Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Urban Sustainability Analysis of Solan District, Himachal Pradesh, India


Affiliations
1 Department of Environmental Science, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan 173 230, India
2 School of Sciences, P.P. Savani University, Surat 394 125, India
 

Urbanization is one of the most significant global trends of modern times, driving and driven by multiple social, economic and environmental processes. Due to uncontrolled urbanization, there is rapid environmental degradation which causes many problems. Scientific assessments can help provide solutions by considering the local realities. Numerous assessment strategies have been suggested such as emerge analysis, material flow analysis, data development analysis and ecological footprint analysis (EFA). EFA has been implemented as a useful analytical and planning tool for assessing urban sustainability in numerous cities. The aim of this study is to use one of the EFA components, viz. built-up land footprint (EFbuilt-up) to evaluate the urban sustainability of Solan district, Himachal Pradesh (HP), India, in terms of settlements. The study concludes that EFbuilt-up of Solan district, HP, exceeds its biocapacity, resulting in an ecological deficit. Therefore, element of built-up land in Solan district is considered as an unsustainable system.

Keywords

Biocapacity, Built-Up Land Footprint, Ecological Footprint Analysis, Ecological Deficit, Urban Sustainability.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Schell, L. M. and Ulijaszek, S. J., Urbanism, Health and Human Biology in Industrialized Countries, Cambridge University Press, London, UK, 1999, pp. 59–60.
  • Vandijk, M. and Mingshun, Z., Sustainability indices as a tool for urban managers, evidence from four medium-sized Chinese cities. Environ. Impact Assess., 2005, 25(6), 667–688.
  • Partridge, E., Social sustainability: a useful theoretical framework. In Social Sustainability, Australasian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2009.
  • Moussiopoulos, N., Achillas, C., Vlachokostas, C., Spyridi, D. and Nikolaou, K., Environmental, social and economic information management for the evaluation of sustainability in urban areas: a system of indicators for Thessaloniki, Greece. Cities, 2010, 27(5), 377–384.
  • Repetti, A. and Desthieux, G., A relational indicator set model for urban land-use planning and management: methological approach and application in two case studies. Landsc. Urban Plann., 2006, 77(11), 196–215.
  • Hernández, M. S. and De, H. M. J., Indicators of urban sustainability in Mexico. Theor. Empirical Res. Urban Manage., 2010, 7(16), 46–60.
  • Kotharkar, R., Bahadure, S., Bahadure, P. and Surawar, M., Measurability for sustainable urban development: concept to application. ABACUS J. Archit. Conserv. Urban Stud., 2011, 7(2), 72–87.
  • Monfreda, C., Wackernagel, M. and Deumling, D., Establishing national natural capital accounts based on detailed ecological footprint and biological capacity accounts. Land Use Policy, 2004, 21(1), 231–246.
  • Wilson, J. and Anielski, M., Ecological footprints of Canadian municipalities and regions. Canadian Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Canada, 2005, p. 59.
  • GoI, Census of India 2001: size, growth and distribution of population in India. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 2011, pp. 1–60.
  • Kandil, R. A., Sarhan, A. and Abdelgalil, R. E., Urban ecological footprint analysis as an evaluation tool for sustainability: analysis of the built-up land footprint of Alexandria city, Egypt. In The Sustainable City XIII, WIT Press, Rome, Italy, 2019, pp. 271– 281.
  • Lin, D. et al., Working Guidebook to the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA, USA, 2019.

Abstract Views: 198

PDF Views: 87




  • Urban Sustainability Analysis of Solan District, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract Views: 198  |  PDF Views: 87

Authors

Jyotsana Pandit
Department of Environmental Science, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan 173 230, India
S. K. Bhardwaj
Department of Environmental Science, University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan 173 230, India
Anish Kumar Sharma
School of Sciences, P.P. Savani University, Surat 394 125, India

Abstract


Urbanization is one of the most significant global trends of modern times, driving and driven by multiple social, economic and environmental processes. Due to uncontrolled urbanization, there is rapid environmental degradation which causes many problems. Scientific assessments can help provide solutions by considering the local realities. Numerous assessment strategies have been suggested such as emerge analysis, material flow analysis, data development analysis and ecological footprint analysis (EFA). EFA has been implemented as a useful analytical and planning tool for assessing urban sustainability in numerous cities. The aim of this study is to use one of the EFA components, viz. built-up land footprint (EFbuilt-up) to evaluate the urban sustainability of Solan district, Himachal Pradesh (HP), India, in terms of settlements. The study concludes that EFbuilt-up of Solan district, HP, exceeds its biocapacity, resulting in an ecological deficit. Therefore, element of built-up land in Solan district is considered as an unsustainable system.

Keywords


Biocapacity, Built-Up Land Footprint, Ecological Footprint Analysis, Ecological Deficit, Urban Sustainability.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv120%2Fi7%2F1246-1249