Chapter 3. Trends in Growth of Open Space in Delhi

Transcription

1 Chapter 3 Trends in Growth of Open Space in Delhi 3.1 Introduction Open space within a city is broadly defined as an area not covered by permanent structures. Thus roads, streets, water bodies, graveyards and burial grounds can be included under open space (Ramachandran H., 1991). Only the formal open space that is put to public and private uses are included by the city planning authorities. Also, the other issue that is equally important is the spatial arrangement of open space within the city. Land in urban areas may be broadly classified into developed and vacant land. The agriculture land, for this purpose, is generally considered vacant or undeveloped. On the basis of ownership criteria, developed lands are further classified into privately developed and publicly developed. The privately developed lands generally house the uses like people s residences, commercial establishments, industries etc. whereas the uses like recreation and transportation are found on public lands. The planning wing of Delhi Development Authority devised a four tier land use catalogue and assigned a different code to each use. All these land uses don t have equal significance, as all of them are not capable of independently governing the distributional and growth pattern of the uses around. From this point of view, the residential, commercial, industrial, and government uses may be considered primary or basic uses whereas recreational and transportation uses are partly independent and subservient (Rana, L. 2007). The detailed classification of recreational type of land use is as under: Regional park District park Park Municipal Park Lawn Sports Ground 75

2 Golf course Race course Stadium outdoor Indoor stadium and gymnastics Swimming pool Club River front Historical monuments Garden Zoological garden Botanical garden 3.2 Extent and Type of Open Space The national capital is attracting people from all parts of India. Delhi is mini India with the largest number of immigrant communities. Every day, 665 persons migrate to Delhi-a number that far exceeds migration to Mumbai (236), Bangalore (165) and Ahmedabad (121) put together (Delhi s First Human Development Report, 2006). Delhi has witnessed a phenomenal population growth during past few decades. This chapter attempts to analyse the spatial distribution, along with the question of adequacy of open space in Delhi and compare the available open space against the town planning standards Delhi is located in northern India between the latitudes of and North and longitudes of and East. Delhi shares borders with the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (plate 3.1). Delhi has an area of 1483 sq. km. Its maximum length is km. and greatest width is km. The Yamuna River and terminal part of the Aravalli hill range are the two main geographical 76

3 Figure 15. Study Area: Delhi 77

4 features of the city. Delhi is located strategically on two National Highways (NH-2 & NH-8) that connects Delhi to Kolkata and Mumbai. NH-2 & NH-8 are two prime vertices of the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor of the National Highways Development Project. Delhi lies almost 300 meters above the sea level. The entire topography of this city is divided into three separate regions, which are the Yamuna Flood Plain, the Plain and the ridge. Table 3.1: Growth of Population in Delhi Census Population Growth in percent Density of Population ,753, * 20,438, Source: Census of India, Population totals, 1981, 1991, 2001, *estimated data ( Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the pace of urbanisation has accelerated. It gained momentum after 1950s and has continued with the same pace. In 1901, 52.7 percent of the total population of Delhi was urban, but in the recent decades it has been increasing steadily. The urban area in Delhi territory has increased 78

5 from 22 percent in 1961 to 62.5 percent in 2001 and in 2011 urban area is reported at square km i.e. 75 percent of the total area. Out of total population of Delhi, percent people live in urban regions. The total figure of population living in urban areas is 16,333,916 of which 8,749,410 are males and while remaining 7,584,506 are females. The urban population in the last 10 years has increased by percent. In 1901, the density was 274 persons per square km., this increased to 1176 persons per sq. km. in 1951 and persons per sq. km. in Partition of India saw exchange of population between India and Pakistan, and Delhi experienced a major spurt of population of urban Delhi. Delhi is ranked first in population density in India. With rapid urbanisation, the rural area is shrinking; it has reduced to square km (2011) from square km (1961), but urban population kept on increasing and it reached 1.6 crores in Also in 2011, the population density was 14,667 and 1,135 persons per square km in urban and rural areas respectively (Delhi statistical handbook, 2011), (table 3.1 and 3.2). With the population growth, built-up areas in Delhi are rapidly increasing and it is leading to several environmental consequences (air and water pollution, traffic congestion, urban heat island formation, etc.) On the other hand there is growing socio-economic disparity (epidemic break outs, social disparity, and informal economy). Hence the urban environment in Delhi is under severe stress due to the pressure of rapid urbanisation. In order to mitigate and minimize the detrimental effects associated with urbanisation on the environment and to maintain optimal ecosystem functioning, spatial and temporal LULC patterns, and the factors affecting these changes are considerably important in developing rational economic, social and environmental policies. 79

