Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners

Planning Dhaka as a Global City: A Critical Discourse

AKM Abul Kalam

Cities and city regions are practically observed to be the engines of economic growth in the age of globalization. Cities and their regions thus diversely play important roles in national and international contexts. City provides opportunities for economic growth and development and quality life for its population and services to its outside areas, sometimes exceeding the national boundaries. Globalization has, however, created both opportunities and threats for the survival of cities. To become an active partner in the process of globalization, cities with their regional economic strengths require preparing them with their potentials and removing weaknesses. As a capital city, Dhaka has potentials for becoming a global city with its geopolitical location and economic prospects. It has political and administrative advantages in the national context and scope for utilizing the benefits of urban economics, especially agglomerations, concentration of labor and financial institutions, and business services. The physical growth of the city is, however, associated with many-faceted problems which has to be addressed in its planning and development processes in order to bring functional efficiency of a modern city. The city must be developed in a planned manner to benefit from global market and international investment. The research recommends that Dhaka and its city region should overcome the current weaknesses to utilize its full potential to attract businesses and investments in the future. Dhaka’s physical development and economic growth management must be considered together in order to becoming a global city playing dynamic role in the global market in future.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9552

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 1-12

Regional Connectivity: Opportunities for Bangladesh to be a Transport Hub

M Rahmatullah

In a globalized economy, transport cost being a significant determinant of competitiveness, it makes integrated and efficient transport network an essential element of the enabling environment. The integrated transport infrastructure, which South Asia inherited from the British, got fractured initially by the partition of India, and subsequently by its political aftermath and now needs to be rebuilt within the context of greater political harmony in South Asia. Such integration is especially crucial to countries such as Nepal and Bhutan and the regions such as North East India, as this could serve to end their landlocked or semi-isolated status and provide shorter transport and transit access to sea ports. To establish a case for regional transport connectivity in South Asia, an analysis was made of the impact of noncooperation in transport. An assessment was also made of the unique geographical location of Bangladesh having two landlocked countries, such as Nepal and Bhutan and one semilandlocked territory, North East India at the hinterland, and the opportunities this situation provides to Bangladesh. Based on SAARC Regional Multimodal Transport Study (SRMTS) findings, an attempt was made to identify a few strategic routes which could be pursued to provide transport connectivities among the countries of North East Sub-region of South Asia. An indication is made in this paper on the possible benefits that Bangladesh and the other neighboring countries could derive from the regional transport connectivities when established, to show that it would be a win-win situation for all. Finally, the study concludes that the cost of non-cooperation being very high, it would be beneficial for all the concerned countries to go for regional transport connectivity at the earliest. It was, however pointed out that issues related to regional connectivity and transit cannot be resolved in isolation. It needs to be considered together with other unresolved issues, in the areas of water sharing, environment, marine boundary, etc. What is needed for a long lasting solution is the political will and commitment of the leaders of South Asia, who should sit together with an open mind to resolve various issues once for all.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9553

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 13-29

Morphological Change of Dhaka City Over a Period of 55 Years: A Case Study of Two Wards

Bayes Ahmed, Muhammad Rakibul Hasan Raj, KM Maniruzzaman

Dhaka City has undergone radical changes in its physical form, not only by territorial expansion, but also through internal physical transformations over the last decades. These have created entirely new kinds of fabric. With these changes, the elements of urban form have changed. Plots and open spaces have been transformed into building areas, open squares into car parks, low land and water bodies into reclaimed built-up lands etc. This research has its general interest in the morphologic change of Dhaka City. It focuses on the spatial dynamics of urban growth of Dhaka over the last 55 years from 1952-2007. In the research, the transformation of urban form has been examined through space syntax. The aim behind using this technique is to describe aspects of relationships between the morphological structure of man-made environments and social structures and events. To conduct this research, Wards 49 and 72 of Dhaka City Corporation were selected as the study areas, of which Ward 72 is an indigenous and Ward 49 is a planned type of settlement. Being a planned residential area, the syntactic measures from this morphological analysis are showing quite unchanged and high values in all phases for Ward 49 and the physical characteristics of Ward 72 (Old Dhaka) still represent the past. The syntactic values are found to be higher for Ward 72 and than Ward 49. Higher values indicate that the street network is highly connective among each other. Time affects differently the layout of cities and the architecture of buildings. Of the many human creations, street systems are among the most resistant to change. This has been emphasized in this study, thereby facilitating the comparison of urban layouts across space and time. The interpretation of history in the light of quantitative accounts, as demonstrated in this study, will be of value to urban planners and urban designers for the future planning of modern Dhaka City.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9554

