[neighborhood] Guthi

Reframing traditional practices to develop agency through social transformation

Thesis Advisor - Jonathan Kline and Stefan Gruber

Abstract

Kathmandu Valley, as a historic city core, home to the Newar community has been romanticized a lot. Although its rich culture and architecture are exemplary, the most important urban heritage is definitely the people of these historic city cores who are responsible for the local culture.

A study of such a residential quarter shows that the residents suffered from poor housing conditions and shocks such as the devastating 2015 Gorkha earthquake further aggravated the situation. The lack of aid from the government and financial institutions have placed these quarter under unfavorable conditions in comparison to the temples and other monuments that even have international organizations to help rebuild it.

This major incident has indeed exposed the lack of resiliency in the traditional communities of Kathmandu Valley. The study looks at theories pertaining to planning and practices of commoning to evaluate whether the traditional communities can develop agency to take control and become not just resilient but responsive and adaptive current and future issues they might have to face.

Introduction to Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu valley is made up of three major historic cities - Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur with smaller satellite towns and fringe settlements around it. Although Kathmandu is currently the capital of Nepal, the other two have also served as capitals at some point in time (Pant and Funo, 2007).

Of the many “ethnolinguistic communities” (Pant and Funo, 2007) that live in the valley, the Newar community has been the predominant inhabitants. Pant and Funo also ascribe the valley’s or settlements’ cultural development since ancient times to the Newar community. The scholars further postulate that pattern of town settlements and the architecture in the Kathmandu Valley is quite unique in South Asia.

“The Newar of the Kathmandu Valley show a gregarious living pattern with houses clustered along streets or around courtyards. All the neighborhoods of the town have a community square with a well or a fountain, rest houses, and shrines. After entering a city gate, visitors pass through a series of neighborhood squares and taking an almost straight route they reach the center of the city with a large square and a palace behind it.”

- Pant and Funo, 2007

This unique built environment is not only physical but comprises of socio-cultural layers that are innate to the urban fabric and the Newar community.

Issues

The valley is also famous for its elaborate art and architecture along with its rich history and culture of the indigenous communities. It is home to seven groups of monuments and buildings listed under the UNESCO World Heritage.

People that belong to the Newar community, having been the primary inhabitants of these historic cities, are often not considered as urban heritage. The residential settlements rarely benefit from the level care other monuments receive.

A survey done in 2011 of such a historic residential quarter in the city of Bhaktapur called Taulachhen Tole (“Tole” translate to neighborhood), towards the east of the Kathmandu, shows that most of the residents suffered from poor housing conditions such as lack of habitable space per person, insufficient light and ventilation, and poor structural quality. Shrestha (2016) mentions that the cause of such situations were primarily due to problems in ownership of the building/conflict of interest, increase in family member, unsupportive environmental conditions and lower income level to fund renovations in the house too.

Furthermore, looking closely at some of the financial policies adopted by commercial banks helps us evaluate the disparity to capital as a resource that could be potentially used to improve the living conditions in such historic settlements. In the traditional urban fabric, the majority of residential buildings are only accessible through narrow lanes or courtyards and underpasses that are at times 3-4 ft wide. Lots that cannot be accessed through roads or streets less than 8ft wide are not eligible as collateral in commercial banks as well as development banks, leaving the majority of the people ineligible to secure low-interest rate loans based on their house or lot. This often leads residents to borrow from institutions and people that charge significantly higher interest rates for loans.

April 25, 2015, an earthquake 7.8 on the Richter scale devastated the country and rendered the settlement quarter of Taulachhen Tole hardly habitable. Previously, about 7% of the building stock was in poor condition but Shrestha (2016) mentions as much as 65% of the buildings were fully damaged after the earthquake with additional 15% partially damaged.

Objectives

The inefficiency of the state in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the people after the earthquake was pretty evident in Nepal. Communities in the traditional historic city cores suffered more with debt after the earthquake. It can be assumed that the state is pretty much helpless, and the state of the market has rendered the traditional settlements favorable for investors seeking an opportunity to grow setting a favorable stage for commercialization. With this, the local culture is at the risk the most. As the dilapidated architecture and the original residents are being displaced, historic city cores could very well become a museum for tourists one day. The political, economic and environmental challenges that the people in these quarters have faced, events such as the earthquake has come about as a major shock that has amplified the ever-present stresses. The government’s proposal to provide capital worth Rs.3,00,000 or $3000 for the reconstruction of the dwellings aren’t near adequate but often the only thread the public can hang on to.

