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The concept of housing is not confined to just a house or a building. An expensive and beautiful house does not necessarily satisfy our housing needs. The resilience of buildings against earthquake along with the level of satisfaction of housing related needs during and after the disaster really matters. No doubt we need a roof over our heads and whenever it rained, this need was greatly felt. However, after the recent earthquake, most of us might have sensed and gathered a different perspective on our need for housing. To fulfill our needs, shelter is required to primarily protect us from unpleasant climatic conditions such as rain, wind, extreme heat or cold. At the time of the earthquake, our primary concern had been whether we were safe or not; wondering what was the chance of us being rescued if we were trapped. The chance naturally depends on the availability of willing fellow human beings and their organizations to help and rescue others and an easy access to the place of accident. The house we once considered our safe abode no longer provided us a sense of security; instead it became a subject of concern.
Most of our basic survival needs are related with, if not integral parts of, housing. We need open space, on-site physical infrastructure and services such as evacuation routes, water, sanitation and health, energy for lighting and cooking and so on. In terms of their relative availability, we must have learnt after going through the unique experience of living through many earthquakes within a week that some of the challenges that we face in meeting our needs are due to our sophisticated living standards that the society as a whole cannot afford. We seem to have been using modern approaches that are not easy for us to maintain at the time of crisis. Despite hard work it took several days to replace basic infrastructure like electricity, telecommunication and water.

We also realized that there are threats due to unethical activities such as artificial scarcity of essential goods and services, black marketing, crime and theft, dissemination of false predictions of earthquake with the purpose of creating chaos and disorder. This impaired our sense of security all the more.
We could clearly see that resources required for meeting such housing needs are not well taken care of. Our common public open spaces are mostly dirty, water-logged and inhabitable. Water sources are not well maintained and clean. Streets are crammed with improper garbage disposal and access for escape is not easy. The complete destruction of Dharahara with a large number of casualties clearly showed that we grossly neglected the safety of our heritage sites. Such sites instead of providing risk mitigation services turned into areas of fear and resentment. Some wider roads were used for shelter and private cars parked on roadsides provided shelter for some. However they are primarily meant for vehicular traffic and are not used as public space or for shelter. Most spaces owned and managed by government agencies were not easily accessible. These led us to realize the lack of habitable open spaces where we can take refuge by constructing temporary shelter to sleep and to plan for carrying out relief works and providing basic needs. We realized that we should have minimized built-up space, leaving behind more open space for community use. We thus failed to plan and create built-up space for public purpose to meet our needs at the time of disaster. Common spaces whether open or built, proved to be more useful than the private ones. Community space facilitates the provision of services associated with housing.
Our experiences and learning, to my mind, drives us to the point that it will be easier to meet housing needs if the process of rebuilding is based on a holistic view of our needs. Rebuilding should mean not just to rebuild the house but the whole process of fulfilling our housing needs. Somehow we have misinterpreted our housing needs during the last few decades. We seem to have failed to realize that the primary function of housing is not wealth accumulation, property ownership or social prestige that disrupts coherence and harmony in society. The process of rebuilding implies a comprehensive approach that takes care of all the aspects of sustainable development directed to the revival of community resilience. The limited public space that we have ought to be used for rebuilding social cohesiveness. Help and relief activities in such times can be sustained only if the resources required for rebuilding can be replenished. Extensive use of otherwise available resources will create scarcity leading to price escalation. It is necessary to sustain their supply and recognize the increasing cost of production. Some goods and resources need to be rationed although this is likely to be increasingly difficult and inequitable in our case. We need to understand that scarcity of resources will lead to rise in price and if we try to control prices, supply will decline causing more inflation and scarcity. This implies that we should not leave any room for creating scarcity. We should manage for the required resources right at the beginning. If we cannot supply enough, we ought to lower our standards in order to avoid the risk of scarcity. Sustained supply of necessary goods and building materials is an important aspect; otherwise spending will just raise prices and the lack of necessary inputs will affect rebuilding. Sustainable use of scarce resources will help minimize spending and check the price level to a certain extent. Instead of grants, interest-free loans will be more effective for mobilizing families and the community in the process of rebuilding.
All with good intention should have the right and access to serve the people in distress. However the resilience of the community itself needs to be respected for coordinating the relief works. This is the best strategy for the State to choose between alternative avenues of providing basic services required at the time of disaster as well as for rebuilding after the disaster. External help should and can reach the neighborhood level and people at distress will unite themselves to live together by helping each other. Relief received from outside may not be adequate for sustaining the process of rebuilding. People, families and neighborhoods in post traumatic distress need to maintain love and compassion among themselves for their steady recuperation. Moreover, any external help would work as a connecting thread linking different communities that are trying to rebuild their resilience themselves. People who are willing to help will come forward if their help is being integrated with institution-driven assistance. This is possible when we allow neighborhoods to express what they need most. The process of rebuilding should take this into account.
Loss of human lives and other assets will be less if we lower our standards of living while meeting our real housing needs. This is not something new for us. We applied the norms set in Basic Housing Plan 1986 for the 1988 Earthquake Rehabilitation Program and it worked well. We need to appreciate this and not forget our dire realities despite our sudden exposure to globalization and modern lifestyles.

