Reclaiming streets for people in Kathmandu: One parking space at a time

Infrastructure development, particularly the development of roads, has both advantages and disadvantages. While it has done a lot for economic growth, it has also increased pollution, traffic congestion, and injuries and deaths from accidents.

Following the west’s suit, Nepal and Kathmandu also embraced a car-centric planning approach, prioritising vehicular movement over pedestrians. But, now, as there are fewer and fewer open spaces and traffic jams are ever rising , a lack of parking spaces for vehicles has become a perennial problem in Kathmandu. It is about time we started to raise questions about how unlivable and unsustainable the city has been due to rapid urbanisation.