Reconstruction and rehabilitation are an urgent need in Kathmandu after the devastating Gorkha Earthquake in 2015. The historic city cores of Kathmandu, renowned for its artistic architecture and urban form, are under a great risk of losing authenticity and integrity. The lack of quality living standards plagued much of the residential quarters and the earthquakes that followed after April 25, 2015, have rendered most of it uninhabitable. This incident can be taken in two different directions. We could either allow people to look after themselves and let the current state of affairs continue or integrate systems that would help the people develop resiliency and agency.

The aim of the study is to see if it is possible to mobilize residents and form a more sustainable society that will be ready to face and adapt to future shocks and stresses.

Theoretical Framework

The problems faced by the residents of the historic quarter of the valley and the lack of access to resources has indeed manifested as a complex wicked problem made even worse by the devastating earthquake. It is clear that under such circumstances, although individual efforts are necessary, there is greater value in a collective effort in order to deal with the scale and the dimensions of issues faced by the people in the historic quarters.

Rather than just proposing the design of the built environment, incorporating bottom-up approaches that can help transform the built environment would be ideal for Kathmandu. The importance of community participation cannot be stressed enough in such processes. While self-mobilized (PlanningTank, 2018) forms of participation would be ideal, relevant knowledge on how can we engage the public in a dialogue about their future ought to be studied.

In order to propose interventions that aim to tackle such complex problems, it is important to reflect on theories based on collective action and planning.

Practices of commoning and learning from social mobilization and transformation are integral to the study to address challenges faced by the people but also to establish a system and process that is adaptive and responsive and not just resilient. Intersections between the theory forwarded by Friedmann and commoning can be found multiple points.

In order to propose interventions that aim to tackle such complex problems, it is important to reflect on theories based on collective action and planning. Practices of commoning and learning from social mobilization and transformation are integral to the study to address challenges faced by the people but also to establish a system and process that is adaptive and responsive and not just resilient. Intersections between the theory forwarded by Friedmann and commoning can be found multiple points.

Introduction to Commoning

A term popularized by historian Peter Linebaugh, P2P Foundation defines commoning as, “A verb to describe the social practices used by commoners in the course of managing shared resources and reclaiming the commons.” However, according to Massimo De Angelis, a professor of Political Economy at University of East London further states, “Commons are not simply resources we share - conceptualizing the commons involves three things at the same time. First, all commons involve some sort of common pool of resources, understood as non-commodified means of fulfilling people’s needs. Second, the commons are necessarily created and sustained by communities - this of course is a very problematic term and topic, but nonetheless, we have to think about it. Communities are sets of commoners who share these resources and who define for themselves the rules according to which they are accessed and used. Communities, however, do not necessarily have to be bound to a locality, they could also operate through translocal spaces. They also need not be understood as “homogeneous” in their cultural and material features. The third and most important element in terms of conceptualizing the commons is the verb “to common” - the social process that creates and reproduces the commons.” Referring to the definition of the verb according to Peter Linebaugh, he mentions that the commoners were able to develop rules and regulation for the use of the common resources.

Furthermore, Mirko et al (2017) mention that “Commoning is a process of negotiating differences and conflicts between the individual, the community, and society. It is a process that involves the spatial organization of the relationships between production and reproduction, ownership and access to resources. A process in which solidarity networks are created and individual and collective rights are redefined.”

According to Julie Ristau, co-director of “On The Commons”, the act of commoning entails that the members of the community - so formed by those who share, know that it is their responsibility to take care of the commons and acknowledge that some things are shared and belong to everyone. The practice of commoning demonstrates a shift in thinking from the prevailing ethic of “you’re on your own” to “we’re in this together”(Ristau,2011).

Commoning represents a new way for everyday citizens to make decisions and take action to shape the future of their communities without being locked into the profit-driven mechanics of the market or being solely dependent on government agencies for funding. However, most folks who make these kinds of decisions probably don’t call their actions “commoning”; instead they may simply think of their actions as “common sense.” (Ristau, 2011). She mentions that commoning is a process through which the everyday citizens are able to make decisions collectively and begin to shape the environments they live in even without the support and aid of the state or market forces (Ristau, 2011).

