Urban Dabali

Urban Dabali: A Platform for Intellectual Discourses and Dissemination over the Contemporary Urban Issues and for Policy Influences

Urbanisation is a global megatrend. More than 50 percent of the world’s population currently lives in urban areas and it is estimated to reach 70 percent by 2050. Nepal is one of the fastest urbanising countries in South Asia. The in-migration due to the political situation, in search of better opportunities and better livelihoods have triggered the urban population growth which subsequently led to haphazard settlements in the cities and towns of Nepal. Further, the government plan and policies of formation of municipalities seem to fail to address the strategic planning of newly formed metropolises and municipalities.

While municipalities have ambitious visions to address social, economic and environmental and ecological challenges, many continue to face emerging challenges such as heritage conservation, urban land management, environmental improvement, disaster management, urban water management, municipal waste management and so on. It is also questionable whether plans and policies formulated and promulgated by the government authority manage to cover all these issues. For example, Solid Waste Management Act 2011 did not sufficiently address the electronic waste or biomedical waste which are becoming a major challenge in most of the municipalities.

Moreover, urban development approaches such as smart cities, eco cities and green cities are emerging concepts in Nepal but require deeper understanding before adopting and implementing them.

To address these gaps, Centre for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD) has envisioned Urban Dabali, a platform for an intellectual discourse and dissemination over contemporary urban issues and for policy influences.

About Urban Dabali

The Dabali, literally means a forum, creates a platform for the intellectual discussion and discourses among the wider stakeholders and in bringing sustainable urban solutions.

It is a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform designed to:

• Promote learning and knowledge dissemination
• Encourage collaboration among urban stakeholders
• Support evidence-based policy influence
• Foster sustainable innovative urban solutions in nepal

The platform brings together municipalities, academia, private sector, development partners, civil society, media and local communities to discuss emerging urban challenges and identify actionable solutions for change.

Objectives

The key objective of the organizing Urban Dabali is to provide a platform for the urban stakeholders to learn, share and disseminate knowledge on contemporary urban issues that help in designing urban frameworks and planning and in the policy advocacy and policy influence that contribute in better urban planning

The specific objectives are:

• Provide a forum for urban stakeholders for the knowledge sharing and dissemination
• Explore relevant urban issues in the favour of human security
• Advocate urban citizens’ right and human security issues and influence policy discourse
• Support capacity building of stakeholders

Talk programs conducted by Urban Dabali

 1. Designing Streets for People: Discussion on ‘Safer Streets for a Safer Nepal

 2. Earthquake Housing Reconstruction on Urban Areas of Nepal by Dr. Bijaya Krishna Shrestha

 3. Celebrating World Habitat Day 2018 with an Urban Dabali on Managing Municipal Solid Waste