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Chapter 1

Introduction: Open Space Concept

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Urban open space - both magnitude and spatial arrangement - is critical to

urban living. Availability of open space, distribution and accessibility are a major

concern for cities. Open space are a necessity and not a luxury. Due to ongoing

urbanisation trend worldwide, the distance between city inhabitants and nature is

increasing. Urban greenery is one of the ways to bridge this gap between people and

nature. Most of the Indian cities are far behind in this. High population density is one

of the reasons for underdevelopment of urban greenery sector. Without careful

planning, cities will be stressed with environmental challenges. Open space exists at

many different scales, in many different forms and under the jurisdiction of different

organizations. Open space occur incidentally like the agricultural lands/ barren lands

or are formally planned. Open space is a basic type of land use along with residential,

commercial, industrial, transportation etc. Other than open space, the rest are given

due importance for progress and it is neglected because it caters to natural,

recreational and cultural needs that are intangible. However, planning may help in

conserving open space as it offers places for wildlife habitat, wilderness protection,

ground water retention, air oxygenation, active recreational use, historic landscapes

etc.

1.1.2 Landscape changes in a city are delicate issues because they affect the

environment and its sustainability. Large open areas are often encroached and

converted to housing colonies leading to environmental degradation. Open space is

too precious an ingredient for healthy urban living to be sacrificed so as to satisfy the

greed of real estate promoters or any other hijackers of public property. The

significance of open space is not only its extent but how it is arranged in relation to

built environment. The open space is interspersed with the built environment and

assumes different shapes and sizes. It depends on two factors. On the one hand, we

have spiraling land values, increasing economic activities and population density that

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compel the community to limit open space and on the other with increasing densities

the communities also need more open space. The benefits from and the value of urban

open space differs with different economic classes of urban population. For example,

the high income residents who generally live in low density areas, where the need for

large open public space is less and for the low income group that lives in high density

areas, their requirements for such common open space are more. Landscape changes

occur in response to a variety of economic, political and social factors. Land values in

more recent times have grown rapidly compelling urban landscapes to grow vertically

which also results in high cost residential units in multistoried structures. These are

affordable only by the high income groups. With increasing vertical growth of this

kind, the open space requirement also increases.

1.1.3 The conscious provision of open space is an integral part of modern town

planning. By and large, it was towards the end of the 19th century that green open

space became important. Although most town and cities have occupied the same

location for centuries, the buildings and other infrastructure which comprise the built

environment are not fixed but affected continuously by the dynamic forces of change.

The debate over the meaning and role of open space starts here as urbanisation,

migration, increasing population, land use change is all contributing to less and less

open space. Urban population growth and urban-sprawl induced land use changes

coupled with industrial development are resulting in a challenge for city planners. The

changes of land use/land cover pattern over a time period controls the pressure on

land. Unplanned use as well as misuse of land is leading to conversion of useful land

into wastelands.

1.1.4 According to Conzen (1960), the urban landscape is divided into three main

elements of town plan, building forms and land use and demonstrated how each

reacted at a different rate to the forces of change:

• Land use is most susceptible to change;

• Since buildings represent capital investments and are adaptable to alternative

uses without being physically replaced, change occurs at a slower rate than

with land use;

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• The town plan or street layout is most resistant to change

The debate over the meaning and role of open space in cities has grown as a result of

• Increasing privatization of urban public space

• Urban sprawl

1.1.5 Public open space is necessary to retain urban quality. Open space planners

seek to ensure this through open space type and its distribution pattern that have

assigned use for recreation. However the variations between the actual and intended

use of open space and imbalances in their distribution, suggests need for evaluating

the ground realities that influence open space distribution and use. Today, the rapidity

of urban development and increase in the population of cities puts open space under

tremendous pressure. Therefore, the anticipation and identification of the basic

principles of change that open space undergo is essential for professionals to intervene

effectively (Rao, 2003). Both policy and science now emphasize the critical necessity

of green areas within urban social-ecological systems. The enhancement of urban

green space or urban forests is one of the ways, to mitigate the adverse effects of

urbanisation in a sustainable manner, making cities more attractive and comfortable to

live in.

1.2 Concept of Open Space

1.2.1 The definition of open space has evolved with time, covering all types of

opportunities to suit the various needs of human beings, plants and animal species.

This concept has been very important in urban city planning literature. In the ancient

period, the sizes of the villages were small and surrounding open countryside was

quite abundant. Also, the studies on Vedic villages confirm that open space was either

a private open space in front of the house or a common court. In the ancient

civilization of Greece and Rome a number of open space were traditional: the market

place, gymnasia for athletes, and sacred burial groves. Each of these were designed

and set aside for specific purpose. Hence there was no organised open space found.

In Islamic cities, open space was an integral part of the city structure. Open space as

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courtyards were frequently used in madarsas, mosques and buildings of secular

nature.

1.2.1 During the Renaissance, architects began to systematically study the shaping of

urban space, as though the city itself were a piece of architecture that could be given

an aesthetically pleasing and functional order. Many of the great public space of

Rome and other Italian cities date from this era. Parts of old cities were rebuilt to

create elegant squares, long street vistas, and symmetrical building arrangements.

Responding to advances in firearms during the fifteenth century, new city walls were

designed with large earthworks to deflect artillery, and star-shaped points to provide

defenders with sweeping lines of fire. Spanish colonial cities in the New World were

built according to rules codified in the Laws of the Indies of 1573, specifying an

orderly grid of streets with a central plaza, defensive wall, and uniform building style.

