Architectural Insights and City Profile of Phuentsholing Bhutan

Abstract

Phuentsholing, the second largest city known as the economic gateway of the country, is located at the southwestern foothills of Bhutan. It is proximal to the Indian town Jaigaon of West Bengal. With the rapid pace of urbanisation, the series of spatial planning and infrastructure development have been carried out since 1968 and could not serve its citizens as envisaged in the noble vision of Gross National Happiness (GNH). However, the developing trend of the urban landscape reflects the city’s commitment and challenges to maintain the identity of the place through preservation of traditional Bhutanese architectural features in buildings and other structures. This paper outlines the profile of historical development of the city with vagaries of spatial planning activities, city governance, economic and infrastructure development, housing provision, other critical issues and its mitigation strategies in conjunction with urban planning and development. In line to this, exclusive discussions are presented to highlight urban and economic development as well as critical issues with an appropriate sustainable strategy for future development. The discussions and questionnaires were deliberated with city heads, policy makers, engineers and planners to extract the ideas and futuristic view of the city. This paper also discusses the three main urban development plans, its implementation challenges due to extensive rural – urban migration and future developmental strategies of today’s Phuentsholing city. Therefore, it deliberates exclusive framework and accentuates essential elements of transformation for future researchers to tackle the city management and resources distribution for any urban planning stage.