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This paper explores how uncertainty has become a central constitutive feature under the ongoing attempts at rapid extension of highway corridors across India. Contrary to the terra nullius assumption that India's highway programmes operate under, the pathways to accumulation they seek to open present a palimpsest of pre‐existing claims, occupancies and forms of dwelling that come into conflict with the attempts to extend urban space. The paper specifically follows the prolonged uncertainty surrounding a regional highway corridor between the cities of Delhi and Gurgaon, the Dwarka Expressway, which underwent multiple legal contestations over evictions and land disputes. In doing so, it analyses how managing uncertainty in the production of highway corridors becomes profitable for the state, powerful corporate actors and middle‐class homebuyer‐investors, presenting a form of value that can be commodified and exchanged. However, on the other hand, owing to its double‐edged nature, uncertainty also becomes productive for the urban majority in laying claims to urban space. As rapid extended urbanisation increasingly disrupts the lifeworlds of marginal communities, this paper calls for embracing the politics and practices of uncertainty in the continued efforts to push ex‐centric urban analysis beyond the narrow focus on state processes and commodification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the conditions of work and livelihood options of industrial workers in the peripheral town of Narela. The industrial labour market in Narela thrives because of displaced workers from other parts of Delhi and migrant labourers from the adjoining north Indian states. The paper focuses on different dimensions of the working conditions of wage labourers in the manufacturing/industrial sector such as: physical environment, conditions of employment such as hours of work and holidays, wages, social security, grievance settlement procedure, legislative and institutional arrangement for ensuring minimum conditions of work in the industrial sector. The study mainly relies on primary data collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). It highlights the ways in which workers built their work environment with strict labour control measures with the help of their spatial embeddedness and social ties and how this forms the vital aspect of modern industrial life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the importance of distance as specified by Central Place Theory and New Economic Geography, this paper investigates the distance effect on urban transformation in the Capital Region of India by using spatial data and recently released census data on employment and urban amenities. This study applies a multiple-ring model and identifies a shadow effect for lower-tier settlements at a distance of 50 km and beyond 100 km from the megacity of Delhi. The higher-tier settlements produce 50 km wide shadow on lower-tier settlements, after which latter starts to trigger growth. The population seems to concentrate in the megacity and other million-plus cities in the region to maximize the utility of urban amenities, which are available only in higher-tier centres. The growth of million-plus cities in close proximity to Delhi state is a complementary effect. As the distance from higher-tier settlements increases, employment opportunities and the availability of urban services decrease, thus hindering the growth of the lower-tier settlements in the hierarchy. The paper concludes that traditional spatial decentralization polices have met with limited success and recommends embracing space-based policies to increase the growth potential of lower-tier settlements in the hinterland and to reduce spatial disparities in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper records the spatial dynamics and water consumption pattern through statistical and spatial evidence. The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of land use land cover change on water demand and supply pattern of a rapidly growing urban region. The research analyses data from Census report, local governments and spatial data from remotely sensed images. The research finds rapid transformation of open land to the built-up area, particularly in the North-West, North, North-East, South-West and South districts. Inequality of water supply volume and supply pattern varies greatly between the districts. The city continues to experience water crisis such as water deficiency during the peak summer, groundwater degradation, water accessibility of slums and informal settlements. The findings will help the policymakers to comprehend the water crisis and consider appropriate mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization across the world has drawn attention to the unique state of urban woodlands. New Delhi is one of the world's most populous cities; yet, it harbours several woodlands that support a variety of wildlife. The persistence of mesopredators like the gplden jackal (Canis aureus Linn.) in the city is intriguing and provides an opportunity to explore coexistence in an urban context. Using a combination of camera trapping and occupancy modelling, our study aims to understand the habitat use, distribution, and urban adaptations of the jackal in Delhi's Central Ridge Reserve Forest. Preliminary