Category: Urban Green
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Analyzing Vegetation Cover Change in Dheerpur Wetland Restoration Site
Shiwani The success of an ecological restoration project is based on several key attributes such as the progress/recovery of ecosystem function and structure. A timely assessment/evaluation of the progress of the restoration activities is an important step in measuring the progress. It further helps in monitoring the changes and emergent patterns that could be of…
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What’s in the Name?
Vijaylakshmi Suman How often do we as humans see the same thing in so many different ways. This difference in perceptions is generally labelled as subjectivity. My recent read of the book “Postmodern Wetlands: culture, history, ecology” by Rod Giblett (1996) provides a similar situation of how a wetland can be associated with diverse imagination…
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The Last Migration
Vijaylakshmi Suman Cities are considered to be concentrated centres of production, consumption, and waste disposal that drive land change. They have also been spaces of several global environmental problems. Most of the cities have historically been established along rivers and deltas in order to have easy access to water. These waterbodies have been modified and…
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Alternate Urban Green Infrastructure
Vijaylakshmi When we think of green spaces in urban areas, we generally have in mind parks, forest remnants, and water bodies like wetlands and lakes in and around the city. Depending on their size, habitat heterogeneity and expanse, these ecosystems are believed to conserve urban biodiversity in varying capacities. If given an opportunity to add…
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Ventilators For A Burgeoning City
Divya Mehra Delhi, the capital of India, is the second-largest city in the country and one of the fastest-growing urban metropolises, catering to a population of more than 16.76 million people (Census, 2011). The pressures of a growing population have led to unbounded urban sprawl, and over the last six decades, agricultural and fallow lands…
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Urban Green Spaces and Human Health
Vipin Kumar and Sonali Chauhan There is an increasing demand for residential and commercial spaces , as infrastructure is often preferred over natural spaces in the city. The industrial model of development through which we create our cities results in a double kill – i) decline in natural green spaces (which are pollution controlling agents…
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Learning to Live in Cities: Challenges of Urban Green Spaces
Sonali Chauhan My work as a researcher in the field of ecology doesn’t always mean spending several hours in forested areas but it also means spending long hours in front of a computer doing regular administrative work. While I enjoy being in the field collecting data and working on plants, I am not particularly enthusiastic…
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Wetland Restoration through a Cultural approach
Vijaylakshmi Suman Ecological restoration can be understood as an ensemble of practices from the natural sciences, the social sciences, politics, and technology. The objective of this article is not to overload readers with jargon from ecological restoration, instead, to generate a discussion that focuses on the concept of wetland restoration as a cultural phenomenon. Despite…
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Dhanauri: A Bird Habitat Amidst Human Habitation
Himanshu Choudhery The Dhanauri wetland is a small but important wetland located in Greater Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, close to the Okhla bird sanctuary and Surajpur wetland. The wetland is surrounded by several villages, namely, Dhanauri, Amipur Bangar, Thasrana, Gadana and Bhatta. The wetland, which is mostly composed of marshes, is a…
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A Bird’s Eye View
Vijaylakshmi Suman With the growing influence of the field of urban ecology, issues pertaining to discourses of urban justice and equality are drawing much attention. These discourses particularly look at the relationship of people and nature in terms of differential access to the benefits offered by ‘natural spaces’. Urban nature is entangled with several social…