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 30-38

Quantifying Urban form: A Case Study of Rajshahi City

Md Shakil Bin Kashem, Tufayel Ahmed Chowdhury, Joydip Majumder, Md Asif Rahman

The urban areas comprise complex systems of activities, so the study of its form in terms of a few statistical measures is quite taxing. This paper attempts to employ such measures to define the urban form of Rajshahi city in Bangladesh. It evaluated some of the measures to quantify urban form and selected two indices, namely, Gini coefficient and Moran coefficient to quantify the urban form of the study area. Residential floor area and floor area for employment was computed in a tessellated form for quantifying the urban form of the study area. GeoDa software was employed to calculate Moran for both of the residential and employment floor space. From Moran and Gini value it was found that both of these land uses are highly clustered in a few locations of the study area. The two indices together give intuitive results, which is, residences are generally more dispersed and continuous than that of employment. Although this kind of analysis of urban form is better applied in comparative analysis, the present study provides the take off point for further research of urban form in Bangladesh.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9555

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 39-48

Drainage Planning in the Cities of Bangladesh: Case Study of Drainage and Water Logging in Chaktai Commercial area, Chittagong

M Ali Ashraf, Md Shariful Alam Chowdhury

For quite some time, professional planning is being practiced in our cities. Unfortunately, drainage planning is the most neglected component of our city planning and management activities. Drainage engineering is done mostly on an ad hoc basis, often overtaking drainage planning. To understand the drainage problem of our cities, Chittagong in particular, Chaktai Commercial Area was identified as the case study area for further exploration and analysis. This case study examines the existing situation, assessing causes behind the problems, inquiring about the likings and disliking of the stakeholders, and identifying possible solutions as an essential input towards arriving at appropriate planning decisions. It identifies the guiding principles relating to the effective integration of a drainage network in the land use plan for the city. Considering physical characteristics, topography, catchment area and the routes of existing drainage channels, the urban area has been divided into 10 drainage areas. The Master plan sets out a staged development program of storm water, drainage and flood control works of the above drainage area up to the year 2015 to meet the Storm Water Drainage and Flood Control problems. Chaktai is the major seat of trade and commerce in Chittagong. It is observed that though Chaktai has lost its past glory as a national business centre controlling food business in the whole country, still it has retained its importance as a regional business hub and is continuing to contribute significantly to the national economy. The study thus helps us understand the nature, type and magnitude of the drainage and water logging problems faced by the city dwellers. The policy proposals and recommendations that are provided in the paper could be considered while preparing a land use plan for a city.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9556

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 49-60

Peoples Participation in the Physical Planning Activities: A Case Study of Khulna Development Authority

Sabrina Ahmed, Mohammad Shahklul Hasan Swapan

In contemporary world, community participation is considered as the prerequisite of sustainable urban development. It ranges from just informing people about the plan or development projects by the people. However, public participation in local government’s led programs is still limited in Bangladesh. Considering the importance of community participation, this paper explores the level of public participation in spatial planning practices in Khulna city based on the citizen’s responses. The study suggests that existing legislative arrangement is not supportive for participatory urban development at all levels and a little provision is made in this respect by laws. Most of the respondents in the field survey suggested that political problem and weak communication mechanism are mainly responsible for unsuccessful implementation of the Master Plan of Khulna city. The study may help related authorities to understand the citizen’s expectations in designing strategies for performing better role in city development in Bangladesh.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9567

