‘Old Patan’, the urban core, is undergoing rapid and dramatic transformation, which has intensified particularly since the end of the Nepalese Civil War in 2006. Called ‘the city of courtyards’ by architecture historian Niels Gutschow, Patan is made up of more than 1000 courtyards, around 200 of them associated with monastic Buddhist orders and more than140 freestanding Hindu temples and shrines—many of them still in active use, some unused. But this urban transformation does not signal a ‘dead-end’ street for cultural heritage sites and practices: rather, a fascinating combination of replacement and reconstruction, as well as neglect, decay, and destruction can be witnessed. This is particularly the case in the context of two vernacular architectural types that are studied here: the phalcā and the hiti. The phalcā (Newari, pati in Nepali) is a semi-public arcaded platform, of which the Nepal Heritage Documentation Project (NHDP) led by Christiane Brosius has mapped more than 400 examples. The hiti (Newari, dhunge dhara in Nepali), studied by Monalisa Maharjan, are traditional stone water wells, found throughout Nepal. Brosius and Maharjan jointly research the ways in which heritage activists have increasingly begun to mobilize and promote their agendas through these two heritage forms. 

Solidaric communities and forms of commoning as placemaking assemble around and in relation to these sites, rediscovering their resourcefulness for social and ritual life, for environmental awareness, and for political activities, such as a promotion of ‘Newar heritage’. Much of this connects to the contested role of public spaces, post-earthquake regeneration activities, and developmentalist transformation in the densely populated Kathmandu Valley. The infrastructure and use of phalcā and hiti underlines how, when, and why different social groups often mobilise to populate these ‘traditional’ architectural forms with ritual and social relevance with new life and meaning. These groups furthermore range from local neighbourhood associations, to social media activists, to artists and architects.

For Monica Mottin, Patan is also home to theatrical and performance practices that expand our understandings of placemaking. The Kartik Naach is a dance drama performed in the month of Kartik (October-November) in Patan Durban Square. Started in 1641 by King Siddhi Narsingh Malla, it has been performed continuously every year, although the length of the dance has varied. For example, during the peak of the pandemic, the dance was performed for only two days, without an audience. In 2022, the Kartik Naach was performed for 10 days. The organizing committee is presently working to perform the Kartik Naach for a full month in 2023, thus staging dances that have not been performed for decades. In her research for Heritage as Placemaking, Dr. Mottin has been filming the dance, interviewing key participants, and reviewing past research and publications to understand how the staging of the dance has changed and what such changes mean for the local community.