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Mongolia's Gandan Monastery: Between Buddhism and Urbanism |
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Friday, 03 March 2006 |
 A survey of residents in the area surrounding Gandantegchenling
Monastery has demonstrated a lack of consensus on what form the future
development of this district should take.
Conducted by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation as part of the World Bank
"Sacred Urban Landscape Protection Initiative - Environmental Education
and Conservation Management for Monasteries in Ulaanbaatar", the survey
is part of a larger project to assist Gandantegchenling Monastery in
developing an environmentally-sound management plan for the Monastery
and its surrounding urban area.
According to the report, "The
issue of urban planning in the wider Gandan Hill area has long been
fraught with controversy, with great differences in opinion existing
over whether the land in this area should be privatized, whether the
existing residents should be evicted to create a planned residential
district or religious complex, and whether Gandantegchenling Monastery
should enjoy direct control over the land outside its own walls."
While
there is very strong agreement among the local population that
Gandantegchenling Monastery is a significant historical and cultural
site, it is evident that residents do not believe the existence of a
religious complex in this area necessarily implies a need to control
the ownership, management or development of the current residential
district. Approximately 85% of surveyed residents believe that the area
should remain a ger district, while 76.6% were favourable to the
development of the site as a modern residential area. Only 29.2% of
residents stated they would willingly surrender their lots even if
offered fair compensation, and more than two-thirds of the population
does not expect to leave this area under any circumstances; 92% of
residents support the privatization of the land surrounding the
monastery.
The survey report suggests that a zoning-based
development strategy for this urban region could be viewed as most
acceptable by local residents, who support the private development of
the residential district but would also like to see the historical and
cultural value of the Gandan hill sacred area better protected. Such a
strategy would recognize the right to private ownership of the area
surrounding the monastery, but would impose some zoning restrictions on
property use and on construction, in the interest of maintaining the
overall integrity of the site.
A meeting of stakeholders from the
monastery, local and national governments and the local population is
expected to be held in March to discuss the management of this historic
site in further detail. An official Site Management Plan for the
Gandantegchenling Monastery / Geser Temple area is to be finalized this
spring.
The full text of the report can be found here.
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