An Exploration of Environmental Quality in the Context of Multiple Deprivations: The Case of Kalyan–Dombivli, India

Abstract

The asset vulnerability framework of Moser (Baud et al., 2009; Moser, 1998), focusing on assets that the poor possess, has built upon this new understanding of urban poverty. These assets exist in the form of physical, human, social, financial and natural capital. Drawing on this understanding and framework, a study by Baud et al. (2009) demonstrated the utility of an index of multiple deprivations to conceptualise the ‘multi-dimensional character’ of poverty for Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai in India. Despite this informed and integrated view, the natural dimension, which in urban areas translates mainly into environmental quality, often gets neglected in urban studies on multiple deprivations (Baud et al., 2009; Niggebrugge et al., 2005) because of limited environmental data availability.