Authors

• Meenakshi Kumar, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi
• Shaleen Singhal, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi

The unsustainable patterns of land use and land cover changes in city regions adversely affect the efficiency of urban green infrastructure resources. High density in cities can affect the provision of green space and the ecosystem health of the region, raising the need for efficient planning of urban green infrastructure. Increasingly, cities are adopting urban regeneration strategies such as restoration of degraded land in environmentally sensitive areas for efficient utilisation of green infrastructure resources. This paper adopts a case-oriented approach to examine the effect of land use and land cover changes on green infrastructure-based efficiency for a select environmentally sensitive area in the National Capital Region of Delhi. From the literature available, green infrastructure indicators for efficiency have been identified as: 1) change in forest cover density; 2) change in landscape fragmentation; 3) change in the proportion of degraded land and ecosystem; and 4) change in species diversity. Using satellite imagery, the change in efficiency in the study area is mapped for select buffer sizes. Results show a decrease in forest cover density, and an increase in the level of fragmentation, indicating a decrease in green infrastructure-based efficiency. The paper suggests that for efficient planning of urban green infrastructure resources, the size of the buffer zone around environmentally sensitive areas should vary according to density and available opportunities to increase green infrastructure.