Singh, Kiran

“Nature is our strongest ally in the fight against climate change.” (European Commission, 2021). Based on this principle, Nature-Based solutions (NBS) have become one of the trending solutions to solving climate change concerns since the late 2000s. In India, the right to the environment is embedded in its Constitution and is supported by several legislations, policies, and schemes. However, since the launch of the National Smart Cities Mission in 2015, smart cities have been perceived as a solution to urban sustainability concerns. The resultant large-scale ICT infrastructure development (and associated re-development, retrofitting, and greenfield activities) via Area-Based Development programs calls for the need to assess these and the associated NBS projects for spatial justice.

This work thus, focuses on Amritsar smart city – a heritage smart city of historical, cultural, and ecological significance – as a case study to assess the status of spatial justice of NBS within the city, and its connection with the policies driving these developmental projects. The research focuses on three key questions: (a) What kind of nature-based solutions are embedded in the City Development Plan, Smart city proposal, and other schemes of city governance in Amritsar? (b) What challenges do these NBS aim to solve and how do they align with the IUCN categorisation of NBS approaches? (c) How are these projects distributed across the city and whether the distribution is equitable across various socio-economic classes?

Using spatial justice as the theoretical framework and a geospatial methodological approach, this study aims to highlight the significance of inclusive urban planning in achieving just outcomes for all. Therefore, this work will contribute towards sustainable urban practices by providing actionable insights to urban practitioners and policymakers.

Public open spaces (POS) are pockets of interaction and a means for reclaiming the ‘right to the city’ for those living in high-density urban spaces around the globe. Functioning as the ‘Poor man’s living room’, they provide social and environmental benefits to the city inhabitants while also nurturing a sense of community and belongingness. However, a disproportionate distribution of these spaces based on income and gender lines is a norm in the Global South – countering the idea of spatial justice and urban sustainability. With a rapid increase in urban population and resultant changes in urban infrastructure, POS are shrinking day by day.

In India, where smaller cities like Amritsar are experiencing 70% of its urban growth, this means a disproportionate reduction in distribution and access of a scarce public resource to an already deprived section of people (based on income and gender). With this discrepancy in mind, this paper aims to use a census-based cross-sectional and geospatial approach to study the status of distribution and accessibility to POS in Amritsar smart city. Geospatial and census data will be used to map the ward-wise distribution, per capita availability, and accessibility of the POS in Amritsar smart city and statistical methods will be used for their analysis. This work aims to contribute to the vision of sustainable urban development by focusing on spatial and distributive justice in the context of POS and by providing suggestions to reach the SDG target 11.7.1.