Assessing Urban Green Space Distribution in Bhopal: An Integrated Neighbourhood Green Index Approach

Rapid urbanization challenges the provision and management of Urban Green Spaces (UGS), essential to both urban ecological health and human well-being. The recent decline in UGS availability and accessibility calls for nuanced evaluation tools. In response, this research introduces the Integrated Neighbourhood Green Index (INGI) - a multifaceted index assessing urban green spaces, considering their distribution, accessibility, environmental conditions, and population density. The application of INGI in the context of Bhopal, India, reveals a city-wide score of 0.627, underscoring the rich but unevenly distributed urban green infrastructure. Careful data management strategies mitigated the impact of ward area outliers, preserving the robustness of our results. Bhopal's urban environment, with 1180.541 Ha of open green space and an average Land Surface Temperature of 32.8167°C, illustrates the complexities of managing UGS in rapidly growing cities. The INGI, as demonstrated in this study, serves as a vital tool for shaping sustainable urban development policies and strategies. Its utility transcends the geographical boundaries of this study, offering potential applications in diverse urban contexts worldwide.