Bhutan’s Urban Towns with Integration of Agricultural Land Use

Abstract

Bhutan’s sustainable strategies strive for food self-sufficiency. Since the rapid development in the last few decades, there has been allocation of agricultural land (especially paddy fields area) for town development. Thimphu way back was a beautiful valley with paddy fields and clusters of traditional houses and now it is a city with concrete structures. The problem is aggravated as there is only very minimal arable land in the mountainous country. The agricultural lands are being converted to towns and the country import food from other countries. The food is the first step to self-sufficiency. Urbanization is inevitable but is there a way for a balanced approach of maintaining the agricultural land and urbanizing at the same time. Planning policies and approaches to create or maintain agricultural land in urban centers of the country for green urbanization will be discussed. The paper will present recommendations and suggestions for a balanced approach.