3.1 City Development

In 1948, according to the Peter Aufschnaiter survey, the city of Lhasa consisted of about 600 buildings. The population, as given in official statistics, was around 30.000 people. Since then, Tibet has made the leap into the industrial age and Lhasa has experienced spectacular growth. Today, the city is home to at least 330.000 people, and has modern roads, several high-rise buildings (more than 10 stories), many modern facilities, and even a local internet server. Because of Lhasa's above-average employment and income opportunities, and available educational and medical facilities, the city still attracts people from most parts of Tibet as well as employment-seekers from many Han-Chinese provinces. There is very visible evidence that the city is still rapidly expanding.

The City of Lhasa, total city area in 1991

3.2 The Separate Character of the Old City

Today's old city is an area of 1.3 km², defined by the Lingkor North, Lingkor East and Lingkor South Roads, and the Do Senge Road to the west.

Despite the recent rapid redevelopment of Lhasa, the old city has kept its separate physical character. The structure here is very different, much denser than in the rest of the city.

The old city has a special official status as historic area, a separate administration (the Chenguan Chu Office), and is designated as Lhasa's principal public housing area. Several designated food markets and bazaars (Tromsikhang market, Ramoche market, Barkor market, Shasarzur market) are regularly visited by people from purely residential areas. Work units and government offices occupy much of the northern parts. The old city is home to a dozen Buddhist temples, two hospitals, several primary schools, a newspaper office, two cinemas, and a growing number of restaurants and tourist hotels. There are no recreational facilities such as public parks, playgrounds or sports facilities located in the old city.

The city planners maintain that the old town is Lhasa's prime public housing area. One reason that they cite is the popularity of living in close proximity to the Tsuglakhang temple. Another reason is that much of the land in the Lhasa valley is being developed in a partnership between privatised work units, government departments, and private property developers, while most buildings in the old city are still government-owned and managed by the Housing Authorities. This means that the old city has to absorb a continous influx of new residents. To cope with the growing population development, the Planning and Construction Departments devised the policy of replacing existing old buildings with 4-storey, densely packed concrete blocks, some of which are built in neo-Tibetan style. As a result of this policy, the population within the old city has approximately doubled over the last ten years. Today, it is estimated that 50.000 people (mostly ethnic Tibetans) live in the old city.

3.3 Official Management of Old Houses

Between the 1950s and late 1960s, probably more than 85% of all traditional residential buildings had been nationalised.Some house owners who cooperated with the authorities, mostly during the initial period of collectivisation in the 1950s, received compensation for their properties. After 1959, aristocracy was abolished and former aristocrats had their properties and sometimes their personal belongins as well confiscated. Property of those who fled to India with the Dalai Lama was also confiscated.

Collective responsibility

The nationalized houses were transformed either into subsidized public housing, or to provide free housing for the employees of government work units. Since then, the municipal Housing Authority manages the houses, allocates flats and collects the subsidized rents. Rent levels have not risen much since 1959, and in the area studied by THF averaged no more than two US$ per year for a flat.

The disappearance of private ownership of houses led to a problem not foreseen by the advocates of socialist ownership: a near-total lack of maintenance, apparently caused by lack of responsibility and security. Experience from other countries with similar housing systems suggests that people feel discouraged from taking care of their residences if they have little security over their continued staying there (personal observations by the authors made in Moscow, St. Petersburg and East Berlin seem to confirm this). A lack of official funding for maintenance by the Housing Authorities has aggravated the problem. As a result, few repairs have been carried out over the past three decades. Leaking roofs have not been fixed, broken windows have not been changed. Many publicly-owned houses are now in a state of dilapidation but still inhabited. A recent government study suggests that now more than 60% of public (old) housing is in 'dangerous condition' and needs urgent repair.

Since recent economic reforms and privatizations, the Housing Authorities have stopped allocating subsidized flats to new residents, even if these have the Lhasa residence permit. Newcomers have to rent at market rates, which in the old city generally are about a hundred times higher for a comparable flat than subsidized rent would be. Market rate rents are about 50% of the average income in areas studied by the THF. It is thought that the policy of subsidized rents will be eventually phased out, even in the old buildings. But a solution for management improvement of the old houses has not yet been found. Since the 1980s, some smaller properties have been given back to their former owners. Of the large aristocratic mansions, usually only parts of one building (perhaps only one flat) were given back. The majority of old buildings are still government-owned.

Lhasa historical city conservation plan

3.4 Demolition of Old Houses

Since 1993, an average of 35 historic buildings have been demolished every year. If that pace of redevelopment were to continue, the remaining historic buildings would all disappear within three more years. It was a prime objective of the THF project to halt the current development programme, to instigate an official re-evaluation of the current situation, and to jointly develop a viable alternative programme that would include official protected status for the remaining historic buildings.

