7 C. Urbanization

The city as change-machine (the Chicago School's subject). Nepal: the Kathmandu Valley — around three million people — as the primate case: internal migration, housing sprawl, some of the world's most hazardous winter air, a service economy sucking in the districts. The statisticaltwist examiners enjoy: after the 2017 local restructuring created new municipalities, roughly two-thirds of Nepalis became "urban" residents by redefinition — a live lesson that data categories are themselves social constructions. The genuine town network (Pokhara, Butwal, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj, Dharan…) is nonetheless real and growing.