Amenities or vegetation? Comparing cost implications of developing open spaces in emerging nations

Divya Subramanian, Santanu Bandyopadhyay and Arnab Jana ()
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Divya Subramanian: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Santanu Bandyopadhyay: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Arnab Jana: Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2024, vol. 26, issue 7, No 87, 18575-18592

Abstract: Abstract Government allocated funds earmarked toward the improvement of recreational amenities like parks and playgrounds in developing nations are usually scarce, leading to their disrepair and encroachment. Provision of amenities and vegetation development are vital features of open spaces and the associated costs form a major share of the budget allocations. With the limited resources available for open spaces’ development, it is crucial to utilize the said funds judiciously. This paper investigates the cost implications of providing amenities and vegetation in urban Indian open spaces and devices a framework to improve the open space performance score cost-effectively. The associated fund utilization is optimized for select open spaces using the graphical representation of pinch analysis. Four scenarios of development namely greenfield, brownfield, vegetation-focused development and amenities-focused development are tested for four open spaces of diverse sizes and performance scores. The inefficiency associated with fund utilization is highlighted using the pinch diagram. Furthermore, in most cases, it is observed that the provision of amenities prior to vegetation development provides swifter increase in ROS performance. The study demonstrates a novel method to evaluate the cost implications of open space development for decision-makers and suggests pertinent policy recommendations

Keywords: Recreational open spaces; Cost optimization; Pinch analysis; Developing nations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-03404-9

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