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Background The urban system of Kathmandu Valley comprises of not only larger cities like Kathmandu, Patan and

Bhaktapur but also consists of several small specialized settlements; these settlements were well known for their specialized production. For example, Lubhu for Textile, Thimi for Pottery, Khokana for Oil. Khokana was an industristerl-service town of the valley and was famous for its mustard oil production. It used to serve whole valley with its rich mustard oil. Likewise, Khokana also reveals an excellent example of the unique clustered Newari settlement, which is still able to retain its traditional image; it exhibits outstanding built and open spaces which is typical form of traditional settlement of Mala period. The number of lavishly decorated brick houses with magnificently carved windows of typical Newar craftsmanship, the street paving, urban spaces in the form of squares, courtyards and efficient water collection system are signs of a prosperous past. Socio-cultural activities, Jatras and untouched tradition of the community are few of the major attractions not only for domestic and international tourist but also to historians and anthropologists, its close relationship with agriculture, socio cultural activities, built heritage and its urban form, demonstrate its original character and exhibits as a cultural heritage of the valley. However today, this traditional settlement of Malla period which is regarded as Gem of Civilization is declining and loosing its character with the growing urbanization of the valley. In modern times, the urbanization in Kathmandu Valley started from mid fifties and has p9icked up with alarming rate in last thirty or so years. This has led to an unprecedented rural to urban migration in the valley. The consequence is the haphazard growth and urban sprawl, resulting loss of agricultural land and high infrastructure cost. According to Kathmandu Valley Long term development Plan, 2002, it has projected that the population shall be double in next 30 years i.e. it will reach 30 lakhs and 80% population will be living in urban area and only 20% will be living in rural. This shows that sooner or later the urbanization effect of the large city will in no doubt affect the smaller towns like Khokana as well. This is evident as the development pressure is already seen around Sainbu, neighbor VDC of Khokana, as land brokers are already in the scene, which shows the likely expansion of the Sainbu development area to Khokanas territory in future. Being located in close proximity to the capital city and Lalitpur Sub Metropolitan city, the seeds of urban transformation are already planted in Khokana. This is manifested from the physical and socio-economic changes that are taking place in the area. The socio-economic pattern of living has changed considerably as could be seen clearly from the family structure, occupational change, literacy rate, modern amenities in the households. However, the physical transformation in built form is very slow except few changes in access, road width, building volume, building style etc. The present trend of urban transformation in Khokana and the development pressure induced by the growing urbanization of Kathmandu valley are likely to bring a rapid change in the area. In this back drop, this thesis will seek to understand the impact of

urban transformation taking place in Khokana and try to answer what kind of policies should be there to guide the ongoing transformation so that it can absorb development pressure with out intervening the image and vitality of the historic town. Problem statement In the early days, when oil business was in boom, Khokana was a prosperous town. But in due course of time, the oil production is in verge of decline. With the advent of new modern technology, varieties of products and high competition in the market, most of the old oil mill has closed. As it lost its primacy, the economic opportunities also declined. Overall the socio-economic condition of Khokana is getting poorer. Looking at the present scenario, with the modernization of the area, the livelihood and life style of the local people is changing, this could be well reflected by changing process of occupation, reduction in agricultural land holdings, increase in settlement, new buildings and built form, increasing use of modern amenities etc. This shows that the urban transformation is already taking place. However, there is still a marked deficiency of infrastructures. Poor solid waste management system ad pathetic sanitation is clearly evident. The condition of road especially within the core area is not good. Most of the buildings are not suitable for living. Objectives The main objectives of the study are: a. To understand the characteristics of town in temrs of its forms, function and planning and to establish in importance in terms of its heritage or traditional values. b. To determine new demands ad stresses I its physical form; socio-economic condition;and Cultural practices ad understand the changes taking place with the on going development in and around its vicinity. c. To provide guidelines ad future directive for planning to suit modern development maintaining the vitality of the cultural heritage. Reasons for Changes: The reason for these kind of changes is due to the modernization which has brought subsequent changes I the life-styles of the people. Their basic needs today have can be summarised as follows: 1. Economy Earlier the economy of the Newar Community was based on agriculture; lad was fertile, food plentiful ad the society affluent. The boundary of deities (Astamatrikas) controlled the spread of the tow ad protected the agricultural lad. But today only about seven percent rely o agriculture, others are in services ad business. The ground floor of the traditional Newar house which served as the cattle shed ad for storage of food rains caters to other needs today.