6 Table 3.2: Trend of Urbanisation in Delhi ( ) Census Year Population Urban population Urban (percentage) Decennial Growth percent ,753,235 1,63,33, Source: Economic Survey of Delhi In Indian cities, two aspects that indicate a mismatch between planning intentions and reality can be readily observed. First, imbalances in the distribution of the open space are evident from a cursory examination of metropolitan city plan i.e. certain areas are more favoured than other areas e.g. an examination of the survey map of Delhi revealed that public open space in the administrative areas of Delhi were distributed inequitably. 76 percent of the Delhi s planned open space is located to the south of the ridge, mostly previewed as elite, high income localities of Delhi. Only two percent of open space is located in East Delhi as per the survey map of Delhi Urban area (1991). In order to control the unprecedented growth of Delhi, the approach of planned decentralization has been suggested as per the MPD 1961 & 80

7 1981 and NCR Plan 2001 & As per the MPD 2001, the green or recreational area constitutes 8722 ha of land which is around 19 percent of the total urban land area of 44,777 ha. Post the independence of India, the process of planned development of the National Capital of India started with the enactment of the Delhi Development Act 1957, followed by the promulgation of the Master Plan of Delhi in 1962 (MPD-62). The First Master Plan for Delhi, , was published by DDA in The Second Master Plan for Delhi , was published by DDA in As per the First master Plan, 11.7 percent of the total area of Delhi ( hectares) was urbanized in , holding an urban population of 20 lakhs. The First master plan envisaged development of urbanisable area of 44,777 hectares by 1981, catering to an urban population of 46 lakhs. This was subsequently increased to 48,777 hectares 4000 hectares were added for development of Patparganj, Sarita Vihar & Vasant Kunj. The Second Master Plan showed acquisition of 20,000 hectares for planned development by 2001, thereby expanding the urbanisable area to 68,777 hectares. On the other hand, NCR Planning board projected an urbanisable area of 62,777 hectares by In 2011, the urban area of Delhi is 1,11,365 hectares (Delhi statistical handbook, 2011). Remote sensing data available with the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) indicates that the built up area in Delhi was 57,880 hectares in 1986, 60,340 hectares in 1993 and 75,000 hectares in 1999 (includes built up area of rural settlements). More than 50 percent of the total area of Delhi had been built up by 1999 (Economic Survey of Delhi ). At present about 702 sq.km. is estimated to have been developed as built up areas It is well documented and understood that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world along with being one of the most populated. The urban population of India is likely to grow from million in 2001 to 360 million in 2010, 410 million in 2015, 468 million in 2020 and 533 million in 2025, as per the projections based on past trends (Table 3.3). Furthermore, the share of agriculture in the total workforce has shown considerable decline to 57 percent from 60 percent in The share of primary sector is likely to decline further to 37 percent by This suggests a large number of rural work-force will migrate to urban areas in search of jobs in the secondary, tertiary and quaternary sector. It is important for them 81

8 to have access to employment, shelter and related services and facilities failing which they will contribute to mushrooming growth of slums and substandard habitat. There has been increase in natural growth from percent in 1981 to percent in 1991 and percent in 2001 and decrease in the net migrants from percent in 1981 to percent in 1991 and percent in 2001 in Delhi. This indicates a fluctuating trend (Table 3.4). Table 3.3: Projected Population in Delhi (Five Yearly estimates) Year Population (In lakh) Source: Census of India and Projections by DDA Sub-Group (MPD-2021) Table 3.4: Population of NCT Delhi Year Addition by natural growth Increase by migration Net increase in lakh (55.8) 9.52 (44.2) (100) (59.2) (40.8) 32.0 (100) (60.18) (39.82) 44.3 (100) (54.8) 20.0 (45.2) 44.2 (100) (50) 24.0 (50) 48.0 (100) Note: Figures (in bracket) indicate percentage to total net increase. Source: Census of India and projections by DDA Sub-Group (MPD-2021) 82

