Urban Regeneration of Taulachhen Tole

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING AND POST DISASTER RECONSTRUCTION PLANNING ICEE-PDRP 2016 24-26 APRIL 2016, BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL

Urban Regeneration of Taulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur Sujan Das Shrestha1

Abstract This paper is focused on the study of a traditional residential quarter—Taulachhen Tole, at Bhaktapur.

With a majority of the residents of the quarter already living in an unfavorable physical circumstances, the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake further rendered the neighborhood uninhabitable. In order to rehabilitate and improve the livelihood of the resident community, this study documents the living conditions of the neighborhood quarter in terms of physical parameters such as living space, physical condition of the dwelling and damage situation on the one hand, and cultural aspects such as community structures and their forms on the other. On the basis of this documentation, the paper discusses one of the alternative redevelopment plans—the cooperative housing environment, which emphasizes on preservation of the traditional urban fabric as well as the religious and social features to provide continuity and preservation of the social, spatial and ritual structures. The plan rehabilitates the existing households with substantial increase in the living space, open space and other facilities. The dwelling units are designed to maintain the traditional façade and streetscape incorporating the reuse of craftwork and building materials. With the potential on tourism and commercial development, the study also proposes essential community services with necessary improvements to service during emergency situations.

Keywords: renewal, regeneration, redevelopment, neighbourhood, Bhaktapur

1. Introduction Taulachhen Tole lies to the east within the historic settlement of Bhaktapur, which has been designated as one of the seven monument zones of Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site by UNESCO since 1979.

The settlement quarter lies along the main east west street of the city, and between the two large urban squares— Dattatraya Square to the west and Suryamadi Square to the east (Fig 1). Dattatreya Square is the east end of the core area of the World Heritage Site. In this locality is situated the dyochhen-the god house, of Bramhayani, one of the mother goddess in the Astamatrika group that surround the city of Bhaktapur.

The neighborhood displays an urban settlement pattern typical to the Newar town settlement with clusters of adjoined houses along streets and lanes, and forming courtyards at the interior of the quarter.

The study area is part of the larger Taulachhen neighborhood called tole, which extends further north of Suryamadhi street. The dwelling clusters are organized along the line of clan communities forming a number of cluster units called nani.

The majority of the residents are Prajapati who belong to the Jyapu community of Newars. Although

1.Architect, Adjunct Lecturer, IEC College of Art and Fashion, Email: das.sujan@gmail.com 1

most of the residents describe their primary occupation as agriculture based, the Prajapati community are equally involved in pottery making. Cultural and ritual features of the quarter include the celebration of annual festivals such as Krishna Janmastami, Gai Jatra and Bisket Jatra. On such occasions, processions of various chariots are held along with different dance and performances in the streets.

2. Literature Review Urban renewal is conducted to solve various problems faced by the community such as deteriorating economic and environmental conditions, low quality of housing standards, and loss of local culture. All renewal activities aim at creating more sustainable and livable cities. Various literatures regarding the regeneration of urban areas, conservation and rehabilitation works in historic city centers, along with the study on planning principles of Newar settlements are relevant to understand the problems of urban renewal of residential quarters within the Kathmandu valley.

Fig 1. Study area—Taulachhen, Bhaktapur To date there doesn't exist any literature on renewal works in Nepali context nor there are such projects realized in a scale where clusters of dwellings in the quarter of a neighborhood are included in the development. In recent years developments that take the form and scale of a courtyard can be found in areas adjacent to market streets.

Such developments are primarily of commercial nature.

The core areas of traditional cities require both conservation Fig 2. Ground Floor Plan - Taulachhen Tole (KhEC, 2011) and development. However, in historic city cores, in the present context of Nepal, much emphasis is given to conservation of monuments such as, temples, palaces, and other religious and cultural artifacts instead of the residential community that make up the settlement. Conservation of monuments is necessary, but the conservation and redevelopment works of the residential quarters where communities that sustain the historic city live cannot be ignored.

In this respect, studies done by Khwopa Engineering College1 and Shrestha (2013) are relevant. These studies have made detail documentation of Taulachhen with respect to the existing floor plans of the dwellings and community structure of the neighborhood. This study owes much of its data from these two studies.