Fields of Tension

The publication “An Atlas of Commoning” illustrates and elaborates projects, ideas, and practices of commoning initiated by citizens through a bottom-up approach. Editors Gruber and Ngo describe “commoning” as a process where common goods both tangible and intangible are produced and reproduced that takes place outside the influence of state and market forces (An Atlas of Commoning, 2017). Gruber and Ngo, further point out that these emancipatory processes or practices of commoning are rarely without conflict and thus exist within a spectrum of fields of tensions and negotiations such as:

Ownership and Shared Access
Production and Reproduction
Solidarity and Rights

Commoning the City

Based on the premise that attempts at creating sustainable urban developments would be futile if we do not attempt to address the growing social disparity and division, it becomes important we address the latter primarily (Gruber and Kline, 2018). Investigating practices of commoning and the commons presents an alternative approach to understand how social inequalities have manifested in different regions of the world and what citizens have done to address them. Gruber and Kline (2018) mention such spaces of commoning, neither public nor private, are created by the people to liberate themselves from and exist outside the oppressive top-down state and market structures through rules for use and (re)production, subsequently creating new forms of social relations in the process. Such case studies pertinent to the study here is discussed in the later chapters as case studies.

Context of Community

The terms “community”, “public” and “we” are used to a greater extent. Stavros (Atlas, 2017) compares the first two terms on the basis of how their interests align. According to him, “community” is used to denote a group homogeneous people that form an entity with similar interests whereas “public” denotes people with a diverse set of interests where negotiation can take place to reach a common ground.

“Relating commons to groups of “similar” people bears the danger of eventually creating closed communities. People may thus define themselves as commoners by excluding others from their milieu, from their own privileged commons.” - Stavros (Atlas, 2017). On the importance to establish social contracts based on negotiations rather instead of just validating shared resources, Stavros emphasizes we need to figure what can be shared, how and among who. The latter as an indication to determine “we” in this context and who is excluded.

Yet, it seems that the essence lies not on the choice of words but its meaning and purpose. Community or public, the value in practices of commoning lies in understanding what the differences are, how can they be addressed to form a common ground where all can participate in the process of (re)production of commons. Stavros, however, cautions that the struggle for commons could possibly work against the fight for liberation if people with similar interests are trying to preserve their commons against others. Elaborating how a middle-class neighborhood community might tend to fight for and preserve their character resulting in communities built on exclusion and entitlement, he mentions that it is vital that everyone is informed and participates.

Social Transformation through Planning

The problem as one can observe percolates down deep into several levels of the society. The failure of previous planning attempts is very evident now. While there exist systems to take care of the monuments, there are none for the residents and society.

An assumption is pretty clear by now that a positive change which benefits all be acquired through collective action and become emancipatory as well. How do the current forms of planning stack up to these ideas is important to assess? Referring to John Friedmann, in his book “Planning in the Public Domain: From Knowledge to Action”, different forms of planning are weighted to see what form of knowledge and action can sprout desired scenarios. Two central questions Friedmann asks is, “Can ordinary people be trusted to use their heads in the conduct of their own affairs or is superior wisdom needed?” and “Can people free themselves from tutelage by state and corporate power and become autonomous again as active citizens in households, local communities, and regions?”.

Crisis in Planning

Friedmann (1987) mentions that with most plans done by planners failing especially in third world countries where problems are mounting. Highlighting a broken link between action and knowledge, he describes that the crisis in planning is basically a failure of societal guidance and has been primarily due to:

A Crisis of knowing
The accelerated pace of historical events

The fast and rapidly changing conditions in the society often make the policies and acts of reforms obsolete by the time they are brought into action. Without ever getting to respond to the conditions that prompted the formation of the aforementioned policies, the condition will have changed requiring a new set of policies to address them.

Unprecedented nature of the events

The lack of time to address the sheer scale of the scenarios such as natural and man-made disasters or man-made conditions such as rapid globalization and environmental degradation as well as knowledge to address it (Friedmann, 1987).

