Good cities and bad cities; good plans and bad plans, along with this Structure Plan of Thimphu, are all about the ecologies of communities, — about how the ecological principles of diversity, interdependence, scale and decentralization mould our concepts of self, of family, of neighborhood, of community and of nation.

Unlike the “models” of cities we see around the world, this Structure Plan is about:
•Communities that are people oriented and of human scale;
• Communities that provide the people more opportunities for livelihood;
• Communities that are more diverse in their economic bases and potentials for social contacts;
•Communities that are secure and safe;
• Communities that are integrated in their uses and in their functions;
• Communities that sponsor health, hygiene and well being;
• Communities enhance skills, knowledge, and awareness through education.

Opposed to these community-based concepts stand models of mechanization, fragmentation, isolation of the individual and boredom. How we choose to shape our man-made environment is how we conceptualize our communities. In the City Center we want to move people up close to recognize their friends, while at the Dzong we want distant views!

General and Detailed Fields of View and Distance and Visual Recognition

Our plan for Thimphu must respond to the needs of different ages. Grandparents and older people would like to visit religious places and gardens with their grandchildren. They would like to meet their friends in a public park, or just sit in the sun and read. The city must be a place for elders as well as for the youth.

Young people need sports grounds and they need “hang outs.” They need libraries, cyber cafes, discos and reading rooms. We have to plan for the boys and for the girls; we have to plan for the athletes and for the ‘nerds!’

We have to plan for women. Most cities have no sanitary facilities for women, and if they do they are too filthy to use! We have to plan for women and their children. We must be sensitive to the needs of each age group and to each gender. If we are sensitive to these things more people will use the facilities we create and they will become the advocates and guardians of these public assets.