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The Structure Plan 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 lays out the unchangeable “givens” in the form of precincts, roads, open spaces and amenities. The Structure Plan is a statement of the possibilities: it is about the suburbs; it is about the Gelephu City Core; it is about the town; it is about the region; and it is about the nation. Local Area Plans are prepared within the “framework” of a Structure Plan.

The main themes of the ‘Structure Plan’ give it character and define its function. These are elemental as they all work together in a symbiotic manner, supporting a whole larger than the sum of the parts! These are structural because they have a kind of finality about them in defining the urban systems and networks of the future city which will grow out of the town. In this sense Structure Plans are futuristic…they are looking towards years to come and making way for a population many times the present; making places for activities unthought-of today; creating possibilities for services and facilities which will be essential a century from now!

In brief a Structure Plan is a skeleton which holds all the future organs, appendages and networks together.

Gelephu throughout history has experienced everything from natural calamities like floods, diseases like malaria, delayed development activities, until the recent unrest in Assam and the resultant military actions. The strategic location of the town on the international boundary has been both its advantage and disadvantage. Any development plan devised in the future should overcome the disadvantages and capitalize on the advantages of the place. However, it is important to discuss and understand the shortfalls and the developmental potentials that the town has to offer.

2.1.1 Building of Civic Society

When we talk about the issue of building up a civic society, we are talking about something very vital to the people of Gelephu; we are also talking about something very vital to the people of Bhutan, and to the world community. The building up of such a society 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 physical setting, the current situation, the image or the ecology of the town. The issue here is

one of sustainability of the human spirit and lifestyle in a future driven by technology, industrialization, fragmentation, division and isolation. Herein, the structure plan of Gelephu becomes a test of our imagination, our vision and, indeed, our wisdom.

Bhutan is one of the special places in the world, where individuals have time to think, have time to reflect, and have time to meditate. It is one of the places where humans are 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. It is the place 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. Urban areas are the vehicles of development for better or worse.

To harness the potential “good” of urban development 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 crucial is that we respond to this inevitable change in a positive and imaginative manner. Again, urbanization is both the means and the end of development. Cities and towns can be used to bring into existence a highly cultured and civilized lifestyle. Or they can be left on their own to create squatters 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”.

The term “Gross National Happiness” is not just an increase in the standard of living, nor is it 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 themselves to the maximum extent possible. It relates to spiritual growth, personal discipline and self realization. This has never meant that one can do whatever he wants to do. Building up of a responsible society which focuses on things beyond individual interests is an essential and crucial responsibility of each and every individual of the town. Gelephu presents an ideal open “playing ground” on which Bhutan can create a dynamic, productive, vibrant modern city.