Regular Article Community-based participatory approach in cultural heritage reconstruction: A case study of Kasthamandap Rija Joshi a, ⁎ , Alina Tamrakar b , Binita Magaiya c a Campaign to Rebuild Kasthamandap, Nepal b UNESCO Kathmandu, Nepal c Kasthamandap Punarnirman Samiti, Nepal ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 27 November 2020 Received in revised form 15 February 2021 Accepted 16 February 2021 Available online 20 February 2021 Kasthamandap, a 7th -century structure, a traditional public rest house with social, cultural, and religious significance, completely collapsed during the Gorkha earthquake of 25th April 2015. The initial reconstruction plans of Kasthamandap were not satisfactory, as they contradicted the traditional construction system. Therefore, the public protested against the proposals and insisted on using traditional methods and materials with community involvement for maintaining its value and originality. This paper focuses on challenges and discusses the learning of a community initiative in rebuilding Kasthamandap. The paper presents an exemplary participatory heritage rebuilding process, a learning to heritage reconstructions for the future. Keywords: Cultural heritage Community participation Reconstruction Conservation Kasthamandap Guthi 1. Introduction Kathmandu valley is rich in cultural and natural heritage. Kathmandu valley, one of the World Heritage Sites in Nepal, has seven monument zones and Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) shares a significant portion of them (e.g., Kathmandu Durbar Square, Pashupati, Swayambhu, and Bauddha). Kathmandu Durbar Square area has numerous temples, palaces, and monuments, including Kasthamandap. The Gorkha earthquake in 2015 and its aftershocks caused enormous damage to heritage structures. Seven hundred fifty three heritage sites of immense socio-cultural and religious values were destroyed ( [7], Bhagat et al. 2019). Major monuments in Kathmandu's World Heritage Monument Zones were severely damaged, and many collapsed, including the Kasthamandap [22]. (See Fig. 1). Kasthamandap is the oldest public building in Kathmandu Valley, with a traditional tiered-roof style structure reflecting the Newārī 1 Architecture of Kathmandu valley. [8] Kasthamandap carries significant emotional, reli- gious, and cultural values in Kathmandu. (See Fig. 2). Despite Kasthamandap's high heritage significance, the government disclosed a reconstruction plan for the monument a year after it collapsed. A group of self-motivated locals launched campaigns to motivate the government agencies to emphasize and prioritise the rebuilding of Kasthamandap. Department of Archaeology (DoA) 2 publicly displayed the proposed design at Basantapur in March 2016. In April of 2016, KMC opened a call for the contractors for the tender process as per Public Procure- ment Act, where construction firms placed bids and the lowest bidder would be awarded a turnkey project contract. It was estimated that the construction would take three years and cost about 192 million Nepali rupees. The recon- struction plans raised alarms, as it proposed the use of modern materials such as steel and concrete, which were undesired and against the norms of traditional construction system of timber framework and mud mortar- brickwork joinery. The plans were also in contradiction of the guidelines prepared by the DoA for the conservation and reconstruction of heritage af- fected by the Gorkha Earthquake 2015. Rebuilding projects, including the historical Rani Pokhari, Trailokya Mohan Temple, and Joshi Degal, were also halted due to local opposition, which were put with similar proposals of using modern materials disregarding the traditional building system. Therefore, the campaigners started to compel the government for the timely reconstruction of heritage, also directing their attention to the ongoing is- sues of malpractices in heritage rebuilding as a major concern. Furthermore, there were questions regarding transparency and ramming the projects through the lowest- bidder tender system resulting in handing over recon- struction works to contractors without expertise. Hence, a community Progress in Disaster Science 10 (2021) 100153 ⁎ Corresponding author at: 60/76 Pushpa Marga, Subidhanagar, KMC-32, Nepal. E-mail address: rija.joshi1@gmail.com (R. Joshi). 1 Belonging to the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding territories constituted the former Newar kingdom of the Nepal Mandala. 2 Government organization in Nepal for the archaeological research and protection of the cultural heritage of the country http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pdisas.2021.100153 2590-0617/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4. 0/). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Progress in Disaster Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pdisas