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 61-70

Paradox between Public Transport and Private Car as a Modal Choice in Policy Formulation

AHM Mehbub Anwar

This paper presents the stance towards modal choice behavior between public transport and private car. To find out the probable solutions, this paper investigated the latent attitudes of the trip makers concerning modal choice between private car and public transport and the advantages and disadvantages of these two modes as a choice. It was also discussed in this paper that the public transport usage can be increased if the service of public transport is designed in a way that accommodates the level of services required by the customers. Even though, several factors, such as individual characteristics and lifestyle, the type of journey, length of trip, the apparent service performance etc. of each transport mode play the significant role for the modal choice in the transport sector. It was also focused in this paper that the influence of car usage should be targeted to reduce car usage.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9568

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 71-77

Commuters Modal Choice: A Case Study of Savar Pourashava

Md Lutfur Rahman, Md Monowarul Islam, Mohammad Al Mamun

Commuter’s modal choice is a complex phenomenon in urban transportation. It is a key determinant of modern transport planning. Commuters always want to get a hold on any mode at any point of time to meet their travel demand and the selection of mode depends on various factors associated with the commuting. In Savar Pourashava, modal choice by commuters varies with commuter’s socio-economic background and demographic characteristics. It also varies with the services that are provided by the various modes operating in the study area. The land use characteristics also affect the travel behavior pattern of commuters in the study area. The attitude and preference of commuters towards modes are also varied from each other. For achieving efficient and reliable transportation system in terms of modal choice of the commuters in the study area, it is essential to identity various factors affecting the travel pattern of the commuters. This research has attempted to identity these factors in modal choice and investigated over the mode that has been preferred by individual commuters and the reasons for selection of the mode. Beside this, the research has explored the relationship between land use characteristics and travel behavior pattern of the commuters.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9569

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of PlannersVol. 2, December 2009, pp. 78-97

Japanese Concept of Urban Promotion Control Area (UCA) to Save Agricultural Land in Bangladesh

Sharif Mohammad Tariquzzaman

Urban sprawling and unplanned infrastructure development are devouring productive land. Bangladesh is basically an agro based economy. In our country, about 1% of agricultural land in each year is transferred to another use. If this process continues all of our agricultural land would diminish within 100 years. This terrible situation is very crucial for an agro-based economy. In this paper, an attempt has been made to illustrate the necessity of introducing the Urban Promotion Control Area (UCA) in preparing physical development plan in Bangladesh to save agricultural land. This idea is well practiced in Japanese city planning. Unplanned development of physical infrastructure, especially development of unplanned road is the main cause of urban sprawling into the valuable agricultural land. The awful encroachment into the agricultural land also may cause haphazard urbanization. This type of land use regulation may protect the unpleasant encroachment into the UCA land. Public investment in UCA for urban infrastructure development could be strictly prohibited, so that unplanned development would be restricted.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9570

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 98-106

Application of Spatial Auto-Regressive Model for Determining Urban Land Market

Md Shohel Reza Amin

Rapid conversion of agricultural, flood flow and sub-flood flow lands into urban uses at the periphery of Dhaka city increases the demand for developing useful supply, demand, and pricing models. Nevertheless, pricing land offers a challenging task. During high economic growth time, the conventional belief was that land values should soar with increasing demand and decreasing vacancies. Conversely, accurate anticipation of these values is problematic since spatial factors are often influential ones along with other characteristics of land. Moreover, land represents not only a bundle of physical characteristics but also sets of location-specific, transport, urban amenity, socio-economic and environmental characteristics. The extent of such characteristics on land market can be estimated by applying Spatial Autoregression model. The objective of this paper is to carry out an empirical analysis to examine the effects of different land characteristics on land prices in Savar municipality by using Spatial Auto-Regression (SAR) model. In particular, spatial econometric procedures (spatial autocorrelation) and spatial auto-regression analysis are applied to determine spatial dependence among the land value of plots and to evaluate the impact of land characteristics on land prices in the land market of Savar municipality respectively. The findings of this paper reveal that transport attributes have most significiant relationship with the land value and other explanatory variables like municipal amenities, physical characteristics of the plot, employment attraction, and commercial services are also influential factors of land price.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9571

