tItle: develoPMent of urban green sPaces

Key Words: Urban Green Spaces (UGS), Network, Open Areas, connecting spaces, planning and management, Comprehensive Development Plan, shrinking green spaces, and preservation of agricultural zones.

State: Mysore City, Karnataka

Broad Area: Mysuru is the second largest city and lies in the base of Chamundi Hills and one of the important cities in Karnataka where urban sprawl is in faster pace.Urban green space (UGS) is an incredibly important element to be looked at and nourished within all land use. Rapid urbanization is directly affecting the UGS as key element. The optimum distribution of the UGS and its accessibility helps in maintaining the harmony in between the environment and the urban areas.

The green space network analysis of the UGS of Mysuru city was evaluated with a methodological framework to understand the scenario of urban green network in densely built urban area. The UGS per capita and accessibility of all the present green spaces are studies to know its functionality. As it is well known fact that the quality of life, human well-being are the important factors influenced by urban green and open spaces accessibility and also helps in improving the strategic lifestyle in the urban areas. Eventually, contributions from UGS to the urban areas are very broad and multidimensional like, social, cultural, recreational, economic, environmental and aesthetical.

1. TECHNICAL DETAIL

1.1

Background of Mysore:

Mysuru city’s land use has only 10% of space reserved for green and open spaces where in the UDPFI guideline directs at least 15-20% of the land use to have a green and open spaces.

Mysuru city has around 343 Undeveloped and 178 Developed parks as per the records of Mysore City Corporation. That is, only 34% of the Parks and Open spaces in the city of Mysuru is developed and another 66% is yet to develop and many developed parks are not maintained well and failed in attracting the users and providing the user satisfaction (Primary survey data).

North west area of mysore is 24.521km with 8.6% of UGS in which 6.3% is of the educational properties, 7.7% is educational plots and 0.35% of the cemetery grounds.North east area of mysore is 27.99km with 5.22% of UGS in which 1.3% is of the educational properties, 2.9% is educational plots and 0.94% of the cemetery grounds. South west area of mysore is 34.13km with 4.59% of UGS in which 1.7% is of the educational properties and 1.6% is educational plots.South east area of mysore is 26.51km with 35.51% of UGS in which 34.2% is of the educational properties and 0.6% is educational plots.

Failure to create more green spaces and failure to upkeep the existing UGS has made the city into a Urban Jungle which should not be the case for a city with such rich history and Greenscape.

2. DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM:

Description of problem: Mysore city’s green patches are divided into 3 different categories Public accessible parks and open areas, educational buildings with green areas and cemetery. To identify the problem and understand the division of Urban green spaces in the City of Mysore, the division of the city is in North-east, North-west, Southeast and South-west.

The South-West part of the Mysore has the largest area but it has the least green area with 1.74% only as the public green spaces and 1.61% as the educational grounds. As in the South-west part of Mysore city a majority of land is barren and it belongs to the government there is a huge opportunity to utilize the space. The plot is also around the lingambudhi lake in the southern part of the city and can be developed as a lakefront with as a biodiversity or a botanical garden.

3. REVIEW OF WORK ALREADY DONE:

3.1 In 2011: The Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has announced ambitious plans to develop the city in a planned manner which includes development of lakes and gardens. This is in addition to its long-term plans of developing four new residential areas that entails distribution of nearly 10,000 sites.

3.2 In 2022: The Vanashri programme initiated by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to plant 25,000 saplings in the city during the year and shore up the green cover was launched.

4. PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:

This was part of the ongoing Green Mysuru campaign launched with the objective of planting 1 lakh saplings in four years and under which 50,000 saplings had already been planted in two years. The onus of maintaining the parks was too burdensome for the MCC and hence, Private Public Participation (PPP) was implemented; however, this has not been very successful.

In Mysore, the only park maintained by a private organization is Vishwamanava Park, under the care of Raman Board and in addition, there are also several parks maintained by the Citizens independently. But, under the present circumstances, the MCC is overburdened and owing to scarcity of funds, is unable to undertake development works. The MCC will chalk out a program to persevere and develop 316 parks in the city with the help of private sponsors. (The Hindu 2003).

5. RELEVANCE TO STATE PRIORITIES:

5.1 Social Interests:

UGS acts as the sustainable agent for the community have a healthy open spaces. UGS and public spaces may also work as a social ties within the urban fabric where a huge gathering can happen and helps increasing the social and communication skill of the users. Henceforth the sense of safety and belongingness is significantly seen among the residents.

5.2 Environmental Interests:

The wide spread environmental interest of the UGS ranges from conservation of biodiversity to the urban climate regulations. The purification of air, provision of shade and increased rate of precipitation are all the benefits from the UGS. This helps in creating a pleasant micro climate and temperature drop.

5.3 Economic Interest:

It is a well-known fact that the Urban Greeneries contributes a lot for increasing the value of the Property and helps budding of economy for the any urban land form.

6. FINANCIAL RESOURCES COMMITTED AT THE STATE LEVEL:

6.1 Increased employment:

Developing a lakefront will allow a lot of new businesses to open up near the area hence resulting in more employment in the city and eventually contributing in the financial state of the government. Greenscaping companies will gain more work and Workers either contractual or regular will gain higher workability and more jobs to work in for building and maintaining these UGSs.

6.2 Tourism boost:

Mysore as a city will immediately have more visitors if the current UGSs are improved and maintained as they provide a closeness with the environment. The people from near and far will flock to the Green pastures to enjoy themselves which will immediately improve the economic and social status of the residents. This in turn will boost the locals who will serve to the needs of the visitors and in return gain financial profit.

6.3 Sports programmes:

The green spaces will allow the athletes to participate in competitions organized by the local authorities and such sports meets would generate revenue for the people, the athletes and the local government.

6. CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTS:

1. To get the permission of the government for the development of the land.

2. To get proper funding for the project

3. Understanding the water level and soil type

4. Determining the trees suitable for the area keeping in mind the water requirements.

5. Pedestrianizing the whole area

6. To incorporate activities that generate revenue without crowding the lakefront

6. METHODOLOGY DETAILED STEPWISE ACTIVITIES AND SUB-ACTIVITIES:

• Understanding the climatic conditions

• Literature study of the area to understand the soil type

• Learning about the water levels of the lingambudhi lake and the ground water around the area

• Studying the types of trees that can be grown in the region

• Creating a biodiversity

• Planning of the area around the lake

• Developing activities around to generate revenue without hindering the biodiversity

• Conclusion

6. OUTPUT OF THE PROJECT:

Maintaining a big area like this will improve the green footprint of the land of mysore and the green will help fight the germs in the environment resulting in better air quality of the state and hence better health of the citizens. Opening up of new activities will make the whole lakefront more interactive and hence result in creating a better social environment for the citizens of mysore.

Mysore as a city will immediately have more visitors if the current UGSs are improved and maintained as they provide a closeness with the environment. The people from near and far will flock to the Green pastures to enjoy themselves which will immediately improve the economic and social status of the residents. This in turn will boost the locals who will serve to the needs of the visitors and in return gain financial profit.