cover protection within and outside the jurisdiction of urban area are as follows:-

Table1: Acts and their roll.

• Maintaining the green cover and open space is one of the major problems in urban area. (104-D529.pdf)

Inspite of prevailing norms for development of urban green spaces , available green spaces in Indian cities gives different statistics.Some of the generalized norms are as follows :-

Table 2 Standards

STUDY CONTEXT

In order to investigate the role of initiatives taken by various stakeholders to maintain the per capita green space availability in city vicinity methodology adopted was to do a comparative analysis of those Indian cities whose Per Capita Green Spaces less than that specified in Indian UDPFI standards with those Cities whose Per Capita Green Spaces are more than standards. City selected for study area under the category of having less per capita green space from the standards is Ahmedabad (AMC) and city selected under the category of having more per capita green space as per standards is Gandhinagar.

Table 3

City whose per capita green status less than standards

Table 4

City whose per capita green status more than standards

Source: DP report AMC

At City level also due to loss of green spaces there is degradation in quality of life and well being. Some of the prevailing issues are as follows:-

• Increasing problem of environmental degradation due to rapid urbanization.

  (E1-18-07-01.pdf, 2001)

• Urban sprawl is causing a decrease in per capita availability of environmental services. (104- D529.pdf)

  Indian Cities having Per Capita Green Space less than UDPFI Standards.

  Case I Ahmedabad (AMC)

  The city is devoid of any major physical feature except for the river Sabarmati, which is cutting the city into two parts: eastern walled city and western Ahmedabad on either side of its banks. An area of 190 square kilo meters is under the jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC)

  The area within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation limits consists of:

• The traditional city center within the fort walls with relatively high-density development, large concentration of commercial activities and narrow streets,

• The eastern sector accommodating large and small industries and low income residential areas, and a well planned western sector with wide roads accommodating major institutions and high-income residential area.

• 150 villages in the periphery of the city are under the jurisdiction of Ahmedabad.

  Urban Development Authority (AUDA). (Volume- II.pdf, 2011)

  Figure 1

  Map Showing the Spatial growth of Ahmedabad

  Source: – www.auda.org.in

  Table 5

  Showing existing and proposed Land use of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

  Existing land use for AMC area (1997)				Proposed land use for AMC (2011)
  Use	Total Area (Ha)	% of Total area	Use	Total Area (Ha)	% of Total area
  Open	4473.36	23.44	Recreational	1643.60	8.61

  Source: – Revised Draft Development Plan of AUDA-2011AD Part 1, Vol 2

  Status of Green

  A total of 129 ha are under open spaces in the entire city. This translates to 0.37sq.m area per person as against a specified standard of 8-10sq.m per person (UDPFI Guidelines). The Open Spaces in AHMEDABAD are of five types: Open, Garden, Playground, Green belts and Recreational Area. (Volume-II.pdf, 2011)

  Issues:

  • The green belts in the past are converted to different urban uses and the gardens and parks in the city at present are very less to cater to the recreational needs of the population of the city

  • Over 40 percent of the open spaces lie in the Western Zone.

  • There are no recreational areas and green belts in southern and Central Zones.

  • Most of the open spaces are in the form of gardens.

  • There seems to be major shortfall in terms of open green areas.

Table 6

Showing Zone wise details of Open spaces

Initiatives:

Table 7

List of Initiative taken by various agencies for Enhancement of Urban Green Spaces.

Source: DP report AMC

Indian Cities having Per Capita Green Space more than UDPFI Standards: Case- Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Introduction of Gandhinagar:

Gandhinagar is the Capital City of Gujarat State. Its also the Head Quarter of Gandhinagar District. It is situated on the western bank of Sabarmati River and also known as Green City .Established in 1960 by Govt. of Gujarat. The state government has started drafting a new futuristic development plan for Gandhinagar. The state urban development department has already embarked on primary survey of ongoing physical development trends including traffic and vehicular trend, development needed in these sectors etc. The purpose of the study is to prepare a vision document or a master plan of development for the city.

Status of Green:

The latest figures of a census conducted by the state government show that 53.9% of its 5,700-hectare area is covered with trees. Effectively, there are 416 trees for every 100 people in the city. This is more than any other city in the country. The census was conducted by the social forestry department along with various municipal corporations and urban development authorities. While there are as many as

1. lakh trees in the state capital, the population is just 2.08 lakh people. At this rate, there is 15 sq m land of trees for every person. Source:-www. greengandhinagar.blogspot.in

   Initiatives

   Social forestry: – Gandhinagar was just a barren piece of land when work first started to turn it into a state capital in 1965. The social forestry division was given the task of greening the area. Ever since, more than 35 lakh trees have been planted and their survival rate has been very high. Also, in 1991 land reserved for development was used for plantation, making the city one of the greenest.

   Master plan: – The objective of this master plan is to include the basic development theme – 'Green, Clean and Solar Gandhinagar'. Various agencies like the Gandhinagar Notified Authority (GNA), Gujarat Urban Development Mission (GUDM), Gujarat Energy Development Authority (GEDA), state forest department, GUDA etc will contribute to this master plan. The GNA will look towards keeping Gandhinagar clean, the forest department will take responsibility for a green Gandhinagar while the GEDA will contribute in transforming Gandhinagar into a solar city.

   CONCLUSION:

   Above study highlight the types of initiatives taken at various levels by governance and also about functionality of these initiatives for development, management and protection of Urban Green Space. It has been noticed in various Indian cities that despite of value of urban green spaces in the public and private domain, their importance is not adequately investigated. Urban green spaces play a fundamentally important role in improving the environmental quality, energy efficiency and aesthetic appeal of urban landscapes apart from being important repositories of flora and fauna. Indian subcontinent is also in the middle of unprecedented rate and levels of urbanization. In case of metro and millennium plus Indian cities the role of urban governance at city level for development is slow compare to protection and management. Protection and management initiatives are basically more confined to urban green space under public domain compare to those which comes under private domain. The role of Ngos for creating awareness in city inhabitant initiative is more compare to governance initiatives. Hence it is a peak time to create awareness and sensitivity towards nature in urban inhabitants. This can be achieved by-

   • Promoting a higher appreciation of the role of urban green spaces amongst urban planners, policy makers and citizens.

   • Working with urban civic agencies to optimize the flow of tangible and intangible benefits of urban green spaces that can be enjoyed by proximate communities.

   • Collate, analyze and disseminate useful information about technical, managerial and social aspects of urban green spaces.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

We are very much thankful to Prof. Rachna Khare, and Prof. Manmohan Kapshe, Professor in School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal, for their valuable guidance for this paper.

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