3. Existing Condition of Taulachhen The present study area that is at the east end of Bhaktapur, is located at south of Suryamadhi Path of the main street, and is enclosed by Jhatapo Galli, Tahamala Galli and Jela Galli at east, south and west respectively. With an area of 1.26 hectare, the settlement comprises of 192 dwelling units. The built up

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area occupies over 70% of the quarter block. Much of the interior lanes, and courtyards are of insufficient width to conduct activities other than circulation. Larger courtyards are used by the community for activities such as for casual meeting, children’s play space, sun basking, seasonal drying of harvest and also as a drying space in the process of pottery making.

3-1. Physical and socio-cultural fabric While the pattern of street, lanes and courtyards along with their relation to the dwelling units and other buildings define the physical fabric of the quarter (Fig 3, Fig 4), the socio-cultural fabric is made up of clusters of dwelling units, called nani.3 All the dwellings belonging to such a nani have one common entry with a votive symbol called pikhalakhi in front of this entry. There is also a neighborhood

Fig 3. Basic street and dwelling relationship pattern.

Fig 4. The built up fabric of Taulachhen Tole

community–tole, which has one common shrine of Ganesha, worshipped during various religious and cultural activities. Groups of two or more nani community belong to a chwasa community and similarly, two or more chwasa community make a larger tole community. Thus the nani community is an integral element of the traditional settlement fabric. The resident community makes obligatory worship to the tole-Ganesha ahead of worshipping other deities or any other form of religious or cultural celebration.

3-2. Housing Conditions A study of the housing condition was conducted to understand the existing problems of the residential quarter. Analysis of the physical aspects such as living or habitable space, usable space within the dwelling units were considered along with the conditions of light and ventilation, the structural quality of the dwellings to understand the habitable conditions Space Number of of the settlement. Table 1 indicates the living space per Living Percentage (m2/person) Dwelling Units person with one fourth of the total households having 48 25% their per person living space below 6 m2, and 37% Less than 6 21 6 – 10 72 37% between 6-10 m .

42 22% The dwellings can further be categorized into the 10 -15 Greater than number of bays they comprise of and construction 31 16% technique. The study area comprises of buildings with 15 192 100% load bearing brick masonry walls (90%), of which Total almost 27% of the houses consists of three or more than three bays. Long narrow dwelling units with more than Table 1. Living Space in the existing situation.

2 bays in a row house configuration, suffer from dark

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areas towards the end of the room and middle bays. These types of configuration also present as problem regarding the access to the interior rooms, creating dependent room that tend to compromise the privacy of the residents. Fig 5 shows a typical arrangement of rooms in a four bay dwelling unit.

Such configurations also affect the ventilation within the dwelling unit.

A visual assessment of the structural quality of the dwellings was also conducted during the survey (Fig 6).

Dwellings with very little or no signs of deterioration were categorized as good, those with slight cracks and dampness as fair, and buildings with bulged walls, leaking roofs, Fig 5. Floor Plan of multiple bay dampness and major cracks on structural elements were dwellings with load bearing wall categorized as poor. It is found that buildings accessed construction. through the courtyards had 40% of the buildings in good condition, while majority of the poor and demolished categorized buildings were present along the secondary lanes (Table 2).

3-3. Causes of Housing deterioration Much of the problems in the dwelling environment are due to problems of varied nature, some of which

Table 2. Dwelling conditions, (KhEC, 2012).

Fig 6. Distribution of physical state of the buildings, before 2015 earthquake, Taulachhen.

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are: – Ownership and conflict of interest: The residents, when splitting their plot or partitioning their dwelling upon mutual agreement or as a result of disagreement, tend to compromise with the available usable space of the dwelling.

—Unsupportive environmental conditions: Even with the reconstruction of each dwelling unit, problems regarding the buildings that cast shadow, narrow lanes, lack of proper light and ventilation continues to persist.

—Income level: Most of the families earn just enough as to run the daily life with little left to renovate their house.

—Increase in family members: As much as 89% of the families in the area have a family size larger than 4 members. The current family composition comprises of joint and extended families as well within a single dwelling unit. This type of situation leads to the compromise of space and privacy.

4. Effects of Gorkha Earthquake 2015 The residential quarter of Taulachhen Tole is hardly habitable following the earthquake of Apr 25, 2015 (Table 3). Around half of the dwellings along the main Street, and three quarters of the houses along the secondary lane has been fully damaged, the highest among the buildings accessed through the main street, interior lanes or through courtyards. Altogether 80% of the buildings suffered either full or partial damage in this quarter.