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 107-115

Land Information System (LIS) for Land Administration and Management in Bangladesh

Kasphia Nahrin, M Shafiq-Ur Rahman

Bangladesh has a very high population density. Scarce land and the rapid increase of population of the country are creating high pressure over land-man ratio. Land ownership record system is insufficient and incomplete in Bangladesh. As a result, it spills out jumbled and spontaneous land development throughout the country, especially in the major cities. In this situation, it is important to establish a compatible land administration and management system for establishing a systematic approach for planned land development. Land Information System (LIS) is the most accountable and feasible systematic approach for developing an up-to-date land administration and management. LIS is related to various quantitative and qualitative aspects of land resource. Holding different cartographic information, LIS facilitates capturing, retrieval, and querying of information and provides tools to perform different analyses. Based on the secondary information by literature review, this paper is aimed at studying the existing land administration system, and recommending feasible interventions and strategy of LIS for creating an efficient land administration and management policy for Bangladesh. This paper also focuses on the challenges of LIS that are needed to be resolved for framing the existing land administration and management policy for planned and controlled growth of Bangladesh.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9572

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 116-125

Problems and Prospects of Municipal Holding Taxation System: A Study on Bhairab Pourashava

Md Samiul Huda, Muhammad Rashidul Hasan

Local governments in Bangladesh have several options at hand to finance their activities and pursue their fiscal policy. These options include the imposition of taxes and the generation of non-tax revenues through fees, levies, cost recovery and user charges, property and investment income, domestic and foreign borrowing, the sale of assets and domestic and foreign grants. Urban Local Governments (ULGs) in developing countries are in dire need of resources not only for investment to meet the increasing demand of growing urban population but also for maintenance of the existing services. But the resources of the municipal bodies are inadequate; infrastructures are in poor condition and services maintenance is neither enough nor would cover the new expansions. Inefficient governance of the municipal bodies is partly responsible for this. Holding tax plays an important role in own revenue of Pourashavas. About 35-45% revenue comes from holding tax. But in Bhairab Pourashava it contributes only 18-20%. Every year, its demands and collection are decreasing. Many factors are responsible for this. This study tries to find out the problems of holding tax collection and assessment. Pourashava requires to pay more attention to solve these problems. If the amount of holding tax is increased, this will help Pourashava gradually become self-financed.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9573

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 126-135

Strengthening Financial Capability of a Municipality: A Case Study of Dhaka City Corporation

Rokshana Binta Samad

The universal complaint that the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) i.e. City Corporations and Municipalities (Pourashavas in Bangladesh) in developing countries are in dire need of resources not only for investment to meet the increasing demand of growing urban population but also for maintenance of the existing services. Municipal finance in Bangladesh has so far not been extensively studied. For this research, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has been chosen for a case study. The research has investigated on how the financial capability of City Corporation can be strengthened. Investigation was made on various sources of revenue, existing state of tax base, and various problems pertaining to income and expenditure of Dhaka City Corporation. The study has explored potential sources of financing and made some suggestions to enhance local initiatives in strengthening financial capability.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9574

