Ghaziabad is a large district on edge of the Delhi and, along with Delhi, is part of the National Capital Region. We compared three municipal masterplans within Ghaziabad sub-district with actual land-use mapped from satellite imagery using a  web-app  developed as part of our British Academy funded project  "Inclusive Green Infrastructures for Urban Well-being" . We also carried out fieldwork in three case study sites within each area.

The three masterplan areas and our case study sites are shown in relation to Ghaziabad sub-district below.

We compared the Ghaziabad City Masterplan with actual land-use identified using the web-app. This reveals the stark contrast between what has been planned as city forest, parks, green buffer zones or urban development (formal green space) and the actual land-use detected from satellite imagery.

The following chart summarises this contrast between the Masterplan and actual land-use in 2018. Agricultural green space far exceeds the area designated in the masterplan. The large area of barren land may correspond to areas designated for development in the masterplan which have not yet been built on while brick kilns are left out altogether.

Formal green space (non-agricultural) is not directly represented in our land-use classification. Some would fall under 'Urban (green space & street trees)' and some under 'Forest & orchard' but there is not a direct correspondence. However we can compare formally designated non-agricultural green space with actual land use. The map below shows where, as of 2018, agriculture was taking place on areas designated in the Masterplan for other uses alongside the area designated to be kept for agriculture.

The following two graphs show the percentage of land within the Masterplan where agriculture was taking place either on land designated for 1) development, 2) parks, city forest etc., and 3) agriculture in 2014 and 2018. They also show the percentage of Masterplan designated as non-agricultural green space such as parks, city forest and buffer zones. It is clear that agriculture remains by far the most significant type of green infrastructure with the Masterplan zone and even a substantial proportion of lands designated for other uses have continued as agriculture.

A more detailed view shows some of the areas designated as 'City Forest' in the Master Plan (light green outlines) and it is clear from these 2018 satellite images that these areas are mostly agriculture and settlements.

The following graph shows that around 37% of the non-agricultural formal green space (i.e. parks, city forest, institutional green and green buffer) shown in the Ghaziabad city masterplan is actually under agriculture and a further 12% is urban (most likely informal settlements given the absence of urban greenery) and 8% is barren. The 27% which is classified 'urban (green space & street trees)' and 3% classified 'Forests & orchard' are the most likely to include the kind of formal green infrastructure that actually matches the masterplan. Still, the majority of green infrastructure in the master plan was still agriculture by 2018.

This map shows the actual land-use on designated green spaces in the Ghaziabad city masterplan.

The same analysis for the Loni Masterplan Area showed the extent of loss of agriculture to urban development between 2014 and 2018.

The following graphs demonstrate this change in distribution of land use in the masterplan area. Agriculture on land designated for urban development in the masterplan had declined from 16% to 7% of the total masterplan area.

In Loni, as in Ghaziabad city, the area designated for formal green space such as parks and green buffer, as of 2018, was mostly occupied by barren land (cleared for development) agriculture and urban settlements with only 4.5 % identified as forest or orchard.

A closer look at the Tronica City commercial zone shows a radical change in land-cover between 2001 and 2021 as a result of land clearance for redevelopment.

Similar analysis as with Loni and Ghaziabad City was done for Modi Nagar, the closest masterplan area to our Patla case study site. Land-use change here appears to be far less rapid than in the other two master plan areas.

The following graphs show that just over 50% of the masterplan area is covered by agriculture where it is designated as agriculture in the masterplan. While just less than 20% is agriculture on land designated for other uses. This situation has hardly changed from 2014 to 2018.

In the Modi Nagar masterplan area, nearly 13% of the land area is designated for formal green space. The following graph indicates that the vast majority of this area designated for green space is actually under agriculture (nearly 70%).

This map shows the distribution of actual land uses on the areas designated as formal green space.

Patla lies outside the masterplan area and a closer analysis of land-cover change around the village shows very little change between 2008 and 2021.