Urban Green Commons and Impact on Housing Valuations
Bidisha Banerji, Amity University, India
Discussant: Ben Elder, Global Director of Valuation at RICS
Abstract
Rapid urbanization and growing pressure on housing in the metro areas of Delhi have placed huge pressure on green spaces which then tend to be crowded out (Mayor et al., 2009). In fact, according to some projections, Delhi is supposed to become the most populous city in India. India faces an imbalance between the built and natural spaces which is causing a worsening of the thermal environment, further exacerbating the ramifications of climate change (Imam and Banerjee, 2016). It is generally accepted that plants and green spaces improve our health and well-being, restore the water cycle, clean the air we breathe, and boost ecological diversity (Gangadharan, 2016). Park can make our cities and neighbourhoods more attractive places to live and work. Government, local authorities, developers, planners, property buyers, and residents among others are interested in property prices and the things that add to its valuation (Shukur et al., 2012). However, in developing countries, poor planning and governance result in an increasing backlog in infrastructure; besides poor maintenance of existing ones, for example, public and community parks (Banerji, 2013). However, to encourage greening of the urban spaces, we need to assess the value that residents place not only on green spaces, but also on the park characteristics. The talk will also explore the individual perceptions of homeowners, who have a park-facing house, on how the park has impacted their lives and the changes it has brought to their lifestyles in a small residential community in New Delhi.
Bidisha Banerji is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director working at the Amity Institute of Public Policy of the Amity University in Noida with a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration from The George Washington University. Her areas of specialization include Policy Analysis, Policy Design, Policy Advocacy, Sustainability, Research Methodology, Urban Service Delivery, Economic history, Urban Geography, Megacities, Urban Commons and Program Evaluation.
About the Colloquium Series: IASC Europe & CIS is organizing this colloquium series to support the communication among the IASC members in the
region and beyond to facilitate content-based exchange and cross- disciplinary networking on bringing together the commons scholarship and practice with policy.
Organized by
Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Bern and
Chair for Environmental Sociology, University Halle-Wittenberg
