Neighborhoods (?) in Urban Development of Kathmandu Valley

Details

26 May 2024/१३ जेठ २०८१ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
Research Seminar Series
Neighborhoods (?) in Urban Development of Kathmandu Valley
Mohan Moorti Pant; Rijina Bajracharya; and Sunaina Karmacharya; Architects

About the Speaker:
Mohan Moorti Pant is an architect and served as Professor in the Dept of Architecture, and Postgraduate Department of Urban Design and Conservation in Khwopa Engineering College. He did M. Arch (1990) in architecture from Tongji University, Shanghai, China. Since 1990’s, research studies led him to the documentation of the historic development of town settlements of the Kathmandu Valley leading to PhD (2002) and Post doctoral research (2004) from Kyoto University, Japan. Pant’s published research works on the Kathmandu Valley urbanism are ‘Stupa and Swastika’ on Patan (2008), and ‘Thimi--Community and Structure of a Town’ (2019). Numerous other research works of Pant are published in journals and conference proceedings. His contributions on the study of Nepal’s vernacular settlements are Chimang of Mustang (2018), Thabang of Rolpa (2019), Taka of Rukum (2021), both Magar settlements, and a Tharu settlement of Simariya, Morang. Dr Pant’s recent publications are ‘Post Disaster Reconstruction—Japan’s Experience’ (2021, in Nepali) and as coauthor of ‘Urban Residential Neighborhoods of the Kathmandu Valley’ (2022). He worked as Visiting Professor in Kyoto University (2019-2020) and is currently adjunct Professor in Khwopa Engineering College.

Rijina Bajracharya is an academic specializing in architecture, urban planning, and sociology. She completed her Bachelor's in Architecture from the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, in 2007, followed by a Postgraduate degree in Urban Planning from The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR in 2011. Additionally, she earned a Master's degree in Sociology from Tribhuvan University in 2012. Currently serving as a Senior Lecturer at the Architecture Department in Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur, Nepal, Rijina is also pursuing her PhD at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Inspired by her fond memories of Kathmandu Valley's traditional neighborhoods and her experience living in a modern residential area, she is deeply intrigued by the socio-spatial dynamics of neighborhood development. Her research focuses on the Socio-spatial transformation of residential neighborhoods. She co-authored the book 'Urban Residential Neighborhoods of the Kathmandu Valley' (2022) and has contributed two published research papers to refereed journals, exploring topics such as spatial transformation and elementary schools in urban neighborhoods.

Sunaina Karmacharya is an architect who has been working as a senior lecturer at Department of Architecture, Khwopa Engineering College. She did her Bachelor in Architecture from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu in 2003 and Masters in Urban Management and Development from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2008. Her research interests are in housing, urban neighborhood design and land readjustment. She has done research in land readjustment schemes of various countries, and has published an article titled “Land readjustment of Kathmandu Valley.” She is a coauthor of a book ‘Urban Residential Neighborhoods of the Kathmandu Valley’ published in 2022. Her further research interest is in morphology of street patterns and their development in historic towns and new urban settlements of Kathmandu Valley.