Enhancing Kathmandu’s Urban Design Through Implementation of Green Infrastructures

Urban areas provide a range of benefits to sustain human livelihood and contribute to human well-being through urban ecosystem services. Open spaces in core urban areas of Kathmandu valley in Nepal carries multiple advantages of stimulating social cohesion, offers safe area immediately after a crisis induced by natural hazards, contributes in environmental improvement and mitigates urban flooding. In most urban areas of Nepal, unplanned urbanization has resulted in alteration of landscapes from permeable vegetated surfaces to a series of impervious interconnected surfaces resulting in large quantities of stormwater runoff, requiring wider implementation of water sensitive urban design. After 2015 Gorkha earthquake, several blue-green infrastructure projects are implemented by local governments inside Kathmandu valley in open spaces. This paper presents application examples of green infrastructure projects and through case studies provides a framework for optimization of green infrastructure systems in Nepal. The paper also provides a practitioners perspective on the current state of knowledge, highlights technical challenges in green infrastructure implementation in Kathmandu and points out recommendations to overcome them.