DESIGNING DHAKA : A Manifesto For A Better City

by Kazi Khaleed Ashraf

বাংলাদেশের রাজধানী ঢাকাকে নিয়ে পরিকল্পিত একটা বই। ঐতিহাসিক ভাবে অন্তত চারশতাধিক বছরের পুরোনো এই শহর খুব একটা পরিকল্পনা করে আগাতে পারে নি। শহরের নীতিনির্ধারকরাও খুব গুছিয়ে শহরটা নিয়ে ভাবেনি কখনো।
এই বইয়ে লেখক ঢাকার বেশ কিছু বর্তমান সমস্যা চিহ্নিত করেছেন। সমাধানের জন্য কিভাবে কাজ করা যেতে পারে তার বিভিন্ন খসড়া তুলে ধরেছেন। শহর পরিকল্পনাতে রাজনীতিকদের ভূমিকা নিয়ে কথা বলেছেন। বলেছেন শহরের নাগরিকদের ভূমিকা নিয়েও।
ঢাকা শহরকে নিয়ে যারা পরিকল্পনা কাজে ব্যস্ত তাদের জন্য এই মুহূর্তে খুবই উপকারী রেফারেন্স বই বলে মনে করি।

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Working in and on issues relating to Bangladesh for a number of years I have become used to colleagues complaints about having to travel to Dhaka. That it is loud, noisy, dirty and crowded. Of course, Dhaka is all of these things. Even my friends in Dhaka tease me for travelling there so regularly, asking why I would want to come to a city in which they feel stagnant, trapped and lost. This is all fair but Dhaka is also an amazing city in many ways. This is probably where me and Kazi Ashraf's agreement ends. I think the dynamism of Dhaka, the food, the hospitality and the unique soundscape with the tinkling of rickshaws gives Dhaka a charm. Not necessarily a charm that compensates for the difficulties of those for whom it is the only place they can live, but a charm all the same. Ashraf's vision is of a city where cars are welcome, but the rickshaw's that offer so many a livelihood that is flexible, and allows them to navigate the city and structure their lives is not. Throughout the book poverty does raise it's head, but is often trumped by visions of middle class comfort and leisure. In fact, rather than exploring the way that urbanisation has shaped Dhaka Ashraf critiques the farming of urbanisation itself. Preferring to focus on urbanism. This serves to obscure the way the political economy of the rural shapes the urban through the process of urbanisation and as such obscure the complex lives of many of the cities poorest citizens, so compellingly described in Migration of Metaphors.

In one sense it is beautifully put together book that blends interesting, and sometimes contradictory visions of Dhaka, in another it is a book that obscures a complex political economy that shapes the city this work calls for us to design.

[Nafisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had finished reading this while I was in Architecture school, must have been really helpful in urban design studio.
Kazi Khaleed Ashraf seems to have plans for the redemption of Dhaka and his honest writing is such that it might as well be believable that Dhaka can be saved.
It is a crucial book concerning our city's history and current condition and paints the picture of a utopian Dhaka.

[Siraj]

i want to get an old versus new perspective to understand the direction to which this city is moving.