5. Studies on the Potentials of the Renewal Proposals This study considers that it is crucial to rehabilitate the residing households in their locality, provide spaces for community use, and preserve religious and social features. When possible, while maintaining the traditional urban fabric of the residential quarter, units that are structurally sound as well as fair in terms of habitable conditions should be preserved. The environmental problems faced by the residents in the community cannot be solved on an individual level. Therefore, a community level effort is necessary to solve the existing problems. Furthermore, such an approach ensures that the local Newar

Table 3. Damage situation after Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

living culture of the settlement is provided a supportive environment. The basic concept of the study proposal is outlined below:

5-1. Conservational Aspects: 5-1-1. Preservation of Traditional Settlement Fabric With the nani community present as the basic unit of a Newar residential settlement, retaining such an entity would ensure the continuity of the physical and socio-cultural aspects of the traditional fabric.

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Existing lanes and courtyards are configured in such a way that basic spatial orientation of entries and approaches are maintained.

5-1-2. Preservation of religious and social features: Religious and social features such as temples, images of deities and patis (resthouses) are preserved.

The environment created by the streetscape shall also be maintained accordingly. Facades and streetscapes have been proposed in such a way that the streetscape and the interior recaptures the basic morphology and idiosyncrasies of the typical Newari town settlement in general, and the structures of Taulachhen in particular.

Fig 7. A proposed Master Plan in the study area, Taulachen.

Fig 8a.

Fig 8b.

Fig 8. Existing (Fig 8a) and Proposed (Fig 8b) street scape along Suryamadhi path.

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5-1-3. Re-use of craftwork and materials: Various craftworks such as woodworks and other usable materials such as terracotta tiles and bricks shall be used as it shall help to reduce the cost of the building and ensures that the crafts are conserved as well.

5-1-4. Rehabilitation of Households and the Upgrading of Living Space: In order to provide the residing households with habitable conditions and uplift the quality of life, a change in the family structure from extended family to joint and nuclear family is proposed to be consistent with future anticipation. Such family units will be living adjacent to each other so that they can continue their joint family life whenever such a need is felt. Furthermore, a change in the dwelling type is also proposed from individual row houses to apartment units, while maintaining the nani community.

5-2. Maintain and develop community spaces: In the existing condition, the spaces for various functions such as for commercial use, pottery, sun basking were limited due to the extensive built up density. With Bhaktapur regarded as a popular tourist destination, the proposed plan promotes commercial spaces along the main street and within the settlement, which is considered as potential of the locality. The income generated through such services shall also lead to the exposure of the pottery production community and might help to upgrade their economic level.

A community center is also introduced into the program with spaces such as a hall, meeting room, computer room, library and an administration office. Furthermore, considering a neighborhood of about 1000 people, a kindergarten is also incorporated into the community center for 60 children. In addition, in order to document and display the previous state of the settlement along Fig 9. A nani community courtyard in the proposed planning. with artifacts that might surface during the redevelopment, a museum “Garden of History� is also provided. Such a centre acquires further importance following the 2015 earthquake.

Existing Functions Commercial Pottery paved courtyards Paper craft Rice Mill Community Center Garden of History ( Museum) Guesthouse

Existing (sq.m.)

305.8 600 689 115 30 -

Proposed (sq.m.)

410 1024 4525 200 52 850 164 108

Table 4. Service area distribution features of proposed redevelopment plan.

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Open spaces are essential as it provides the diverse community places to interact, share ideas, and provide opportunities to promote social cohesion among each other. The increase in open space also leads to the increase in the area of the pottery production. Since much of the residents depend on agrobased activities, the increase in open space shall also provide space to dry their seasonal harvest along with a space to sun-bask. A pedestrian environment is also the plan’s feature to reinforce the interlink of public spaces with various lanes and squares. Yet the entrances to the nanis are wide enough that allow emergency vehicles, such as ambulances and firefighting vehicles through.

A comparison between traditional and modern housing practices shows that the traditional housing practice afforded a density that is 3 times that of the density found in present day housing developments such as Rose Village, Balkot in Bhaktapur. While at the same time, the open space for community use in the traditional settlement of Taulachen is 1.5 times more compared to that of Rose Village.

5-3. Characteristic Features of the Renewal Plan 5-3-1. Cluster Structure The cluster structure, as shown in Fig 10, regarding the nani community, the chwasa community and the tole community has been retained so as to continue and maintain the local culture of the resident community.

