A research team from Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar has urged city planners to adopt a more scientific and climate-specific approach to urban greening, warning that large-scale tree plantation alone may not effectively reduce rising temperatures in Indian cities.
The study, conducted over 17 years across 138 cities, including Ahmedabad, analysed temperature trends and green cover distribution to understand how urban vegetation influences heat conditions.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study found that urban greening strategies should be designed according to local climate conditions, population density, infrastructure patterns and ventilation needs instead of focusing only on increasing the number of trees.
The research was led by Udit Bhatia from the Department of Earth Science and Civil Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar, along with a team of research scholars, PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.
Apart from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, the study also covered several Gujarat cities, including Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Gandhidham and Junagadh.
According to the researchers, Ahmedabad’s hot semi-arid climate and frequent hot winds require a different urban greening strategy compared to humid coastal cities like Mumbai.
The study stressed the need for “smart greening” in Ahmedabad by targeting identified urban heat hotspots instead of carrying out scattered or target-based plantation drives.
Researchers recommended that civic authorities prepare heat index maps at a one-kilometre scale to identify areas requiring urgent cooling interventions.
The report also noted that tree plantation alone would not be enough to significantly reduce urban heat. Instead, green cover planning should take into account climatic conditions, land availability, urban density and air circulation patterns.
The study further suggested increasing tree cover around schools, healthcare centres and bus stands to maximise cooling benefits in densely populated areas.