1.2.2 Baroque city is associated with the emergence of great nation-states between

1600 and 1750. Ambitious monarchs constructed new palaces, courts, and

bureaucratic offices. The grand scale was sought in urban public space: long avenues,

radial street networks, monumental squares, geometric parks and gardens. Versailles

is a clear expression of this city-building model; Washington, D.C. is an example

from the United States. Baroque principles of urban design were used by Baron

Haussmann in his celebrated restructuring of Paris between 1853 and 1870.

Haussmann carved broad new thoroughfares through the tangled web of old Parisian

streets, linking major sub centers of the city with one another in a pattern which has

served as a model (http://www.art.net/~hopkins/Don/simcity/manual/history.html). In

Renaissance Europe, the periodic opening of private grounds or palace gardens to

public was happening. In London, the large Royal Parks, property of the Crown were

in time completely given over to the public use. However, the expanding industrial

cities had very less provision for parks. The expanding urban populations were

housed in minimum housing built back to back with virtually no yards and only

narrow access alleys between rows. This lead to negative effect on the health of the

workers, as a result the importance of open space was further realised. The industrial

city still focused on the city center, which contained both the central business district,

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defined by large office buildings, and substantial numbers of factory and warehouse

structures. Both trolleys and railroad systems converged on the center of the city,

which boasted the premier entertainment and shopping establishments. The working

class lived in crowded districts close to the city center, near their place of

employment.

1.2.3 Most of the Indian cities are the product of time. New Delhi was planned after

shifting the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Lutyen and Delhi Committee had adopted

the garden city concept of Ebenezer Howard that was given by him in the year 1898.

He conceived:

• The city was a series of concentric circles, the inner core of which would be

civic centre or park;

• The outermost ring would be set aside as a green belt for agriculture and

institutional use;

• Between these would be housing and a section for industry;

• This will be applied according to the specific conditions of topography and

transportation of the selected site.

1.2.4 New Delhi evolved from the 19th century cantonments and civil line zones and

at present there are five large open areas:

• The transition zone: the Ram Lila ground forming the buffer between

Shahjahanabad and New Delhi;

• The forest reserve at the ridge;

• The central vista based on baroque plan;

• Green space around monumental sites: Lodhi garden, Humanyun’s tomb, and

Purana Quila;

• Recreational areas like golf course, race course, stadiums etc.

1.2.5 Delhi has grown from being a mere capital city to a Union Territory and now a

state. Delhi has its share of historic layers. From isolated seven cities of past, Delhi

today embraces all seven cities and has spread much beyond the contained natural

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barriers of the Ridge and Yamuna. In recognition of the growing urban extent, the

master plan of Delhi 1962 had stressed the need of maintaining the open and green

character of the city, advocating a large number of district parks, green linkages and

the conservation of the Ridge and the green belt around the city.

1.2.6 In present times, the concept of “open space” in urban areas is not only

limited to urban parks and preserves. Public space such as streets, schoolyards,

outdoor sports complexes, cemeteries and public squares are all important open space

(Hall and Ward, 1998). Baines (1999) writes on the short term or temporary open

space such as waste lots, gap sites awaiting redevelopment but not currently managed.

According to Thompson (2002), these areas are indeterminate areas of open space and

these function specific space are as much necessary as decorative parks. Chiesura

(2004) suggests taking into account the variability in open space types that these

fulfill the needs and expectation of all the segments of the population.

Venkatasubramanian (1991) defines open space as, “undeveloped or predominantly

undeveloped land in an urban area which has a value for park and recreation purposes,

conservation of land for historic and scenic purposes”. Tankel (1966) defines open

space broadly as, “open space includes not only land and water in and around urban

areas which is not covered by buildings but the space and light above as well”.

1.2.7 Urban city Planning literature has ‘open space’ concept as an important

ingredient. Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Ebenezer Howard, have influenced

the open space ideologies. Wright is known as the “Master of the Organic

Architecture”. Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes

harmony between human habitation and the natural world through design approaches

so sympathetic and well integrated with its site, that the buildings, furnishings, and

surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition. He was one of the

most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century. He not

only developed a series of highly individual styles over his extraordinarily long

architectural career (spanning the years 1887-1959), he influenced the whole course

of American architecture and building. Le Corbusier took open space as magnificent

areas shared by entire population, or artificial outdoor space on rooftops, or balconies

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that are usable and private. He allocated large open (public) space when he was

commissioned to design the city of Chandigarh. Howard emphasized on the

importance of a permanent girdle of open and agricultural land around the town. The

ring and radial pattern of his imaginary Garden City was a plan that many other

writers of the time also favoured, because of its perceived superiority from both

engineering and architectural viewpoints. Its most impressive application was the plan

for Greater London in 1944 which implemented the creation of a ring of new towns

beyond the London Greenbelt.

1.2.8 Tankel (1966) writes that the open space – all land and water not covered by

buildings – makes open space a question of not “how much”, but of “where” in

relation to buildings and the people therein. For example, if a sheet of paper

represents the total coverage of buildings to be built in a given area, and the area itself

is a table, one can distribute the paper on the table in any number of pieces and in

variety of shapes. But the amount of paper (buildings) and the amount of table which

is not covered (open space) remains the same. The same applies to the way clusters of

buildings are distributed at such larger scales as the neighbourhood, the group of

communities, or the region. He further writes that the open space of which people are

aware has three functions : it is used – for wide range of active and passive recreation

activities, it is viewed – from the home, the road, or other vantage points and it is felt

– it gives privacy, insulation, a sense of spaciousness and scale.