9 Table 3.5: Utilisation of land in Delhi, (area in hectare) Classification Total Area available 1,47,952 1,47,612 1,47,488 1,47,488 1,47,488 1,47,488 as per village record Forests 1,415 1,143 1,434 1,561 1,281 9,453 Area not available for cultivation 34,496 47, Other uncultivated 18,138 3, land excluding fallow land Fallow land 6,497 15, Net Area Sown 87,406 80, Area sown more than Data not Data not once available available Total cropped area Data not available Source: Delhi Statistical handbook, 1994, 2011, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi It is evident from the Table 3.5 that the area not available for cultivation has been increasing over all these years. This is because of the rapid urbanisation which finally resulted in a decrease in the net area sown. Delhi today is emerging as one of the largest and most populated cities of the world. Out of a total area of 1483 sq km about 50 percent has already been urbanised and the rest is under heavy pressure of urbanisation. The agricultural land has declined. This indicates that probably the process of urbanisation in Delhi has been closely associated with increasing 83

10 conversion of land from agriculture to urban. Increasing urban activities are putting pressure on the surrounding rural lands. Analyzing the land utilisation pattern, it is revealed that the area according to the village papers professional survey has been hectares since the past two decades, which was hectares in The area under forests has seen a declining trend till The area not available for cultivation has increased over the decades tremendously reason being the growing needs of population that leads to putting more and more land for other uses. As a result of which, this has increased nearly three times since to hectares in Other uncultivated land, that includes pastures and cultivable waste land has also decreased due to the rise of population in Delhi. The pastures have reduced to 61 hectares and the cultivable waste land has reduced to 9893 hectares in 2011 from 4863 hectares and 13,275 hectares in respectively. The fallow land shows a fluctuating trend over the decades, but as per the records, it is hectares in However, the net area sown over the years has a matter of fact seen a decline, due to change in occupational pattern, urbanisation process, environmental degradation which has affected the area covered. As it is evident from the above table, the net sown area was hectares in and at present it is hectares in 2011 due to its conversion to other land uses. Figure 16 shows the change in forest cover in Delhi over the years. With time, an area of around 10,000 ha of agricultural lands was lost to built-up areas and road infrastructure. These agricultural lands were prominently spread in the north-western and western part of the Delhi up to Forest land losses were also accounted in the course of urbanisation. Delhi is covered with open forest rather than dense forest, therefore, conversion of open forest to other land uses was more prevalent. 84

11 Figure 16. Loss of forest and cultivated area in Delhi (1987, 1999, 2006) Source: Mehta (2011) 85

12 Figure 17. Built up Area in Delhi ( ) Source: Source: Mehta (2011) Urbanisation has increased rapidly in Delhi since 1911 when Delhi became the capital of the country. The pace was accelerated during when the country was partitioned and refugees started settling in Delhi. 90 percent of the population was living in urban area by 1991, compared to 57.5 percent in With rapid urbanisation, the rural area is shrinking: it has fallen from sq. km in 1961 to sq. km in The population density was persons per sq. km in urban areas in 1991 and 1190 persons per sq. km in rural areas. During 1999 built-up area had increased to 41 percent, with a sharp decrease in open forest, wasteland and agricultural land areas. Between the year 1999 and 2006 there was a slight increase in built-up class with only 1percent increase i.e., 42 percent of the total administrative area of Delhi comprised built up space (figure 17). The detailed classified images 86