Escape Routes

He further postulates that there are escape routes are open to addressing the crisis in planning. Salvation by technology where scientists and engineers with their scientific and rational knowledge would come to the rescue. Secondly, salvation by unfettered enterprise - The Free Market, where according to him, the state’s role will be drastically reduced in order to achieve growth and prosperity for corporations but would have to confront “ mounting indebtedness, hyperinflation in the Third World, environmental devastation, jobless growth and so on” (Friedmann, 2017, pg 314). Propaganda and repression to influence the consciousness of the people where those in opposition cannot contest, and could possibly allow the worst to rise to the top (Friedmann, 2017, pg 314).

Re-centering of political power in civil society in order to transform state and corporate economies. Public or the citizens in the latter three routes do not have much say on much. Their knowledge is of less value and they are to be directed by top-down structures. However, in the latter route, by re-establishing a community where the power relations can be negotiated and exercised by people, changes in dynamics between the state, market and citizens can take place for the common good.

Re-centering of the Political Community

Forms of planning such as social reform and policy analysis positions the state to guide the society, often in the interest of the bureaucracy (Friedmann, 1987). However, Friedmann further postulates that a new model of radical planning - a development of social learning and social mobilization would be capable to enable people to transform their society. Such a model where a vision for the good of society can be crafted by the people would be crucial for the task at hand. His idea of radical planning suggests that by re-centering the political power in the civil society, citizen control as mentioned in Arnstein’s “A Ladder of Citizen Participation” can be reinstated as well.

In order to do so, he states that we must reclaim the political community first. Why? To reduce the imbalance of power in the public domain that would help bring people who are currently helpless into positions where they can participate in processes of governance.

To establish a polity, he states that it is necessary to recover the energies of a political community that will transform both the state and corporate economy from within. At the very core of it, we would need to rethink households as a socio-political entity for the self-production of life.

A political community, according to Friedmann, exhibits four characteristics

Their power extends over a given territorial base,
They enjoy historical continuity
They are composed of citizen members
They are part of an ensemble of communities among which citizenship is shared.

This further brings into question the argument on gaining legitimacy, authority, and finally agency. There needs to be a system in place that would empower people to collectively shape both their spaces and lives, allowing them to negotiate traditions and modernity on their own terms.

Design

Re-defining the Community

Traditional Guthi Communities

A form of civil society (political community perhaps) does exist within the Newar community. Innate into the culture is a membership for the men into a social trust cWalled Guthis.

“The meaning of the word “guthi” is derived from the Sanskrit “Gosthi” meaning an association’ or an ‘assembly’. In this sense, the guthi is an association formed by groups of people or members of a family based on caste, patrilineal grouping or territorial aspects.” - Pradhananga, Shrestha and Dee, 2009

Dangol (2010) in his dissertation “Sana Guthi and the Newars: Impacts of Modernization on Traditional Social Organization” presents Guthi as “a group of people united for a common objective, created to enhance the standard of living of people due to realization of the need to live together and work together for a common purpose.”

Lekakis et al, 2018 mentions that community organizations called Guthis existed as an integral element of the Newar society as a structure for community governance as a part of the traditional urban socio-cultural setup.

Believed to have been existed since the Lichhavi era (400-750 CE), a palm-leaf manuscript that dates back to 1114 CE “explained the rules and regulations for collective use of the property of a Buddhist Monastery among the Guthi members” (Lekakis, et al., 2018). As an intangible heritage of the Newars (people who belong to the Newar community), guthis were also created for the conservation of various heritage resources, either built structures such as monasteries and temples or different forms of art such as folk music, dances and plays during festivals (Lekakis, et al., 2018).

Similar definition to Dangol’s is also mentioned in “Role of Guthi in Newar Buddhist Culture” by Vajracharya, 1998. Vajracharya (1998) is quick to point out the theoretical aspects of Guthi that refer to the presence of rules and regulation on how tasks are carried out by the members, equal rights, and responsibility to take care of the collectively owned resources among others.

The trust or Guthi finances regular maintenance of a wide range of heritage items and monuments as well as the observance of cultural rituals and festivals from the revenue generated through the collectively owned land and rental property. Wealthy people of rulers would often build monuments or heritage items to gain goodwill and set aside resources such as land or money to take care of it. Furthermore, it established a form of local community economy, and exist in relation to other trusts or guthis as well.