1.2.9 Recreation is a human need and these activities vary with age, sex, aptitude

etc. this need can be spontaneously fulfilled depending upon adequacy and quality of

open space. There is a need of provision for recreational activity due to the

decreasing size of the dwelling units and removal of private courtyards and safety of

children during play from traffic. Open space is associated with pleasure, recreation,

human interactions and communal celebrations. The vitality of the city is related to

innovative planning of open space. Protected open space usually raises the property

value of adjacent properties. The open space emerge out of a complex inter play of

factors. The related factors cut across political, economic, socio-cultural and

architectural dimensions. It is possible to classify open space both in terms of their

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types and along a hierarchy. It can thus be a space whose existing openness, if

retained would enhance the present or potential value of surrounding urban

development or would maintain and enhance the conservation of natural or scenic

resources.

1.2.10 The open space provide light and ventilation to the living areas and indirectly

affect the health of the community and the individual as well. The open space

functions as lung space by improving the air quality and reducing noise level from the

source to the residential area. They can also be organised in a way to mitigate the

effects of extreme climatic conditions and by providing a more comfortable area for

the residents. The open space allows interaction of the housewives in afternoons, and

children to find a place to play and thus it allows people to come together informally.

It provides an aesthetic meaning to any residential area. The space, form, colour are

completely in harmony and balance with successful aesthetic function of the space.

Therefore the open space has many positive functions like:

Recreational; (it can provide opportunities for a variety of outdoor activities

for people of all ages);

Stress relieving; (open space can help to restore people physically and

psychologically by reducing stress, improving moods, and even lowering

blood pressure)

Aesthetic; (Trees, flowers, and other green vegetation offer beauty and aroma

to the built environment);

Habitat Protection; (Urban open space networks can sustain complex

ecosystems);

Air oxygenation;

Economic; ( Parks, greenways, and other open space can significantly enhance

property values)

1.2.11 The open space constitutes an important physical, social, aesthetic and

economic asset to existing or impending urban and metropolitan development is well

established. Open space has a public purpose as public or community uses them.

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What constitutes a proper use will largely depend on the social needs of the time and

may change from generation to generation. Today the relevance of understanding the

influence of the changes that open space undergoes due to city development or the

perception of open space by the community is even more important. Due to

globalization, consisting of shared interests and economic goals between nations

across the world and unlike medieval and colonial times, the building of new cities to

create space or control over cultural perceptions of open space is unacceptable.

1.2.12 Open space may be public or private and may include active and passive areas.

PUBLIC open space is accessible to the public on a constant and a regular basis, like ,

public parks, beaches, waters and land under water, pools, playground, institutional

campuses, playgrounds, housing complex grounds, gardens if accessible to public,

open lawn areas, church areas etc. PRIVATE open space is not publicly accessible or

is available to limited users and is not available to the public on a regular basis. It is

not included in quantitative assessment but may be included for qualitative analysis of

potential open space impacts. For example, health clubs are considered private open

space as they charge entry fees. Also, the places like natural areas or wetlands with no

public access, streets, and sidewalks. Open space can also be analysed as active and

passive areas. Open space that is used for sports, exercise or active play is classified

as “active open space” like playing field and courts, pools, golf courses etc. on the

other hand, the open space used for relaxation, such as sitting or strolling is classified

as “passive” like restricted use lawns, gardens, church yards etc.

1.3 Literature Review

1.3.1 The relevance of open space increases with increasing size of the city. In small

urban centres with less than 50,000 population, the issue of open space is not that

critical whereas in large cities with million or more population the relevance of open

space becomes central. Consequently, large part of the research on urban open space

is limited to the study of large cities. Therefore, much of the literature available deals

with open space in large cities. However, in the Indian context, there is a dearth of

studies pertaining to the analysis of open space in cities. Reason being we are thinking

now on it as in western countries extensive concretization & industrialization brought

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the significance of open space into limelight much earlier. The issues addressed by the

available literature may be classified into four broad categories:

Planning and Evaluation of open space;

Benefits of open space;

Threats to open space;

Usage of open space.

1.3.2 Planning and Evaluation of open space: Koomen et.al. (2005), underlines the

need for incorporating open space in metropolitan planning. For that, quantitative

valuation of this asset needs to be done. One of the important planning concerns here

is to analyze the value that society associates with open space. An environmental-

economic framework is described by doing hedonic pricing method to assess impact

of open space on residential property value and a stated preference approach to

establish open space value for recreational purpose. Landscape changes are a delicate

matter as they affect sustainability of the environment. The author first stresses on

defining the open space quantitatively. One example included is that in the Dutch

National Planning Practice, open space is a large area with few visual obstacles.

According to a Dutch Research Institute, the degree of openness is based on the

height of landscape elements. An assessment is made for amount of buildings and

high rising vegetation per grid cell of 250 X 250m. The scale ranges from very open

landscape (consisting of Dutch Polders) to a much closed landscape (consisting of

forests). Villages are moderately open and cities are moderately closed and rank in

between on the scale. This indicates that woodlands without much human presence

are considered to be more closed than cities. The aim stressed is to valuate open space

from a human, user perspective approach instead of only “visual approach”, so the

author defines open space as “being free of buildings and other proofs of human

presence”. Therefore, the concept of openness corresponds roughly to the inverse of

urbanisation.

