Landscape Urbanism: Bhote Koshi

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SUTD Sustainable Design Option Studio 2

"Landscape Urbanism is, by definition, trans-disciplinary. Whilst drawing upon the legacy of landscape design to address the dynamics of contemporary urbanism, it integrates knowledge and techniques from environmental engineering, urban strategy and landscape ecology, and employs the science of complexity and emergence, the tools of digital design and the thought of political ecology. Through these means the course projects new material interventions that operate within an urbanism conceived as social, material, ecological and continually modulated by the spatial and temporal forces in which it is networked."

The Bhote Koshi River Basin located at the Sindhupalchok district in Nepal faces the problem of poor infrastructure which led to an unsustainable decline of agriculture and a high absentee population. This project aims to activate the river basin's economic potential by integrating multiple touristic loops into existing villages which links the main Araniko highway.

Incorporating landslide mitigation structures, a harmonious landscape that can be used for both agriculture, water management and tourism is generated where both locals and tourists can benefit from the introduction of new economic opportunities, improved transportation and amenities.