International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 12 Issue: 01 | Jan 2025
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
www.irjet.net
Urban Greenery: Assessing Greeneries across Chennai, Tamil Nadu Inniya Arutchudar1, Karthick S2 1Assistant Professor, Marg Institute of Design and Architecture Swarnabhoomi (MIDAS), Chengalpattu. 2Assistant Professor, Chettinad School of Architecture (CSOA), Chennai
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Abstract - Greenery has always played an important role in
pollution. The urbanization does not consider the importance of urban open spaces. This rapid urbanization is causing congestion and pollution in the cities [4]. It is clearly seen that the core urban area is heavily congested by concrete jungles and results in pollutions. The downtown of an area is densely populated and the total number of trees present there is totally reduced. These may cause several different effects in future. The enhancement of urban green spaces or urban forests is one of the ways, which has the potential to mitigate the adverse effects of urbanization in a sustainable manner, making cities more attractive and comfortable to live in. Conservation along with the development of green spaces have been used for a long as an essential strategy to reduce the conflict between retaining the environmental quality and rapid urbanization [5]. Central and state governments in India are realizing the importance of urban green spaces in cities/towns. Greeneries are considered only after a big climate change. It should be thought while planning before the city expands.
the liveliness of any city. The need for green spaces has been present since ancient times. Due to undergoing urbanization trend worldwide, distance between city inhabitants and nature is increasing. This will increase the exposure to certain environmental hazards, such as air and noise pollution. Many urban areas face increasing pressure from expanding populations, limited resources and growing impacts of climate change. These challenges must be addressed especially in cities to provide healthy and sustainable living environment. Urban design solutions should always consider both buildings and vegetation as being defining city’s elements. Urban greenery/forestry is one of the ways to bridge the gap between people and nature and to form a sustainable environment. Most of the Indian cities are far behind in quality as well as quantity of urban forests than their counterpart in Europe and America. High population density is one of the reasons for underdevelopment of urban greenery sector. India can learn a lot from Chinese model of urban forestry development as both of them are the topmost populated countries of the world. Recently, some of the Indian cities like Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Delhi have shown some improvement in this field. The benefits of green spaces in dense urban areas and their contribution for the sustainability of the cities are discussed below. This paper is also focused on Urban greeneries in Indian cities and steps taken to improve the green spaces. The paper concludes by discussing tree density in two areas of Chennai and suggesting recommendations to improve the same.
2. BACKGROUND City is a cluster of people and each person need a common space for his leisure purpose and a green space to relax. Though the lifestyle of people in a city is developing a lot, the stress and tension is also equally increasing to them. One reason can be the lifestyle change and other main reason can be due to the losing of green spaces which are the main supplier of oxygen to humanity and lack of open spaces to relax oneself personally. Human is the main entity affected by lack of green spaces other than environment. Environment is facing severe impact due to losing of green spaces within the cities. Global warming, greenhouse gases, increase in urban heat island, increase in carbon footprint are the major effects to environment due to green cover loss. Currently many measures to increase and conserve green areas has been taken. The unsustainable consumption pattern of human had also led to scarcity of natural resources. The healthy living of urban community is getting worsen day by day.
Key Words: Urban Greenery, Chennai, Sustainable environment, Climate Change, Urban Forestry.
1.INTRODUCTION There are several types of green spaces in the city and all of them have their own role in the urban context. These different types of greenery are present in different urban scales which solves several functions in the city. Urban green infrastructure includes different types of blue-green spaces such as forests, wetlands, agricultural land, public parks, private gardens, single green elements (street trees, green roofs, etc.) or ponds and streams [1]. The presence of these green spaces encourages the use of outdoor spaces, increasing the interaction among citizens. India is urbanizing at a very fast pace. People move towards cities not only for employment but also for better education facilities provided in urban areas which could also be due to increase in annual income. All such activities cause urban sprawl, noise and air
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Today 54% of the global population is living in urban areas [2] and the urban population is expected to cover more than two-thirds of the world population by 2025 [3]. The rapid increase in population, in conjunction with increase in the rate of urbanization, had led to unplanned and uncontrolled expansion of many towns. They have also resulted in the gradual loss of open spaces and green spaces in the city. The green space development is one of unplanned process in most part of the city.
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