Public open spaces in Crisis: Appraisal and observation from metropolitan Kathmandu, Nepal

There is an emerging debate in the literature of urbanism that public open space is in crisis in the cities of developing countries due to the increasing trends of urbanization and in-migration. With the significant growth of the urban population and rapid expansion of the city, the land demand for housing and other infrastructure development is very high. The high rate of urbanization due to which encroachment, high speculation, use change, etc. are the major reasons for decreasing public open spaces. There are many inferences that public open spaces are decreasing in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) as Tundikhel; an important public open space located in the heart of Kathmandu is decreasing in its size and has changed in its use over time. At present, KMC does not have a sizable public open space for emergency uses such as evacuation, relief, recovery, and reconstruction during the catastrophic hazards. Analysis of historical imagery and the changing patterns of land use reveal that the decreasing trends of open spaces may lead more vulnerable to the city as it does not have public open space for disaster management in an emergency need. Moreover, it may have adverse impacts on sociability and well-being as people do not get space for public life activities.   Key words: Urbanization, migration, land use change, public open space, sociability.