13 depicting the ten different LULC classes for the years 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2008 are shown in figure 19 (Mohan, M. et al, 2011). It can be seen from figure 19 that there is a vast distribution of the less dense areas through- out the city in 2008 when compared to 1997 especially in North, North West and South West parts of the city. Medium dense built up areas have spread from the centre of the city to the South-East region. The total built-up area has been found to be expanding in the West, North, North-West, South-West and South parts of the city. The Central and East Delhi remained almost unchanged because they already witnessed urbanisation earlier; leaving very less scope for further development. As shown in this figure, there is a significant increase in the less dense built-up area by sq.km (12.08 percent of the total area) and moderate increase in medium dense built up area by sq.km (4.87 percentof the total area) while a marginal decrease of 1.46 sq.km (0.1percent of the total area) is reflected in the dense built up area. Figure 18 describes the actual areas of the ten LULC in the years 1997 and 2008 as well as increase or decrease in area of each of these classes during this period. As revealed in this figure the area under the less dense built-up category almost doubled from 208 sq. km to 388 sq. km (180 sq. km) during 1997 to 2008 having an overall increment of 12 percent in the total area. Medium dense built-up increased by 72.6 sq. km during this period with an overall increase of 4.87 percent of the total area. Thus, there is an overall net increase by sq. km (16.87 %) in built up area On the other hand there is a decrease in agricultural area by sq. km by combining the decrease in crop and fallow land. There is another significant decrease in wasteland by sq. km by combining scrub-land and sandy areas. A major decrease from its 1997 values is observed in water bodies by sq.km which is obtained by combining deep and shallow water bodies. It is worth mentioning that water bodies had a total area of sq.km in 1997 that got reduced to sq.km in 2008 which is about 52.9 percent decrease in a ten year period. Shallow water bodies now have a dismal presence. The significant change is the decline in area occupied by shallow water bodies by 78 percent leaving only 2.83 sq. km. in 2008 of sq. km. in The net decrease in agricultural land, wasteland and water bodies together accounts for total decrease of sq. km. against an in-crease of 87

14 sq. km. of net built-up area. Thus it is obviously clear that increase in built-up area in the city has been on the expense of majorly from the agricultural and waste land together with the shrinking water bodies. The silver lining here is the balance 7.02 sq. km. of the above increasing and decreasing land use classes which has resulted due to increase in forest cover in the city. In 1997, crop land was the dominant LULC category while in the year 2008 it was the less dense built-up area. As the city developed, the built-up category replaced most of the land classes like sandy areas, fallow land and scrub land. Spatial patterns of LULC changes from the study showed that the city is expanding in all directions except East and Central parts because these areas are already packed with Dense and medium built up areas from a long time. LULC changes occurred during the study period using change detection method. Most of the LULC classes like fallow land, sandy areas and scrub land were converted into built-up areasnamely Narela, Jaunti, Auchandi, Ba- wana, Palla, MaidanGarhi etc. in North, North-West and South-West regions. Figure 18. Land Cover changes for Different Classes, (Total area in Sq.km). Source: Mohan et al, (2011) 88

15 Figure 19. Land use/land Cover Distribution of Delhi ( ) Source: Mohan et al, (2011) 89

16 3.3 Open Space Requirement: Norms and Availability It is necessary here to describe the nature of open space in operational terms. The open space 1 includes all green space like parks, playgrounds within the spatial limits of the Delhi Urban Area. The study excludes water bodies, graveyards, vacant lands, railways, road pavements. Thus we assign to open space the recreational functions and leisure time needs of the urban population. The spatial distribution of open space is marked by a high degree of variation. The analysis has been attempted by demarcating a core zone, an intermediary zone and a peripheral zone. Planning standards for open space in cities vary according to the measure of local conditions. According to Rame Gowda, 1974, there is a standard of 1.5 hectares of total open space per 1000 population as a minimum requirement. We shall also use the same standard for this study World Health Organization suggests ensuring at least a minimum availability of 9 sq.m. or hectare of green open space per city dweller. (Kuchelmeister 1998). The issue of required open green space per capita in urban systems has remained controversial. In 20th century, experts in Germany, Japan and other countries proposed a standard of 40 square meters urban green space in high quality or 140 sq. m. suburb forest area per capita for reaching a balance between carbon dioxide and oxygen, to meet the ecological balance of human well-being. Currently, developed countries have tended to adopt a general standard of green space of 20 sq. m. (0.002 hectare) park area per capita (Wang, 2009) The open space at the neighbourhood level shall be 4.5 sq.m. ( hectare) per person. Minimum size of tot lot/ neighbourhood park at cluster level shall be 125 sq.m. (Gazette of India Extraordinary, [PART II SEC. 3(ii) Ministry Of Urban Development, 2007). A variety of standards has been developed by professional and trade associations which are used throughout. The standard derived from early studies of park acreages located within metropolitan areas was the expression of acres of park land per unit of population. Over time, the figure of 10 acres per 1,000 population came to be the commonly accepted standard used by a 1 Note: in this study forest area is included in open space. 90

