SPACES June issue_3July16

archAeology
of only such institutional
functions without any retail
and residence facilities
are certainly malicious to
urban Kathmandu. One
may walk from the main
road connecting western
end of Tripureshwore with
Teku leading to Kalimati to
observe this phenomenon.
How many are using the
streets in terms of “stays”
than just “walks” in any
given day? Perhaps, only a
handful. People are attracted
to activities which give
opportunities to see, hear,
and meet others. As many
others have noted, people
get attracted only if there
are activities to be involved
in or people to watch. As
this article claims, the street
design should facilitate
the coming together of
individuals; not separating
away from each other.
According to a 2004 TEDtalk
by Howard Kunstler
such huge blank facades
that deliberately disconnects
architecture with urban life
“… make humans feel like
termites,” and rightfully so!
2. Streets as stages for
manifesting the urban
culture
Urban culture in this regard,
refers more, to the dayto-day
activities occurring
on every street in addition
to the special “cultural”
functions they serve (like
jatras and festivals). Whyte
(1980), in a seminal study
of plazas, argued that the
three most important design
factors for plaza design
are: (1) location; (2) streetplaza
relationship; and (3)
seating. Although this article
is not a discussion about
the plaza, Whyte’s findings
and his consideration to
streets as an important
element of urban design
(note the second design
factor) is valuable. This
points to an earlier debate
that streets need to be
connected to each other
and also to other forms of
open spaces, as is evidently
lacking in the Kathmandu
Valley at present. Traditional
Kathmandu Valley streets
are examples of streets
being a stage for all these
activities. Such streets
facilitated not only the dayto-day
urban life but were
designed for the chariot
festivals that would occur
periodically each year.
So, the point that is being
made here is that streets,
in relation with the larger
open spaces are the stages
for urban culture to flourish.
These are the spaces where
city users are allowed to
perform their activities.
Kathmandu needs much
more of such stages, not
less.
One of the more interesting
observations can be noted
from Jane Jacobs’ work in
which the author discusses
‘street ballet’— “…an intricate
ballet in which the individual
dancers and ensembles all
have distinctive parts which
miraculously reinforce
each other and compose
an orderly whole.” Street
ballet can be most clearly
visible in thedaytime in
Asan of Kathmandu. This central node/space has been providing a
platform for urban life for centuries. Even today, one can view flocks of
people passing through this area bearing specific movement of their
bodies and defining the certain flow of mood, that can be correctly
termed as street ballet. One can relate words such as “overcrowding,”
“congestion,” “unmanaged” to the central node of Asan, but the power
of this place should be understood first, more importantly, to learn
from these spaces and to replicate their characteristics in future
designs. Designers who have experienced this phenomenon shall not
attach such disheartening cliché words to indicate Asan.
3. Streets as more than channels for movements
Interesting routes make the “experienced distance” shorter and
promotes walking. Along with the facilities on the ground floor and the
nature of the adjacent buildings, the nature of the streets themselves
26 / SPACES June 2016