1.3.2.1 Regional open space is under threat from urbanisation. Fragmentation of open

space by motorways and related disturbance through traffic noise is an important

concern. Quantifying the ecological, economic and societal values of open space is

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done by revealed (for studying the value added by open space on residential property)

and stated preference valuation (for evaluating the recreational characteristics by

potential visitors). An appropriate revealed preference technique for looking at the

impact on the housing prices is the hedonic pricing method (HPM). Location is only

one of the main characteristics of a house. The HPM is developed to compute the

implicit value of all non-tradable characteristics by analyzing the observed value of

the tradable goods. The study area selected is Dutch Randstad area that is in the west

of the country and has the highest population density and economic pressure

nationwide. Initially the author takes the city of Leiden that is located in the west part

of Randstad. The city has dunes and forest in the west, lakes to the north and the

grasslands of the Green Heart to the east as open space. Koomen underlines the

importance of database with housing prices and structural characteristics of the sold

objects. All individual objects shall be given geographical location (X, Y

coordinates). A 25m grid land use map is used with raster GIS for selecting open land

use pattern at the three levels: the house, local and regional. This shall lead to

estimating the value of open space that is relevant for spatial policy making.

1.3.2.2 Kumar (1996) has analyzed the Master Plan for Delhi 2001. He argues that

Master Plan is not the only document on the basis of which planning and building

permissions could be granted. Other documents are the unified building bye-laws and

the National Building Code. The main argument of this paper is that the Master Plan

2001 lacks a coherent policy framework. Under a broader theme of ‘Regional & Sub-

Regional Issues’, full cooperation from states like Uttar Pradesh., Himachal Pradesh.,

and Jammu &.Kashmir is stressed as water, drainage and electricity have been

recognized as regional issues. However, it must be pointed that National Capital

Region (NCR) does not have any enforcement powers on the elected state

governments who would eventually provide such infrastructure. The Delhi

Development Authority (DDA) also has proposed for a development plan at sub-

regional level. So far little has been done in this direction. The DDA has yet not been

able to prepare and enforce any plan for urban extension. It is lying in its draft form

with the DDA. The hierarchy in urban development is the most important policy area

of the plan, but no details have been provided in the plan. The author has also

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analysed population employment, shelter, conservation, revitalization and

environment improvement, industries, trade, transportation, traffic, infrastructure of

special areas of walled city. He concludes later that the development of the city as a

‘cellular structure’ is the basic policy premise of the Master Plan for Delhi-2001; the

plan provides six types of unit industrial estates rather than five to match with five

tiers of the cellular structure. Towards the end, the author discusses the plan for the

physical environment. For open areas like conservation of ridge by afforestation and

channelisation of river Yamuna are suggested in the Plan. That would make more land

available for construction on the river front. Although according to the DDA,

approximately 10 square meters per person recreational area must be maintained, the

authority is itself violating these norms by converting open space into other uses such

as temples, schools etc. Plan proposes several children parks and picnic huts, sport

centres and play areas but the implementation is left to one’s imagination.

1.3.2.3 Austin and Kalpan (2003) have written an article on residents’ involvement in

natural resource management. The open space conservation sub-division offers an

alternative to large-lot residential sub-divisions often seen as culprit when urban

sprawl transforms rural landscapes. Homes are located on somewhat smaller lots,

preserving natural areas for the local residents who share ownership of these

communal areas and assume responsibility for their management. The article focuses

on the experiences of the residents of 13 relatively new open space communities. The

interviews revealed that most of the communities have already confronted on

conflicting values with respect to natural areas, low resident participation and

challenges in accessing appropriate information. While the open space conservation

design holds great promise as a tool for innovative approaches to managing residential

growth, it also calls for ways to anticipate and assist communities in caring for their

local environment. Recommendations are offered for planning professionals based

upon experience of these open space community residents.

1.3.2.4 Ramachandran H. (1991) has a done a study on distribution and magnitude of

open space in and around Bangalore. Available open space as the city grows has been

constantly decreasing. This trend is due to the fact that open space has to be acquired

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and provided for by the state. The analysis also indicates that recreational use of land

is significantly affected by supply and more so in the case of low income population.

Of necessity the low income population lives in dense areas where access to open

space is restricted and simultaneously the need for it is more pronounced. Low

income housing areas are less planned and they lack severely the basic needs of urban

living and this leads to unplanned development of cities. Also, the study indicates that

land use changes around the city are leading to underdeveloped green patches in the

form of vegetable gardens, wooded areas and cultivated lands that are kept unused for

a time before they are encroached upon by urban forms. This leads to the need for

land capability surveys around large cities. According to this study the land use

transition indicates that the built up area has increased enormously. Also, sufficient

open space is available within the city limits to meet the minimum standards but a

large proportion of this does not come under organised open space for public use but

are either vacant or being used for agricultural purposes. So, urban planning is needed

for spatial arrangement of open space with reference to other land uses and

distribution of residential areas.

1.3.3 Benefits of open space: Esbah, Deniz and Cook (2005) observe that the

ecological health in the highly developed urban environment is maintained by the

urban open space to a great extent. Urban open space is vital part of urban landscape

with its own specific set of function. The author writes that habitat values and

ecological quantity of these areas are often challenged by urbanisation. He first

introduces the concept of open space and stresses on the fact that understanding of the

characteristics of the different types of open space in urban environment may help in

the long term planning process. To measure the change in open space system is also

important for maintaining the livable cities. This study is to analyze the types and

characteristics of open space in two cases from a developed and a developing country

and also to measure the impacts of land use change on ecological quality of open

space. This paper specifically deals with isolation issues. Isolation is an outcome of

habitat fragmentation. Isolation index is calculated between each individual patch and

its surrounding land use. The study areas are two cities viz. City of Phoenix, Arizona

and City of Aydin, Turkey. Analyses are done in two phases. In the first phase, types

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of open space and change in the magnitude are analyzed using aerial photographs and

GIS. In the second phase isolation index is calculated. Higher the isolation ratio more

isolated the system, hence diminishing ecological quality. The author mentions that

urban open space is direct expression of governmental and municipal policies and

investments. He analyzes the change in open space system over the time in both cities.