On the level of political conception, the trust manifested on the household and urban commune levels as well as regional level, where it functioned as commons with the pooling of common resources for a shared interest and good.

Relevance of "Guthi" on conservational efforts for urban heritage

Foul management of resources available to the Guthiyars or members of the Guthi) prompted the government to institutionalize Guthis. According to Lekakis et al (2018), “With the “Guthi Sansthan Act” of 1964 and further amendments in 1976, several Guthis and their functions were incorporated into the state-owned Guthi Sansthan (Guthi Corporation) while the land that Guthis owned was either nationalized or allowed to be privatized and distributed amongst the Guthis’ members.”

Lekakis et al, argue that the Guthi framework can be applied to form a participatory process for governance for heritage conservation. Similarly, Pradhanga et al propose that policymakers would be able to achieve sustainable heritage conservation and management by recognizing the value of informal indigenous practices such as the Guthi. They further propose that the understanding the integral elements of Guthi such as the community, aspect of citizen control for empowerment, ability to exist as decentralized units, emphasis on collective action, cultural value and sustainability are important to enhance policies and decisions.

Roshan B. Bhandari in his paper “Social capital in disaster risk management: A case study of Social Capital Mobilization following the 1934 Kathmandu Valley Earthquake in Nepal”, 2014, proposes using the “existing authority structure of Guthi’ (Bhandari, 2014, pg 323) the decisions can be taken efficiently during disasters. He found that volunteers mobilized during the 1934 disaster were also members of guthis and provided labor as well as financial support to those in need in addition to conducting death rites for the deceased (Bhandari, 2014, pg 323). Based on the significance of social capital and theories of social capital along with the recorded conversations with people in the community, Bhandari (2014) emphasizes the value of Guthis and other forms of civil societies such as women’s associations, mother’s club, literary societies, etc can be mobilized to build “pre-disaster resilience”(Bhandari, 2014, pg 326) along with the support of the state.

With the practice of Guthis and its structure framed as a potential solution to some of the problems and tasks in the valley, it’s value in recovering the political community and ability to build agency among the residents becomes an interesting aspect to explore.

Case Studies

Two such cases of communities are interesting to study in order to understand how political communities have existed and operate - the co-operative housing - Kraftwerk1 in Zurich and Campaign to Rebuild Kasthamandap in Kathmandu.

Kraftwerk1, Zurich

Zurich in the 1980s suffered from a lack of affordable housing as the urban center grew. Tensions grew in the city among the youths, city and its hierarchy and their policies. It was during such a time a book written by P.M. or Hans Widmer - ‘Bolo Bolo’- an anarchist, anti-capitalist social utopian book, influenced the conception of Kraftwerk1, a housing and construction cooperative, much later in 1995. Few questions surrounding discussions on affordable housing were

Who determines what happens in the city?
Who owns the city?
Who is allowed to use which rooms and are there new ways of living together?

In 1998, Kraftwerk1 Hardturm was built with 100 flats in four houses with 100 working and office spaces. It was the first housing to have shared flats. Not exactly a bolo – an autonomous community corresponding to the anthropological unit of a tribe of a few hundred individuals), it incorporated ideas such as solidarity support for the less profitable, shared rooms, commitment to the neighborhood, collaboration with the agricultural cooperatives such as Ortoloco and working in groups on different topics.

Similarly, Heizenholz was also based on such principles and exists as a member of a network of coops rather than a solitary entity. As a bolo, it relies on coops such as the Ortoloco for vegetables and others for fruits and milk. Active participation of the future inhabitants during the conceptualization of this project meant that new forms of c and other social aspects were discussed thoroughly. Building off of the Hardturm project, Heizenholz introduced clustered apartments, each for as much as 9 people who would share a common kitchen and a living room.

Residents are members of the cooperative and participate to vote at the general meetings. The decision-making body with regards to, for instance, apartment rentals resides on a three-body committee made up of two residents of the settlement and one from the Kraftwerk1 board. This ensures that decisions are taken up by those who will most likely be affected by it. Depending on self-disclosed incomes, residents pay a spirit contribution in addition to rent, between CHF 15 to CHF 55 per month, of which half goes to subsidize rents and community fund. The resident community, as a result of their discussions, have organized and written their own “house book” based on the statutes and the charter of Kraftwerk1.