5-3-2. Hierarchy of Open Spaces In order to foster social cohesion among the community in the residential quarter, the open space within the proposed plan are divided into hierarchic levels, such as courtyard, nani cluster, and the quarter block level. This helps to support the diverse requirements of people of different age-groups.

5-3-3. Tourist Route A tourist route within the settlement, as shown in Fig. 7, has also been proposed in order to promote the skill of the pottery production community along with the introduction of shops on the ground floors of the buildings.

6. The Renewal Plan and Existing Environment: A Comparative Analysis The existing open spaces consists of spaces such as narrow lanes with width that cannot facilitate

Fig 10. Comparison of Existing and proposed structure of nani community cluster.

activities except circulation, whereas the proposed open spaces, with an increase of 17.4% from the existing one, facilitates a broad range of activities including circulation, seasonal drying of harvest, pottery production, and sun basking while also providing a meeting place for the community. Table 5 shows the change in the built-up area that can be achieved after the renewal.

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While a change in the family size distribution is also considered along with the increase in the habitable space for residents, the minimum habitable space allocated per person for a family of 4 to 10 members is 6 m2 width maximum up to 10 m2 as shown in Table 6 and Table 7.

Table 8 presents the difference between the existing condition and the proposed conditions resulting in an increase of 50% from the existing state, while in usable space, the rise is 40%. This economy is achieved from the collective effort through the unified planning of the quarter.

7. Conclusion Traditional settlements are now subject to change and the changes in lifestyle have also made the settlements more ornamental than functional for people to whom the spaces within the dwellings are not Built-Up Area

Existing

Proposed

Ground Coverage

8909 sq.m. – 70%

5785 sq.m. – 52.6%

Open Space

3757 sq.m. – 30%

5215 sq.m. – 47.4%

Table 5. Comparison of existing and proposed built up area.

Family Members

Existing

Family Members

Proposed

Less than 4

6% - 12

4

22% - 44

4–6

53% - 101

6

55% - 108

7 – 10

28% - 54

10

20% - 39

Greater than 10

13% - 25 Table 6. Family size distribution.

Existing

Proposed

Living Space (m2/person)

Number of units

Family Members

Living Space (m2/person)

Number of units

Less than 6

25% - 48

4

6

9% - 18

6 – 10

37% - 72

4

10

13% - 26

6

6

46% - 92

10 – 15

22% - 42

6

10

8% - 16

Greater than 15

16% - 31

10

6

20% - 39

Table 7. Living space

Existing

Proposed

Living Space / Total Built Up

46%

71%

Usable Space / Total Built Up

61%

86%

Table 8. A Comparison on ratio of Living and Usable space with respect to the total built up area.

enough and the streets inaccessible. This results in either congestion within the dwelling, low housing environmental conditions or in abandoned buildings.

The objective of redevelopment of historic settlement quarters includes both conservation and 9

renewal work. This study has identified the problems in the existing state of the settlement quarter of Taulachhen and has compared with a renewal plan, and shows that such a renewal plan can address those problems while maintaining the cultural and physical patterns that must not only be conserved but must be continued as well.

Prior to the earthquake, such scale of redevelopment of a residential quarter was not an easy task to convince the resident community. But, the 2015 earthquake which has caused almost 80% of the area uninhabitable, has provided the opportunity to redevelop and regenerate the living environment by working out various planning possibilities such as those discussed in this paper.

Endnote 1. KhEC, 2011.

2. Pant, 2002.

3. Living space in a dwelling counts floor space for kitchen/dining, living and bedroom. A living space of 6 m2 is derived from the plan that considers segregation of grown up daughter and son, with a bed space in a room plus the share in the living room and kitchen.

Reference: 1. Cigdem Ciftci et al. Urban Regeneration Strategies in Historical City 2. KhEC, 2011. Conservation Study of Taulachhen Neighborhood. Conservation Studio Report, Department of Architecture, Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur.

3. Shrestha, S., 2013. Urban Regeneration of Taulachhen Tole, Bhaktapur. Thesis, B. Arch (unpublished), Department of Architecture, Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur.

4. Pant. M. M., 2002. A Study on the Spatial Formation of Kathmandu Valley Towns – The Case of Thimi, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.

5. Pant. M. M., 2002. Urban Renewal: Problems of Historic Cities – The Case of Kathmandu Valley Towns, Asian Architecture in the 21st Century, Research Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies, University of Ulsan .

6. Steinberg F., 1996. Conservation and Rehabilitation of Urban Heritage in Developing Countries.

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