With industrialization, overall physical, social and economic face has changed. This

led to very unsustainable structures of ecological barriers in the urban landscape such

as addition of highways and roads, new public buildings, and canalization of old river

bed. The author found that in Phoenix’s case, after 1988, the speed of agricultural

land loss slowed down, and urbanisation pressured natural and open patches more.

There is continuous increase with respect to the area of golf courses and urban parks.

This shows recreational tendencies as well as local government’s policy to attract

tourism revenues. But the amount of vacant lots dropped showing that not much space

is left for building development. In the case of Aydin city, open space shrank

continuously. Number of parks increased gradually. But urbanisation process is

leading to lack of livability in the city. Studying the isolation index, findings indicate

the ecological integrity of the natural open space have changed leaving these areas as

highly distinct and isolated patches in developed urban areas. The author recommends

developing effective zoning plans and improving connectivity with other systems on

regional scale.

1.3.3.1 Vaughn (1964), in his paper stresses on the need of new, flexible standards

with mechanisms for adjusting to changing community population characteristics,

economy and terrain formulation. He starts with the New York Open Space Act that

emphasized the need to acquire land for open space. This open space movement soon

spread all over but it was lacking in any reliable standards or criteria to guide

preservation programmes. In 1961, the outdoor Reservation Resources Review

Commission (ORRRC) reviewed it: for non-urban local recreation areas, the number

of acres per thousand people varied from ten to twenty for state recreation areas, the

standards varied from thirty one to forty five acres per thousand people. The National

Recreation Association (NRA) recommends one acre per 100 persons in the

population. This standard is much higher than 10 meters per person as suggested by

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the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), essentially because DDA values apply to

only the metropolitan city whereas the ORRRC standards are meant for the large

space economy. Finally, ORRRC agreed that an individual’s demand for outdoor

recreation is dependent on his disposable income, amount of leisure time, and

mobility. The Baltimore Regional Planning Council developed new standards

suggesting that seventy-eight acres per 1000 persons should be maintained as regional

and local open space areas. This included public parks, private recreation facilities,

and other quasi-public space but not agricultural and forest land. ORRRC surveys

have presented recreation activity requirements in a balanced way but the

requirements are ever changing. Like open space demands of elder population would

be passive recreation facilities (nature photography) and that of younger population

would be active form (Swimming, hiking etc). In the absence of any guidelines,

today’s open space preservation programmes are proceeding without sufficient

direction. Research into future open space demand would be based “consumer

preference” analyses. Thus, new, flexible standards with mechanism to adjust

according to the changing community population, characteristics, economic base and

terrain could be formulated. A vital, concerted research effort into open space

requirements would help to provide a factual base for decisions on open space

preservation policy.

1.3.3.2 Rubinstein (1997) introduces the psychological value of open space by

writing that “psychological carrying capacity” would measure existing and proposed

space against the requirements and uses of current and projected users, assessing

whether the amount and type of existing open space is inadequate, sufficient or

redundant. That would help determine whether all those who use nature and open

space need the same kinds of places, or whether all people desire open space access.

Various definitions of open space including Wohlwill’s definition focusing on

landscape in the absence of human intervention; Sullivan’s definition proposing an

approach on seeing open space as greenbelts of undeveloped forest land and open

space along with nearby wetlands and agricultural lands; and several other have been

mentioned. The user based approach helps the researchers to take an inductive case

study approach to the analysis of open space. That raises a question for planners,

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politicians and preservationists to plan open space in psycho-cognitive, behavioral

and symbolic terms. This paper also examines the broadest continuum of open space,

from eco-based to activity based, from person to public, and from those sustained by

clear and substantial manipulation, design and intervention, to those that reflect little

or none. The author stresses the need for open space by counting the benefits be it

physiological, or psychological. There is no denying the fact that open space

vegetated landscapes reduces stress, arousal and anxiety. The solitude of natural

environment helps us to discover and explore our social and personal identities.

People are drawn to gardens, urban and suburban parks to sit passively, or simply

remove themselves from their daily rituals. This helps us restore our energy and

reduce our stress by reducing psychological pressures. This paper ends as it began, in

the value of a walk in the woods to our sense of self. We are in a symbiotic

relationship with the environment we live in and if we plan to alter nature and open

space, we may alter our lives.

1.3.4 Threats to Open Space: Birnbaum and Charles (2006) in their article focuses on

the dilapidating state of America’s Urban Parks. These are under severe threat from

“the focal points” that are activity oriented. The open ‘void’ space needs to be filled

up as the park users do not come to such places for entertainment. The author has

covered urban open space like the Occidental Square and freeway pack at Seattle,

Washington. Here, the Project for Public Space, a non-profit has proposed to overhaul

the space completely, removing trees and replacing the uneven cobblestone with

Astroturf. Also, it proposes to remove the central fountain from Freeway as the

homeless people, drug seller and user are concentrated in such open places. Alteration

in park design is not the only solution as activists can help in this. The author also

writes on privatizing the open public space. He has quoted the example of

Manhattan’s Bryant Park closure for two months, for organizing special events and it

lead to total change in landscape. Less maintenance and declining tree cover leads to

lack of use of even nationally acclaimed landscapes. The people who live near and

use these cities parks have to become the defenders and protectors. The author

concludes that revitalization of parks and open space shall happen only when the

community demands for it and participates in it.

