Intelligent Urbanism – a case in Thimphu, Bhutan

Introduction

Up until 1960s (in the developed countries), planning had a long and commendable history of visionary ideas for guiding the development of towns, cities and regions (Berke, Philip R, p. 21). It was a time when planners and policy makers used to be obsessed with “big ideas” and in producing “blue prints”. Then came a time when they were virtually swept away by, ‘garden city movement’, ‘new urbanism’, ‘smart growth’ etc. After 1987 the concept of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘environmentalism’ received more attention. It was a time when “the growing debate about sustainability has revived a forgotten or discredited idea that planning could be visionary and done on a large scale” (Beatley and Manning 1998, quoted in Berke, Philip R, p. 22). Nowadays, jargons such as, ‘safe city’, ‘resilient city’, ‘future city’ and the likes are burgeoning.

The intention of this paper is to briefly introduce the principles of “Intelligent Urbanism” developed and used for the preparation of the plan for the capital city (Thimphu) of Bhutan as an alternative to contemporary planning norms and practices.

Background

Bhutan is increasingly known to the outside world as a Shangri-La of peace, a country that has achieved happiness. Visitors come to Bhutan to experience happiness.  “Yet, Bhutan is not a country that has achieved happiness” explained the Prime Minister J.Y. Thinley to the students of Thimphu College when he shared the nations dream (November 26, 2011, Bhutan Observer).  He asserted that “like many developing and poor countries in the world, Bhutan has many challenges, aspirations and limitations. But where we differ from other countries, rich or poor, industrialized and developing, is that we are a country in serious pursuit of happiness”.

Thimphu city had grown very rapidly since its establishment as the capital of the nation in 1955 and launching of the first five year plan in 1961. The first urban plan for Thimphu was prepared in 1964 which remained mostly unimplemented. Another urban development plan was prepared in 1986 that guided the development of Thimphu through 1990s. In 1998 a strategic plan was prepared that influenced the need for expanding and extending the then 8 sq. km. of municipal boundary for a wider coverage. In the same year, the Council of Ministers issued directives to further guide the urban development with the objective to make Thimphu a dream city of all Bhutanese that should be culturally vibrant, environmentally sustainable, and people friendly.

The Thimphu Structure Plan (TSP) comprises of 22 main Themes supported by ten principles of Intelligent Urbanism and 10 fundamental strategies^[i].  It states clearly the assumptions, opportunities, constraints and provides appropriate evaluations and possible alternatives which mould the Structure Plan.

The proposals for action include the creation of Environmental Enhancement Zones supported by the creation of a National Open Space System. The Natural Environmental Zones and the Open Space System will house a walkable footpath system which includes stairways and footbridges.

The Structure Plan identifies heritage sites which require conservation, restoration, and improved access. Proposals for linking religious precincts with open spaces will make them more accessible to daily users as the proposed heritage “walks” and “drives” will enhance people’s experience of these treasures. The proposal specially stresses on the urgency to enhance the Tashichho Dzong, the Memorial Chorten, Prayer Wheels, and the Heritage Villages. The most compelling structural aspect of the plan is the proposed circulation system which lays out the Urban Corridor, arterial roads, connector roads and a network of pedestrian footpaths.

Unlike the western planning style of designating land use plan that specifies restricted zones for various functions and “gray” areas (with dreary mono-functions), the Structure Plan has a mixed–use area that considers the essence of Bhutanese life – the ‘Dharma.’ These are achieved through designating more than twenty different ‘precincts’ arrived at through a detailed analysis of the existing scenarios. These precincts facilitate and promote various activities that make up the resinents’ daily lives, and are sanctified as sacred places for all affairs and activities. The precincts also provide spaces for religious functions and other residential activities to be carried out without disruptions from the industrial, commercial, and retail activities.

The Structure Plan also recognizes that the city must be planned for future residents who have no “voice” in the preparation of the plan. The components of plan in the TSP are designed to cater to the needs of the future population, more than the present ones. These plans will affect the citizens of Bhutan who own the capital as an image of their “nationhood,” more than the owners of the shops and plots in the city today. This aspect of the planning process is non-negotiable. The strategy is to design houses that are affordable and located in compact and walkable neighborhood. The Plan also sets aside spaces for social services and amenities to allow city dwellers to access to basic health care and educational facilities. It has provision to facilitate distribution of potable water, electricity, and communications networks.

Intelligent Urbanism

While preparing the Structure Plan for Thimphu in 2000, Bhutan has aggressively adopted the provocative and all-encompassing principles of Intelligent Urbanism. It espouse that anybody involved in planning, designing, implementing and executing projects in urban areas would benefit by knowing and practicing these principles as they provide useful information that would help make our cities better place to live.

At the time of drafting the plan it was observed that the city of Thimphu was plagued with problems such as; housing shortage, traffic congestion, pollution, chaotic building patterns, encroachment to forests, paddy lands and ecologically fragile areas, irrational land sub-division, ad-hoc development, difficulties of providing services and infrastructure, unplanned pockets of development, public transport, utilities etc. The plan asserts that, owing to its fragile ecology and environment, Thimphu has an opportunity and a challenge to develop as one of the first environmental friendly habitats of the world.