It is seen that most people living in the core area belong to a weaker economic group. Their total saving is seen that most people living in the core area belong to a weaker economic group. Their total saving is very less, so they are forced to give their houses on rent. Majority of the house-owners have given their rooms for rent. Because of the economy only, the people are attracted to the commercial activities. Along the street, shops have come up haphazardly. People are extending the building vertically spoiling the scale and scale and skyline. Due to the commercialization of the place vehicular movemet has been increased. The existing street pattern was designed for pedestrian movement only. The width of the streets were determined by the width of the wheel axes of religious chariots. Today, the width of the streets are not sufficient for vehicular traffic flow. 2. Social factor: Break up in family structure Though the joint family system is quite prominent in the Newars, it is fading away. The disintergration of the extended family leads to the division of the household. It is seen that the division is always vertical. This is due to the households natural attachment of the ground. The break up of the family structure and the vertical dividision of the households have affected the urban spaces in terms of appearance of faade around or along with it. Absence of Guthis: The change of the urban of the city core is due to the destruction of the elements within them. The foresight of the ancestors is reflected in their understanding of the problem of continued maintenance of the monuments they erected. The fact that building a monument in itself provided nom guarantee for its safety and maintenance was well-known to them. They had, therefore, a strong and effective social institution called Guthi (trust). To perpetually run this Guthi the creator(s) used to donate some properties either in cash or kind, mostly in the form of cultivable land, for its regular maintenance and for performing various other rites and rituals associated with the monument(s). During the Lachhavi period there were many kinds of Guthis, for example Archa Guthi that is the Guthi for making and repairing sculptures. But land reforms I 1962 gave a death blow to this system of Guthi. The tillers of farers were encouraged by the politicians not to pay or give the share of the lad to the owners ad as a result almost all the private and semi-private Guthis could to function ad slowly began to disappear fro the scene. The Guthi Sansthan alone is not enough to conserve this traditional landscape. 3. Physical Factors: Built form With the advent of modernization, there is a marked change seen in the physical built space of the study area. Today majority of the traditional buildings are replaced by Modern RCC construction with large glazed windows, flats roofs and plastered faade. In the past the average Newar house was 3 storeyed. But today the majority of

the houses in the inner city are 4 to 5 storeyed. Twelve percent of the houses have ore than 5 storey. This is due to the modern construction technology. In the process it has completely spoiled the skyline and streetscape. Courtyard Earlier when the house was in its original form it responded well to the climate. It is noticed that the height of the building and the depth of the courtyard were equal and the orientation of the courtyard was north south. The courtyard functioned well during the summer. But during the winter it received very less sunlight. But then the thick walls and low floor height helped In preserving heat during the winter. But today due to the addition of floor height helped in preserving heat during the winter. And the fact that the traditional houses didnt have any damp-proofing system has further worsened the condition. TRADITIONAL PLANNING CONCEPT OF KHOKANA Physical Settings: Khokana, a dense Newari settlement is situated on the south-west part of Lalitpur Submetropolitan City almost on the south-west edge of Kathmandu valley. It is situated at about 6 km from the city area. The VDC is bounded politically in the north by Sainbu VDC and Kirtipur Municipality, in the south by Bungamati and Setidevi VDC, in the east by Bungamati and Sainbu VDC and the famous Bagmati river . Khokanas geographical setting is overlooking to the west direction. It has a steep slope towards west, whereas the main settlement is located on a tar( elevated)land, with plain land or slopes virtually separated physically for the agriculture. Total land occupied by the VDC is 3.47 square kilometerswhereas the ancient settlement covers only about 0.20 square kilometers. More than 90% of the total land is covered by a very beautiful setting of agricultural fields. The altitude of the VDC is 1260 to 1335m from the mean sea level. The VDC lies between the latitude of 2738 30 and the longitude of 8517 20 . The annual relative humidity is 60-90%. The annual average rainfall in the village is 1250mm with the average maxaimum temperature of 31c in summer and the minimum temperature 1c in winter. Khokana VDC has 1-9 wards within the settlement and again 1-9 wards outside the settlement in agricultural fields, altogether 18 wards. There is another small settlement called Chi Khokana or small Khokana in the north-west part of the main settlement area. Some of the villagers of Khokana first rehabilitated to the north-eastern hillock, which is now called Chi Khokana or Sano Khokana. But the rest of them moved to the east of Kudesh which was named Ta Khokana owing to the larger settlement is turned out to be.

