What Dhaka Can Be

All cities are now alike, and each city is different. The essence of Dhaka still lies concealed, making an irony of its name, “dhaka.” But instead of being fated as a third-world reality, Dhaka can be a very special city, a place by the river that works with water and vegetation to be a truly tropical city, and that is economically and ecologically sustainable. Working with its geography and hydrology, and its growing urban needs, Dhaka can still be a very unique, green and highly liveable city. Where is the daring and vision for that? Where is actually the desire for that? If the future is in cities, why are we not demanding that in the manifestos of our political parties: the plan to convert Dhaka from its apocalyptic present to a glorious future?

Far from being what it is now, Dhaka can become a Bengali city, a tropical model that responds to the unique geological and environmental conditions of a deltaic place. Cities in the delta regions of Asia, or what is the “rice-culture” matrix, extending from Bengal to Vietnam, have unique urban morphologies that are distinct from the interiorised, tightly-clustered cities of the hot-dry milieu. The morphology desired in this matrix is that of open pavilion-like buildings in a matrix of gardens and water. Even until the 1950s, with its spacious green spaces, majestic trees, crisscrossing canals, civilised riverbanks, and boats plying through the heart of the city, Dhaka promised to be both a garden city and a place by the water. Dhaka need not be a civic and environmental crisis forever. Civil society, as it has heralded many issues before, must take up the mission of civilising Dhaka again.

With buildings in a setting of lakes, gardens, orchards, and parks, Dhaka can set the model for a tropical city. Only then Dhaka will become a truly “Bengali” city. Dhaka cannot forget that it is the last big urban stop on the great Gangetic stream as it splinters and cascades into the sea.

 

 

 

 

 

What Dhaka is	What Dhaka Can Be
A city needs a plan	Disperse Dhaka, contain Dhaka
Dhaka is almost an island	Housing is the fabric of the city
Catalytic architecture for urban transformation	A modern city thrives on efficient mobility
A city for the twenty-first century	The street should be designed for the pedestrian
Open spaces are needed for existential reasons	Overhaul urban institutions
Urban districts, heritage places and urban assets	Sadarghat river front development