analysis shows extensive habitat use and sophisticated adaptations including adjustments in activity patterns in response to human activity and competition from feral dogs. The study also demonstrated behavioural adaptations, particularly in terms of foraging, denning, and coexistence with other species, which enable these urban populations of golden jackals to persist in the city. The study indicates the need for newer frameworks for conservation of synanthropic wild fauna that persist in calorie-rich urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delhi, a mega city with a population of 16.78 million, is situated on the bank of River Yamuna. During the last three decades, the hydrological characteristics of the Yamuna River basin have significantly changed. Due to rapid urbanization in the basin, the runoff has considerably increased. Consequently, the flooding events are now occurring more frequently and with higher magnitudes. A sizeable population of the city of Delhi resides in settlements that have mushroomed in the flood plains of Yamuna. A majority of these settlements is in the low-lying areas, which make them highly vulnerable to flooding events of even moderate intensity. In the present paper, several structural and non-structural measures for the management of flood risk in the national capital territory of Delhi have been recommended. A critical analysis of the existing flood control measures has revealed several shortcomings. Based upon the analysis, several implementable structural and non-structural measures for alleviating the problem of riverine as well as urban flooding in the national capital territory of Delhi have been recommended. Proper implementation of the recommended structural and non-structural measures could significantly reduce the flood risk associated with riverine and urban flooding in the national capital territory of Delhi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the process of urbanization and land use change in the urban ecosystems of the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi, India. Two types of land use change are considered--from natural to urban and from agricultural to urban. Both types are explained in terms of economic variables known to be drivers of change. A panel data method was used, and economic variables were combined with GIS-based information on land use change during 1986-2004 for 11 administrative units of the NCR. The results suggest that investment in the construction sector plays a major role in converting the land from natural to urban areas, while differences in land productivity seems to be the major driver for change from agricultural to urban uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban transport has serious problems that are symptoms of the general process of rapid urbanization and environmental degradation. Policymakers in general and urban economists in particular have paid little attention to public transport system pricing leading to the absence of a financially viable, self-supporting urban transport system. In this paper, we report a partial equilibrium model developed by us, which captures transport tax reforms in the presence of certain transport externalities. Our theoretical model shows that the question of public transport subsidies to reduce congestion and provide quality transport services depends on three factors: (a) the extent to which such subsidies induce people to switch from private transport to public transport; (b) if the price elasticity of current users of public transport is higher, there may be a sharp rise in public transport ridership as a reaction to increased subsidies, which will have an undesirable effect; and (c) there is the danger that subsidies will cause a loss in productive efficiency. The numerical model of our paper for Delhi shows that the cross price elasticity of public transport demand with respect to the price of private transport is significant (0.63) in the off-peak period whereas the same in the peak period is somewhat low (0.16) and the combined effect of these elasticities will result in a considerable modal shift in favour of bus transport demand (19%) if the price of public transport were to be subsidized and private transport were to be priced optimally. Even without subsidy, the modal shift will be significant (18%), if the under-priced private transport modes are optimally priced keeping the current bus prices constant. This paper shows that there will be significant welfare gains in both these scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-making is a process of creating subjects and places, in order to produce and perpetuate relations of power that facilitate projects of rule. Viewing development as a particular form of state-making, scholars and activists have highlighted the coercive and often traumatic nature of the displacement that development induces. This paper suggests that the power of the development discourse stems not only from its repressive apparatus, but also from the multiple ways in which it is able to address the desires of different social groups for better lives. Violence and desire are fused together in the practices of development and displacement. This argument is made ethnographically, through an analysis of the conflicts around planned urban development and environmental improvement in Delhi, the capital