Analysis of urban green space distribution patterns and associated environmental externalities in Azamgarh city, India

With the increasing global population and consequent urbanization, pressure on urban lands is increasing daily. Due to the growing population, a significant urban landscape transformation is seen, mainly attributable to the change of green areas into impervious and built-up surfaces. This paper attempts to examine and map the green space distribution over time and space and its impact on the city environment in Azamgarh. Satellite data was used to fulfil the objectives of the study. Landsat images of 30 m resolution for the years 2000, 2011, and 2022 have been used to prepare the Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature(LST) maps of Azamgarh city. The vegetation class of the classified LULC has been taken as green spaces. It was further analyzed for per capita green space availability and per-unit area green space availability. The study results revealed that green spaces in Azamgarh city showed a diminishing trend over twenty years. Per capita green spaces and per unit area green spaces showed a gloomy picture regarding the distribution of green spaces, which has a remarkable impact on the city’s environment. Results revealed that regions with a dominance of green cover in the city have low surface temperatures, while areas covered with concrete surfaces are overwhelmed by high surface temperatures. With time, the area that experience high-temperatures, have also increased in the city. Increasing surface temperatures in the city owing to decreasing green covers and augmenting concrete surfaces is detrimental to human health. Therefore, policy intervention is necessary to check the decline of green areas in the urban settings of the country.