Governance for private green spaces in a growing Indian city

Abstract

Urban green spaces are relatively scarce in developing countries, and such countries face challenges related to urban sustainability in view of rapid urbanization in the post-economicliberalization era . Although private green spaces constitute the core of urban sustainability, they have received far les s attention compared to urban green spaces under the public domain . We studied the change in the home - gardens (a form of private green space with multistoried vegetation that abounds in the tropical regions ) in the city of Kozhikode, Kerala, India . We assessed the dynamics of homegardens from 2000 to 2010 based on household socio-economic characteristics . The study reveals a decline of 11 .5% in the cultivated plants in homegardens, reflecting the loss of urban sustainability . The floristic structure of small land - holdings has tilted toward food items-an indication of contribution of homegardens in complementin g livelihood sustainability . After examining existing and possi...