The Structure Plan is the beginning of a search for a framework of action.

It is the laying down of the basic themes, elements and components, which will temper our thinking later when we are engaged in the technical task of “plan making” at the local level. The Structure Plan is a fluid document, which can be changed and revised as we move on into the details of planning. The Structure Plan is a statement of the possibilities: it is about the suburbs; it is about the Thimphu City Core; it is about the town; it is about the region; and it is about the nation.

Because Thimphu is the capital of the country, it is an image of who we are. It is the most salient image of what Bhutan is, and what Bhutan can be. The image of the capital sends a message around the globe about the uniqueness and essence of the nation and its special culture. The image of the capital is intricately linked with the enrichment and the survival of the very “idea of Bhutan.” The planning of this potentially great city is thus no trivial matter.

The setting out of this search is contingent on one essential question: WHICH FORK IN THE ROAD DO WE TAKE? We can go either one way or the other!

Do we want to evolve into a combination of all of the unknown forces and factors that surround us? As a capital city, do we want our urban form and shape to be the result of numerous personally motivated, individual and unplanned decisions?

Or, do we want to collectively determine our own future? Do we want a capital that is distinctive, which is unique, and which we are all proud of? This, in fact is the only question of relevance to this search!

Let us restate this: Will we allow Thimphu to grow in a disjointed and incremental manner? Will we allow the future to be the sum total of privately motivated acts and isolated, though well-intended, public projects? This is one road to follow, and there are advocates of this road. But where will it lead us? In the end even the individuals who were motivated to serve themselves will be the losers?

Or, will we collectively take responsibility for our own future? Will we plan to reach certain goals and objectives?

We maintain that all societies, all institutions, and all cities are mere experiments! None is granted surety of success, or even survival. The past century has seen the rise and fall of numerous societal and national ventures, which have led to naught. Let us not be complacent in our steps into the future. There is no guarantee that any societal experiment will succeed. Success must be believed in; success must be nurtured; success must be well conceived and well planned for.

Tashichho Dzong: Icon of Bhutan

When we talk about the Bhutanese experiment, we are talking about something very vital to the people of this land; we are also talking about something very vital to the people of other lands, and to the world community. The Bhutanese experiment, as it is evolving, has a mission that goes beyond the welfare of its subjects. It goes beyond the participation of stakeholders in the town, or of the professional principles of planners and advisors! It goes beyond the conservation of the ecology of the Himalayas. It goes beyond a developing nation becoming developed. The Bhutanese experiment is one of sustainability of the human spirit and lifestyle in a future driven by technology, industrialization, fragmentation, division and isolation.

Bhutan is one of the last societies where individuals have time to think, have time to reflect, and have time to meditate. It is one of the last places where man is in harmony with his natural setting and there is a balance between the two. It is one of the last places where global and faceless corporate managements do not rule the moment-to-moment lives of the people. Bhutan is one of the last refuges of beautiful innocence and the “honest smile.” In such a society there can be peace of mind and contentment. There can be a resurgence of the human spirit.

This does not mean that the society can be complacent about the present, or careless about the future. Change is an essential element of growth and development and many of the outcomes can be counter productive, or even painful. There are unavoidable issues facing the society in which cities and towns can play a critical role. Cities are the vehicles of development for better or worse. To harness the potential “good” of cities we must grasp the facts that towns and cities are the:

? Engines of growth;
? Centers of constructive social change;
? Promoters of physical, and social security
? Creators and distributors of information;
? Homes of transparent and civil institutions;
? Places of opportunity; and,
? Arenas of self-discovery and personal reinvention.

We must realize that urban growth is unavoidable and sure. What is not sure is that we respond to this inevitable change in a positive and imaginative manner. Again, cities are both the means and the ends of development. They can be used to bring into existence a highly cultured and civilized lifestyle. Or they can be left on their own to create squalor and decline into decadence. Their protective security, social and economic opportunities, economic infrastructure and financial institutions, plurality, and political expression all lead to the development of the capability of “the person.” But this has never meant that one can do whatever he wants to do.

Right from Greek and Roman times civility and greatness have emerged from the concept of individuals compromising on the rustic freedoms of village life, in favor of a more cultured ‘civil society.’ By giving up something, each member of the community gets something more. From this mutual venture a society gains its pride, its identity and its unique sense of worth. Thus, city planning and “city building” are at the core of a nation’s survival and development.

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is not just an increase in the standard of living, nor is it merely the enhancement of the physical quality of life. It is the creation of an opportunity system in which each individual can explore their own potentials and develop them to the maximum extent possible. Bhutan’s focus on HAPPINESS is a measure of its wisdom regarding the human condition. Freedom and opportunity are placed in a context of responsibility.