By Amar Sawhney and Jessica R. Barnes
Amar Sawhney, Professor of Architecture, Building Construction and Interior Design at Miami-Dade College, and Jessica Barnes, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Recreation at Northern Arizona University, were participants in the 2019-2020 CAORC-AIIS Faculty Development Seminar to India. In this joint essay, they highlight the importance of ensuring adequate green space in India’s largest and most developed cities, especially for those most in need.
Access to green space improves health, can reduce exposure to pollution, and increases physical activity. With rapid urbanization increasing the global population and intensifying land use in cities around the world, green space is often lost. In New Delhi, a sprawling mega city of 20 million people in northern India, existing green spaces stand out like oases amid the noise of traffic and the stifling air pollution.