Kraftwerk1 began as a model to re-imagining alternative model of living together but the charter they’ve set out for the organization allows variations of it exist, pertaining to the resident community in different places. The charter outlines the overarching objective and goals but also defines not only the rights but also the duties and responsibilities for its members.

Campaign to Rebuild Kasthamandap

Kasthamandap was a public rest house (categorized as a sattal, built around 700 CE) that was used by the general public and unlike the palaces or temples, that are under the ownership of the state, it was owned by a Guthi and subsequently the local community (Lekakis et al, 2018). The Campaign to rebuild Kasthamandap began as a revolt against delay in construction and substandard construction techniques adopted by the government to construct the monument. People padlocked the construction site and after gaining sufficient support self-organized and mobilized to reconstruct the sattal. The local community launched the “Campaign to Rebuild Kasthamandap” and signed an agreement with the newly formed National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Department of Archaeology (DoA), and the municipality to rebuild the structure.

Although the plans weren’t carried out later as planned, the citizen-led initiative gathered support, momentum, as well as legitimacy to actually alter the traditional monument. A key takeaway from this example is how the people were able to gain agency through self-organization to actually author and practice caring for a form of commons, sheltering it from state forces. The collective adopted a constitution as well that defines the goals, objectives as well as criteria for membership and its scope and limitations.

Reframing Guthis

Guthi as a Political Community and Institution of Commoning

Citizenship and need to reinstate it

Stavros (Atlas, 2017) says, “In the words of Mexican philosopher and activist Gustavo Esteva, commons has to do with polity, with the ways of structuring a community that recognizes itself as a form of we… If commoning is a set of social practices, we will see how this idea affects the understanding of how space might become a commons. So, to enter a discussion about the field of commons and commoning, you must declare your own values, connect the means to the pursuit of those values, as well as to show how those values are linked to collective forms of social organization.”

Drawing from the traditional collective practices such as Guthis that were bottom up, a new form of Guthi is proposed to reinstate the citizens as members of a polity, engendering a transition to an autonomous system that is resilient to future shocks and stresses. The study eventually aims to focus more on systems-level design for the public that can help transform their relationship with the state and the market. These interventions are necessary in order to frame the public as an active partner or even the client rather than be viewed as subjects for the state to intervene. With these in mind, reframing the traditional trust to form a new [Neighborhood] Guthi will aid the resident community to develop the agency to improve their built environment and share resources among themselves increasing their agency and fostering economic sufficiency.

Process

It is important to actively and critically re-frame the entity with respect to who gets to participate in such collectives if we are to bring about a significant change to the patriarchal dominant society. With the past roles within the Guthi always held by males either based on territory, kinship or caste, the inclusion of residents from the neighborhood regardless of their sex, caste and status in the society would be the first step. However, representation of the following would be ideal to involve the participation of people that belong to all three state, market and civic spheres.

The new organization will comprise of

A member of the larger Guthi or someone elected from the neighborhood
Businesses in the neighborhood (Tea shop vendors, etc)
Local Ward Official
Youth (1M and 1F minimum)
Women representatives
Elderly (1M and 1F minimum)
Graphic Artist.

As a non-profit organization, similar to the Campaign to Rebuild Kasthamandap, the new Neighborhood Guthi will need to define its constitution to be recognized by the state in order for any of its proposal or activity to be legitimate. Kraftwerk1’s approach of establishing a central charter that can later be appropriated by the resident community suitable to their requirements seems the best way to move forward.

It is the partnership or the direct involvement of the state in the form of a Ward official and the businesses that will render authority to the neighborhood guthi on issues pertaining to community planning and development as well. Enacting this framework would then allow the citizens take the helm as a partner rather than being subjects to inventions governed by the state or the market, become the author of their physical, economical as well as socio-cultural environment.

