Скачать или смотреть Rural Landscapes in Central NCR, India: Transformations in Land Use and Spatial Organisation

Authors:
Sadaf Faridi
Landscape Architect
Faraz Farooq
Assistant Professor, Aligarh Muslim University, [email protected]


Abstract:
The CNCR (Central National Capital Region) is a rural-urban region, which includes NCT-Delhi, nine districts of Haryana, six districts of Uttar Pradesh and one district of Rajasthan. Total area of the region is 34,144 sq. km. (National Capital Region Regional Plan-2021).
To understand the landscape of rural areas, the most perceptible part is the land cover. Changes in landscape are usually defined in terms of land cover. Land cover comprises of all the characteristics and structures, including human structures, of the land and the immediate subsurface. Contrary to land cover, land use defines the purposes for which humans use the land, including land management practices, i.e., “ways in which humans treat vegetation, soil, and water” for a specific purpose.
It has been noted in the past that the land under agriculture had shrunk by 8.12%. The values had gone down from 87.64%in 1986, to 79.52% in 1999. This drop of 8.12% is considerable when compared with the proposed drop of only 3.8% stated in Regional Plan 2001. This had resulted not only in over-conversion of agricultural into non-agricultural land but also non-conformity with the proposed settlement pattern of the Regional Plan-2001 which is a trend that continues to exist.
Major development can be noticed along the transit corridors such as the case of transformation of Rohtak in terms of land use change. It has been observed that there has been a drop in agricultural land from 87.28% in 1973 to 42.86% in 2011 if we consider Municipal Corporation boundary of 2010 as a base. Similar transformations can be observed in several villages of Baghpat district (currently least urbanized district in the CNCR), due to the construction of Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
The induced urbanization has not only affected the Land Use pattern but also affected the spatial organisation of spaces in a village. The archetypical spaces within the villages are being affected adversely and eventually abandoned due to poor physical conditions. The rural areas in the region have an archetypical landscape that has local water bodies, orchards/ fields and congregation spaces (such as mela grounds) as major elements. Almost every village has at least one water body. Activities involving water bodies (talaab/johad), orchards (bagh) and fields (khet) used to make major part of the day for a majority of people. Reduced agricultural land, degraded water bodies improper waste and sewage disposal and lack of appropriate legislation has affected the cultural associations of people with these spaces, altering the spatial organisation in majority of villages.
The research paper seeks to examine the transformations in the rural landscapes of CNCR through the case studies of Rohtak and Baghpat districts with a focus on changes in land use and spatial organisation.

Keywords: Archetypes, Land-Use, Rural Landscapes, Spatial Organisation