of India. This paper describes the making and unmaking of Delhi as a "clean and green" city, and the powerful contestations around the making of urban place and personhood. It examines state attempts to control and restructure urban space and argues that, through strategies of compromise as well as resistance, working class struggles to secure housing and employment reconstitute the relationship between environment and development that urban planners and the bourgeoisie seek to impose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth in population and land cover makes urban areas more vulnerable to Urban Heat Island. Due to which, cities experience higher mean temperature than its proximate surrounding rural or non-urban area. The relationship between UHI and urbanization is proven in previous studies. Delhi the capital city of India is well known for its extreme heat condition in summer and air pollution. In this study, an attempt has been made to understand UHI behavior in a satellite town of Delhi. Satellite town or cities are the small independent towns built in the vicinity of a large city or metropolitan city. In this paper 4 major satellite towns of Delhi, i.e. Gurugram (name changed from Gurgaon in April 2016), Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad has been studied to understand the changing trends in urbanization and temperature. The parameters used are rate of urban expansion, population density, GDP growth and increasing temperature over the last two decades. Gurugram showed the maximum urbanization and identified as study area. Gurugram has undergone a major growth journey from being a small town to 'The Millennium city' of the country in a short span. The Landsat images of past three decades ranging from different time period i.e. 1990, 1996, 2002, 2009, 2014 and 2018 were investigated by applying integrated approach of GIS and Remote sensing. The images represent the condition of UHI and urbanization in different period. The temporal change in LULC was used to study the rate of urban growth in last three decades. The results showed the increase in built-up area out of the total area of Gurugram from 10% (i.e.50.6 sq. km) in 1990 to 17.25% (80.5 sq. km) in 2002 which further increased to 45.1% (210.4 sq. km) in 2018. Thermal Infrared band of Landsat series were used to retrieve land surface temperature (LST) intensity of the study period. The results show a positive correlation (r = 0.46) between impervious surfaces and LST. The results of the study could be helpful in identifying the causative factors and level of impacts in different zones and also enable us to develop a mitigation strategy based on spatial decision support system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With urbanization, successful land development has become critical for the growth of the cities. Land administration plays an important role in the outcome of land and property development models. Land and property development requires close coordination between public and private sectors and has impact on various stakeholders including public authority, private developers, landowners, home-buyers and society. In addition to land development, which has it's characteristic and price mechanism separate from property development, this paper looks at property development to provide a holistic approach to urban development. We examine three cases of land and property development models across different cities within a single regional planning area called the National Capital Region (NCR) in India. Firstly, we look at the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Delhi) that has for years adopted public sector model of land development, however, with limited success. Delhi has recently experimented with land pooling to unlock large peri-urban areas in the fringe. Secondly, Gurugram (Haryana) hailed as 'Millennium City' has been able to achieve high decadal real estate growth with Public-Private land development, but there is a cost to this fast growth to the society that results in severe planning and infrastructure bottlenecks. Lastly, we look at the Public land development model of Noida (Uttar Pradesh), which is distinct from Delhi and Gurugram, and has been able to provide one of the best infrastructures in NCR. But due to its pro-developer land allotment policy, it has created a city with several stalled projects that have resulted in the loss of home equity for home-buyers. These contrasting land development models when studied with property development models within the same geographical region provide key insights for policymakers, planners, city governments and academic fraternity. • Land development has an impact on stakeholders - public authority, private developers, landowners, home-buyers and society. • In addition to land development, this paper looks at property development to provide a holistic approach to urban development. • Land development models studied in NCR are public (in Noida), public-private (in Gurugram) and land pooling (in Delhi). • Findings provide key insights for policymakers, planners, city governments and the academic fraternity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Indian cities expand, water becomes extremely necessary to support the process of urbanisation. These growing water needs are translated onto the body of the city in the form of intense