Cultural Sustainability and the Negotiation of Public Space - The Case of Indrachowk Square, Kathmandu, Nepal

One of the major challenges today is to learn how to share spaces that have been made for all. This is not just relating to the use of old public space, it is also about creating new common space. Apparently, cultural, social and economic activities of certain societal groups influence access to public space, but these activities do not necessarily include all users or contribute to its overall sustainability. The aim of this article is to analyse how stakeholder negotiate and conduct activities, how these form and change, how they permit and confine access to public space for different users, in which ways they allow to negotiate access, and how they relate to sustainability with focus on a case study on local groups that are associated with Indrachowk Square, Kathmandu. Results of this study show that triple-bottom line sustainability is profoundly influenced by cultural activities. Further, there must be access opportunities for the various users of space. Access to space appears as dynamic process closely linked to negotiations about how to use it. In order to get and maintain access, competence development related to knowledge, values, feelings and cultural beliefs connected with the space plays an important role, and achieving this competence can be in turn encouraged by fostering specific cultural and sustainability related activities.