Vernacular Heritage as Urban Place-Making. Activities and Positions in the Reconstruction of Monuments after the Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, 2015–2020: The Case of Patan (original) (raw)
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Heritage preservation is a resource-intensive activity nested among other processes in the public administration, related to identity building and touristic product enhancement. Strategies and schemata associated with heritage preservation sprang in the western world after WWII and they have been adapted, in the form of 'heritage management', in various contexts with questionable effectiveness regarding sustainability. Our paper discusses the case of the post-earthquake cultural, social and political landscape of the World Heritage Site of Kathmandu valley in Nepal. By reviewing the bibliography and drawing upon various case studies of post-earthquake heritage restoration, we focus on the traditional ways of managing human and cultural resources in the area as related to the modern national heritage management mechanism. We also examine how traditional practices, re-interpreted into a modern context, can point towards inclusive and sustainable forms of collaboration based on the commons. We shed light on the elements of an emerging management system that could protect the vulnerable monuments through community participation, adapted to the challenging realities of the Nepalese heritage and its stakeholders.
Historic public spaces are one of the most defining elements of vibrant communities and matured urban landscapes. Cities of past and today have laid great emphasis on provision of public spaces and have defined the idea of livability through them. But, in the context of increased urbanisation, excessive pressure on urban land is resulting shrinking of historic spaces and vanishing of old legacies from traditional core cities. Asian cities are blessed with some of the greatest wealth in terms of Natural and built spaces, cultural heritage and vibrant communities. Nevertheless they are also one of the poorest users of these assets for managing invaluable urban resources and creating community ownership. In this context, this paper tends to instigate the urban structure of Kathmandu city, the world heritage site within it, its space hierarchy and organization of active public realm. Urban grain analysis, space order assessments and public space management framework in core city areas of Kathmandu have been compared with other similar nature Asian cities. Attempt has been made to analyze the nature of transformation of spaces from public to private and attached community activities with each type of spaces. Special emphasis has been laid on urbanisation resulted changing demand pattern in the city and threat to core heritage and space elements and emerging contestation in urban fabric. Philosophies of contestation in urban landscape of Kathmandu is been explored by comparing the old city fabric, building culture and community interactions with contemporary emerging city structures and space elements. Vision has been laid out to find ways to ensure co-sharedness and harmonious community living through bridging the old legacies and modern outfits in the historic city of Kathmandu. Keywords: Heritage, Public Spaces, Urban Landscape, Kathmandu, Liveability
Post-Earthquake Heritage Recovery In Kathmandu Valley
Nepal German Academic Association (NEGAAS) Journal, 2019
Nepal was hit by a devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake on 25 April 2015, Saturday at 11:56 am. The last earthquake of this magnitude was in year 1934, in a difference of 81 years. Out of then 75 districts, 31 districts in Nepal were affected by the earthquakes. Nepal suffered worst damage to its heritage buildings since 1934. Data provided by Nepal Government shows that there were 753 damaged monuments out of which 131 were fully destroyed all over Nepal. Many monuments in Kathmandu’s seven World Heritage Site were severely damaged. The Kathmandu Valley heritage landscape includes seven World Heritage Sites (WHS) inscribed as one UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are:- (i) the Darbar Square of Kathmandu (Basantapur), Patan, and Bhaktapur; (ii) the two important Buddhist monument sites of Boudha and Swayambhu and (iii) the two major Hindu sites of Pashupatinath and Changu Narayan. Cultural heritage is an expression of the ways of living, developed by community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, tangible objects , artistic expressions and values (ICOMOS 2002) . Nepal is extraordinary due to its heritage deeply intertwined with people, identity and lifestyle. This article delves into recovery of tangible heritage of Kathmandu Valley and its challenges. Furthermore, it offers perspective on German support for cultural heritage recovery of Kathmandu Valley
Importance of Cultural Heritage in a Post-Disaster Setting: Perspectives from the Kathmandu Valley
Journal of Social and Political Sciences
This paper explores the role of cultural heritage in a post-disaster setting and its importance in maintaining the social and cultural values in the redevelopment of areas damaged by an earthquake. It uses a case study method with the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal as the case study site. Intangible heritage in the valley such as daily rituals, festivals, and processions helped people to overcome the traumatic experiences of the disaster and helped communities reconnect with each other. Findings from the research show that cultural heritage plays an important role in helping people readjust their lives after major disasters such as the 2015 Nepal earthquake. It argues for recognition of cultural heritage in the post-disaster recovery and redevelopment process.
