Community Spaces In Kathmandu,Nepa1:Study On The Traditional And Contemporary Settlements For A Sustainable Urban Space

Kathmandu valley is experiencing rapid population growth.Kathmandu valley had an average growth rate of 4.63 percent in 2001 to 2011.Being the capital city,the large number of people migrating in each year has resulted in the densification in the inner cities and expansion of settlement in the urban periphery.The increasing population requires more resources and more land for settlement.This population growth and lack of land mass is leading to the decrease amount of public open space.In a traditional settlement,open spaces were planned and prioritised in the planning phase.But in the contemporary settlement such provision of open spaces is lesser and in most of the non-planned,self-grown areas,it is negligible.The open spaces gave in the planned settlement,for example,land pooling ventures satisfy the criteria from bylaws yet the usefulness of these spaces is uncertain.Public open spaces are one of the most important aspect of an urban space.Public urban spaces are the place where the people discover the value and benefits of public life.We could find a great park,urban square or neighbourhood spaces associated in every memorable city on the world.These actually authenticate the city's image and identity.Public open space is not just a green park or void but an active and responsive place that stimulate interactions and activities.The research is focused on open spaces at a traditional and new settlements and how they contribute towards improving living standards of the inhabitants and sustainability of the area.The research explores the availability of open spaces in different settlements,how the public open space has affected the social,economic and environmental conditions of the area,maintenance,and improvements for open spaces and understand the usage and functions of public space by the community for sustainable development.The case study approach has been followed.The study was conducted through the samples of traditional settlement,Buddhanagar,for a self-grown area,Sinamangal Land pooling site for the planned settlement and Civil homes phase-iii for the private housing settlement.The research follows interpretative paradigm.Information has been gathered mainly from the field observations and interaction with the residents.Structured and semi-structured interviews were carried out in each locality.Secondary information was also collected.The comparison analysis was carried out to draw conclusions and answer the research questions.The study has come up with the conclusion that,availability of open space per person is more in the traditional settlement despite the population density being highest in the traditional settlement.The open spaces in the self-grown area is not allocated consciously.Only available space is river corridors and streets,which is insufficient for the locality.Open spaces in the traditional settlement are more accessible and within the proximity of the residence making it more functional and safer for the users.The usage of open space is different in the traditional and new settlement.It has been observed that the use of open space is changing and people are more inclined towards health aspects rather than the cultural usage of the spaces as in the past.Most of the contemporary open spaces are used or wished to be used for walking and exercise.Therefore,considering health benefits in the design and planning of the open space will make space more efficiently.This research discovered that,planned neighbourhood are better than self-grown unplanned neighbourhood for providing community spaces but still not successful to provide a quality space for everyone.Traditional settlement of the valley has established good example of public urban spaces but such system has been broken down in newly emerged settlements.Our own traditional concept of public space can be a good lesson for planning new neighbourhood with qualitative community spaces.The by-laws regarding public spaces need to be widened up for providing good public space to benefit all user groups for creating a better social environment.The study also suggests a few other recommendations and techniques for creating better community spaces.The entire thesis includes 28,000 words of straight matter and 4,000 words of epilogue and appendix,counting about 136 diagrams and photographs.