Book launch:  Housing and Urban Development in Nepal by Dr. Jibgar Joshi

A program was organized at Xavier’s Academy, Lazimpat, Kathmandu, on December 28, 2013 to launch the third revised edition of Housing and Urban Development in Nepal authored by Dr. Jibgar Joshi. Apart from the launching of the book, the program deliberated on topical issues on the problems and challenges of housing and urban development in Nepal. The program started after tea and some light snacks.  It had rather an informal setting, which turned out to be rather productive, despite being a short program of little more than an hour.  The chief guest of the program Dr. Mohan Man Sainju, Former VC of National Planning Commission (NPC), released the book at the outset.

Guest of honor, Dr. Guna Nidhi Sharma, Former VC of NPC, was then invited to speak about the book. He presented a vivid account of the gloomy economic situation of Nepal and underscored the need for streamlining the housing and urban sector as advocated in the book.
He stressed on the need for balanced development and maintained that the increase in investments in modern housing have made the Nepalese economy less resilient as most inputs are imported and its impact on employment generation is not significant. His speech mostly focused on the difficult political environment for the planning bureaucrats and thinkers. He related the sad plight of the housing conditions with the deteriorating economy of the nation. His main focus was directed to the chaotic form of urbanization. He warned that urbanization if not managed as advocatged in the book would create a serious problem. He made it clear that the serious works like the present one should warn us to be aware of the problems due to the capital-driven activities especially in the Kathmandu Valley. He cited the problems and challenges of unplanned urban growth driven mainly by the global capital and resented on the rapid loss of agricultural land. He dwelt with the loss of resilience of the Nepalese economy and related it with the inability to cope with the urbanization. He congratulated the author for his contribution and stressed on the need for such serious efforts to make a change in the policy domain in Nepal.

The Master of Ceremony, Dr. Pramod Shrestha then invited Dr. Sunil Babu Shrestha, Former Member of NPC, to comment on the paper requesting him to be more focused on the book and not get diverted to the gloomy picture of Nepal that Dr. Sharma portrayed. He first summarized the contents of the book. Through his chapter-by-chapter analysis, he did an excellent job of exposing the book to generate interest among the participants during the Q/A session that followed. He made it easier for those present in the room to "know" what the book contains (or lacks) before reading it. He pointed out the strengths of the approaches in the book and the need for a wider dissemination of the ideas through its Nepali version to make a greater impact. He found the book to be highly readable and of topical interest and based on the most recent data and congratulated the author for such an excellent knowledge product. In terms of suggestions to improve the book, his shopping list included more detailed coverage on green technology and the recently growing portfolio of the housing finance; international best practices, senior citizen housing, cooperative investment on housing, and the issue of farmland loss. A single book cannot and does not necessarily cover everything. Others are free to build upon the existing work. His too much expectation from the book's future (and still unplanned) editions may be a result of his respect towards the author. He made a comprehensive review of the book.

Dr. Sainju then opened the floor for the Q/A session. It turned out to be a lively discussion on urban planning issues, such as the problem of drainage, river pollution, loss of cultural heritage, high-rise apartments, to name a few, not directly related with the book. Prof. Sudarshan Tiwari questioned if modern urban planning at the cost of heritage loss is inevitable. Prof Narendra Khanal questioned the logic behind spatial delineation of rural and urban areas and highlighted on the need for planning-led management.

Dr. Sainju, wrapping the discussions stressed on the need for being more critical on the issues raised in the book and some more efforts from the engineers’ community to deal with the problems. He lamented that planned urbanization efforts were weakened with the passing away of Dr. Harka Gurung. He recalled that even the data on the regional allocation of resources are no more available. Dr. Sainju gave a much more balanced comment. He praised the book and its author whom he personally knows to be a leading urban and regional planner. His criticism was that the book was not very critical. He was of the opinion that if some planning policies or interventions have gone wrong or failed, the book should explain why and how.