17 majority of communities. Other standards adopted include the "percent of area" approach, needs determined by user characteristics and participation projections, and area use based on the carrying capacity of the land. The fact that some of the standards have changed substantially is not an indication of their obsolescence. Changes are a measure of the growing awareness and understanding of both participant and resource (land, water, etc.) limitations. Parks are for people. Park, recreation, and planning professionals must integrate the art and science of park management in order to balance such park and open space resource values as water supply, air quality ( The conscious provision of open space is an integral part of modern town planning. By and large, it was toward the very end of the nineteenth century that green open space became an important, though not obligatory, element in urban extensions. The provision of green open space became an obvious integral part of town planning at least in the industrialised world during the second half of the twentieth century. No hard statistical information is available, but it is a safe guess that in many large cities in the western world, the amount of green open space reached its highest levels after the 1960s. The average amount of green open space per inhabitant in urbanised areas went up from just a few sq. meters per inhabitant in the first half of the century, to some sq. m. by the 1950s-1960s. Also in many European cities, the figure is likely to have reached averages of some 40 sq. m. per capita in the 1980s (Van Asperen and Samenhang, 1983) Delhi has a much larger green cover than any of the other metropolitan city in the country, and could well be called a Green City. The green/recreational use constitutes 8,722 ha of land as per MPD 2001, which is around 19 percent of the total urban land area of 44,777 ha. This includes 1577 ha. under the Northern, Central and South Central Ridge (the remaining area of the Ridge is in the rural area). The area under recreational/green use i.e hectare is in the form of District Parks, City Parks, and Community Parks etc. comprising around 15 percent of the total urban land area. In addition to this, a large chunk of green area is provided in the form of Neighbourhood Parks/Tot lots in the gross residential use zones, plantations/greens in 91

18 large campuses like President s Estate, JNU, IARI, Delhi University, plantations along drains and roadside plantations. In addition to above, two Bio-diversity parks are under development by the DDA. In the Urban Extension the green cover is to be provided at the rate of 15 percent of the total land, excluding the Ridge/Regional Park. Out of this, some area shall be developed in the form of parks for the community and the rest shall be developed as woodlands and incidental greens for balancing the environment (MPD 2021 proposed). This will be in addition to the development of specialized parks like Bio-Diversity Parks, plantation along the roads, drains, riverbank, etc. Further, Sports Complexes, which were included in the green/recreational use category under the MPD-2001, will be seen under a separate category of sports. One of the main reasons for this modification is that, Delhi is emerging as an important centre for National and International sports events. Sports facilities are being developed by various agencies besides DDA in Delhi, mostly as a part of recreational activity/facility. As a result there is still a need for planned and structured sports infrastructure which can take care of training needs of sportsmen and also act as integrated sports complexes for national and international events. This will not disturb the green areas, which are meant for recreational purposes. Keeping this in mind, sports facilities have been included as part of social infrastructure, which in turn my help to develop better sports infrastructure for training needs, related logistics and sports medicine etc. This will also facilitate private participation. Integrated sports complexes are envisaged under one roof to accommodate variety of sports and related functions, by way of facilitating wide-range of permissibility and ground coverage. According to MPD 2021, the regional park can be put to use for zoological garden, bird sanctuary, botanical garden, open air theatre, orchard, plant nursery and forest; the city park can be used for botanical garden, amphitheatre, open playground, water sports etc.; the district park can be used for theme park, children park, amusement park, sports activity, playground, amenity structures; community park can be used for children park, open air food court, playground etc.; multipurpose ground can be used for public meeting ground, public address podium, social functions, soft drink and snack stalls etc. 92

