Intelligent Urbanism recognizes that none of the principles, or good practices, it promotes can be implemented unless there is a strong and rational institutional framework to define, channel and legalize urban development, in all of its aspects. While the present size and scale of Gelephu does not justify a full municipal corporation, the present set of sector specialists is too limited, both in their size and in their range of professional qualifications. These dedicated professionals need a range of support to be truly effective.

Intelligent Urbanism envisions the institutional framework as being very clear about the rules and regulations it sponsors and that those using discretion in implementing these measures must do so in a totally open, recorded and transparent manner. This becomes very difficult in a working environment where the local staff is over-burdened and works on a crises management footing, rather than an organized professional footing.

Intelligent Urbanism proposes that Gelephu’s Development Management System must temper its development and that of the urban region also. This would lay out all of the procedures, through which all proposals would be submitted and assessed. It would clearly define all of the parameters that are being considered and provide the reasons and the conditions on which proposals will be assessed.

Intelligent Urbanism facilitates the public in carrying out their honest objectives. It does not regulate and control the public. It attempts to reduce the requirements, steps and documentation required for citizens to process their proposals.

Intelligent Urbanism is also promotive in furthering the interests of the public in their genuine utilization of opportunities. It promotes site and services schemes for households who can construct their own houses. It promotes up-gradation of settlements with inadequate basic services. It promotes innovative financing to a range of actors who can contribute to Gelephu’s urban development. Intelligent Urbanism promotes a limited role for government, for example in “packaging” large-scale urban development schemes, so that the private sector is promoted to actually build and market urban projects, which were previously built by the government.

Intelligent Urbanism is not naïve! It recognizes that there are few developers and promoters in Gelephu. There may be a modicum of quality commitment now. In the future, those who have no long term commitment to their own constructions will be the majority, and their only concern is to hand over a dwelling, gain their profit and move on. For these players it is essential to have Development Control Regulations assuring the public that the products in which they invest are safe, hygienic, orderly, durable and efficient. For the discerning citizen, such rules also lay out the civil understanding by which a complex society agrees to live together.

There must be an up-dated and continuously managed cadastral system in Gelephu wherein all of the lands in the jurisdiction of the town are demarcated, surveyed, characterized and archived, registering their legal owners, their legal uses, and the tax defaults against them, if any. The institutional framework can only operate where there is a Structure Plan, or other document that defines how the land will be used, serviced, and accessed. The Gelephu Structure Plan will tell landowners and promoters what the parameters of development are, which assures that their immediate investments are secure, and that the returns and use of such efforts are predictable. The Gelephu Structure Plan provides owners and investors alike, with predictable future scenarios. This is essential for Gelephu’s economy to grow and for investors to become active. Gelephu requires efficient patterns for its main infrastructure systems and utilities. Land needs to be used in a judicious manner, organizing complimentary functions and activities into compact, mixed use precincts and separating out non-compatible uses into their own precincts. In a similar manner, it is only through a plan that heritage sites and the environment can be legally protected. Gelephu’s public assets in the form of nature reserves, religious places, heritage sites and open space systems are designated in a legal plan.

Intelligent Urbanism proposes that the city of Gelephu, and its surrounding region, be regulated by a Structure Plan which acts as a legal instrument to rationally guide the growth, development and enhancement of the city. There must be a system of participation by the “Stake Holders” in the preparation of plans. Public meetings, hearings of objections and transparent processes of addressing objections, must be institutionalized. Intelligent Urbanism promotes Public Participation.  

Two Local Area Plans will be prepared in Gelephu, which address local issues and take into account local views and sentiments regarding plan objectives, configurations, standards and patterns. Such plans layout the sites of plots showing the roads, public open spaces, amenities areas and conservation sites. Land Pooling assures that all of those who benefit from the provision of public infrastructure and amenities equally contribute and that a few individuals do not suffer form reservations in the plan.

There must be an equivalent system of Floor Area Ratios to assure that the land and the services are not over pressured. No single plot owner should grab more than their fair share of utilization of the supporting access roads, amenities and utilities that service all of the sites in Gelephu. Floor Area Ratios temper this relationship and equalize the manner in which public services are consumed. Intelligent Urbanism supports the use of Architectural Guidelines where there is a tradition to preserve and where precedents can be used to specify architectural elements, motifs and language, in a manner, which reinforces a cultural tradition, which is meaningful. Building designs must respect traditional elements, even though the components may vary greatly to integrate contemporary functions. Architectural Guidelines are required to assure harmony and continuity of building proportions, scale, color, patterns, motifs, materials and facades.

Intelligent Urbanism insists on safety, hygiene, durability and utility in the design and construction of buildings. Where large numbers of people gather, in schools and hospitals, which may become emergency shelters in disasters, special care must be exercised. The Bhutan Building Code is the reasonable instrument to achieve these aims, in the public’s interest.  

Those who design buildings in Gelephu must be professionally qualified architects; those who design the structures (especially of structures more than ground plus one level) must be professionally qualified structural engineers; those who build buildings must be qualified civil engineers; and, those who supervise and control construction must be qualified construction managers. Intelligent Urbanism promotes professionalism in the city making process. While promoting professionalism, Intelligent Urbanism proposes that this not become a barrier in the development process. Small structures, short structures, humble structures in Gelephu, which do not house many people, can be self designed and constructed by the inhabitants themselves. There must be recognized Professional Accrediting Boards, or Professional Bodies, to see that urban development employs adequate technical competence.

Intelligent Urbanism insists that towns, local authorities, regional development commissions and planning agencies be professionally managed. Town Managers can be hired to manage the delivery of services, the planning and management of planned development, the maintenance of utilities and the creation of amenities. This must be institutionalized. In a town like Gelephu, this transformation must precede development, not follow it!

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS FOR CHAPTER 1.0

01 & 11 (Pg-240, 152, 153, 154) The Regional City, Calthorpe, P and Fulton, W (2001), Island Press, Washington.

02, 03 & 04 Urban Place Making in India – A study through Theme and Variation across levels , Unpublished Thesis, Wagh.R. (2002) School of Architecture, CEPT, India

05 & 07 (Pg-xxxi, xxxiii), The New Urbanism: Toward an Architecture of Community, Katz, P (1994), Mc Graw-Hill Inc., Hongkong.

06, 10 & 12 (Pg-92, 71, 166) Urban Design: The Architecture of Towns and Cities , Spreirgen, P. (1965), Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, New York.

08 & 09 (Pg 80) Charter of the New Urbanism , Congress for the New Urbanism, (2000), Mc Graw-Hill Book Company, New York.