Nepal first adopted regional planning during the Fourth Plan (1970-75) and subsequent periodic plans have emphasised regional balance as an important policy guideline. However, it remains the least understood concept. The confusion is apparent even in the proposition of leading economist-planners who presume regional growth models without assessment of local resources. It is, thus, not surprising that there has been misinterpretation and distortion in translating the policy into programmes.

The initial regional strategy formulated was the integration of mountain, hill and terai economies through four selected growth axes. It visualised concentration of devleopment activities along the designated growth axes to affect interregional economic specialisation and exchange. Periodic plans maintained this policy guidleine but the secotral plans were never location specific. Thus, during the Fourth Plan (1970 -75), the major north-south roads were labelled the spine of the growth axes but no intensive complementry programmes were devised along these growth axes. During the Fifth Plan (1975-80), regional efforts were diverted to Small Area Development Programme which was focused on disjunct pocket areas. By the Sixth Plan (1980-85), development of growth axis has superseded by various integrated rural development projects.The creation of four development regions in 1972 and emphasis on balance among these east-west regions led to haphazard disaggregation of projects and programmes without any organic linkage. Regional planning was interpreted as a wholesale dispersal of projects instead of judicious aggregation.With utter lack of research and analysis at the reginal level, it is obvious that impending Seventh Plan (1985-90) will be no different from its predecssors in its regional development. Regional strategy is partiularly suited to teh Nepalese space with pronounced natural and economic diversity and there is need for a clear exposition of the basic concept. It is where the merit of the present book lies.

The author provides ideas and theories that inspired regional planning, reviews the state of spatial planning in Nepal and presents an appropriate regional strategy for devlopment. This book will be most useful to practicing planners, particularyly economist planners, and polciy makers.

June 28, 1985 Harka Gurung

ABSTRACT
The main goal of the paper is to highlight Nepal’s experience in sustainable urbanization. It will give a brief background on Nepal; and present some planning approaches that have helped to deal with the problems of urbanization to make it more sustainable. It will show how policies evolved over time that
helped to resist undesirable changes. It will briefly describe sustainable approaches in the context of Nepal. Nepal has just become a republic; and is presently undergoing a major change. It is but natural that the interest of the government and business may not be in favor of environment during the transition. The need for high economic growth is realized. However, adjustments in the context of sustaining the growth are ignored. This is also reflected by the failure of the government to manage environmental services. The increased outside influence and the people’s increasing expectations
due to changes have implications on it. In this regard, the paper will assess these and the emerging threats to the traditional approaches, which are still viable. It will work on the trade-off between
economic growth and sustainability. It will try to show how sustainable ways of urban development are facing the increasing threats. It will finally raise issues to seek to learn from the Malaysian experiences to help sustain such approaches.

