One recalls with nostalgia the comradery of the Thimphu archery grounds in the 1970’s. Office attendants, drivers and Dashos all tested their skills on the targets of Thimphu. The archery ground was the greatest social and economic leveler of society. A mere attendant could gain the admiration of a powerful Dasho on the field of competition! Friendship and the game ruled over social place and economic status opposite the target!

In the early 1980’s the first power bow had shown its face on the archery grounds of the city. One game became two. One society divided in half on the dictate of technology. The popularity of the power bow spread like fire in grass and a traditional ritual silently fragmented into parts. The introduction of this beautiful, new technology brought with it the social divisions of specialized competitive Western society. It built a wall between those who could afford such a magnificent machine, and those who could just watch in awe. It turned natural winners into spectators.

Then came the family television set and private entertainment. Automobile ownership grew rapidly, with soft loans as a policy incentive. One no longer walked anywhere and said “hello” to passersby on the street; one drove…running in to shops making quick purchases, perhaps giving a reluctant smile to an old acquaintance. The small settlement of Thimphu clustered around the core began to spread out. The husband drove to work, and the wife drove for the household chores. She drove the kids, she drove to do shopping; she drove to visit her mother. Everything and everyone became fragmented, apart and divided, like the archery grounds. Even teenage children “needed” a car!

In this little parable is a mirror. And if we look in the mirror we see the future of the city, and the future of the society. And in the archery grounds we see a miniature of the world in which Bhutan lives and where someone else will always have the power bow if we thoughtlessly play their game of competition. What we forgot when we bought the power bow was that archery was not just a competition, it was the coming together of a community! It was a ritual of friendship and a celebration of being Bhutanese. If we can learn from this parable to build a traditional bow, when we build a Bhutanese city, we will be the wiser for it!

Over the past three decades the patterns of urban growth have become more and more dysfunctional. They have come to produce environments, which frustrate, rather than enhance everyday life. Urban sprawl increases pollution, clutters the Urban Core and generates enormous costs - which must be paid for by the tax payer, consumers, businesses, and at the cost of the environment, which we hold so dear.

2.7 LIMITING URBAN GROWTH

Limiting migration to cities is the answer thrown out by those of us who do not want to face the reality of hard decisions and strong governance. History shows that no society, no system of ‘passes’ or identity cards has ever been able to limit the growth of cities. Only unpleasantness, only decadence, only death and disease could still the flood of humanity into urban places. Calcutta is one of the few cases of a city growing slower than its surrounding hinterland for several decades… a response to political decay, economic decadence, environmental pollution, public neglect and mismanagement on a massive scale. From the capital of a grand empire, it became the bane of the world…the city to which no one wanted to go! For those who are looking for a policy of urban containment, this is the model! Make a city unlivable and no one will come to live there!