conflicts over the limited supply. These conflicts place water at the centre of socio-spatial, cultural, political and ecological tensions in the city. Through persistent struggles to access water by strategies such as passive resistance, self help, individual resistance and social mobilisation, the marginalised groups and individuals in the contemporary Indian city negotiate their water claims. However, the State through its ability to legalise (or make illegal) certain practices and spaces, controls the right to potable water in the city. This paper explores how the right to potable water and the right to the city are defined and challenged by the politics of the State and the counter politics of the marginalised groups in the context of urban poor in Delhi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Urban systems are the engines of economic growth. Urbanisation significantly contributes to economic, social, and physical transformation. This transformation is supported by infrastructure services. The pace of urbanisation and industrialisation of Delhi city has not only burdened transport system but also has produced detrimental impact on human development, environment and urban ecosystem. The basic concept of co-benefits is applied to understand the multiple dimension of transport policy beyond its intended benefit. Authors in this research have quantified the benefits and co-benefits of different implemented policies and technology intervention done by the government from 2001 to 2015 in Delhi, the capital city of India, and have observed that the emissions from all vehicles have been steadily increasing despite sincere efforts done by the planners due to increase in number of vehicles in the city. The paper concluded with plausible findings and strategies for emission reduction, and benefits and co-benefits of Delhi Metro system in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise pollution, an urban territorial phenomenon, is assuming serious proportions in Delhi, the third largest urban centre of India. The frequency and intensity of pollution has been increasing day by day. The present study reviews the data on sources, intensity and health implications of pollutants collected through household survey using questionnaires from two contrasting density areas; one from high-density area and another from low-density area. The analysis reveals that tremendous increase in population, industrial activities, unchecked growth in vehicular traffic and rapidly changing life style are the major factors that have created and aggravated the problem of pollution in the study area. The major health implications include annoyance, disturbance in sleep, interference with communication and other harmful effects. With the help of regression analysis, the cause and effect relationship between the intensity of pollution and occurrence of diseases among sampled households of Delhi has been established by this study. Some suggestions such as land use and transportation planning are also given in this paper for mitigating and managing the noise pollution problem in the sustainable urban development perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper is the first study to report quality of urban runoff, focusing on the diffuse sources contributing to pollutant loads in the Delhi watershed. The quality of stormwater runoff from the urban watershed of Delhi was evaluated to assess the effects of different land-use practices on pollutant concentrations. Six sites within the Delhi watershed with different land-use characteristics were selected. The microbial quality of the urban runoff from sub-catchments of Delhi watershed is very poor with Faecal Coliform (FC) levels varying between 6 and 7 log orders. There was a good correlation between the chemical and biological quality of urban runoff with land-use characteristics such as impervious land and population density. Except for chemical oxygen demand all other parameters in urban runoff were found to exceed the effluent discharge standards set by the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD), India. The public health risks associated with exposure to urban runoff via different routes have also been qualitatively estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gurugram is one of the major satellite cities of Delhi, which witnessed unprecedented growth in the past two decades. The city of Gurugram in Haryana State, India, has a fringe of Aravalli hills on either side as the western and the eastern range ridge. On the foothills of the eastern ridge, there has been a major development in the revenue estate of Behrampur to Nathupur, whereas, on the western ridge, the major development has been from the revenue estate of Manesar to Naurangpur of Urban development complex. Majority of the Revenue Estate in the areas in the foothills of Aravalli are covered under Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. The areas in Arravali ranges covered under development plans have witnessed urbanization. In contrast, the areas which are protected by forest statute and have come under Urban development plans have been saved from urban sprawls to a great extent. The present study analyses urban plans and development in areas not protected by forest statutes to those with some umbrella of protection. The successive development plans including Gurugram