Dr. Pramod Shrestha then asked the author to speak a few words. Dr. Joshi began his short speech by expressing his gratitude to the gathering and thanked the organizers. He introduced the book through the three editions (1991, 1999, and 2013) and evaluated the planning environment during the three periods. He opined that the 1991 edition was based on rigorous planning exercises done during the late 1980s with the support of NPC. At that time, there was limited conflict of interest making it easier to plan. The environment for planning and rigorous studies at that time was more appropriate. He recalled his Humphrey Fellowship Year at MIT, which helped him to be sufficiently planning-oriented. But the problem then was how to implement the good ideas and intentions embodied in the plan and policies. This made him add a sub-title “analysis and design of participatory development process” in the 1999 edition. The implementation became more and more difficult with many imported ideas and political transition. Thus there was a natural bias for management as reflected in the subtitle of the second edition. But now this was no more relevant as the government itself is using its efforts and resources to sustain the new capital mode of development, which despite many adverse implications failed to thrive in our case. This reduced the relevance of the question of planning-led management as raised by Prof. Khanal, he explained. The preservation of historical towns, culture and all good things of the past got less priority as rightly pointed out by Prof. Tiwari. Dr. Joshi said that he has no intention of being critical to the recent changes given that the country is still under political transition.  However, he fully agreed with Dr. Sainju that it is high time that engineering and planning community should raise a bigger voice for putting the policy and planning on the right track as there is no point in subsidizing the capital-led development.

On behalf of the organizers, Mr. Kishore Jha delivering a vote of thanks expressed his deep appreciation to the chief guest, guest of honor and commentator. He thanked the author recalling that he read the second edition of the book during his study of urban planning at the Institute of Engineering.

The program, attended by eminent planners, economists, and academia, provided a forum on the current problems of Nepal and highlighted the need for making a voice on the need for balanced development both in terms of sector as well as space  through the streamlining of the housing and urban development sector.  The Govt of Nepal is in the process of strengthening urban governance in each and every municipality under LGCDP II with UNDP support. Because of the inclusion of 'urban governance', the book is relevant not only for urban planners but also for governance experts. This book deserves a wider platform.

Interview

Posted by Jibgar Joshi on Friday, August 23, 2013

Nepal’s Urban Planning Aims for Affordable Green Housing | RUPSON | Dr. Jibgar Joshi

December 27, 2012.


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With Nepal’s current Three Year Plan focusing on the environmentally friendly public buildings and green housing for the poor, urban planning is now a scheme needs to put a heavy focus on. Poor cities hold more potential and opportunities for green business as the sustainable construction and green development in general as they tend to have low energy demand.

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Although there is no green building project being specifically included in the Government’s plan, there are attempts to enhance eco-friendly buildings within their urban planning through building system regulations as a whole. According to Dr. Jibgar Joshi, the President of RUPSON (Regional and Urban Planners’ Society of Nepal), various possibilities of green buildings in Nepal also exist due to its long tradition of sustainable architecture as shown by the medieval towns. He also shares more insight on the Nepal’s current urban condition through the following exclusive interview with AsiaGreenBuildings.com.

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It is predicted that soon enough, non-environmental friendly urban development will be unable to thrive. With that in mind, what is the current status of the green city planning projects and policies in Nepal? What are the most recent changes?

For poorer cities with low energy use, it is relatively easier to promote the concept of green city and green building. With the consistent failure of conventional land use plans in the form of master plans, Nepal introduced integrated action planning (IAP) for towns and cities. This approach is highly popular among the municipalities. IAP generates two types of planning tools mutually integrated to address the need to promote sustainable development. The first is multi-sectoral investment plan (MSIP) that covers all the projects to satisfy the present needs of the people and the second is physical and environmental development plan (PEDP) that helps to sustain the ecological base of the city. Municipalities are required to prepare their periodic plans; and PEDP is their key building block.

Land pooling projects have helped to improve the urban environment. They provide infrastructure and service in a sustainable way. Upgrading of traditional towns like Bhaktapur is also in line with the sustainable development pathways. However, the duplicability of such concepts depends on whether they conflict with the market forces or not. For instance, the experience of Bhaktapur is not transferable to Kathmandu metropolis.

