ABSTRACT

This paper aims to explore the influence that water has had in shaping culture and directing the socioeconomic modernisation process that has occurred in the KathmanduValley. It consists of three main objectives: establish the structural linkages between water, society and the settlement patterns in the past (Licchhavi and Malla periods); demonstrate the rapid urbanisation and changing lifestyles of inhabitants of the Kathmandu Valley; relate the resulting weaknesses and opportunities to the existing legal and institutional framework of the Valley development.