Livable Cities: Open Discussion and Documentary Screening

 ‘The Human Scale’ documentary was screened and open discussion session was organized on rebuilding our city livable, resilient and sustainable, as a part of Clean Energy Nepal continuous effort to make cities sustainable and livable. Around 70 participants from government, non-government, institutions, urban planners, students and media gathered on 17^th July 2015.

The documentary explores the existing urbanization pattern and questioned the existing development pattern what we refer as modernism. The documentary meets thinkers, architects and urban planners across the globe, and presents their perspectives on urban planning.  It explains about human scale development concept and explores when people are put into the center of our equations. “It's either cars or humans,' says revolutionary architect Jan Gehl when asked how to accommodate the nearly 6.5 billion who will be living in cities by 2050. It also presents the participatory planning process adopted in Christchurch after the earthquake and highlights the challenges.

The open discussion was focused on public spaces, urban housing, transport system and other urban infrastructures. The panelists were Yogeshwar Parajuli, Development Commissioner of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority; Kamal Pande, former Joint Secretary of Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport; Sudharshan Raj Tiwari, Architecture/Urban planner; and P.S. Joshi, Program Manager of UN-Habitat Nepal, and facilitated by Bhushan Tuladhar, Regional Technical Advisor of UN-Habitat.

“1600 people die each year in Kathmandu Valley due to air pollution where vehicles are the largest contributors”, said Pandey. Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project (KSUTP) discourage private vehicles and encourage public transport, and pedestrianization in urban core areas, however it’s not being implemented properly as it should have been”. He added, “we should focus on three things: system efficiency, trip efficiency and vehicle efficiency.” In addition he says, “Unnecessary vehicle trip should be controlled”.

Joshi said, “If we look at rebuilding process, we have overlooked the importance of community participation”, highlighting the Christchurch rebuilding process shown in the documentary. “Community should be involved in the city planning process including making the 15 year development strategy. “Bottom- Up approach is a must in planning”, he stressed.

“Road widening for vehicles is prioritized over open space for people”, says Tiwari. He lamented the recent decision of government mandating the minimum 6 meters width to be vehicle centric. “Culture and nature are two important aspect to consider for rebuilding Katmandu, he added. “Ecological city should be planned restoring the river system and agriculture, which are key aspects of culture and civilization”, he added.  “People cannot wait years for plan to come, it should happen now”, he emphasized. “Although the high rise was supposed to use less land and make housing affordable, which high rise is affordable for common people", he questioned. “High rise shouldn’t be encouraged, they destroy the livability of the city”, he said.

“Kathmandu Valley Development Authority is now developing a 15 years strategy for Kathmandu Valley”, said Parajuli asking comments and suggestions from the participants. “High rise may be needed to accommodate the increasing population and it should be developed around public transit stations”, he said.

During the open discussion, a participant suggested to preserve the cultural heritage of the city while rebuilding, and KVDA to take lead on coordinating with different line agencies. Any new development should be sensitive to our heritage and accommodate good traditional practices. The participants also suggested for public/community participation in planning process. Suggestions were made on developing river corridors as greenways and public space rather than motor roads. Answering a query regarding metro as potential mass transit options, Pandey said it couldn’t be implemented for several years to come because of high capital and operating cost. The panelist suggested improving the existing public transport system with bigger buses as recommended by Kathmandu Sustainable Urban Transport Project and introduction of affordable Bus Rapid Transit system. Upon the query on the optimal building height, the response was 6 to 7 storey being an ideal. Urban transport project are more focused on road widening and car parking rather than environment –friendly public transport system and pedestrianization.