Technological infusion and the change in private, urban green spaces

Abstract

Despite the fact that the multifaceted values of urban green spaces in the public and private domain constitute the core of urban sustainability, their importance is not adequately investigated in the context of developing countries. We undertook a survey of homegardens on private properties in Kozhikode, a city located in the state of Kerala, India. Our investigation reveals a substantial loss of private green spaces, defined in terms of the added economic value homegardens provided to households during the last decade. We hypothesise and validate empirically that this loss, over time, is negatively associated with technological infusion at the household level, which we measure by assessing the increase in the number of personal computer(s) possessed by households. We provide an economic framework to discuss the implications of our proposition. We conclude that the nature of positive externalities associated with private, urban green spaces demands policy intervention by the State.