Evaluation of urban green spaces based on social criteria
Student name: Ms Kanishka Luthra
Guide: Mr Chander Kumar Singh
Year of completion: 2012
Host Organisation: Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mrs Kshama Gupta
Abstract: Green spaces are critical in making the cities habitable, healthy and energy efficient. A well
planned and managed urban green space can enhance the ecological, social and economic value
of a city, with a consequently positive effect on its inhabitants. The present study aims to evaluate
urban parks in four wards of East district of Delhi namely, Krishna Nagar, Jagatpuri, Preet
Vihar, Vishwas Nagar based on social criteria which mainly focus on the interaction between
user and parks, as part of their everyday lifestyles. A questionnaire survey was conducted in each
ward and responses of users were recorded on survey forms. 26 sample parks were drawn from a
population of 238 parks in the whole study area using stratified random sampling. The collected
data was then statistically analysed under five major sub-heads – Maintenance, Accessibility,
Security, User activities and Quality of experience. 91% of the regular users preferred using
nearby parks which are accessible within walking time of 5-15 minutes. Network analysis models
accessibility in a more realistic way than buffer analysis and its parameters were derived from
user’s survey. It generated around 50% less service area than buffer analysis. Well-maintained
parks attract all user groups, irrespective of their backgrounds and generally users are willing to
pay maintenance charges if it is used efficiently. Safety within parks is an important aspect
especially for females and presence of security guards can curb nuisance and undesirable
activities. Multiple user activities are dependent on park’s size and quality of experience in a
park directly influences psychology of users and their perceptions.
Keywords: Urban green spaces, Social criteria, Accessibility, User‘s survey, Network
analysis.