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 136-144

Population Evacuation Need Assessment in Cyclone Affected Barguna District

Umma Tamima

Spatial difference in geophysical risk and social vulnerability presents challenges to emergency planners to develop an effective evacuation strategy for cyclone zones. This study examines spatial variability in evacuation assistance needs during cyclone hazard in Barguna district. For this, composite vulnerability map of unions in Barguna district is developed based on the community demographics, resources, structures and geophysical risk indicators. Four evacuation dimensions are analyzed based on population traits and building structures index, differential access to resources index, special evacuation needs index and a combination of three dimensions. Results indicate that relative majority of the unions are characterized by high evacuation assistance need and similar scenario exists in the spatial distribution of geophysical risk and socio-economic vulnerability. Nevertheless, spatial disparity of socioeconomic vulnerability is also observed among the unions within the geophysical risk zone. The coastal unions of Barguna districts are identified as the geophysical risk zone of which Raihanpur, Bardarkhali, Keorabunia, Burir Char, Amtali, Haldia, Arpagashia, Barguna, Dhalua, Kakchira, Nachnapara, Kantaltali, Char Duanti, Kalmegha, Patharghata, Barabagi, Karaibaria, Pancha Karalia, Naltona, and Baliatali unions are within the high geophysical risk zone. Furthermore, depending on the indices it is revealed that 72.26 percent people are living within the geophysical risk zone, while 17.72 percent and 47.42 percent people are living within the high and medium socio-economic vulnerable regions respectively. Thus this study finds out that about 65.14 percent people of Barguna district require evacuation assistance needs.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9575

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 145-157

Local Adaptation Strategies of a Coastal Community during Cyclone Sidr and their Vulnerability Analysis for Sustainable Disaster Mitigation Planning in Bangladesh

Social vulnerability to disasters refers to the inability of a society and it’s people to withstand adverse impacts from multiple stresses to which they are exposed. Using a combination of geographical and social research methods, this paper examines the people’s (re)action and responses during cyclone Sidr 2007 at Baniasanta union of Dacope Upazila in Bangladesh. Finding shows that their adopted strategies to cope with cyclone address their vulnerability and it is necessary to integrate their local wisdom of living with unnatural situation into the future planning and development process of the coastal belt. Accordingly, the plans and development should not only be necessity, but also be accepted by the local community.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9576

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 158-168

Setting Planning Standards for Public Facilities in a City: A Case Study of Ward 50 of Dhaka City Corporation

Mohammad Atikul Islam

Availability of different types of public facilities within an urban area is required to achieve specific objectives in urban planning. Planning standards are necessary in such cases to help achieve the adequacy and quality in services and facilities. To improve the situation in rapid and unplanned growth of Dhaka city both in terms of population and size, it demands a large amount of public facilities such as open spaces, playgrounds, schools, hospitals etc. School is an important public facility that requires setting standards and choosing appropriate locations. Standard of school facilities in an area depends upon factors such as, density of population, number of per family school going children, road network etc. This paper explores the existing facilities of primary and secondary schools for school going children in Ward 50 of Dhaka City Corporation. A series of field survey were conducted in order to collect information from primary sources, and standards on school facilities were collected from secondary sources. Based on the findings, suggestions on future planning of school facilities have been made in this paper. Finally, to justify the standards for schools facilities, DMDP planning standards are followed.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9577

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 169-178

Design for Urban Open Spaces from Peoples Perspective: A Study of Jessore Town

Arfana Najnin

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9578

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 178-192

Risk and Real Estate Ownership: Empirical Evidence of Hotels in Singapore

Fawzla Farzana, Md Ghulam Murtaza

This paper examined the impact of real property ownership on the systematic risk of hotel companies in Singapore. This issue is interesting because few studies have been carried out on this topic. The hypothesis is that the real estate ownership would impose negative effect on the systematic risk of company in hotel sector because corporate real estate is commonly considered as an instrument for diversification in a mixed portfolio. To examine the effect, two-stage least-square regression was applied. The data was collected from published sources and other data streams. The results indicate that real estate ownership has impact on the systematic risk of companies. The implication is that the different strategies of companies may result in the different directions of impacts.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jbip.v2i0.9579

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners Vol. 2, December 2009, pp. 193-200