An interesting and distinct culture that one finds in this city is the absence of garlic and hen. In Khokana, the people neither rear nor consume chickens and garlic. At present also, chickens are not seen on the streets. Duck farming is very common there instead of hens. Spatial Organization: At the physical level, the Newari rural settlement has always been compact and well defined through boundaries that have been traditionally set. The traditional morphology of Khokana represents a hierarchy of public, semi-public and private open spaces, which is typical of a Newari Settlement. They are defined by built forms of different types and linked together by a hierarchy of network of streets. There are some special public lands within the village belonging to various caste groups of the community or to temples and monastries. Religious context of planning: Ideally, urban settlement of Malla towns were planned in a religious context. Their towns were found to be with basic geometric forms of Mandalas ( map of cosmic representation) geometry with intersecting concentric circles and squares. The plan of an ideal Malla town would thus consist of a crossing of main roads with each of its related town district representing the four quarters of a universe. The nucleus of the town was usually the palace or a religious landmark or a major temple. Wealthy high caste families settled around the nucleus and the lower class settled, in almost concentric circles around them. The whole of this was enveloped by agricultural fields. Similarly, Khokana also consist of a crossing of a main roads with each of its related town districts representing the four quarters of the Universe. The cult figure of the main deity Rudrayani was placed in the center or the apex of this system according to the significance it occupied in the religious hierarchy and the place in the town as a whole. The inhabitants refer to it constantly in their yearly cycle of processions, in the religious observances and their daily devotations. Urban spaces of Khokana: The living and their routine movements primarily include performing daily religious rituals such as bathing in the rivers or sacred ponds, offering daily pujas to various gods to set the tone of the day, going to the farms and coming back, going to the market to buy/exchange items of the mundane necessities and the like. These generate the patterns linking rivers, ponds, temples, farms and the markets to the residences. Indeed almost all Malla towns were sited on the non-agricultural ridges along various rivers primarily to meet such requirements. As mentioned earlier, Khokana was also situated along holy Bagmati river at Kudesh. Only later, it was shifted to the present location. The town was farm lands all around the settlements and across the rivers causing the growth of radial streets to rivers and farms. These streets join together as they reach into the town. Such

nodal points were developed into squares or Lachhis with increasing social importance, as they get closer to the center nodal points, where all the activities also converge. Street Pattern: It is already mentioned above that the generation of movement pattern in Khokana is due to religious functional requirements of the inhabitants. So the hierarchy of the street pattern of Khokana can be classified on the basis of function, scale and the variations are not on the basis of width of the street which are as follows: 1. MAIN STREET: It is where all the major social and religious functions and activities take place. It links the central square to various community squares. As the main connecting axis, it threads its way through the whole township. 2. SECONDARY STREET: These link the community squares with the neighborhood squares; some of there streets also continue onto the farmlands in the open. 3. LESSER STREET: These connect the neighborhood squares to the residential squares or courtyards. The lesser streets also link to the farms and originate from all the residential areas if the main secondary streets are not serving the purpose. Squares: Residential Neighbouring Square: The residential neighbourhoods square like Nyabu Lachhi houses a large number of extended families, often belonging to the same class group. Apart from the size of the square, it differs from the private- Residential square visually as more than two streets come to meet in the space. So many variations in the intersection of squares and the streets are tired that each square derives a different visual appeals. This type of square shows noble properties of the basic order and also houses public religious edifices such as a temple, ponds and water spout. However, these squares do not have an enclosed space as the height and treatment of bounding elevation retain the scale and configuration of the square of the private residential square. Street Life: Since the Newari people have a strong communal life, the inhabitants use the house only as a place in which to sleep, store things, and raise animals, and most living takes place outside their houses. The town compensate for lack of private spaces by ample public space, where the women, in particular, socialize with each other. The courtyard and streets not only provides light and ventilation but it also provides playing area for the children, place for social, religious, cultural activities and for drying, washing, bathing etc.