19 Table 3.6: Planning Norms, Standards for Recreational Areas/Parks at Sub-City Level S.no. Category Planning Norms and Standard Population unit (approx.) Plot area (Ha) 1. City park 10 lakh District Park 5 lakh Community Park 1 lakh 5 Source: MPD2021 Table3.7: Planning Norms, Standards for Recreational Areas/Parks at Neighbourhood Level S.no. Category Planning Norms and Standard Population unit (approx.) Plot area (Ha) 1. Neighbourhood Park Housing Area Park Totlot at housing cluster level Source: MPD Experience shows that formal parks are fouled if used for marriages/public functions etc. Therefore, a special category is proposed to take care of the same at three levels in the following manner: 93

20 Table 3.8: Planning Norms, Standards for Multipurpose Grounds S.no. Category Planning Norms and Standard Population unit Plot area (Ha) (approx.) 1. City multipurpose ground 10 lakh 8 2. District multipurpose ground 5 lakh 4 3. Community multipurpose ground 1 lakh 2 Note : 5 to 10percent of the Multipurpose Ground area will be under use for rainwater-harvesting/water body. Source: MPD For analysing the land use of Delhi, LANDSAT satellite imageries were used for the years 1977 (LANDSAT MSS) and 2006 (LANDSAT ETM). According to the imageries: the data of land use change over the two years shows that the agriculture, forest, and water body land uses have decreased considerably from the year 1977 to Urbanisation is happening at a very fast pace at the cost of the other land uses as is clear from Table 3.9. It shows that urban land area and the waste land have considerably increased over the last three decades. 94

21 Figure 20. Land Use of Delhi, 1977 Source: 1977 landsat MSS (56.5m) 95

22 Figure 21. Land Use of Delhi, 2006 Source: 2006 landsat ETM (28.5m) 96

23 Table 3.9: Land Use Change in Delhi ( ) Land use Type Area (hectare)1977 Area (hectare) 2006 Agriculture land Forest Urban Area Waste land Water body Total Source: Computed on the basis of the satellite imageries of 1977 and 2006 (figure 20 &21) Figure 22. Land Use Change in Delhi ( ) Source: Computed by Research Scholar 97

24 3.4 Open Space in Core, Intermediary and Peripheral Zones of Delhi To analyse the open space availability in Delhi a technique was selected to calculate the types of land use as we move from the core to the periphery. Firstly, three cores were selected in Delhi : Karol Bagh, Chandni Chowk and Cannaught Place. A radius of 7km was drawn around each core and the type of land use pattern was identified for 1961 and 2011 as per the land use maps of DDA, Delhi (figure 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28). The data calculated is tabulated as: Table 3.10: Land Use Change in Three Core Zones of Delhi (Area in sq. km.) Land use Chandni Change Connaught Change Karol Bagh Change Chowk Place Commercial Area Govt. & Utility Area Industrial Area Vacant land Parks & Forest Public & Semi public Residential River bed Water body Source: computed by research scholar Table 3.10 shows that in the chandni chowk core zone, the commercial area, government and utility area and the industrial area has increased. There is extensive 98

