Measurement of Sustainable Urban Development of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

At present scenario the urbanization is increasing rapidly all over the world. By 2030 the urban population will be 50% of the total population living in India. Urbanization makes a significant contribution to economy of the country. At the same time, the rapid urbanization also adversely affects the social and physical life of urban population. So keeping in view the above-stated problems, an integrative approach needs to be imposed in the fast-growing cities like Varanasi. In the proposed research work, an attempt has been made to elaborate the ongoing urban development process in the chosen city by incorporating sustainable urban development model. The present research is an empirical cum quantitative kind of work. Both the primary and secondary method has been used for data collection. Additionally, an urban sustainability indicator value (USI) method has been formulated to identify the inventory and prospective indicator value as a key factor for the analysis of urban sustainability in Varanasi city. By analyzing the USI values considering all set of indicators (social, economic, and ecological) fruitful findings have been obtained and evaluated thoroughly. In order to achieve sustainable urban development, an USI model has been also proposed in other fast-growing cities like Varanasi, so that urban sustainability model can be used as a key parameter for urban development studies.