Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and forms the core of the nation's most populous urban region. The city has been important economically, administratively, and politically for hundreds of years. With its ancient monuments scattered around, Kathmandu is an emerging city where several plans and concepts have been implemented for its development. Like many cities of the developing world, it has been facing rapid population expansion and daunting socio-economic problems. There are issues of inadequate urban management of the city's expansion, including inadequate infrastructure and squatter settlements, with severe environmental consequences including air, water and other forms of pollution. In this profile, Kathmandu is defined as comprising the two contiguous and closely interlinked administrative entities, Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City. The paper analyzes historical urban development process, current plans and programmes, land use change and some contemporary socio-economic indicators for Kathmandu city, traces the major urban problems of the city, and considers future direction for its development. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.