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1.3.4.1 Mitchel (2000) has the culture of urban space has a key theme on the

transformation of public space and how people move through and occupy that

changing space. The author writes a progress report by using four important books

Capital Culture by Linda McDowell (1997), Space of Hope by David Harvey (2000),

The Cultures of Cities by Sharon Zukin (1995) and Cultural Geography by Don

Mitchell (2000). The subject has attracted considerable attention over the time.

Fundamental change that all the scholars have covered is the increasing privatization

and commoditization of public space. Commercial culture is becoming linked with

public space and all the authors have pointed out that it is impacting on social identity

and social control. Public space is impacted by the hegemonic attitudes relating rights

to this space. The Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are examples of public

private partnerships as these are situated between the market and the state to provide

urban services. The author writes that defining and controlling public space is

political in orientation and an integral part of social control in most societies. All four

authors discussed in this paper study the contemporary struggles relating to our public

space. Zukin and Harvey described the effects of ‘museumization’ of public space for

understanding the nature of public. The important role of museums and cultural

institutions has been written in a nostalgic tone, reason being that these help to

sanitize space and also provide entertainment. Linda Mc Dowell examined the shifts

in employment practices, gender, power and space in the financial sector in London.

She is interested on how bodies occupying space, shift in the form of ideology of

public space. Landscape helps to entrench systems of power, but also resistant counter

space develops in response. Landscape’s changing nature, movement of bodies

through landscape and reconstitutions leads to resistance against domination of

borders. The author concludes by writing that the urban cultural geographers are

excavating by examining shifting public space and landscapes. This will help them

find answer to queries on people’s consent to subjugation or loss of belief in a better

world. Thus the author’s focus is to study transformation of public space and how

collective memory can help in contemporary struggles of public space.

1.3.4.2 Kaur, Dutta and Chaddha (2002) have written an article on delineating

Environmental Fragile Areas in Delhi. This paper has described an initial attempt to

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provide a framework for the development and evaluation of commercial land use

development model especially in the context of developing countries. Models have

been used in land use planning since the early 1960s. The development process

becomes more viable in recent years due to the rapid advances in the information

technology such as geographic information system (GIS). The author writes that for

sustainably using land proper planning and monitoring are needed. Accurate

information on the existing land use/land cover pattern and its spatial distribution and

changes are a pre-requisite for planning, utilisation and formulation of policies and

programmes, that would help in making any micro and macro-level developmental

plan. The mapping and monitoring of the land use/land cover requires a land use

classification system. The method used here for land use and land cover is the infrared

False Colour Composite (FCC) image. The extraction of information from such

images about ground reality is done by image interpretation for which generally three

methods namely photo interpretation, spectral analysis and data integration are used.

In this study, a spatial commercial land use development model was developed using

discriminant function analysis. The model was developed based on the year 1992 to

1994 land use changes and factors existed in year 1992. The overall accuracy of the

original model is quite good i.e. about 74.9 percent. For commercial development the

accuracy was only 57 percent, with high confusion with other types of urban

development. The relatively low accuracy may be due to factors that were not

included in the model such as land ownership and land value, which is an important to

determining the availability of land for development.

1.3.5 Usage of Open Space: Venkatasubramanian, S. (1991), has worked on the

analysis of park users in Delhi. He stresses that a periodic monitoring of the

distributional pattern and availability of open space will help in managing the open

space. However, his analysis is restricted to the district parks. Attempt has been made

to bring out some generalization between the pattern and availability of open space

along with the use in the district parks. His findings conclude that percent open space

increases as one move from the city core to the peripheral zone and the planned areas

of the city have comparatively more open space than the unplanned areas. The per

capita availability of the open space comes to be less in the core zone in comparison

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to the intermediary and peripheral zone. Inter-park similarities and differences have

been studied for the parks. The study shows that user characteristics vary significantly

from a higher income group to the lower income group and also influenced by the site

and situation of the park. There is also significant relationship between income level-

mode of travel, occupation- duration, distance covered and frequency of visit,

regularity – occupation, purpose- frequency of visit. This study stresses on the

creation as well as preservation of green areas for recreational and leisure time

activities through planned interventions.

1.4 Statement of the Problem

1.4.1 The preceding literature review clearly reflects that the question of availability

of open space in urban areas needs attention. Land is one of the prime natural

resources. Merely physical or architectural planning will not help solve the problem.

The changes of land use/land cover pattern over a time period control the pressure on

land. Urban population growth and urban-sprawl induced land use changes coupled

with industrial development are resulting in a challenge for city planners. Unplanned

use as well as misuse of land is leading to conversion of useful land into wastelands.

It indicates that the quantity and arrangement of open space is not fixed. It is as

dynamic as the city.

1.4.2 The city planning authorities in India, as elsewhere, have been providing for

increasing open space area in their successive plans. However, the implementation of

these plans has been far from satisfactory and probably leading to encroachment

rather than conservation. The above discussion leads to many questions that will form

the basis of research problem:

• What is the desired urban open space vis-à-vis total urban area?

• Do the planning standards and the present percentage of availability of open

space match?

• What is the trend in the per capita availability of urban open space?

• What are the characteristics of users of urban open space? In other words,

what is the difference in user groups of different types of open space?

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• What is the sustainability of open space?

