Priyanka JHA, Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi, India, India
Cities throughout the world are experiencing rapid changes in their morphology as a result of fast urbanization. Most of their green hinterland has been converted to fulfill the demands of accelerating urban processes. The result is the fast depletion of green spaces in and around urban centers. With more than half of the world’s population residing in urban areas it becomes imperative that green spaces are developed and promoted in urban areas. These are one of the significant tools that pave the way towards the sustainable living of urban dwellers. The UN Sustainable Goal 11 dealing with Sustainable cities and communities stresses creating green public spaces thus, emphasizing their importance in attaining sustainable cities.
In the nineteenth century, the urban planners came forward with ideas like Garden City where green space interventions were initiated. Similar theories have been put forward in recent years where the importance of green spaces has been recognized and several strategies like protection of existing parks, afforestation and promotion of green roofs and walls have been discussed.
In the above framework, the present study explores the changes witnessed by the urban green spaces of Delhi. In the past few decades, the urbanization process in the NCT of Delhi has been significant, transforming the city’s landscape to a larger spatial extent. The study will assess the land use/land cover change of the NCT of Delhi and the gain/loss of urban green spaces. Further, the study shall focus on risk susceptibility mapping of the green spaces to determine the most risk susceptible zone within the study area. Apart from these, the study will also analyze the accessibility of green spaces to city dwellers. This will be done to understand the social and psychological benefits like recreation, well-being, and health of the users. The study is based on a field survey conducted in two major green spaces in the city – Buddha Jayanti Park and Lodhi Garden.
Mots clés : Urban Green Space|Sustainable Development Goals|Risk Susceptibility|Urban Green Space, Delhi, Sustainable Social and Psychological Benefits|Delhi
A104637PJ