Consultative Meeting Eco-city: Time To Act Now

1. Consultative MeetingEco-city: Time To Act Now ECOLOGICAL RESPONSES: Traditional Newar Town

2. Urban Ecology and Eco-city • Urban Environment • Physical Environment + • Economic Environment + • Social Environment [= Cultural Environment] • Urban Ecology: PES Envn+Man/Society/Nature • Eco-city has a sustained co-existence of nature (waste assimilation), economic pursuits (resource capitalization and waste generation) and social relationships (ordering of competition for resources and waste dissociation through of ethics and values.)

3. Urban Culture: Urban Ecology NATURE: Physical Environmental Chains SOCIETY: Social set up for Sharing/ Competition ECONOMY: Resources & Waste Chains

4. Natural vs Urban Ecology • Natural ECOLOGY: balanced/ stable sub-systems: millions of years of interaction of elements: Stable wrt. Externalities: dynamic internally. • City sub-system: young and different dynamism • URBAN METABOLISM • Concentrative system (Concentrates/consumes huge amounts of energy (fuel, food) in small areas/waste sink • Desert regime: Heat generating and holding capacity high: unparalleled in surrounding nature • Desert regime: water exclusive

5. Input Concentration-Waste sink • InputTons per dayWasteTons per day • Water625,000Sewage500,000 • Food2,000Solid wastes2,000 • Fuel:Coal3,000Particles 150 • Oil2,800Sulfur dioxides100 • Gas2,700Nitrogen oxides 100 • Motor 1,000 Carbon monoxide 450 • + HEAT

7. Urban Ecology: Concentrative • Inputs to city system: drawn from a much wider area as compared to where the ‘outputs’ occur. • Inputs from dispersed micro-systems and outputs as concentrated sinks : new micro-environment • Replaces a natural environment/eco-system with the different micro-environment • Unbalanced conditions/ environmentally unsound: ecological and sustainability problems.

8. Urban Ecology: Desert Regime • Cities are hotter • concentration of buildings, human activities and machines (heat-holding and heat-generating character. • Umbrella of waste products discharged into atmosphere (haze hood) and heat trapping results. • Masonry,cement and bitumen surfaces absorb solar energy/ slower release than natural ground cover. • Natural elements convert sensible heat into other forms of energy: sensible heat remains as such in urban areas.

9. Urban Ecology: Desert Regime • Cities are drier • Buildings and building materials based on exclusion of water and water proofing • Paving and Road surfaces: impervious to water (cf. natural cover/ sub-surface water) and falling ground water table • Water collecting system and drain-off outside town (discharging system) • Instant floods (cf. natural system of recharge)

10. Developing problems • Urban Ecological problem build up • Increasing social heterogeneity and economic competitiveness for ‘plenty and surplus’ • Cyclically leading heterogeneity with disparities in sharing of gains into urban poverty • ‘Economy of surplus’ consuming more than 'a necessary amount' of resources and leading to over-exploitation of resources • Heavy waste generation/little assimilation/ land-air-water and builtup space pollution • Urban decay/Distancing of man from Nature.

11. Eco-settlement: First Cultural Period • Dense and bounded settlements on high ground: Preservation of economic base/agricultural land • Pringga, bru, dula and tala • Integration of nature, economy and society • Dyochhe, pith and norms of social behavior • Pith located at ecologically sensitive spot such as Water holes, Springs, Land humps, Clump of trees • Divine presence = ecological variance • Festivals – sharing resources and recognizing the urban/rural continuum.

12. Terms: Topography & Land Use • Cho and Gung • Pringga and Dula • Bru • Tala and Gvala

14. Eco-settlement: 2nd Cultural Period • Guthi: a community based management • Private wealth as “Public Endowment” • Community ownership and operation of land • Maintenance of services • Larger towns and the recognition of water supply as a urban service • Social mediation of urban rural continuum • Matsendranath Festival

16. Eco-city: 3rd Cultural period • Development through a Mix of • Kirat ecological prototype + • Lichchhavi’s urban planning principles • Eco-sensitive ritual bounding and structure • Bounded urban development, Dune and Pine • Ritual/Social mediation of Wider urban-rural continuum (resource base) • Tole sectorization, homogeneous neighborhoods • Change mediation through rituals

17. Eco-city: 3rd Cultural period • Responding to 'micro-heat, dry regime & waste sub-structure’ • Capitalizes positive aspects of 'new nature‘ • Potentially mitigates negative results • Micro-heat: • High Density/Low rise dev.: warmer micro-climate • tight layout with small courtyards • predominance of paved streets/ heat gain • "No-Greenery-inside” • Lachhi – setback for a sunny spot in narrow lanes • Lung space: peripheral Khyos

18. Eco-city: 3rd Cultural period • Responding to 'dry regime’ • Use of water-accepting technologies • Pervious paving, open joints • Surface collector drains separated from deep drains – irrigating the dula or recharging kuwa • Use of wells inside tole and pit conduits between neighborhoods > recharge through own waste water > protecting from pollution

19. Eco-city: 3rd Cultural period • Responding to 'waste sub-structure’ • Communal toilet streets, night soil collection and raw sewage manure agri-practice- ‘output-input’ • Waste management:garbage and Sagah • Capitalization of micro-heat: composting • Health hazard management: periodic cleaning through seasonal rituals: Lukumadyo/Pasachahre (Chait) • Sithi: Cleaning and maintaining water supply systems in the driest season (Baisakh/Jeth) • Water for seeding • Sithi: Maintaining other ‘urban services’– public buildings • Lean agricultural season

20. Eco-region: 2nd 3rd Cultural period • Further away, agricultural land and forested hillocks protected and preserved. • Watershed areas and sources of rivers were given religious sites as a preservation input • Ecological responses cover PES environment and actors MSN in totality