It is rightly asserted that any urban plan has to be prepared as if it was the last opportunity, because “…growth waits for no one, nor for any culture! It has its own mean way of moving on, leaving those who are thoughtless and hesitant…This is not a time for the meek, nor a place for the careless,…there will be no space left for choices, for debates, or for planning. This is it! All or nothing…the last plan!” Thimphu has thus made a conscious choice – a commitment to build the city as a liveable model city for all times to come.

“Balance with Nature” was identified as the first principle of Intelligent Urbanism. It is indeed necessary to say that urbanization should aggressively “protect and conserve the elements of ecology that nurture the environment”. Even primary education must also include instructions on the theory of ecological and urban balance.

The second principle, “Balance with Tradition” recognizably promotes the incorporation of iconography, signs, symbols, unwritten and unspoken traditional knowledge systems into the “spatial order of urban settings”. Thimphu has recognized that urban plans should strive to create convivial societies which are vibrant, interactive, socially engaging and offer numerous opportunities. This is termed “Conviviality”, the third principle of Intelligent Urbanism. The plan appropriately proposes a system of social tiers including not just the need of a place for the individual, but also for friendship, householders, neighbourhood, communities and the public domain.

The plan then identifies “Efficiency” as the fourth principle followed by “Human Scale” and “Opportunity Matrix”. Efficiency can apparently be achieved by planning compact and high-density communities and efficient urban fabric. This was done by strategically locating the urban hubs and neighbourhood nodes where high densities can efficiently service the infrastructures. Human Scale points out the need to promote “human dimension in a hierarchy of public and semi-public social places, as opposed to atomized and isolated private spaces”. Do we actually feel happy living in big cities where largeness, grandness and technological feats are so rampant? The principle of Opportunity Matrix clearly identifies the need to provide opportunities to health care, education, shelter, hygiene, and employment to every citizen.

“Regional Integration”, “Balanced Movement”, “Institutional Integrity” and “Vision” takes the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th positions, respectively. Regional Integration sees “the city as a large social, economic and geographical organism…the region. Likewise, it sees the region as and integral part of the city”. Balanced Movement recognize that movement and transport are a group of systems that are integrated with one another and that there should be a balance in the system of pedestrian communities, integrated with public transit, through networks of compact centers. Institutional Integrity emphasizes the need to have strong and rational institutional framework to define, channel, and legalize urban development, in all of its aspects. It also stresses the need to have a system of participation by the stakeholders in the preparation and implementation of plans.

Finally, and the most obvious is the proposal that even the smallest of decisions made must be based on a broad vision of the future. This is termed the “Vision”, the 10^th principle of Intelligent Urbanism. The plan stress that there can be no intelligent city plans, “unless there is a common vision of the city by the city users and their leaders”. Indeed, there can be no urban virtues greater than the inherent virtues of the people for whom the plan is made.

I cannot agree more.

These principles embrace a multigenerational and holistic vision of community building, as does environmentalism and sustainability. It integrates multi societal values and enhances local imagination, understanding, and commitment to defining solutions for the common good. The plan for Thimphu therefore assert that the propositions put forth are a set of common axioms “around which all planning debate and discussion tend to revolve”

Planners and policy makers may therefore be cautioned about getting obsessed with ‘New Urbanism’ and ‘Smart Growth’, which are sweeping mindlessly across the West. This is because these concepts do not embrace a holistic and multigenerational vision of city and community building.

While the sequential order of the list of proposed principles is debatable we can safely say that none of the principles can function independently.

Conclusion

All said and done, the principles of Intelligent Urbanism are highly educative, informative, and thought provoking and they are in full agreement with the concepts of environmentalism and sustainability. Together with its 10 fundamental strategies and 22 main themes, the principles of Intelligent Urbanism present a holistic picture encompassing all aspects of contemporary planning principles. City and regional planners/designers and policy makers of the modern times may benefit a lot by adopting these principles – to make this world a better place to live instead of getting obsessed with “new urbanism”, “smart growth”, “rational planning”, “just city”,  “modernism or post modernism” etc. The entire plan document can be downloaded from www.dudh.gov.bt.

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[i] The 22 main themes include: Nation building & Civil Society; City of Our Dreams; Tashichho Dzong; Conviviality &human Scale; Public Policy and Urban Form; Bhutanese Dream; Parable of Archery; Urban growth; Domain of Automobiles; Reclaiming the Public Domain; City core; Gateway to the Capital; Urban Corridor; Urban Villages; Open space system & the Wangchhu; Footpath system; Forest boundary & city landscape; Peripheral zone control; Knowledge city; Social services; Utilities network; Shelter systems; and the National Capital region.

The nine principles of Intelligent Urbanism include: Balance with nature; Balance with tradition, Conviviality; Efficiency; Human scale; Opportunity matrix; Regional Integration; Balanced Movement; and Institutional integrity.

The ten strategies include: Decentralization of growth; Regionalization of growth; Densification; Transport oriented growth; Resource utilization; Urban precincts; Public assets; Defining the urban core; Facilitating access to shelter; and ‘Let it be!’.