Built Form: Building Types Khokana contain built structures of various types. These includes temples, Patis, Sattals, residences, workshops etc. There are mainly two types of traditional architecture: free standing and wall to wall houses. The wall to wall structures are either of courtyard type or a row house. Internal Organization Mostly, the internal organization of the houses is very simple. These are vertically divided. A straight flight of steps connects each floor level. There are generally at Multiple of two rooms on each floor. Each floor has a definite function; the ground floor is used for storage or shop/workshop, the first and the second floors are used as bed and living room respectively, and the topmost floor is used as kitchen. The attic is used for puja and store. Earlier, there were no toilets in the house but today most of the houses have toilet below the staircase. Faade The main feature of the faade lies in the symmetrical arrangement of traditional wooden carved windows with or without balconies. The ground floor consists of either shops or small-carved doors. The first floor has a series of odd number of carved windows having wooden trellis/lattice for cross ventilation similar in opening- span to the ground floor door. The top floor consists of large carved windows often sloping up and out to meet the projecting roof or just straight, which is known as SA- JHYA OR GA- JHYA, which lends an air prosperity and visual participation with the street. Another main feature of the faade are the exposed brick walls and the plain wooden brackets jutting out of the wall. They are meant to support the hanging eaves of the roof and drain the water from the roof off the wall. There is generally a single doorway, which is sometimes profusely carved. Material and Construction Techniques There are two basic material for construction of traditional Newari buildings, namely mud and wood. Mud is used as mortar, bricks and tiles and timber as posts, joists, rafters, struts, doors and windows. The structure system of the walls is always load bearing and 30- 45 cms thick. The roofs are sloping with the wooden rafters supporting the joists and beams, which are laid over by a thick layer of mud and tiles fixed over it. The jointing system for wooden fixtures including doors and windows is mainly tongue and grooved. This type of wood reinforced masonry construction can absorb small earthquakes and give the houses enough strength to counter such situations. Windows and doors have small openings in the wall, constructed with two lintels, one at the top and another at bottom forming a part of the wall construction. The whole structure rests on brick- stone foundations and the plinth is made of rubble stone masonry.

Physical Infrastructures: Water supply distribution There are no permanent natural sources of water in and around the village for drinking and cooking purposes. The local people are dependent on the water distributed by the Water Supply Corporation for drinking purpose. Although there are some water spouts in the settlement area, but most of them have dried out. However, few wells are able to cater the demand of water to the local people up to some extent. Sewerage System Recently for sewerage disposal, hume pipes are laid on both sides of the streets at some places of the core area of Khokana VDC. Due to lack of frequent maintenance and cleaning, most of the sewerage line is not functioning. The untidy solid waste dumping systems have clogged many surface drains. Solid Waste Management The solid waste management systems have been the worst at Khokana. The solid waste produced from houses and excreta of human and animals are creating problem in the village. Habit of defacetation and throwing waste along the street in front of houses is creating an unhygienic condition and degrading the aesthetic of the traditional heritage site. It has also disturbed its environmental balance. Presently, approximately 1 kg solid waste is produced daily from each house, out of which certain amount of it is used to produce fertilizers and remaining are left in front of houses along the street. Electricity Khokana has the privilege of being the first area to be lit with electricity in Nepal. The condition of electricity connection is pretty good. According to the data, 81.78% of the household have electricity services. Remaining few houses still does not have its connection due to their poor economic condition. Although almost every house has electricity connection, but there is yet no proper provision of street lighting. Recreational space Due to the dense settlement with very little open space, the VDC lacks public sports and recreational space. Although there are four courtyards within the settlement, it is not appropriate for sports. Presently, youths are using school premises and a public space around the Shilkali temple for such sports and recreational activities.

