SPACES Sept issue 2017
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SPACES Sept issue 2017

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URBAN PLANNING W hat connects, can also divide; and roads probably exemplify this the best. Many streets in the old neighborhoods of Kathmandu Valley, where locals used to socialize or children used to play, have changed to become roads that divide neighborhoods like a knife cutting a cake into pieces. The two sides of the road are no longer the same single neighborhood that locals have known for generations. Roads have partitioned communities with vehicles dominating every possible inch of the space. Our cities have been losing open spaces. Public lands have been encroached – even by public authorities at times. Buildings and shopping malls are dominating the urban landscape in every imaginable way, creating their own traffic and putting pressure on government to make space for more vehicles by building roads or widening streets. And unlike in old days, roads are not public space any more – they are “exclusive” space for vehicles, whether moving or parked. Pedestrians have been reduced to secondary users of roads – a minority vulnerable to the verbal abuse from motorists. STREETS AS PUBLIC SPACE Old streets and pathways in the Valley served many functions besides the obvious use of walking. Streets acted as an extension of residential space where locals could socialize, children could play, elders could sunbathe or farmers could sun-dry grains. Houses were built without compound walls – a rarity these days – and streets formed part of the built environment linking houses with temples, bahabahi (Buddhist monastries), chowk (courtyards), paati (resthouse), dhwakha (town gates), ponds, and dhunge dhara (stone spouts). The place belonged to everyone, and everyone belonged to the place. Streets also connected communities by providing space for or rather by taking part in jatra (festivals), ritual processions, and other socio-cultural and religious functions. Each of these functions would have historically defined routes and thereby streets or pathways. 36 / SPACES SEPTEMBER 2017

URBAN PLANNING TEXT : Kirti Kusum Joshi Photos : Naresh Shrestha Reclaiming streets as public space SEPTEMBER 2017 SPACES / 37

URBAN PLANNING<br />

TEXT : Kirti Kusum Joshi<br />

Photos : Naresh Shrestha<br />

Reclaiming<br />

streets<br />

as public space<br />

SEPTEMBER <strong>2017</strong> <strong>SPACES</strong> / 37

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