Dimaklumkan bahawa Institut Alam Sekitar dan Pembangunan (LESTARI), UKM akan menganjurkan Siri Seminar LESTARI seperti berikut:
Tarikh: 2 Disember 2008 (Selasa)
Masa: 10.30 pagi
Tempat: Bilik Sumber LESTARI, UKM
Tajuk: NEPAL’S EXPERIENCE IN SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Penceramah: Dr. Jibgar Joshi, Advisor: National Planning Commission, Nepal
Sila klik untuk lihat Abstrak daripada Dr. Jibgar Joshi.
Keterangan lanjut sila hubungi Tel: 03-89214149/4158.
Semua yang berminat dijemput hadir.
(ewarga/bul/bil.21112008-87)

Summary

Regional imbalances and disparity have caused a growing concern in the process of planned development in Nepal. The objectives of planned development efforts did not limit to economic growth alone. A more equitable distribution of development benefits around different areal units became an equally urging development objective. Formerly, it used to be presumed that economic growth will be automatically associated with a more equitable distribution through the invisible hand. Time has demonstrated that regional imbalances are increasing with growth. On the other hand, distributional aspects to ensure equity and social justice by regions as well as by social classes became the topmost priority. The problems of urbanization and environmental quality also attracted attention. Moreover, how the negligence of certain regions may jeopardize the national economy and how the growing disparity may eventually threaten the national integrity became more vivid. The unique geophysical condition of the country with three inherently different ecological zones has called forth a new strategy for planning in Nepal.
Till the end of the Third Plan, the dimension of space has got little to do with the development planning with the result that development efforts did not meet with much success even when assessed from the efficiency aspect of development. During the Fourth Plan, regional planning is introduced with a purpose of decreasing disparity and ensuring integration of the national economy. The envisaged strategy is a growth pole strategy of regional development. But the strategy failed to be sufficiently comprehensive. The present study reveals that most of the efforts have been made on an ad hoc basis.
A purely sectoral and investment-oriented plan has got a very limited influence on the development process of the country. Regional planning should emerge in Nepal not as a precept to influence sectoral planning and to throw some guidelines in the national planning process but as a practice and comprehensive methodology having broad policy implications at all levels of planning. Multi-level regional planning should be adopted to attain the national objectives. In order to solve the problem of development and to attain the broad national objectives, it becomes necessary to give a pragmatic definition to regional planning. Regional planning should have implications at all levels of implementation of sectoral plans. It is possible to evolve a new approach to regional planning in the context of Nepal that will become an effective means of attaining the national objectives.
An integral part of the proposed strategy is based on a system of central places of different hierarchy. Economic location theory, central place studies, urbanization process, and spatial interaction relations become relevant in the evolution of the system of central places. In order that the growth pole theory may function well in the Nepalese context, it becomes necessary to conceive of a spatial system comprising of growth centres of different ranks. Only then one can achieve the national goals through a growth pole strategy. The location of central places of different ranks becomes a crucial issue. First, it is necessary to identify the existing central places. Then only it becomes logical to create a necessary number of central places at appropriate locations. A judiciously decided system of growth foci will ensure spatial integration. The articulation of the system of central places in a hierarchical arrangement will facilitate the diffusion of development impulses and the proliferation of growth. The benefits of economic growth will be transmitted through the central place hierarchy. A spatial order conducive to development will ultimately emerge.
The model suggested by this study envisages five different levels of central places besides the national capital, the national capital being designed as the centre of immense significance in sending out development impulses. At the lowest level in the hierarchy, there are central villages and rural towns where village infrastructure are built up and urban amenities are made available. This strategy will ensure the minimum quality of life even in the most backward areas of the country. Otherwise, it becomes difficult for lagging regions to break through the initial stages of development in spite of huge investments. Development becomes possible only through social and attitudinal changes. The other central places are growth points, growth centres and regional development centres. These centres will establish linkages in the spatial system. The level of infrastructure to be provided in these different centres will be related to the rank of the centres. With the adoption of this strategy, social transformation for regional development can be effectuated and a gradual social transformation with technology-transfer becomes possible. The problems posed by interregional migration have to be solved rather than checking migration itself. The growth pole strategy will no doubt check interregional migration to a considerable extent by providing urban amenities to the rural poor; and this is a positive measure. Decentralization of decision-making organ of the government becomes a precondition for the success of the strategy.
