Urban Hub 12 : Inferno & Phoenix

Urban Hub Integral UrbanHub

Inferno & Phoenix Kathmandu & Beyond A visual diary

Thriveable Cities Paul van Schaik

integralMENTORS

12

Urban Hub Inferno & Phoenix

Kathmandu & Beyond – A Visual Dairy

Thriveable Cities Integral UrbanHub

12

Barbara & Paul van Schaik integralMENTORS

A series of graphics from integralMENTORS integral UrbanHub work on Thriveable Cities presentations.

Copyright ©© integralMENTORS– January 2019

“… everything was fresh, green and particularly beautiful. Afternoon light, filtering between remnants of monsoon clouds, picked out gullies and spot-lit patches of forest and scrub on the convoluted ridges of the rim of the Kathmandu Valley. Or, after a rainstorm, wisps of clouds clung to the trees as if scared to let go. Behind, himals peeked out shyly between the clouds.”

Jane Wilson-Howarth, A Glimpse of Eternal Snows: A Journey of Love and Loss in the Himalayas

A city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time Patrick Geddes

Content Kathmandu Valley Kathmandu Swayambhu Patan Boudha Pharping Dhulikhel

& Beyond

Pokhara Sarangkot

Inferno & Phoenix

Kathmandu Valley

Introduction – Kathmandu valley For three months from April 2018, my husband and I returned for the first time in thirty years, to the place we love most in the world – Nepal. What we found had changed, but our feelings had not. This is an account, in images and words, of our return.

KATHMANDU VALLEY The Beginning There was a time when we were all in love with Kathmandu. That time varied from person to person, the time they were there. For many it was early, the beginning of the 70’s, not long after the ‘hidden valley’ decided to be hidden no longer, and admitted the first foreigners. Some, very few, were there at that beginning in the 60’s and it’s not difficult to imagine the paradise they must have found then, unaffected by any kind of modern intrusion, truly gates opening to the forbidden land – a sense conveyed so well by the writer Han Suyin in her (for me) unforgettable 1958 novel ‘The Mountain is Young’. She was amongst a group of the very first foreigners invited for the coronation of King Mahendra (1956) which she describes in the novel.

They found a magical green valley, ringed by the highest hills, with the glorious ‘snow-mountains’ as Nepalis call them, proud in the distance. Round every corner was a treasure of centuries-old architecture, sacred sites and public worship. Best of all, the people of the valley, the Newaris, showed no hostility but welcomed the new arrivals with open arms, and not because they sought to gain materially, but because of the now well-known ‘Namaste’- ‘I salute the god in you’. Which means that we are all holders of gods, therefore no-one could be disdained, or treated badly, and that we all belong together. These 70’s visitors were early teachers, Peace Corps workers, diplomats, and of course those who had been waiting for just such an opportunity, the travelers who found their way to Kathmandu, most along the ‘hippie route’ via Istanbul, from Europe.

Then the 80’s arrived, with ‘visiting’ well underway. It seemed everyone wanted a piece of Kathmandu – and the mountains.

Mountaineers came for Everest and the other peaks, travelers no longer had to slog across lands but could access the valley via the new trekking companies and travel agencies. International Aid was at full swing with consultants who loved the ambiance and gentle people and made their own impact on the culture with new cafes, restaurants and shopping for the intricately carved brasswork images and handwoven textiles. We were among these last – in the mid-80’s my husband was employed as an Aid consultant and our family of five flew for the first time over those hills and down into the valley.

And what an unforgettable moment that was – that first sight of the clustered red roofs, the brilliance of the green paddies with a farmhouse dotted here and there, and as we came closer, the golden tops of the pagoda-style temples and the huge, strange white shape we came to know as the Great Stupa at Boudhanath – then a small Tibetan settlement of Buddhist temples, house and shops near the Stupa. We had all gazed in wonder.

“Now it has all changed” From Phoenix and Inferno - Barbara van Schaik : vS Publishers 2019

Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu Valley 2018

Kathmandu valley c2000

Kathmandu valley c2015

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Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 1877

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley c1968

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 2018

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 2018

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 2018

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 2018

Swayambhunath – Kathmandu valley 2018

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Boudha

Boudha – Kathmandu valley c1968

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Boudha – Kathmandu valley c Boudha – Kathmandu valley 1968

Boudha – Kathmandu valley 2018

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Dhulikhel

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Beyond

outside the valley

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Beyond the Valley

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Inferno breakdown

Earthquake

Inferno – Kathmandu Valley

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Phoenix Rebirth - Reconstruction

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Phoenix - Reconstruction

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Timeless - Himalaya

Integral UrbanHub

Kathmandu & Beyond

a personal journey

Thriveable Cities

Urban Hub12

A series of graphics from integralMENTORS integral UrbanHub work on IMP and Thriveable Cities This work shows the graphics from a dynamic deck that accompany a presentation on Visions & WorldViews and Thriveable Cities. The history of the co-evolution of cities, evolving WorldViews, Visions & Mindsets in urban Habitats and technology is presented in an integral framework.

Integral theory is simply explained as it relates to these themes see UH 2 & UH 3 for more detail.

This volume is part of an ongoing series of guides to integrally inform practitioners.