Political economy of urban change: contestations and contradictions in urban development in Kathmandu Valley focusing on a case of Southern Part of Lalitpur Metropolitan City

Being one of the top ten fastest urbanizing countries in the world with almost 60% urban areas, Nepal and mostly Kathmandu valley (KV), is undergoing rapid urban transition of spatial, demographic and economic changes, especially after the restoration of democracy in 1990 and subsequent political turmoil and changes. As a capital city with opportunities like access to education, jobs, health facilities and others, KV has been constantly pulling people from different parts of the country that led to densification of the city cores and uncontrolled urban sprawl, leading to unplanned growth of the built-up areas in the peri-urban landscape. This working paper, taking a case from a southern settlement of KV called Khokana, analyses the current trend of urbanization in KV with a reference of land use in general, and examines the responses from the local Newar communities as part of the tension and contradictions brought by the urbanization process and development interventions there in. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and review of literature, this study found that there is increasing demand of land creating speculative rise in land prices espoused by the infrastructure development projects being implemented by the federal government. Ultimately, the traditional place and culture are threatened so is the alienation of local people from their land, impacting their livelihood. Also, these development projects do not have resilient plans for their negative impacts in case of natural hazards, risking the achievement of resilient development in tomorrow's cities

Community’s Aspirations, Envisioned Policies and Urban Planning for Equitable and Resilient Development of the Capital City Rapti/Deukhuri of Lumbini Province

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Socialising tomorrow's cities: Envisioning a future city in Rapti/Deukhuri Valley, Nepal.

Taking six cases of socio-economically disaggregated communities of the Rapti/Deukhuri Valley (southwestern Nepal), the book analyses communities' aspirations, hopes, future land use plans, risk management strategies, and policy priorities for actualising an equitable and resilient capital city in the Valley. While all communities aspired for resilient infrastructures, their priorities varied. The Tharus community prioritised preserving fertile land and Tharu culture, the migrants proposed strategic settlement expansion, integrating agricultural lands and green spaces, and Ethnic communities aspired for a future city with agricultural zones and flood control measures. The Madhesi, Muslim, and Dalit communities advocated for equitable access to housing and basic services. The informal settler/squatter community seeks land and housing security, education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. Finally, the Planners (i.e. government-employed urban planners and local elected representatives) envisioned an eco-friendly city with agriculture, employment, land categorisation, and cultural tourism. Incorporating the social and spatial elements in the envisioned city, the disaggregated groups prioritised policies for (1) a context-sensitive disaster risk reduction management, (2) managing informal communities, (3) ensuring agriculture and livelihood security, (4) conserving local ecology (e.g. forests, water), and (5) fostering traditional and technical skills for employment and economic prosperity in this provincial capital. The following key policy actions to socialise tomorrow's capital city in the Valley require the local and provincial authorities to (i) integrate resilient infrastructures and community perspectives in multi-hazard risk management, (ii) ensure equitable opportunities for employment, training, and inclusive decision-making accommodating a growing mixed society, and (iii) promote small-scale and traditional businesses for sustainable future livelihoods. Adhering to the principles of inclusivity and promoting equity, ecology, and good governance is vital for building a discrimination-free, risk-resilient, and well-governed tomorrow's capital city in the Valley

The urban political ecology of ‘haphazard urbanisation’ and disaster risk creation in the Kathmandu valley, Nepal

This paper examines the impact of rapid urbanisation on the production of unequal disaster risk in Khokana, peri-urban town in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. It brings together scholarships in disaster risk creation and urban political ecology, asking: (1) what are the roots of Khokana’s specific urbanisation trajectory; (2) how is this trajectory altering geographies of hazard risks in Khokana; and (3) how is this risk unevenly distributed between social groups. The data reveal overlapping forms of risk and precarity affecting residents’ (long-standing and migrants) everyday lives, in ways that disproportionately impact already-disadvantaged and marginalised groups. These unequal risk geographies are related to the specific forms and processes of urban growth occurring in Khokana, fuelled by three powerful, interconnected pressures: neoliberal capitalist expansion, internal migration, and a strong developmental state. We characterise the resulting form of urbanisation as ‘haphazard’: a patchwork of planned and unplanned developments, with inadequate attention to hazard risk, livelihood stability and essential services. The paper advances understanding of the place- and historically-specific ways that hazard risk intersects with social, political and economic forces to produce disaster risk in rapidly-urbanising centres. We extend calls for more situated UPE analysis and call for greater, more granular attention to forms of haphazard urbanisation and their uneven risk-producing qualities. We conclude an urgent need to reimagine urban development as a political and economic project, and for future urban planning to pay deliberate and deliberative attention to risk factors, both in KV and in other rapidly urbanising areas of the global South