There are a number of eco-villages and healthy cities projects. The national policy has underscored the need to maintain balance in natural and cultural environment. Environment improvement programs have been implemented in several cities. The negative environmental and social impacts of uncontrolled housing and have been identified as a major challenge. The current Three Year Plan has focused on the development of safe, cost-effective and environment-friendly public buildings and housing for the poor. The goal is to mitigate the adverse effects of human activities and development works through the encouragement of the concept of green development.

Nepal has been in a transitional phase for long. One of the consequences of this has been further concentration of activities in the Kathmandu Valley. The development here is due to the concentration of the wealth as well as the stagnation in the outlying areas. Most of the activities of the political parties take place here and with this, the expenditure of the government has increased. The infrastructure and service conditions have not however met the growing demands. Failure to meet the increasing demand for infrastructure and services has led to incremental type of projects to somehow ease the crisis. This means initiatives on green development are presently lacking.

Among the urban planning projects in Nepal, are there any green building projects included? If not, how big is the probability for those kinds of projects to happen in Nepal?

There is no green building project specifically included among urban planning projects in Nepal. However, attempts are made in making any urban planning project environmentally friendly through regulating the building system as a whole. There are various possibilities of green buildings in Nepal due to its long tradition of sustainable architecture as shown by the medieval towns. These towns consume low energy; and are compact settlements with efficient use of land resources. They are cohesive as well as inclusive.

Urban planning practices in Nepal have invariably been based on sustainable approaches. Hardly had there been any conflicts of interests created through huge investments based on modern development. In fact, due to poverty and primitiveness, most unsustainable constructions were resisted persistently. It is only lately that modern constructions in the form of high-rise apartment buildings cropped up. However, these new developments are also presently facing crisis showing the relevance of the concept of green development. The neglect of environment has also made them economically infeasible.

What are the economic and social benefits of having environmentally friendly buildings both for individuals and companies?

There are many. For instance, they help to achieve not only ecological but also aesthetic harmony between the structure and its ambiance. They increase building efficiency and their use of resources, like water and energy. They also have less adverse impact on human health and the environment over the complete life cycle of the building — location, design, construction, operation. maintenance and demolition. They help to alleviate the negative impact of human activities on environment. Otherwise, curtailment of GHG emission has also become an economic necessity. Resources are becoming scarce for companies to sustain and a shift to green development is the only solution. Last but not least of all, this goes without saying, but the environment is both a means and an integral part of the social goods. Green building helps to save the environment in order to enhance the social good.

In your opinion, what are the main threats that blocks green buildings development – and green technology in general – in Nepal?

Being a very poor country, Nepal’s economic prosperity depends on the relationship with its big neighbors, India and China. Despite their spectacular economic growth, these countries are increasingly facing challenges in promoting green development and green buildings because of their rapid economic growth. This means these countries while helping Nepal in her pursuit for economic development will view Nepal as a convenient place to pass on more polluting activities and goods. This will impair the existing traditional potentials for green development in Nepal.

What’s more, Nepal is a low GHG emitter. As such, it is more concerned with adaptation to the consequences of climate change; and adaptation measures do not have to be environment-friendly. this sort of policy gap encourages a shift towards unsustainable life styles and behavioral changes and undermines the value of green development and green buildings.

Another threat is, the normal course of transformation of a primitive economy to a modern one has never been a sustainable one. With ever-increasing shortfall in urban infrastructure and services, the government is trying to cope with the emerging challenges by any means. This has become a major threat, as crisis management strategies are unlikely to be adequately sustainable.

What is the general vision of sustainable development, particularly regarding green buildings?

In my mind, green building is a powerful tool for sustaining the sustainable development pathways. Sustainable development is the development that integrates the growth, equity and environmental dimensions of development through a process of balancing these components with reference to the stage of development of a nation at a particular time through good governance. Given the poverty level, the vision of sustainable development for Nepal is economic growth and prosperity with due considerations to equity and environment so as to enhance the ability to sustain the economic growth for a longer period. One effective way of addressing this is to focus on green buildings where equity and environment are simultaneously addressed without having to lose anything as regards to economic growth.

The vision of sustainable development is to ensure sustained development through the integration and continuous balancing of the goals related to growth, equity, and environment through the promotion of good governance led by the people. Green building is an effective tool that has a potential to promote growth and equity without having to impair environment.

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