Sustainable Landscaping in Kasarvadavali, Thane.

Where a Kasarvadavali township backs onto the hills, its landscape meets the forest at the boundary wall. Ornamental exotics planted there can spread into the park's edge, and lawns on sloping ground wash out in the first heavy rain. We plant the hill-facing boundary and slopes with native grasses, shrubs and trees that bind soil, keep ornamental planting to the inner courts, and lead runoff through swales and percolation pits instead of straight into the storm drain.

Kasarvadavali lies towards the northern end of Thane's stretch of Ghodbunder Road, below the hills of Sanjay Gandhi National Park and short of the climb to Gaimukh. The village is still there, with its own lanes and houses, but most of the land around it has been built as townships in recent years, and some of the newest layouts reach right up to the foot of the hills. Metro Line 4 was planned with a station here, and the area is changing from the city's far edge into a connected neighbourhood. The forest is a constant presence: from windows, on walks, and sometimes on the roads at night.