• How can the city best preserve environmentally sensitive, natural open space

in the planning area?

1.5 Study Area

1.5.1 The research queries posed above will be addressed in context of Delhi –

National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi is located in northern India between

the latitudes of 280 24’17’’ and 280 53’ 00’’ North and longitudes of 760 50’ 24’’ and

770 20’ 37’’ East. Delhi can be divided into three major geographical regions: the

Yamuna flood plain, the ridge and the Gangetic Plains. The low-lying Yamuna flood

plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture. However, these plains are

prone to recurrent floods. With an average altitude of 293 meter above sea level, the

ridge forms the most dominating feature in this region. It originates from the Aravalli

Hills in the south and encircles the west, north-east and north-west portions of the

city. The Great Plains are located in the south of the city and cover most of Delhi.

Yamuna, one of India's most sacred rivers, is the only main river flowing through

Delhi. Most of the city, including New Delhi, lies west of the river. East of the river is

the Old City which includes the urban area of Shahdara.

1.5.2 The Development in Delhi is associated with four different periods. These

periods are pre-colonial (before 1911), pre-independence (1911-1947), post

independence (1947-1961) and Master Plan period (1961-1981). During each of these

periods migration to Delhi has been circumstantial. Pre-colonial period as already

stated was based on traditions, cultures and religious lifestyles promoted by invaders.

Pre-independence was related to migration of the British and development of trade.

Post -independence was based on migration from partitioned West Pakistan. Master

Plan Period refers to temporary migration from rural areas in search of employment.

Presently, it has become an alternative, central place for international trade as well as

seat of power. The increase in Delhi's population from 4.1 million in 1911 to 16.7

million in 2011 is the highest increase in the world. Major increase during the master

plan period has been in last two decades. The alarming increase in population is

34

putting an unacceptable strain on housing, employment, healthcare, water and

electricity services.

1.5.3 The sixty-ninth amendment to the Constitution of India in 1991 granted Delhi

the status of a special union territory and officially changed its name to the National

Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). The National Capital Territory of Delhi is divided

into nine districts: Central Delhi, North Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, North East

Delhi, South West Delhi, New Delhi, North West Delhi, and West Delhi. As

mentioned in the TERI State of Environment Report of Delhi, 2001, the urban area

has grown from 182 sq. km. in the 1970s to more than 750 sq. km. in 1999. This urban

sprawl is mainly occurring at the cost of agricultural land. Most areas under coarse

and loamy soils with good to moderate moisture retention capacity have been

converted to urban use, leaving less fertile land for agriculture. Over the years, area

under cultivable wasteland has also increased. Further, increased land price due to

pressures of urbanisation has made agriculture less profitable, and the cultivable land

is kept fallow prior to merging it with the urban zones. Besides, the designated urban

land-use practices are often violated.

1.5.4 The NCRPB (National Capital Region Planning Board) and the DDA (Delhi

Development Authority) have prepared the NCR Plan and Master Plan for the NCTD

(National Capital Territory of Delhi), respectively, with a 20-year perspective

showing broad land-use categories and traffic corridors. Carefully, planning the

greening of Delhi, DDA has divided the open space into a level of hierarchies:

(www.ddadelhi.com)

Regional Parks

District Parks

Neighbourhood Parks

City parks

Historical landscapes

Sports complexes

Landmark greens

Green Belts

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Totlets etc.

1.5.5 As stated in the TERI State of Environment Report of Delhi, 2001, both plans

could not achieve the desired landscape because of the lack of clear policies and

strategies and also because of poor implementation and monitoring. Recent studies

supported by the World Bank have proposed a long-term strategy for urban

development planning of NCT Delhi by adopting a comprehensive approach in the

context of National Capital Region planning. Such a comprehensive planning

approach should first individually address all the important issues such as:

• policies on industrial estates;

• environmental aspects associated with the relocation of large number of

hazardous units;

• larger housing requirements to accommodate the housing needs of growing

population;

• slum upgrading at site or shifting of the existing squatter population clusters

(now exceeding 1100 in number);

• rejuvenation of degraded land as well as preservation of remaining meager

forests;

• enlarging green/open areas following modern urban development codes; and

• protection of monuments and cultural heritage buildings.

1.5.6 After addressing each such issue in its proper perspective, a comprehensive

integrated policy on all future land-use norms should be evolved. On 21 July, 2005,

Saurabh Sinha’s in the leading National Daily wrote an article titled, “DDA plan:

Private growth, public pain”. About 750 sq km of the 1,483-sq-km area in Delhi is

urbanized. The emphasis of the DDA plan will be to encourage construction of

smaller apartments. Certainly large-scale construction activities are a major job

provider. Once those houses are ready, a further flow of migrants would move in as

informal service providers. As of now, all attempts to decongest Delhi have met with

little success as the NCR largely remained a stillborn concept. The Regional Plan

admits that the idea of deflecting 20 lakh people to the NCR from Delhi by 2001 to

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limit the population to 112 lakh did not take off. Several planning challenges have

come up in recent years regarding future parks and open space needs. Among these,

the most important is relating accessibility, protecting from overuse of open space,

conversion to other uses, and encroachment by other developments.

1.6 Objectives

1.6.1 In the light of the stated research problem above and the characteristics of

growth of Delhi, the research objectives of the present study are:

• To analyse spatial arrangement of open space.

• To identify the factors affecting distribution and magnitude of open space and

seek relationships between built environment and open space.

• To evaluate the role of city plan in the provision and maintenance of public,

institutional, private and community open space.

