ARI Working Paper Series

Urban green spaces in a developing country context are relatively scarce and facing challenges in view of rapid urbanization in the post economic liberalization era. Urban private green spaces, even though constitute the core of urban sustainability, have received far less attention compared to those under public domain.  We study the change in homegarden, a form of private green space with multistoried vegetation abound in tropical regions, in the city of Kozhikode in the state of Kerala in India. We assessed the dynamics of homegardens and evaluated them vis-à-vis households’ multi-dimensional socioeconomic and demographic characteristics during the last decade. The study reveals an all-round decline in the floristic elements of homegardens which reflects loss of environmental sustainability. In spite of this, the floristic structure of small landholders has tilted towards food items – an indication of efficiency of homegardens in complementing livelihood sustainability. The study highlights the need to examine various dimensions of similar multifunctional land use systems under private domain across diverse urban contexts to understand their true potential and to frame appropriate policies for their promotion and conservation.  In the present urban governance context, local community participation is a key policy instrument in this endeavour.

Full text is not available, this working paper is withdrawn, as it has now been published as “Governance for Private Green Spaces in a Growing Indian city”, in Landscape and Urban Planning, authored by Kulbhushan Balooni, Kausik Gangopadhyay & B. Mohan Kumar, Elsevier, March 2014, Vol. 123, pp 21-29.