The extent of areas influenced by different central places differs in relation to the rank of the central places. It becomes necessary to divide the country into several areal units. The present study shows that development regions are not adequate for the purpose of planning. The concept of planning regions assumes a crucial role in the proposed strategy. While it is not denied that the integration of the economies of the three ecologically different zones should be the end product of spatial planning in Nepal, areal plans for the entire development regions are viable. The dominating characteristics of a planning region are that all the parts of the region should exhibit more or less similar problems of development so that same decisions can be taken for the entire region. Even then the significance of Development Regions is not rooted out. Development regions can be considered as closed since each of them has got all the three ecological zones. Each of the development regions has been divided into three planning regions comprising of the three ecological zones: the terai, the hill and the mountain. Formulation of regional plans for each of the planning regions is the methodology of regional planning advocated by this study. The preparation of regional plans depends on regional research; techniques of regional planning should be used. However, due to lack of data it is not possible to use them immediately. Empirical regional research should first be made to reveal regional structures of different planning regions.
In the formulation of regional plans, it is necessary to study the interregional trade relations. By creating unidirectional tariff walls, it is possible to help weaker regions to develop its economic base. The other alternative, i.e., to make huge investment is not desirable.
Although planning regions have been accepted as the most convenient areal units for regional planning in Nepal, Development region will offer itself as an adequate unit for integration. The main problem arises due to the hill – terai dichotomy. Development regions have in fact emerged because of this. When the ecological zones differ radically, integration becomes possible only through functional specialization and interdependency linkages. Integration ensures the wider participation of the people in development works through political consensus and concerted efforts. Although to specify what ought to be the interregional relations is an integral part of a prospective model, the economic base of many regions are feeble and the only relevant step available is to help weaker regions to build up their economic structures. For every region, it is necessary to ascertain certain activities that will make regional climate conducive to growth. It is a rational step to help regions develop their most productive activities. When different regions prefer the same activity most, the interest of a weaker region should be protected provided it has no alternative to build up its economy. Each planning region must build up its own economy. This is the only way that a poor and weak region can make a legitimate claim for its development. Integrated regional development program should, in fact, be based on such considerations. Such an approach while protecting the weaker regions, justifies a lion’s share of investments in more advanced regions as the benefits accrued from them will be made available even to the weaker regions. In the context of Nepal, this is the only choice that will integrate the terai region with the hill economy.
It becomes thus necessary to conceive of a national system comprising of the regional sub-systems where these sub-systems are closely interwoven thorough functional interrelations. Activity complex analysis of each region in their interregional settings will help to fix the priority of regional development efforts. For a self sustaining growth of any region, it is necessary to perceive how the region will establish strategic links with others, regional development depends upon a regions’ influence over the national system. Therefore an activity will be encouraged in a region only when its location in the region makes the region more vulnerable to interregional relationship and linkages and regional activities will be so conceived as to create highly interrelated sub-systems. Alternatively, a system where the regional interests and objectives are mutually consistent may be conceived of.
The process of development planning can be initiated from the top as well as from the bottom. But for an emerging country like Nepal, it should be done both from the top as well as from the bottom. If the first strategy is adopted by the time the efforts would be transmitted to grassroots level, everything will be dissipated. The other strategy will pose a formidable problem of assembling the smaller parts. The smaller parts when assembled together may give absurd results.
Feedback between different levels of planning is thus indispensable. Starting from the national economy, in order to double the per capita GDP within a period of two decades, different rates of growth for the four development regions considering regional equality and the national efficiency have been anticipated. The regional investments concomitant to these growth rates for different development regions have been computed for the period 1975/76 to 1994/95 using a simple econometric model. The analysis showed that equity and efficiency are conflicting goals. Eastern Development Region is the most productive region and Far-western Development Region is the least one. These investments will be allocated to the respective planning regions of each of the development regions. In doing so, the strategic activities in each of the planning regions are identified. They are given the topmost priority.
Equality will have meaning if all the regions have equal opportunity to develop and the poor like the rich are not denied the rights to the minimum necessities of life. Huge investments in the form of human capital and social services have been planned in the lagging regions.
Sectoral plans should be formulated at the level of planning regions as well. Infrastructural development should be the part and parcel of these plans. Three categories of infrastructure are identified – local infrastructure, regional infrastructure and national infrastructure. Regional plans should be prepared considering all these aspects. Such plans thus become the key instrument in the process of national integration.