Economy The economy of Khokana is based on the agriculture. more than 95% of the total population is involved in agriculture in this village. Khokana people do not keep poultry and do not have chicken and eggs because of their typical cultural belief. Animal husbandry is limited to sheep, goat, cow, buffalo, pigs and ducks. Besides agriculture few heads of these households have services, and yet lesser numbers have business as their occupation. The business shops at Khokana are as follows: simple hotel/ tea shop, retail shops, cloth shops, cosmetic shops, meat shops, gas shops, electrical shops, dispensary, audio-visual shop, tailoring shops, handicrafts, communication or STD/ ISD shops, barber shops, cycle workshop, photo studio, screen printing shops. Changes in traditional structures A. Vertical division of houses As a first step in division among the family, the house is divided vertically along the main central wall between two brothers. As the openings in Newari buildings are in odd numbers, the beautiful windows like Sanjhya are also cut down brutally making the building look unpleasant both visually and functionally. The houses being divided into two parts need separate staircase and often small rooms inconvenient to use. In few cases, horizontal divisions of houses were also seen. Here, the brothers are divided horizontally floor wise and can use the same staircase, but most of them have separate kitchen. However, in such kind of division, there is only a verbal agreement between brothers. B. Addition of floors Most of the houses have added one floor to their houses to incorporate increasing family size. This is mostly done when the family size reaches a stagnation point even after vertical division. However, vertical division is essentially the first step in introducing structural changes in the traditional houses. In case of additions of floors, the sloping tiled roofs are reintroduced but in many cases, flat terraces built in reinforced cement concrete are increasingly replacing them. It has destroyed the traditional uniform skyline of buildings. C. Change in space usage As a consequence of structural changes due to internal division among families, changes in space usage also take place. Baiga or the topmost floor which used to be kitchen are added or sometimes replaced by bed rooms. In some houses, the topmost floor also has more than one kitchen for separated brothers. Toilets are added to the ground floor level mostly in the backyard and below staircase. Chidi or ground floor which used to be store or animal sheds is used for shops, working place for metal crafts etc. Even the public spaces like courtyards, squares, streets are being used for other purposes such as parking or encroached as an extension of shops.

D. Change in materials There is gradual change from sun dried to baked bricks and from mud to lime or cement mortar. There is also a change in external finishes and the exposed brick facades being increasingly plastered in cement and white washed. The tiled roofs are being increasingly replaced by tinned roofs or reinforced cement or brick concrete flat slabs. In many houses, iron railings are added on the terraces. E. Change in openings People are increasingly changing the shape and sizes of their openings. Wooden carved lattice windows are being replaced with square or rectangular glazed windows. Moreover, their sizes are increased to permit more light in the interior. This is considerably changing the external facades of traditional structures. F. Replacement of traditional structures with "modern" construction This is mainly taking place in those traditional structures which are in very bad condition. The inhabitants gather financial resources and pull down their traditional structures which are perceived to be weaker. In many cases, due to vertical subdivision, the house is replaced in fragments, thereby destroying the scale and the continuity of traditional fabric. G. Construction of new structures in "modern" style Such constructions are mainly taking place just outside the old settlement area. When the family size increases beyond its capacity, either the owners build houses for one of their sons or the sons themselves build new house after property division in their parental agricultural field. Some modern construction is also seen in the old settlement after pulling down their traditional structures. They have already started to build their houses in modern RCC structure for more room space, more height and better light and ventilation. However the quality of these constructions is poor with improper reinforcements and concrete mix. Conclusion: The basic findings of the study i.e. the transformation have been related to changing environment of Khokana. The certain land use changes happening in core area and the peripheral development area are due to gradual emergence of residential development and market centers in Bhainsepati next to Khokana and trend of outward migrant from core to peripheral area due to breakup in family structure. The development in the surrounding of khokana in turn can be as an out growth of the process of urbanization of Lalitpur and the internal densification of the core area. However, local people have not been able to benefit from the change or development happening in and around Khokana. The higher land transaction near Sainbu planning and along the arterial road shows that the development pressure will sooner or later engulf Khokana also. So if some planning

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and policy provision are not made immediately, the development pressure will soon affect the traditional set up of Khokana. In summary, we can conclude that the urban transformation in Khokana have not been satisfactory as the economic condition has been substandard, the living condition is not good, overall physical infrastructures are in poor state, historic building and monuments are deteriorating, cultural heritage is in threat due to haphazard development in and around the settlement, rituals and cultural function are disappearing and traditional occupational base in agricultural and oil production are declining. In this regard, tourism development in Khokana can be used as and effective to uplift the economic condition of the inhabitants as Khokana is still able to retain traditional character and its rich cultural heritage. Thus, planning intervention in Khokana should be made immediately to preserve the image of Khokana and at the same time create development endeavors to plan Khokana with modern amenities and services. Conservation and development should complement each other and go hand in hand for the overall development of Khokana. Recommendation The recommendation of the study suggests the strategic to guide the future physical and economic development of Khokana in the light of tourism development. In this regard the following recommendation is made. Land use planning approach The peripheral development of Khokana and the land use changes taking place in haphazard manner should be regulated so that a compatible development to the traditional core can be achieved. In this regard, sustainable tourism development for conservation of traditional settlement should take land use planning approached as a major strategy. A special zone around the traditional settlement should be allocated as a transitional space between the traditional settlement and new developing area to minimize the effect and infringement of the development. Demonstration of liquor making
Space for proposed distillery

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