Sequential restoration of urban green space in tropical dry forest region: Kulish Smriti Van, Jaipur Rajasthan, India
Creating functional urban green spaces is necessary for ecological, economic and social sustainability of urban systems. Full range of benefits of urban green spaces, however, can only be realized with the developing or enriching the vegetation with native pool of species. Yet, this reality has seldom been achieved. This paper provides practitioner insights on restoration and enrichment of urban green space with a large suite of indigenous vegetation in a tropical dry region of India. These insights are based on experiential knowledge and long-term observations as daily visitors to Karpoor Chand Kulish Smriti Van in Jaipur, Rajasthan during 2007 - 2014. The interventions such as protection, fencing and cattle exclusion in an old urban sand dune plantation and adjacent degraded tropical dry forest fragment have initiated large-scale colonization and natural regeneration of native species. In addition to a variety of tools and interventions that have been applied for the holistic restoration of the green space, also provide a photographic case study about ecological surprise in this urban green space with wider relevance to green space restoration. A word of clarification is also in order, as it is often easier to miss the global relevance of local practitioner insights.