Neesha Dutt’s scientific contributions

The impact of the interaction between socio-economic and political processes with natural ecosystems and the built environment has been well captured by the urban metabolism framework in recent decades. In this concept, cities are equated to living organisms in terms of the consumption of natural resources and the excretion of waste products. This concept refers to cities as biological entities having internal processes continuously exchange matter and energy with their surrounding environment in order to grow. The growth pattern induced by metabolic processes may be uneven spatially and socio-economically. Master plans were prepared by the concerned authorities to control such uneven development. However, as these metabolic processes diverged, the impact was on natural resources such as vegetation, temperature, and water bodies. This chapter analyzes the changes that are seen in vegetation patterns in Bengaluru. The results showed that the metabolic processes of the city transformed vegetation to a large extent spatially. There was either a shrinking or proliferation of green cover converting the indigenous greenery to fast-growing varieties during different phases of urbanization. Resource-intensive lawns became important in corporate and residential landscaping. Finally, these changes in vegetation invariably affected temperature patterns, also showing an interconnection between these natural elements.KeywordsIT phaseLawnsSpatialUnevenUrban metabolismVegetation