25 commercialisation, congestion, deficient infrastructure (physical & social) that needs an efficient planning. Due to increased unabated commercialisation, the residential area has decreased. The unplanned growth, the blatant commercialisation and unchecked influx of builders have created a situation where people are selling their age-old properties and going to other places in the Capital. The entire Chandni Chowk, which was often visited by not only by locals but also outsiders, is now facing a decline in people visiting it. The ever increasing congestion and the mounting problems due to this factor are making things very difficult for the people and those engaged in trade and business and if steps were not taken to save the situation, things could go from bad to worse. However, the parks and forests have increased marginally in this zone In the Connaught place core zone, now, height restriction in larger Commercial centres has been removed. Mandatory provisions of space (minimum 10 percent) introduced for service and repair activities in planned Commercial areas. Informal shops, weekly markets, handicrafts bazaars, are to be developed. This is probably due to the decreasing trend in commercialization and industrialization in and around CP. The residential usage has however increased since 1961 to present. Though while CP Crescent is semi-circular and three storied largely residential structure, Connaught Place had only two floors, almost makes a complete circle and was planned to have commercial establishments on the ground with residential area on the first floor. Many apartments have come around the CP area and the colonies like rajinder nagar have developed very close to connaught place leading to increased number of residences. However, the parks and forests have decreased marginally in this zone The Karol bagh core zone, was primarily residential, like Raigar Pura, Beadon Pura, Dev Nagar, Bapa Nagar, W.E.A. The area is now considered for shopping too, with busy shopping streets including Ajmal Khan Road, Arya Samaj Road and the Ghaffar Market. The table shows that the residential area has increased in the zone, commercial and industrial area has decreased in this zone, and however the parks and forests have remained same approximately. 99

26 Figure 23. Karol bagh Core in 1961 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 100

27 Figure 24. Karol bagh Core in 2011 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 101

28 Figure 25. Connaught Place Core in 1961 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 102

29 Figure 26. Connaught Place Core in 2011 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 103

30 Figure 27. Chandni Chowk Core in Delhi, Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 104

31 Figure 28. Chandni chowk Core in Delhi, 2011 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 105

32 3.4.5 On merging the three cores selected in Delhi, showing different types of land uses, it becomes the CORE ZONE. Then again a circle is marked around the core that includes rest of the urban areas and is marked as INTERMEDIARY ZONE. The remaining rural area is PERIPHERAL ZONE (figure 29 & 30). The rapid expansion of urban areas due to rise in population and economic growth is increasing additional demand of natural resources thereby causing land-use changes. Table 3.11 Land Use Change in the Core and Intermediary Zone of Delhi (Area in sq. km.) Land use CORE ZONE Change INTERMEDIARY ZONE Change Commercial Area Govt. & Utility Area Industrial Area Vacant land Parks & Forest Public & Semi public Residential River bed Water body Source: computed by research scholar (figure 29 & 30) 106

33 Figure 29. Land Use in the Core and Intermediary Zones of Delhi, 1961 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 107

34 Figure 30. Land Use in the Core and Intermediary Zones of Delhi, 2011 Source: Land use map of Delhi by DDA. 108

35 3.4.6 In core zone and the intermediary zone, the residential areas and other land uses are increasing and parks and forests area is decreasing (table 3.11). This is mainly due to high population increase in the core and intermediary zones that are urban areas. High population brings many problems within itself. Urbanisation refers to a process in which increasing proportion of a society lives in cities. Historically it has been closely linked with industrialisation. The main causes of urbanisation are industrial revolution, emergence of large manufacturing centers, job opportunities, easy transportation and migration. This is severely impacting Delhi also in terms of land use change. With population increase in the urban areas of Delhi, the city is expanding towards the peripheral region with the conversion of rural areas to urban expansions. The built up area has increased that mainly came from agriculture land, waste land, scrub-land, sandy areas and water bodies. 3.5 Summing Up This chapter focuses on the changing pattern of open space with urbanisation in Delhi Urban Area. After analyzing the spatial arrangement of open space, it can be said that there is general reduction in open space in Delhi. Urbanisation is a gift to the human society if it is controlled, coordinated and planed. However, unplanned urbanisation is a curse. In 2008 more than half of the world s population was urban dwellers and the urban population is expected to reach 81percent by Due to the acceleration of the global urbanisation in both intensity and area, there is a growing interest in understanding its implications with respect to a broad set of environmental factors including loss of arable land, habitat destruction, decline in natural vegetation and forest cover and climate at local, regional, and global scales. The conversion of rural areas into urban areas through development is currently occurring at an unprecedented rate leading to changes in urban land use/ land cover. The authorities have to make conscious efforts for defining strict norms. The built up area is expected to increase to accommodate increasing population. Thus proper planning is needed to appropriately preserve the areas of various land use classes as the actual population is turning out to be more than the projected population of Delhi. 109