Scope and limitations of heritage-based resilience: some reflections from Nepal
Built Heritage, 2023
Recent risk preparedness and recovery frameworks have focused in particular on the themes of heritage and resilience. It is generally agreed among heritage professionals that heritage can play an important role in postdisaster recovery and resilience. However, heritage (monuments or sites or even intangible heritage) in general is perceived as a fragile resource that needs to be saved instead of as a source of resilience. This raises a question on what resilience means for the conceptualisation of heritage-is it about 'building back' the same heritage there was before, or is it also about making heritage relevant to the changed situation (due to disaster etc.)? Is resilience an inherent quality of heritage, or can it also be a process for reconsidering heritage in the postdisaster period? Instead of pursuing heritage as a passive recipient of any response and resilience building process, we can ask (i) how heritage provides refuge in times of crisis, (ii) how heritage can be an agent of distress in some situations, and (iii) what heritage and resilience mean together. Scholars have begun to raise questions about the meaning of heritage for building resilience and the meaning of resilience in relation to heritage. Taking built heritage as an example, while many aspects of built heritage, such as construction techniques, open spaces or resilient materials, may contribute to resilience and recovery, there are also situations where narrow streets and dense built fabric add to disaster risks. Similar dilemmas may be observed in the case of intangible heritage associated with urban areas and everyday life. Thus, this paper challenges the romanticisation of heritage values and explores rationales and critical perspectives that will enable us to conceptualise heritage as a potential source of resilience and recovery. By examining these critical issues, the paper hopes to help enhance the notion of heritage-based urban resilience and recovery rather than loosely promoting it. In doing so, references are made to global frameworks as well as local realities related to the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2023
The 2015 Nepal earthquakes devastated the Kathmandu Valley and exposed the challenges of conserving andrestoring architectural heritage in historic urban neighborhoods damaged by disasters, while also trying to rapidly rebuild houses, revitalize livelihoods, and reduce vulnerabilities to future hazards. In this paper we use quantitative and qualitative data to investigate how traditional housing was transformed during the post-earthquake reconstruction of four historic neighborhoods in the Kathmandu Valley. We assess how traditional housing stock in these neighborhoods was transformed by a combination of the direct impact of the earthquake; the enforcement of seismic-resistant modern building technology; the costs and logistics of rebuilding; and the priorities of local residents. Our findings indicate that the enforcement of seismic safety building codes and the expense of incorporating traditional architectural elements led to notable changes to the tangible cultural heritage of Kathmandu's historic urban neighborhoods, but likely also improved seismic safety.
SCITECH Nepal
Along with the establishment of Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA) vigorous discussions in bringing attention of communities as major responsibility in heritage conservation had been done in relation to earthquake affected cultural heritage areas in 2015. Likewise, numbers of reconstruction projects had also been forwarded and are being undertaken at different levels of implementation by respective authorities. In a figurative interpretation, NRA is at the verge of completion of reconstruction works in substantial numbers. However, the process of reconstruction still remained ambiguous to the communities of major cultural heritage sites plundering to dilemmas in implementation, of which many are still in disputes. Apart from the monument reconstruction in these areas, reconstruction works of private heritages have plunged into a prime concern on economic development through tourism promos unlikely to keeping cultural heritage essence, while the latter seems awful in fulfilling the...
