Western Ahmedabad ‘more livable’ compared to East: CEPT University Study

Around 6 per cent of the households, as per the study, in western precincts are less vulnerable due to higher education, more liquid assets, the ability to spend on transit, relatively higher property values of owned residences, and higher per-capita tree cover in their neighbourhoods.

While the livability index was adapted from The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA’s) ease of living assessment, framework vulnerability parameters were derived from a sustainable livelihood framework developed from noted economist Amartya Sen’s capability approach which provides a bottom-up, household-level approach.

Primary household surveys undertaken by 126 students used equal weights given to the main factors of livability and vulnerability with sub-factors weighted differently using the Delphi method.

The household surveys revealed that the top five most livable areas in west Ahmedabad are Paldi, Ambawadi, Nigam Nagar, Swastik Crossroad, and Bodakdev, and the bottom five livable areas are Visat Circle, Someshwar Park, Bopal, South Bopal and ONGC.

In East Ahmedabad, the top five most livable areas are Mirzapur, Khokhra, Khadia, Shahpur, and Dariyapur while Nava Naroda, Hatkeshwar, Vastral, and Isanpur Vatva are the bottom five areas.

Ambikanagar is low in terms of livability and vulnerability while Vasna has high livability and high vulnerability, and Vejalpur has low livability and high vulnerability. “Nearly 55 per cent of western precincts have more green space, and better services than eastern precincts, making them more livable. While the East despite scoring well in amenities and safety lacks green cover and has high built density around 73 per cent of households in the eastern precincts have lower average income liquid assets and per capita floor space making them more vulnerable,” the study said.

Further, around 66 per cent of households have income less than Rs 35,000 per month. Of these, 7 per cent of households have income less than Rs 10,000 per month. Also, 77 per cent households depend on rented accommodations making them more vulnerable.

The analysis is based on primary household survey data from 126 precincts with a sample of about 29 households from each precinct in Ahmedabad. However, Prof Sannabhadti says the current work has inbuilt limitations in terms of sampling. “It fails to cover an adequate sample of different income groups and the homeless population across all precincts. It further states, the precincts also do not cover the entirety of Ahmedabad, so its representativeness is limited.”

Moreover, the student work uses an adapted framework and may not match entirely with the standard livability and vulnerability frameworks because of the limitations posed by the data sets.