Developmental Plan (GDP) 2021 of 2007, GDP 2020 of 2011, GDP 2031 of 2012, and Gwal Pahari Developmental Plan of 2010 amended in 2016 has increased the commercial value of land, exposing them to urbanization due to better economic returns. The study, however, strengthens the perception that despite being prone to development opportunity, the areas covered under forest statutes or by Hon'ble court orders have been protected from urban expansion and developmental sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban land and its expansion have profoundly impacted the global environment, including the stress change in the earth's subsurface, even though urban land is a small fraction of the global land surface. Divulging such effects has never been more important, given the role of stress in determining the safety of the urban population against earthquakes. However, knowledge of this time-dependent non-linear effect of urbanization on the subsurface remains in the gray area. This study focuses on the area surrounding Delhi, the capital city of India, to understand the relative contribution of the building load created by rapid urbanization in exacerbating the subsurface state-of-stress. The results highlight that, since 2010, the modulation in the seismicity rate and the stability of basement thrust faults is linked not only to urbanization but also to decadal groundwater storage. Mounting evidence suggests that the rapid urbanization, and the resulting non-tectonic horizontal compression, stabilize faults in the Aravalli Delhi belt, which are destabilized due to the extensive groundwater extraction. This affects the decadal seismicity trend around the Aravalli Delhi fold belt. Nonetheless, the magnitude of this time-dependent deformation influence on the seismicity modulation remains uncertain. The findings from this study quantify the geomechanical impacts of urbanization in the Delhi area for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enormity of air pollution has always been a matter of concern due to rapid development and urbanization over a long period. The increasing level of pollutants in ambient air in 2016-2017 has deteriorated the air quality of Delhi at an alarming rate. This brought us to focus our study on air quality in Delhi region. The prediction of future air quality has been carried out by analyzing the pollutants using data analysis techniques. In our previous study, we had analyzed the data from 2011-2015. Detailed analysis from 2009-2017 of air pollutants has been proposed in this extended paper along with the critical observation of 2016-2017 air pollutants trend in Delhi. Descriptive analysis and predictive analysis have been used to study the trends of various air pollutants like sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), suspended particulate matter (PM), ozone (O 3 ) carbon monoxide (CO), benzene, and forecast the future trend. We have observed through data analytics techniques that SO 2 is likely to increase by 1.24ug/m 3 , NO 2 is likely to increase by 16.77ug/m 3 , O3 is likely to increase by 6.11 mg/m 3 , benzene is likely to reduce by 1.33 mg/m 3 and NO 2 is predicted to reduce by 0.169 mg/m 3 in the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research introduces a hybrid deep learning approach to perform real-time forecasting of passenger traffic flow for the metro railway system (MRS). By integrating long short-term memory (LSTM) and the graph convolutional network (GCN), a hybrid deep learning neural network named the graph convolutional memory network (GCMN) was constructed and trained for accurate real-time prediction of passenger traffic flow for the MRS. Data collected of the traffic flow in Delhi's metro rail network system in the period from October 2012 to May 2017 were utilized to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed model. The results indicate that (1) the developed method provides accurate predictions of the traffic flow with an average coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.920, RMSE of 368.364, and MAE of 549.527, and (2) the GCMN model outperforms state-of-the-art methods, including LSTM and the light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM). This study contributes to the state of practice in proposing a novel framework that provides reliable estimations of passenger traffic flow. The developed model can also be used as a benchmark for planning and upgrading works of the MRS by metro owners and architects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alarming rate of depleting limited natural resources is forcing inhabitants of the earth to find solution to the issue on a war footing. From Rio Summit to Rio+20 Summit to other brain storming sessions at regional and local level, stakeholders are striving hard to find a solution to the ecological imbalances and ways to restore environmental degradation. Are efforts at the macro-level being percolated to the bottom of the pyramid? It is essential to identify micro-level behavioural insights including psychological and socio-cultural factors that form the fabric of any society. This study aims to capture individual consciousness in accepting such practices that lead to sustainability. The paper discusses responses of the people in the city of Delhi to the strategies adopted for regulating environmental pollution due to vehicle movements. A