Kapila D. Silva, (ed.) The Routledge Handbook on Historic Urban Landscapes of the Asia-Pacific. London & New York: Routledge. Hbk ISBN: 9781138598256. , 2020
In this chapter, we explore the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and historic urban landscapes, using the ideas of heritage in the context of India. The basic concept of heritage in Indian context is referred as dharohara that projects and maintains roots and identities of cultural landscapes. This is further explained as ethical code of life. Taking in view UNESCO’s guidelines on the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), the Indian concept of ICH is defined in terms of continuity of tradition, inclusiveness in making people’s social identity, cultural representation, and fellowship of community. Among 470 such ICH as defined by UNESCO, 13 exist in India; two of these – Rāmalīlā and Kuṁbha Melā – are associated with historic-holy cities of India and serves as nexus of the culture and urban space. The performances, activities and ongoing development strategies in these cities are befitting into the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – the 2030 Agenda/Target 11.4 that emphasizes preservation, protection and conservation of national and cultural heritage, taking in view the local conditions, policies and orientation. We specifically focus on the case studies of two historic-holy cities, Varanasi and Ayodhya (Fig. 16.1), illustrated with Rāmalīlās and pilgrimage circuits and associated rituals, to justify the validity of ICH as resource for development of historical urban landscapes and shaping of sustainable heritage city system. Under the mission of two ‘heritage-development’ programmes of HRIDAY and PRASAD, the government of India has already been operating such measures in historic-heritage cities, with strong vision that such heritage-inclusive development would serve as catalyst for the fulfilment of the SDGs and national strategies of development of historic urban landscape in the purview of making them vibrant and liveable centres of global harmony, spiritual awakening, peace and deeper understanding.
Threats to the spirit of the place: Urban Space and Squares, Historic City Core, Kathmandu
2008
The historic city core of Kathmandu consists of unique arts and architecture amidst vibrant culture, tradition and ritual practices. Its traditional compact planning is interrupted by spaces endowed with special character that they are testimony to existence and development of the spirit. But today, this spirit is missing due to its deteriorating spatial quality. There are many interlinked threats to the spirit of the space which lead to abandonment, loss of cultural heritage and sustainable practices. They eventually give rise to modernization trends which are inappropriate and incompatible. If not regulated in time, they will cause irreversible damage to the inherent spirit. At present, the focus of historic space is largely on monuments and houses but what traditional urban space needs is proper management of its uses relative to its values and time. For this, competent management and clear legal framework are required to regulate emerging challenges. Therefore, public participation, strengthening of institutional capacity and public awareness programs based on indigenous values shall be encouraged. Thereby, the traditional values are preserved and enhanced for contemporary needs and as well as for posterity. This research is based on urban space along axis linking squares of different hierarchy and accessibility, with Kathmandu Palace Square Monument Zone at the centre. The methodology consists of both theoretical and empirical findings through literature reviews, site surveys and interaction with local people and authorities.
Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage, 2017
Heritage and communities of compassion in the aftermath of the Great Earthquake, Nepal: a photographic reflection There is a grimy beauty to Nepal's erratic capital city, though it is not always easy to see. The very idea will seem contrary to reason to the tourist that finds themselves, with some inevitability, dodging motorbikes hell-bent on veering into them as they cross roughly tarmacked roads, for example, or to those who find themselves sitting, nervously, in the back of a taxi with a chassis that might well have been beaten out of an oil drum. The din and bustle is intense, but those able to look beyond the delirious haze of their surroundings soon realize that there is something magical about the chaos: Kathmandu is alive. Part of the colour and motion of its dreamscape are the marigold offerings at faded Hindu shrines, and the flutter of fresh Buddhist prayer flags caught up in the draft of a passing breeze. Both are mixed with the chime of religious charms and talismans dangling from the shutters of nearby shopfronts. The city is incredible: it is a living brick and concrete organism of veneration to the million deities that permeate its daily humdrum, drawing the observer into a mosaic of histories and heritages. And sitting amidst a maze that seethes with greasy shrines, teetering telegraph poles and cheaply-built buildings, patinated with wear and affection, is the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site, comprised of seven monument 'zones' inscribed on UNESCO's list in 1979. Though only seven locations have been earmarked for the global community as places of outstanding universal value, in the years we have been visiting Nepal we have oft heard the phrase, " there are as many shrines in Kathmandu as there are houses " .