Social Contract

The charter or the constitution for the first guthi will then outline

Purpose or Mission of the Guthi
Rules and Regulations for Membership
Rights and Duties of the members
Scope and Limitations of the Organizations
Procedures for amending the Constitution
Financial Organization and Structure

Reflecting on the lack of access to capital promulgated by the commercial banks or larger corporations, an integral addition to the new guthi structure to (re)produce the resources and maintain them would be through the adoption of a microfinance institution. Adhikari and Shrestha (2013) have presented very a compelling case of the positive impact and increase in income generated by incorporating a microfinance into a village community around Kathmandu. The pioneer of such financial institution Nobel laurette Muhammad Yunus initiated Grameen Bank as a community development bank in Bangladesh. The bank is intended to build a financial system based on social resources such as “trust, accountability, participation and creativity” than on collateral. Microfinances “provides services to the communities who have no collateral to offer against the loans they take but have indigenous skills and strong desire to undertake economic activities for self employment and income generation” (Adhikari and Shrestha, 2013).

Financial institutions such as commercial bank, development banks and finance companies are grouped as Class A, B, and C with microfinance institutions classified as Class D financial institutions respectively. Under the mandate of the National reserve, banks under Class A, and B are directed to distribute a certain percentage of their liquidity to microfinances as a way to reach the un-bankable. This entails that microfinances in Nepal generally gain access to low-interest rate loans from a commercial bank, development banks as well as finance companies.

The incorporation of such financial structure into the new neighborhood guthi framework would drastically increase the access to financial resources for the residents.And now instead of relying on individuals for resources, the new model enables access to greater resources the incorporation of a microfinance-based on community guarantees rather than the need for collaterals.

The neighborhood guthi would be responsible for initiating microfinance or establishing a branch of such community-oriented microfinance. Cooperatives are another form of financial institutions in Nepal that function similar to microfinance but are not bound by the strict state regulation and are informal at times. In an ideal scenario, with the microfinance run by the guthi, where some of the labor can be shared and potentially be unpaid, operating for the well-being of the community, the rates could potentially be lowered thus matching those of the Grade A - commercial banks or the higher interest rates can potentially be justified through benefits the community gains.

Imagined Scenarios

The access to resources such as labor, capital, knowledge, and space will allow and empower the citizens to establish a solidarity economy benefiting the community. It will provide the residents an opportunity to renovate their houses, start a new business or establish facilities such as a shared laundry. As a much larger intervention, the resident community of the neighborhood could potentially begin to explore alternative ways of living together too as has been done by Kraftwerk1. A previous study by Pant and Shrestha (2016) into understanding the perception of the residents of traditional historic cores in Kathmandu illustrates that there are options available to the people and people do prefer co-operative housing structures. However, there emerged a pattern where people with larger lots or dwelling units in a favorable spot such as around a courtyard or on a main street would prefer not to negotiate their shares. In such instances, the neighborhood guthi could prove to be catalytic in helping build consensus, awareness and social cohesion among the residents.

As mentioned previously, the interventions led by the people could also prove to be emancipatory for the repressed in the society. Shared communal laundry spaces can prove to be a boon for the females in a household who would pursue their interests with the time saved. An intervention could potentially be to design features around such spaces in the future. Communal laundries could potentially become the next meeting spot for people. Similarly, the incorporation of toy depots within the fabric could be a way to teach children the value and methods to share with others. Resources to start new business could very well enable the people, especially mothers and grandmothers, to engage in income generating. The range of interventions would then be up to the people to conjure as they see fit at present.

Implementation

In order to realize this new entity, Friedmann also talks on how it is important, regardless of spatial hierarchy, the structure should promote the ability to participate in collective decision making and influence the outcomes. Furthermore, to function politically, people must have appropriate meeting spaces for discussing their common affairs. A right to speech and assembly at least.

Capitalizing off of Common Infrastructures

The historic urban fabric in the valley is dotted with spaces such as the rest-houses called Patis and Sattals. These types of spaces are neither private or public but exist as common infrastructure. These spaces already facilitate a wide range of activities such as sun-basking or as meeting spots in the neighborhood and thus could be further leveraged to discuss the aforementioned common affairs as well.

Patis and Sattals are based on the scale of the structure, with Sattals tending to be larger and have additional floors compared to a single floor configuration of the Patis. Patis are even more common throughout the traditional cities, showing up besides entrances to the city gates or on the ground floor of houses, free standing structures around common open spaces or along travel routes. An activity one might come across could be members of a guthi (that are responsible for art) chant religious hymns in these structures or store their instruments on the attic or upper floor of these structures. In the past, sattals have also been used schools for the community. Along with the common spaces such as shared courtyards and squares, such common infrastructure presents a space for the public to participate in collective decision making and to engage in shared activities pertaining to the new guthi.

