SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Fall 2016 Relocation, Resistance and Resilience: Squatter Community Responses to Government Intervention for Urban Development in Kathmandu Reilly Brooks SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Brooks, Reilly, "Relocation, Resistance and Resilience: Squatter Community Responses to Government Intervention for Urban Development in Kathmandu" (2016). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 2505. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2505 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Relocation, Resistance and Resilience: Squatter Community Responses to Government Intervention for Urban Development in Kathmandu Reilly Brooks Academic Director: Daniel Putnam Advisor: Jibgar Joshi Rice University Sociology South Asia, Nepal, Kathmandu Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Nepal: Development and Social Change, SIT Study Abroad Fall 2016 Abstract “Squatting,” or residing on public land illegally, is a modern urban phenomenon in developing countries. This phenomenon is attributed to rapid urbanization due to rural-to-urban migration, which leads to rising costs of living, exclusionary housing markets, a lack of affordable housing and urban inequality. Ultimately, unplanned urban growth encourages the formation and expansion of squatter settlements.