Mayor's Office of Lalitpur Metropolitan City
The Pitch
After a large earthquake destroyed many structures and homes in the town of Bungamati, Lalitpur Metropolitan City helped communities restore their livelihoods, infrastructure and cultural heritage, and carried out several development plans to increase local employment and vitality.
The Problem
The town of Bungamati was devastated by an earthquake in 2015 that destroyed public infrastructure and many historical sites, and damaged 95% of houses, pushing many people into poverty.
The Process
- Created the Comprehensive Heritage Settlement Plan and Tourism Development Plan to guide infrastructure recovery and development efforts
- Involved municipal stakeholders in a participatory process to plan development
- Rebuilt three public rest houses and an ethno-cultural museum where people can learn about the lifestyle of the Newar civilization
- Built a multipurpose center for training artisans and showcasing local products
- Revitalized a public pond with traditional technology, improving the microclimate
- Reforested a park to enhance the environment
- Reinforced walking paths and installed streetlights
- Constructed public toilets and bicycle stands
- Improved existing facilities
- Increased the capacity of government officials to plan and implement the project by offering trainings, including a course called “Sustainable Heritage Tourism and Green Growth”
- Offered trainings to community organizations to help them advocate for their needs and influence policy
- Trained women, who are usually expected to stay home, in business development, to improve their financial independence
The Impact
- Improved the local environment, revived socioeconomic activities, established basic amenities for locals and tourists, and promoted walkability via new infrastructure—reducing the local carbon footprint
- Delivers ecosystem services and provides space for people to interact via natural areas
- Created a safer environment and reduced car dependency by adding walking paths and streetlights
- Built community and government capacity to continue the project and prepared local organizations for any future natural disaster recovery needs via trainings
- Helped 126 residents, including 102 women, achieve financial freedom via business development courses and trainings; specifically, women were trained to make yomari (a traditional sweet capable of selling 15,000 units in a single day), to sew masks during the pandemic and participate in craft fairs to sell their products
- Inspired revitalization of public spaces and heritage settlements outside of the project’s scope