survey was conducted on residents of Delhi to share their opinion on Odd Even Scheme, a road rationing initiated by the Government of Delhi to bring down armingly hazardous levels of pollutional. Data were evaluated with statistical techniques. The responses were mixed and indicated that constant motivation and reinforcement were needed to bring effectiveness. However the level of social engagement due to the scheme was commendable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is facing two major transitions. In 2040, its energy demand will double while 800 million Indians will live in cities by 2050. Situated at this intersection, this article contributes to the field of urban energy research by looking at Solar Rooftop Systems (SRS) in a district located in the extended periphery of Delhi. Using a multi-pronged qualitative methodology in a corridor made of villages and small towns, we argue that public policies are framed applying a rigid territorial grid opposing urban and rural, ignoring the motivations of both residential and professional users, which are not bounded by the rural/urban binary. This disjunction explains that renewable energy does not lead to a new imagination of urban and energy systems. These two fields remain disconnected while solar energy fuels consumption and the city expansion in its peripheries. Finally, the observed variegated urban energy landscapes (UEL) embody a land and energy intensive form of urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sustainable urban infrastructure interventions can help achieve both public health and low-carbon goals in cities. This paper explores the extent to which civil infrastructure (i.e., water, sanitation, energy, transport and building infrastructures) and environmental factors (e.g. air and water quality) associated with these infrastructures shape current urban health outcomes in cities in Asia using Delhi, India as a case study. Current mortality data for Delhi are used as context to estimate the extent to which urban health outcomes are shaped by infrastructure and infrastructure-related environmental factors, some of which could directly or indirectly reduce mortality through low-carbon interventions. Mortality data along with a preliminary survey of expert opinion indicate up to 19 percent of all recorded deaths in Delhi may be infrastructure-related. More detailed epidemiology studies and infrastructure models are needed to confirm these initial findings. The findings suggest public health outcomes may be a large factor in motivating low-carbon development in Asian cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Landfills are important anthropogenic sources of methane (CH4) emission especially in fast urbanizing countries. This paper presents the CH4 emission estimations carried out using the in-situ CH4 measurements, IPCC 1996 Default methodology (DM), Modified Triangular Method (MTM) and First Order Decay (FOD) method for the three landfills currently operational in the capital city Delhi of India. The in-situ methodology has yielded the landfills specific methane emission factors (EFs). The annual average methane emission rates from three landfills namely, Ghazipur (GL), Bhalswa (BL) and Okhla (OL) are 14.6, 23.6 & 7.5 Gg y−1 by DM; 13.3, 10.6 & 7.2 Gg y−1 by the FOD; 17.0, 13.7 and 10.7 Gg y−1 by the MTM; and 4.6, 4.2 and 1.4 Gg y−1 by the in-situ measurement method respectively. The CH4 EFs have been found to be 9.7 ± 2.6, 5.5 ± 1.6 and 5.5 ± 1.7 g kg−1 of waste respectively for the GL, BL and OL landfills in Delhi. The study reveals that in-situ methodology seems to provide better representative emission estimation compared to other methods. The FOD method also yields comparable results with that of in-situ methodology in cases where good waste composition data is available. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The cities where the future happens first, they are open, creative, cosmopolitan and sexy and the perfect antidote to reactionary nationalism but the urbanization in unplanned manner is becoming an environmental-social-economical threat to accommodate the huge number of population which is literally boosting the present situation of climate change due to global warming. Extracting, measuring and treating the urban area which compiles of dense built-up and complex road network, is very essential to decrease the negative impact on environment. If most of the impervious surfaces can be replaced with permeable or semi-permeable materials or solar panel then the habitation will be saved from natural disastrous events like heat wave and flash flood. Urbanization can be categorized mainly into two: a) Static (urban open space + built space) and b) Dynamic (transportation). The static and dynamic urbanizations largely consist of impermeable or impervious materials. Impervious surfaces are alluded as the anthropogenic elements through that water can't infiltrate into the soil, such as streets, driveways, parking areas, houses, structures etc. An urban area is a densely populated human settlement, facilitated with multiple infrastructures including built and un-built. These areas or settlements are categorized as towns, suburbs, cities by urban morphology. Through balancing the ratio between the un-built (urban space) and built (building & roads), urban disastrous events can be minimized. This research