URBAN KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM

Nepal

Overview

Urbanization Trend Experiences Major Achievements Issues and Problems Challenges Lessons Learnt

Urbanization Trend
Year Total No. of Urban Level of population municipalities population Urbanization (Millions) (000) 9.4 15.2 18.1 23.2 26.6 16 23 33 58 58 339 962 1629 3228 4500 4.0 6.3 9.0 13.9 17.0

1971 1981 1991 2001 2011

Key Experiences
Traditional towns planned as compact settlements with
inclusive designs Conventional land use and physical development plans Failure of Physical Development Plans Innovations in planning like Integrated Action Planning, Periodic Plans Land Development: GLD, Land pooling, etc. Urban Regeneration/Upgrading. Real estate development and organized housing and financing.

Major Achievements
Land development programs have guided the provision of

infrastructure. Opening up of new resources with increased access to land: land pooling projects made lots of resources available and made them more accessible to people. Empowerment and decentralization with stronger local leadership through capacity building and innovations in planning. People are empowered with increase in awareness as they become engaged in community action for urban development and environment improvement. Increasing access to finance for housing, real estate, and urban development. Enormous investments were made in housing and real estates. Savings mobilized through housing finance and infrastructure investments.

Issues and problems

Increasing disparity with regional imbalances and formation

of slums and squatters Adverse impacts of globalization in terms of livability and poverty reduction with exposure to unsustainable culture from out side Sprawl growth and environmental and commuting problems Under-utilization of existing infrastructure already in place Poor maintenance and operation of public utilities Irregular provision of services Decreasing access of the poor to shelter, jobs, infrastructure, and services also due to market distortion Increasing cost of environmental services Lack of good governance: unwillingness to serve the people, lack of accountability etc.

Challenges
Increasing deprivation, exclusion, and conflicts Provision of housing, infrastructure and services to the
growing population while reducing per capita GHG emissions Mitigation of Climate Change impacts while coping with growing economic activities Failure to adapt to and cope with climate change disasters lead to environmental deterioration in cities Worsening condition of environment with depletion of environmental resources Decreasing productivity due to lack of adequate infrastructure and services

Lessons Learnt
As conventional ways have proved to be not

sufficient, the traditional ways will also co-exist in the production of urban services. The blending of the two should be based on combined sustainability. In order to ensure the viability of community produced services, these need to be integrated with the city wide networks.

 It is not necessarily good for a society in transition to

move to modern ways of living. The need to depend on the community decreases as the family income increases but this is not the solution as the family during the transition sacrifices most of the things it had been enjoying. Integrate culture and development by working with the people and providing them technological options to make full use of the cultural resources. Encourage training and HRD activities and build capacity for inclusive designs.

 Nepals traditional towns are becoming less inclusive

over time due to the failure to transform in line with the modern trends. There is an erosion of cultural and religious values. There is a shift towards unsustainable ways of living . Reliance on outside economies is increasing. Cities face increasing and a diverse set of problems relating to different population cohorts/groups. The failure to retain social networks with mutual help leads to the loss of inclusiveness in the society.

Thank you !!!