Concrete bloom in Gandhinagar

AHMEDABAD: Since its birth in the 1960s, Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar was known for its doughty inertia. The overbearing babudom dominated the cityscape and its ethos. But a recent study of remote sensing satellite images of built-up areas and open spaces within and around the city has thrown that notion to the wind. Between 1990 and 2015, the city has grown by 73%.With nearly 22 major national institutions located within a 5 km radius, the city is buzzing with cosmopolitan fervor.
The satellite images were analyzed for open spaces, built-up area, and vegetation by Bhavika Badlani of the Institute of Technology, Nirma University; and team members Ajay Patel, Krunal Patel, and Manik Kalubarme of Bhaskaracharya Institute For Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG).
The study says: “Built-up area in Gandhinagar increased from 1100.1 hectares in January 1989 to 1907.3 hectares in January 2015, which indicates a 73% increase in the built-up area.” Open spaces have shrunk as development of built-up area increased. The study says that open spaces in Gandhinagar have dropped from 1,147 hectares to 65.4 hectares in the period under review. “This was mainly because of the development of various sectors,” says the study.
Urban vegetation in Gandhinagar, on the other hand, increased from 598.5 hectares to 873 hectares.