Physical and Social Transformation of the urban fringe of the Kathmandu Valley

Abstract

Urban areas are continuously gaining population and urban activities overspill from central cities to peripheries rapidly. Urban fringe areas are the localities where the cities are expanding. These areas reflect urban dynamics and the.. non agricultural land uses which are trying to adjust in an urban complex. In the wake of urbanization, fringe areas have both threats and opportunities due to the expansion of urban areas. On one hand, when agricultural land converts into urban land use, it certainly provides economic opportunities and on the other hand decrease in agricultural land causes serious problems to the farmers who do not have other skills than agriculture.

Kathmandu Valley is experiencing rapid land use conversion. Twenty two percent of the agricultural land was converted for non-agricultural purposes in the last two decades. Conversion rate was more than 950 hectares per year in the last decade only. Agricultural land is gradually converting into other land uses. The study aims to

know how the farmers and the landowners of urban fringe are affected by the • ongoing rapid urbanization. This study concentrates on physical, social and economic ., transformation of the local farmers and the landowners.

I Two case study areas are selected along two major arterial roads of the Kathmandu

Valley. These two areas represent both planned intervention and unorganised development. Saibu Land pooling area is planned by the government to accommodate growing housing demand of Kathmandu. Sunakothi VDC is an unorganised development led by informal market.

The literature review and information gathered during the field survey, consists of information on physical, social and economic aspects of the farmers and landowners of both the case study areas. Considering the physical aspect, findings from the

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study suggest that people are deprived of proper access due to haphazard and incoherent land fragmentation in an unorganised development. In both the cases, land holding capacity of landowners has reduced significantly. Physical displacement of the local residents is also observed and some more households are at the verge of displacement in near future.

Socially the relationship that has been developed through agricultural activity has - reduced significantly and people are facing difficulties to continue with agriculture. Mutual help among friends and relatives is found to have been maintained in the unorganised development while the similar relationship has decreased in the planned area. Considering the economic aspects, it was observed that the people are changing their

professions from primary (agriculture) to secondary (business) and tertiary (services) sectors but the transformation process is rather slow and most of the households are still dependent on agriculture. Those who are practicing multiple professions are earning better than those who are practicing agriculture only. Due to the lower income, people are forced to sell their property whenever they get attractive price. They spend the money thus received for the needs of the family.

Comparative study of both the planned intervention and unorganised development divulge some strengths and weaknesses • of these two different developments. Strengths of both the cases should be incorporated and weaknesses should be mitigated while planning in the urban fringe areas. Strengths of unorganised developments are good social relationship in the community, incremental land use change etc. Good social relationships could be maintained through infrastructure sharing among local residents and the migrants in the community. Staged and pocket wise development of infrastructures would help in preserving agricultural land while supplying the building parcels at the same time. This would help farmers to continue with their profession for a longer period of time.