Spatial Analysis on the provision of Urban Amenities and their Deficiencies - A Case Study of Srinagar City, Jammu and Kashmir, India

The paper examined inequality in the distribution of urban amenities in Srinagar City. Inequality in the study area is manifested in the form of unequal provision of social amenities within the wards (municipal units) of the City. The spatial distribution and concentration of two social amenities, viz, educational institutions and fire service stations was studied. The study mainly relied on the secondary sources of data. The Z-score variate has been used to determine the spatial concentration pattern in the provision of these amenities. However, Lorenz Curve proved to be a useful tool in accessing and quantifying the spatial disparity. The results of the analysis indicate that inequalities exist in the provision of accessibility of these amenities among different wards in Srinagar city. The reasons for the uneven distribution of urban amenities are spurt urban growth in the last three decades and poor management planning. The paper suggests that planning body must keep pace with the urban sprawl in order to ensure the equitable distribution of urban amenities in the city. Keywords: Amenities, Wards, Srinagar City, Well-being, Accessibility, Lorenz Curv

Measuring urban sprawl of Srinagar city, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Urbanization, as such, is not perceived as a threat to the environment and development but it is unplanned urban sprawl that affects the accessibility to amenities and land-use of any region. It is thus imperative to study and bring out the intricacies and implications associated with the problem of unplanned urban growth ensuing into sprawl. The methods used to measure the sprawl of Srinagar City are modified versions of SCATTER (The Sprawling Cities And Transport: from Evaluation to Recommendations) and Cost of Sprawl: 2000 TRB (Transport Research Bureau, US). The analysis reveals that the largest urban center in the fragile ecology of Himalayas has haphazardly grown during the last forty years which has resulted in disproportionate distribution of various civic amenities, socio economic and environmental variables. This phenomenon of urban sprawl in Srinagar City has been observed as a threat to achieving sustainable urbanization