CHARACTERISING THE SLUM ENVIRONMENT FROM SPACE FOR ACHIEVING SDGS

Abstract. With less than eight years left to achieve the Global Goals, nations are accelerating the design and implementation of sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges ranging from poverty to climate change. India has assessed its status in achieving SDGs through SDG Index, an aggregate measure that computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs. For SDG 11, the 2020-21 assessment showed that all other 32 states scored above 65 as front runners except for seven. One such criterion to assess the progress of SDG11 is the “percentage of urban households living in Katcha houses”. In the present study, to understand the slum development activities to attain sustainability at a city level, Chennai has been chosen as a case study. Using VHR data from Google Earth Pro, the slums of Chennai are mapped, and the recent changes in the slum status are identified.

The slums are categorised into four categories: existing, emerged, expanded and evicted slums, based on their characteristics. The study shows that between 2001 and 2011 there are 110 new slums emerged in the study area, which accounts for 1.43 sq. km. There are only a few slums that emerged between 2011 and 2022 (0.35 sq. km), but there was a considerable slum expansion (1.07 sq. km.) during that period, and some slums were evicted from their previous locations. The results based on satellite data have been verified and validated at the field level. The ongoing slum development programs in Chennai give optimistic hope for achieving inclusive urban development by 2030.