Enhancing resilience to climate uncertainty in a coastal city

Abstract

Being one of India's most ancient towns. Also, the second largest city in the state of Odisha is Cuttack. with its 1000 year of remarkable history, culture & heritage. The city centrally located between the two major rivers - Mahanadi & Kathajodi flourished as administrative & commercial capital of the state in ancient time. The city’s close proximity to the river makes it vulnerable to several calamities from the very past. The city was connected to different other cities through water ways for trade and commerce. Hence, the city over the time has, developed haphazardly along the river. .City also witnessed disappearing of many ponds and green cover. Earlier ponds and water bodies were used for fulfilment of the daily needs as water resource, mode of livelihood & economy. The city has grown into a compact and organic entity due to high urbanization and restrictions offered by physical barriers in the form of rivers. Further to accommodate growing population, new land areas were required for which some part of Mahanadi River was filled up with sand damaging the natural flow of river. For an instance, the ring road was built around the periphery of the city as a means of transportation and for flood protection. Additionally, the beautification of city such as riverfront development took place. But there was no proper sewerage system for waste flow. According to a study, the increasing development in city has led to loss of around 1200 water bodies which includes ponds, tanks. Also Cuttack had 6.5Kha tree cover in 2010 but by 2020 it lost around 216mha of tree cover which is equivalent to 111 T of co2 of environment. Lately, the rampant constructions & filling up of ponds & water bodies has led to depletion of ecology with lack of water storage from storm & rain water. Also, the ever-increasing temperature has rendered the city to become more prone to disasters such as frequent floods, waterlogging, heat waves and more. Thus, this study intends to focus on establishing the importance of blue green spaces in context of modern urbanisation to combat disaster and how it’s inevitable to achieve sustainability. Enhancing Resilience to climate uncertainty in a Coastal City: Cuttack . Apart from green and blue(waterbodies) space , GI also comprises of eco- bridges, green roofs, agricultural fields, green walls fish ladders and hedges, among other physical elements in marine and terrestrial environment (EC 2013). "An adaptive word used to represent an array of goods, technologies, and practises that employ natural systems—or constructed systems that imitate natural processes—to enhance overall environmental quality and offer utility services," according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (USEPA 2020). This concept, which is primarily focused on management of stormwater runoff by means of techniques based on soil and vegetation, it also recognises a variety of benefits including economic and environmental aspects, comprising purification of air and water, urban heat island mitigation and reduced energy demands, also aids including carbon sequestration, beautification and natural resource enrichment. The notion of green infrastructure is mostly been used for urban situations in order to improve structure of city and ensure that natural advantages are provided in built-up regions. Green (and blue) spaces in cities can support high levels of biodiversity and provide a variety of ecosystem services, such as provisioning, regulating, and cultural services, that are critical to the well-being of urban populations, particularly in terms of physical and psychological health benefits. The Aim of the thesis is to Planning for improving resilience to climate change uncertainties through green infrastructure for a coastal city -Cuttack.