• To describe the user profile of open space.

• To provide inputs for planning and monitoring of urban open space.

1.7 Hypothesis

1.7.1 In the process of meeting the above objectives, the following hypothesis are

tested:

• Open space is shrinking over time that is sought to be compensated by

promoting institutional and community/cooperative open space.

• User characteristics differ with the hierarchy of open space.

1.8 Database and Research Methodology

1.8.1 As already discussed, open space have been defined differently in various

contexts. In the study undertaken, open space includes all green space catering to the

recreational needs and environmental purposes of the population 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

37

open space the recreational functions and leisure time needs of the urban population.

Given the objectives, three types of databases are required:

• Those that can be generated from satellite and imageries maps.

• Information from park users by doing questionnaire survey.

• Published data and documents from various sources like Delhi Development

Authority (DDA), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Central Statistical

Organisation (CSO), and Census of India (COI).

1.8.2 Viewing the earth from space has become essential to comprehend the

cumulative influence of human activities on its natural resource base. In a time of

rapid and often unrecorded land-use change, observations from space provide

information on human utilisation of landscape. Over the past two decades, data from

earth sensing satellites have become important in mapping the earth’s features,

managing natural resources and studying environmental change. Remote sensing and

GIS are providing new tools for advanced environmental management. The collection

of remotely sensed data facilitates the synoptic analysis of earth-system functions,

patterns and change at local, regional and global scales over time. Such data also

provide vital links between intense localized ecological researches and the regional,

national and international conservation and management of biological diversity

(Wilkie and Finn, 1996). Allocating and managing earth’s resource requires knowing

its distribution in space. Maps help us measure the extent and distribution of

resources, analyze resource interactions and identify suitable locations for specific

action (e.g. development or preservation) and plan future events. GIS helps in

performing varied analysis on the data thus obtained from remote sensing. The data

derived from the documents generally deals with descriptive features of open space in

Delhi. GIS platform in the present study means the use of the software Arc View 3.2

A to study the information generated from satellite imageries/ maps. Analytical tools

such as map overlays have helped in studying the spatial association of attributes such

as density of built environment and open space, availability of open space in the core,

intermediary and peripheral zones of the city. This analysis would partly be done at

the level of city wards and at various distance rings from different city cores. Also,

38

bar diagrams and other techniques are used to show the variations wherever

necessary.

1.8.3 As already seen parks can be arranged in the form of hierarchy i.e. regional,

city, district, and neighbourhood park. Three formal public open space of different

hierarchy have been selected purposively and park user profile is generated through

canvassing questionnaires by doing Volunteer Survey. The questionnaire includes

both stated and revealed choices and preference as well as respondents perception vis-

à-vis use of open space and maintenance. It helped to analyse that the open space and

quality of life share a symbiotic relationship. Also, it helped to establish that the park

is characterized by the user. Therefore, it is important to know how the availability of

local destinations influences frequency of use and how frequency of use influences

physical activity/ behaviour. Statistical analysis of the data collected has been done by

using SPSS 20 software. This helped in analyzing the significance of all the factors

for Inter-Park variation in between different time slots of morning, afternoon and

evening and also weekdays and weekends. Chi square (χ2) test has been used to do the

analysis. Also, the strength of the relationship shall be measured by doing tetrachoric

correlation (φ).

1.8.4 While the methodology discussed above basically relates to the study of user

characteristics, the appraisal of availability and distribution of open space in Delhi is

based on the information collected from Delhi Development Authority in the form of

map/s and statistical data. A thorough calculation was done to calculate the open

space for each ward of Delhi. The data thus generated is subjected to statistical and

cartographical analysis in order to meet the objectives of this study.

1.8.5 Secondary data have been collected from various sources for different

metropolitan cities in India to study the open space. When compared with its past

status, the present land-use of the cities clearly denotes the mounting pressure of some

classes of land-use which are under stress. A balanced and sustainable growth is often

only conceptual in terms of urban land-use. Maps and Imageries for Bangalore,

Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur have been collected from secondary sources. This

39

helped in giving and insight of open space standards in some major metropolitan

cities of India.

1.9 Chapter Organization

1.9.1The study is presented in six chapters. The first chapter is Introduction to the

concept of open space, literature review, statement of problem, study area, objectives

of the study, hypothesis, data source and research methodology.

1.9.2 The second chapter is on the Open space in metropolitan cities. The discussion

in this chapter lays stress on the open space distribution in Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai

and Hyderabad. Secondary data has been used to study the open space distribution in

these cities.

1.9.3 The third chapter studies the Open space in Delhi. The national capital is

attracting people from all parts of India. Delhi is mini India with the largest number of

immigrant communities who have made it their home. In this study, open space

include all green space catering to the recreational needs of the population 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. Satellite imageries as well as maps of DDA have been used to see the

change in the open space between different time periods.

1.9.4 The fourth chapter deals with the user profile of a neighbourhood park, district

park and a city park on analysis the inter park variations on weekday and weekend

and in different time slots of morning, afternoon and evening. The volunteer survey

was done to analyse the variation in the user characteristics. This analysis reflects a

need for creation as well as preservation of green areas for recreational and leisure

time activities through planned initiatives.

40

1.9.5 The fifth chapter deals with the Government initiatives for the provision of

open space and also ward wise analysis has been done to see the open space available

per person in the wards. The difference between the core, intermediary and peripheral

zones identified in Delhi has also been studied.

1.9.6 The sixth chapter concludes the study and suggests the improvements that are

needed so that people may have comfortable access to open space.