The map given below shows the remaining old buildings in the old city area.

Also highlighted on the map are all old buildings that have been demolished during 1997, in total 38 buildings.

The nature of the redevelopment projects behind each 1997 demolition is as follows:

- eight sites are private residential or commercial projects (including a tourist hotel)

- one site was former housing for a work unit, which had relocated its employees.The site was sold to another government office, the Lhasa City Planning Office. This is operating under semi-privatised status, and has demolished the building and erected a new four-storey residence to sell and rent flats and shops at market rates.

- two sites are small-scale residential developments by private owners

- three small sites were previously owned by Ramoché monastery, nationalised in the 1960s and recently given back. All three were in dilapidated condition, built mostly from mud-bricks. Ramoché had all three demolished and built new residence quarters for its monks.

Demolition of 18th century Palling Liushar House, 1998

- the remaining 24 sites are state properties that were redeveloped under the government housing programme. All projects are four-storeys, have gravity-model cess-pit toilets (with drainage of liquid contents only to an existing sewer), very little insulation and water-supply provided by a single tap in the courtyard. The tenants of the original buildings are scheduled to move into the new buildings after completion, but face a rent increase of sometimes several hundred percent, even though the basic facilities are not improved.

3.5 New Public Housing in the Old City

Public housing blocks, 1998

Since the early 1990s, much of the old city, including especially the Lubu, Banak Shoel and Tromsikhang neighbourhoods, has been redeveloped and replaced by four storey housing blocks. All have rows of shops on the ground floor.

In Lubu, the old Liushar house, built in the 1940s, was demolished in 1997 and replaced by a public housing block. This block is of the standard design built in the old city since 1994. It is four storeys tall, has two courtyards, and houses about 80 families. Each courtyard is served by one tap of piped water, i.e. 40 families have to share one tap. The toilet system consists of a set of slots on each floor without proper plumbing. The cess-pit is connected to a sewer, but without water to flush, the toilet will not drain properly. According to experience made in earlier buildings of similar style, within one year after being inhabited, one will be able to observe serious seepage of urine coming from the toilet area, and in the summer time a strong stenching smell will permeate the courtyard. As an example the 1990 Chokril house on Barkor south can be named. The distance of the new Liushar to the next public housing block to the west is about 30cm, creating between the two buildings a strip of darkness that is slowly filling with garbage. This description fits most public housing blocks built in the old city. They are built from concrete and stone in mostly uniform design, and have mock Tibetan facades. The battered wall feature is entirely absent. The issue of water supply and sanitation is insufficiently solved. From design, workmanship and materials, these kind of buildings are unsuited for the Tibetan climate, as they have no insulation and are hot in summer and freezing cold in the winter. An earthquake would spell disaster for the inhabitants, as the new houses have none of the protective features of the old architecture. The size of the new blocks is too big for the scope of the old neighbourhoods, and sunshine is being blocked out from many small alleyways.

The old and the new: 9th century Muru monastry and a 1997 police station

The demand for new flats and for more commercial retail space in the old city, coupled with the strong financial interests connected with property development, have already led to most open spaces in the old city being built up. Now houses built in the early 1980s are being demolished. The section of Beijing Road, Lhasa's main street, that runs through the old city, is an example. Houses two and three storey in height, each with its distinct facade-design, and built with many fine features and materials of the traditional architecture, are now being replaced by new four storey housing blocks.

According to a THF study of existing water and sanitation infrastructure in the old city, the traditional systems of supply and disposal are no longer working in the present context. New systems have been introduced, but have in some aspects failed to fully cope with the situation. The physical densification of the old city as a result of the housing redevelopment programme is therefore putting further strain on the already weak infrastructure. Combined with the absence of plumbing and sufficient water supply, and low standards of hygiene, there is a genuine strong risk of the old city becoming a slum area.

The local Neighbourhood Offices, acting on behalf of the municipality, have tried to improve the situation by paving more alleyways, improving drainage, and by sweeping streets and collecting garbage more regularly (in some areas, there is no collection at all). Houses now under the protection of the cultural office have been checked for urgent repair needs. 

Old building surrounded by new blocks, Shasarzur East Street Tin Alley

3.6 Consequences

Lhasa, like so many rapidly-growing towns in newly-developing countries, already faces challenges to cope with growing pollution, and population development pressure on infrastructure. Waste management, traffic control, energy supply and infrastructure development feature in the Lhasa 2015 development plan, but a lot needs to be done to achieve genuine improvement.

As a result of the previous housing development programme, the historic character of the old city has been seriously eroded.

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