Bhandari (2014) too found the common infrastructure crucial in his research as most of the interviews carried out in such spaces in Lalitpur.

Disseminating Information

The whole process revolves around the concept of reinstating the sense of citizenship among the residents in the neighborhood and which subsequently would result in a vast network of informed citizens that are capable of participating in discussion regarding their physical as well as socio-cultural and economic issues faced by the community.

Directly delivering the end product to the neighborhood residents could save time and potentially be cost effective too but yet again would become an action of societal guidance that lacks public participation. It is then important to begin crafting a set of scenarios and tactical interventions within the built environment that would potentially engage the people in discussions on collective effort or acting for a common good and how to negotiate and build consensus based on paradigmatic differences.

An activity people are seen doing in these spaces is reading newspapers which I find is the perfect method to disseminate ideas of commoning and collective effort.

Inspired by Atelier Bow-Wow’s creation of “Made in Tokyo” t-shirts for to share their publication - Japanese Pet Architecture and Made in Tokyo, looking at the newspaper closely, it basically comprises of three distinct elements - the news, advertisements and the political cartoon / comic section including the crosswords. While news are integral to the paper and the advertisements a method to secure income for the media houses, comics stand out as a space for negotiation in the artifact.

The comic strip is one section we rarely skip in these papers and partnering with the local daily to disseminate ideas and information through it would be the first intervention. The visual cue and way a comic works, being able to deliver messages and ideas across in a significantly short time and playfully, along with its ubiquitous nature of the paper makes it a better tool as well. These smaller niche level interventions does have the ability to potentially shift mind-sets of the mass, something political cartoons have been quite successful at throughout history.

Buying food in different places within the valley, you are bound to be given it wrapped in newspaper. In a way, this could potentially find its way into the heart of the private sphere - the household domain and into the dining space where it could potentially engage the family members in a discussion.

Common Theme

Kathmandu Commons

The comic strips, as a playful and simple element to engage people in discussions and making them aware of the potential outcomes of collective action would be done by the graphic artist present as a member of the guthi.

The comic strips would be structured and published in phases to help gather momentum in the society depending on the level of awareness and intention of the neighborhood guthi.

Two forms of comics are forwarded here. The common theme shall be based on case studies of practices of commoning with the Kathmandu Commons representative of current state of affairs or the phasing scenario discussed by the guthi.

Comic Strip Development

The goal of the comic strip would be to illustrate possibilities of what could happen if people work together based on the problems and issues resident community or the general public face with respect to social, financial, cultural, environmental and physical issues.

Six phases of progression towards the actualization of the neighborhood guthi are defined below and will help construct the timeline for the comics as well.

Phase A

Introduction of comics in the patis and common infrastructure. “Common Theme” comics could potentially be sufficient and potent to increase awareness.

Phase B

A more direct approach to highlight problems in the community. “Kathmandu Commons” drafted by the Guthi would introduce people to these shared spaces as potential gathering spots for political discussions and potentially illustrate imagined scenarios.

Phase C

Start meeting with people and arrange meetings in these common spaces in the neighborhoods. It would also be beneficial to meet other support or neighborhood reform groups (participate with other civil societies). Use comics strips to highlight common spaces as potentially meeting venues and also introduce the concept or thought of an establishing an organization.

Phase D

Discuss ideas on how to improve and tackle issues faced by the community. Comics could display how resources can be shared amongst a larger group and region.

Phase E

As people begin to think of how they can be more effective and legitimate, establish the organization and engage in discussion to resolve financial aspects of the organization. The comic can be a way to illustrate how younger generations can be incorporated into the group to resolve issues.

Phase F

People begin to meet in the open spaces, share resources and begin to work collectively. Begin discussion on drafting the constitution and establish the neighborhood guthi along with the realization of some of the imagined scenarios such as communal laundries, etc.

Conclusion

Through these preliminary interventions and the introduction of the social contract or constitution to the people, the project will gain sufficient momentum such that it will have reinstated the citizens as a polity engendering a transition to an autonomous system that is resilient to future shocks and stresses.

Exhibition

The project was exhibited in the Thesis Exhibition at the Miller ICA at Carnegie Mellon University.

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