Abstract:
Open spaces have significant importance in urban settlements. These green spaces can improve the urban climate, abate the urban heat-island effect by their ecological-balancer function and reduce environmental damages. During the approval stage of any private housing scheme, a certain percentage of land is designated for the open/green spaces in line with certain rules and regulations however due to certain circumstances, the on ground realities are somewhat different, and the result of this phenomenon is the loss of precious piece of land. This study will focus on identifying the causes and factors driving the conversion of open/green spaces, examining the standards of open/green spaces provision, and identifying the gaps in existing policy, which are responsible for weak implementation of approved plans private housing schemes. In the context of Pakistan, there have been numerous researches on the conversion of open/green spaces, yet there is limited research in the examination of open/green spaces in public/private housing schemes and the percentage of deviation from the original provision in approved plans and the causes and factors driving such changes. Therefore there is a need to conduct a study covering these gaps. Literature review reveals that due to certain factors the land development in the housing societies has driven conversion of open/green spaces to residential and commercial uses which shows that there has been a clear deviation to approved housing schemes plans. In this research the causes and factors driving such phenomenon will be explored as well as measures will be proposed to guard green spaces from intrusion, intensification and infilling to preserve both sites and conditions for plants, wildlife and ecological functions.
