Abstract
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.
Highlights
Public open space is a place that is not closed or blocked up and provides access to people for enjoyment, social gatherings, organizing political events, religious, sports, commercial activities, and is controlled and managed for the public interest (Madanipour, 2003; Wooley, 2003)
Inmigration is one of the reasons for the increasing population trend in the valley as it is the most common destination of inter-district current migrants as nearly 38% of current migrants go to the central hill, out of which 34% are based in the three districts of Kathmandu Valley (KV) (Suwal, 2014)
The significant growth of the urban population in KV and Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) leads to diminishing the public open space
Summary
Public open space is a place that is not closed or blocked up and provides access to people for enjoyment, social gatherings, organizing political events, religious, sports, commercial activities, and is controlled and managed for the public interest (Madanipour, 2003; Wooley, 2003). Open space can be accounted for all types of open spaces including private and public open areas, whereas public open space is the open space that is accessible to all people without any restrictions. Open spaces contribute to the urban residence that underpins many social, ecological, and economic activities, and are essential to the healthy functioning of urban life and environment (RECPHEC, 2016; UNHabitat, 2018). These spaces are valuable for urban residence as it provides commonplace for recreation, health enhancement, developing social networking, and enhancing peoples’ well-being. With a rapidly increasing population causing a high growth rate of urbanization has been demanding more land for housing, infrastructure development in the cities of developing countries which has led to decreasing public open
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
