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Urban green spaces (UGSs) are integral structural elements of the city’s existence and are promoted to serve diverse functions such as recreation, ecological services, regulation of ambient air temperature and hydrological regime pollution abatement, social inclusion, enhancing amenity value, etc., in sum, they help minimize the adverse impacts of urbanization on the environment and improve citizens’ habitable experiences. However, due to competing economic interests and demand on land for various purposes such as residential, commercial, industrial and institutional, UGS in cities take a back seat and are seldom given desired attention, and Indian cities are no exception. The challenges faced by UGS are many and include Land availability, quantity, quality, distribution, accessibility, lack of intended purpose and stakeholder participation. Therefore, it is imperative to explore strategies for planning UGS to ensure their adequate provision and maintenance in cities. Unlike Western countries cities in India have diverse classification and hierarchy of green spaces, therefore, this text examines typology of green spaces, their provisions, associated benefits, emergent concerns in the Indian context through case studies and concludes with plausible strategies for inclusion in urban planning framework.

Efficient public participation results in the effective implementation of plans, policies, and programs since the proposals are best-reviewed, suggested and accepted by the public. However, in a heterogeneous society like India, where there are a wide array of individuals, communities, and social groups creating enabling methods for public participation is still difficult for city-level development authorities. The paper aims to ascertain the current state of public participation while formulating Urban Development Plans, focusing across three Indian cities. It argues that the current practices of involving the public are limited to stakeholder consultation primarily comprising of expert groups where no robust methods exist to capture the say of the common public during the formulation of the development plan for the city. The analysis reveals that the inclusion of citizens and the implementation of a suitable participatory method amongst the three selected case studies still pose a question since the primary approach is inviting the influential stakeholders for suggestions. The research paper also brings in arguments from literature for how public participation aids the development process. An exploration of few approaches for public participation is also discussed along with considering the challenges of implementation in the Indian context.

Cities are dynamically changing with the rapid pace of urbanisation. India being a developing nation has an ever-increasing number of mega cities. What follows this unprecedented rate of urbanisation is not only economic and industrial growth but also deteriorating urban quality of life. Thus, emergence of sustainable urbanisation in cities is an extreme requisite in order to gain environmental equity. Ecosystems approach allows restoring of the ecosystem component within cities and embedded with the urban planning process yields sustainable urbanisation. The research paper develops an urban sustainability evaluation framework to guide sustainable urbanisation and assists the decision-making process.

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