mainly focused on the extraction of impervious areas using regression modelling approach which is used to generate an impervious surface map from Sentinel-2A dataset of Delhi. Utilising multiple normalised indices can provide better classification results. This study shows that in urban areas imperviousness is becoming one of the prominent computational parameter and monitoring impervious areas could help us understand a lot of urban phenomena which are built-up induced and its rapid change in urban environment is giving rise to unhealthy living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Capital Region of India (NCR Delhi) receives around 26 rainy days with majority of short duration high intensity rainfall events. Yet, the city faces severe waterlogging during south-west monsoon, and shortage of water in other seasons due to rapid urbanization and changing hydrological flow patterns. In an uncertain scenario, where spatiotemporal variability of rainfall at local scale is not very well understood, a location-specific robust model applicable for the megacity through interpretation of parameter estimates will improve understanding of extreme rainfall pattern with duration. Identification of the best-fit statistical model for prediction of short duration extreme events is done and parameters of the model are evaluated for different durations. The study finds that the 2-parameter gamma distribution and 3-parameter generalized extreme value (GEV) predict similar return levels of extreme intensity for short durations and short return periods. The shape parameter in GEV and shape and scale parameters in gamma explain the extreme quantile in the distribution responsible for prediction of high magnitude events. The more generic gamma model is robust and applicable at local scale, with pronounced shape parameter variations across durations (1–11.534, 2–8.264, 3–6.609 h). It is concluded that the knowledge of hourly variation in extreme rainfall events will help in informed decision making in this acutely water-stressed region of the world. Highlights: Short duration extreme rainfall events are frequent in semi-arid urban regions and characterization of these storms is important. The extreme rainfall pattern characteristics is defined through the parameter estimates of shape and scale of gamma distribution. Within 1 h duration rainfall events pattern, the higher shape factor identifies storms in a more wet regime (α-14.05) than the mean (α-11.534), while the lower shape factor identifies dry regime (α-9.018). The 4 h and 6 h events have the lowest shape factor and high scale factor, implying variation, and unpredictability. Short duration storms have the potential to cause flash floods, the hydrological insights provided by this study will be useful in similar geographical regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is one of the most widespread anthropogenic causes of the loss of arable land, habitat destruction, and the decline in natural vegetation cover. The present study is aimed at assessing the urbanization in Delhi over the period of 19 years (1992-2010) using remote sensing technology and spatial functionalities technique in Geographical Information System (GIS). Remote sensing data provide valuable and moreover spatio-temporal data on the processes and patterns of LULC change, and GIS is useful for mapping and analyzing these patterns. In this study I explore the temporal and spatial characteristics of urban expansion and LULC change of Delhi from 1992 to 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents original research on relations between middle-class residents and informal-sector workers in Delhi, India. It shows how middle-class associations used their consumption preferences as well as relationships with local authorities to legitimize the work of street hawkers and waste workers. These findings suggest that the toleration of informality can be traced to governance regimes comprised of both state and non-state powerbrokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the air pollution problem of Delhi, India, including air pollution (re)distribution inside and outside the city and policies enacted by the local government to address the issue. Topics discussed include data used to assess coverage of air pollution in the Indian city, the use of conditional autoregressive modelling to examine the impact of Land-Use and Land-Cover (LULC) types and findings that revealed small changes to LULC.

While the differential growth patterns of urban peripheral settlements around large cities continue to hold an important place in the urban research agenda, examination of regional urban systems from a theoretical perspective has received much less attention in developing countries. Based on demographic data of 1991–2011, an analysis of settlements in the National Capital Region of Delhi, India, reveals mixed spatial forms in the periphery of the traditionally monocentric Delhi. Our observation raises questions such as whether a polycentric, poly-nodal configuration, or a combination thereof, is in the making in the immediate periphery of Delhi. This emerging scenario has potential planning implications and questions the applicability of the traditional ‘Eurocentric’ theories to the evolving urbanization phenomena in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a consensus that urban