Urban Forest

Urban forests are the key elements of green infrastructure and play a decisive role in the sustainable development strategies of metropolitan areas and address the challenge of maintaining biodiversity while improving human health and well-being. Urban green spaces are integral components of urban ecosystems, contributing to enhanced environmental quality, quality of life and sustainable urban development. Scientific evidences in the last two decades have emphasised the crucial necessity of green areas within urban social-ecological systems to ameliorate several problems of city-culture. Role of parks and gardens has become much more important in view of ever-increasing population of cities, particularly in developing countries. Tangible and intangible benefits provided by these green assets are often taken for granted by the public and some city authorities. Like other developing economies, India is being urbanized at a faster pace. Generally, cities of developing countries have lower per capita availability of urban green spaces in comparison to the developed countries. Urban forestry studies, involving technical and social science aspects are lacking in developing countries, including India.