Abstract
An explosive increase of urban population, practically in all major cities and towns, has the consequent strain on the existing system manifested in an environmental chaos. The phenomena of accelerated urbanisation is the main culprit, wherein besides bringing higher standard of living, it has also brought problems, as growth of dense and unplanned residential areas, environmental pollution, non-availability of services and amenities, solid waste etc. Remote sensing satellite data is suitable for urban land use mapping to get detail and up- to-date information for environmental management. Where as GIS helps in developing database system for urban information, which supports decision making process. Development of digital database on all aspects of land use and urban planning is the next crucial task for the future in which remote sensing based informa-tion is going to play a major role. In Delhi, rise in population and growth in economic activity has led to en-vironmental degradation. With this view an attempt has been made to study the quality of urban environment in the East district of Delhi, which is experiencing very high urban growth with 98.75% urban population in 2001. For this study Landsat ASTER (MSS) data of year 2001 (15 m Ground resolution), Guide map of the year 1982 and demographic and environmental data has been used. Eight parameters were selected, which affect the urban environmental quality, namely built-up area, open spaces, household density, occupancy ra-tio, population density, accessibility to roads, noise and smell affected area. The study shows that the quality of environment has been degraded when we compare 1982 and 2003 data. Most of the East district was in a better state of environment in 1982, but in 2003 things have been changed and now 50% area is in very good, fair and desirable condition. The public participation and involvement should be encouraged planning and decisions making for the improvement in better urban environmental quality.
Highlights
Urban growth all over the world is taking place which is unequal but the rate of urbanization is very fast in the developing countries especially in Asia
It is seen that better urban environmental quality in some districts of Delhi is achieved after public battles, between municipal authorities like New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and planning authority like Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and between various groups of Resident’s Welfare Associations (RWA)
The paper shows that the East Delhi has experienced environmental deterioration in two decades especially in southern periphery due to unplanned urban expansion adjoining to the state of Uttar Pradesh
Summary
The high rate of increase in the urban population has created many problems in the urban areas of Indian cities. After independence, when Delhi witnessed a large influx of migrants, within a very short time, the population of Delhi increased more than two folds To house such a large migrant people city has to expand but the rate of expansion is very fast, unplanned, uncontrolled and most of them are illegal [6]. Physical parameters, which are identified and mapped from aerial photographs and limited field checks, and estimation of the affected population are applied to assess the quality of urban environment of Dwarka in Delhi [14]. East district has been experiencing very high growth rate of urban population and it ranks 6th among all districts with 90.19% urban population in 1991, while 98.75% urban population growth recorded in 2001, which is only after Central and New Delhi Districts
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