development schemes in India bear little resemblance to the well-thought-out plans of their genesis, and that the boundary between formal/informal is often blurry. I seek to contribute to this literature by showing how, in spite of efforts to implement a regulatory scheme, street hawking in Delhi remains highly informal and in a state of negotiated (im)permanence. I compare two recent conflicts over street hawkers’ use of public space, which demonstrate that power is dispersed across a range of sites and rests with a number of state and non-state actors. I argue that preconceived notions of ‘formality’ and ‘informality’ are of little value in understanding urban processes, and instead it is necessary to understand how the boundary between formal/informal is produced and contested both juridically and through everyday practices of enforcement and evasion/subversion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban India is undergoing transformation as formal electoral politics increasingly favors the new middle class. Scholarship tends to compartmentalize the politics of the new middle class and the poor, and this article focuses on inter-class relations. By focusing on relations between street hawkers and the new middle class in Delhi, I show that rather than engaging in zero-sum conflicts over urban space, conflict is typically over the terms of its use. The analysis shows that these classes are interdependent; the poor depend on the new middle class for their livelihoods, and the lifestyles of new middle class are enabled by services provided by the poor. While the poor enable and participate in Delhi's transformation into a so-called 'world-class' city, the reconciliation of competing visions of urbanization-one geared toward social reproduction and the other subsistence-is what is at stake in contemporary inter-class relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the growth and expansion of Delhi during the eventful period 1936–59. It examines how the sovereign state came to acquire vast new legal powers to regulate the city, the economy and the polity through the course of managing World War II, the Transfer of Power and finally Partition. In the case of urban planning, the process of increasing state control over land, urban development and the built environment started specifically in 1937 with the establishment of the Delhi Improvement Trust and culminated with the formation of the Delhi Development Authority in 1957. At the same time the article also shows that despite this, Delhi's actual growth in this period often sidestepped state plans with the city's urban expansion being moulded by the impact of global events; emerging through the everyday actions of a vastly increased urban citizenry, especially following Partition, and also by the unexpected playing-out of increasing and exaggerated institutionalised state power itself, as described in the article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through a case study of climate change mitigation measures in Delhi, India, the article explores the inadequacies of Asian city governments' climate change policies in general. After explaining the urbanization process in Asia, the author goes on to explore the impact of climate change on informal areas of Asian cities and, more specifically, Delhi. Other topics addressed include energy sustainability, rainwater harvesting, and waste collection in Delhi.

In 1956 the Indian Government invited the Ford Foundation to assist with a master plan for the Delhi region. Two years later, the invitation was extended to help with a separate urban community development program. Even though the master plan was a comprehensive project covering transportation, water, sewage, housing, industry, and zoning, the creation of community and communities was one of its main goals. The Draft Master Plan for Delhi (DMPD) declared “in all planning for man's environments,” it was “extremely vital” to “evolve a well integrated new community pattern that would fit the changed living conditions of the new age and promote genuine democratic growth.” Similarly, the primary objective of the urban community development project, as laid out by the Commissioner of Delhi, was that of “giving form to an urban community, which has been drawn from backgrounds varying from one another and trying to achieve a homogeneity.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study presents the results of classifying land use/land cover for Delhi, India using an expert system approach. For this study Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data of 22 September 2003 were used. The research goals of this project are two-fold. In one respect, the research goal is to report on the extent covered by urbanization using the classified image. Thirteen different land-cover categories were identified with an 85.55% overall classification accuracy based on 256 random points for validation and 50 on the ground observations. Secondly, we report on our efforts to duplicate an expert system model previously developed for Phoenix Arizona as a generalized approach for urban land use classification. Results suggest that while some of the methodology could be duplicated, there are local factors (e.g. data availability and specific land features) that required the approach to be modified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]