Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
Urbanization is taking place in a rapid stride. Beautification of cities with wide roads, footpaths, flyover and high-rise buildings are going on. This trend in urbanization has become a global phenomenon. At times urban life has become hazardous with scores of problems. So urban development is not resilient. Goal 11 of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) says, ‘makes cities and human settlement inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. The university of Hong Kong defined desired way of urbanization as:
The impact of growth on all areas of society must be acknowledged. Sustainable growth requires an evolution in the way urban areas carry out their activities such as resource use and the movement of people and goods. The physical infrastructure in addition to social and economic processes must evolve to acknowledge the challenges of growth.Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, sustainable urban development implies a process by which sustainability can be attained, emphasising improvement, progress and positive change, incorporating both environmental and social dimensions.Sustainable urban development highlights the need for reform of market mechanisms to achieve environmental goals and the achievement of a balance with social and economic considerations.Several themes common to all definitions of sustainable urban development have emerged:
o A change in the quality of growth.
o The conservation and minimisation of the depletion of non-renewable resources.
o A merging of economic decisions with those on the environment.
o A strong consideration of the needs of future generations.
“By the year 2000, half the world’s people will be living in cities. The urbanization of society is part of the Cities should be healthy, providing housing and employment opportunities, meet environmental standards and be sustainable. Sustainability needs to be a addressed on a global scale, reforms need to concentrate on the interaction of the urban environment with the global economy and environment.Major development agencies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme undertake significant work on urban development, however, little research on urban sustainability has been conducted in Asia. Asia has almost 45% of the world’s population and six of the world’s largest cities and cannot allow research to lag behind Europe.
Developmental trends at the urban level are rather non-ecological contributing much to the havoc created by climate change. Man-environment interface in Dhaka, Chittagong and other major urban areas in the wake of misdirected urban development seriously impair ecology. It has become a matter of concern to the urban planners. City environment has worsened i in the wake of unplanned urbanization. There is hardly any marked development over the years. The authorities are spending lavishly mostly in unproductive sectors without producing any commensurate results. But there is rampant corruption and blame game to account much for fuzzy urban governance.
Environmental degradation stems from rural-urban migration from villages and small market towns with rural characteristics to the metropolitan urban centers full of development activities. All such development activities centering on urbanization come in disharmony with ecological factors leading to ‘gradual degradation of life-support systems including air, water and land’. Enormous population pressure in the core of the city even downtowns aggravates situation.
Since a couple decades urbanization has assumed ‘greater significance’ influencing ‘growth, distribution, density and structure of population.’ Even then there is no proper system of waste disposal. There is a generation of ‘organic pollution hazard’. The garbage spreads everywhere in the form of heaps all over the filthy city points. Now there are dumping grounds in outer loosely built up communities. Well maintained garbage disposal system is lacking. The city corporations in statistical metropolitan areas are collecting garbage through its scanty resources and manpower. The garbage collected from the residents and offices through van is disposed on the dumping ground. In many city-points some amount of solid waste is discharged into the drains or canals causing a great deal of water pollution. The waste from kitchen throwing out of window is emptied into the river through rain water. Garbage disposal requires responsible urban governance which is supposed to give immediate action. Haphazard garbage disposal may cause hazardous diseases.
Recently urban growth is extremely unplanned showing a high degree of congestion and overcrowding and malfunctioning of the traffic system. High- rise residential buildings are springing up in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet (to some extent). Many of such buildings tend to serve commercial purposes. The business activities are found in ‘greater or lesser degree all along the roads’ and pavements but ‘intensify at the cross-roads.’ The urban communities in Dhaka and Chittagong exhibit a very high density ‘human population’ with inadequate space to live and little road infrastructures to move. The rapidly growing urban population in metropolitan cities and its outskirts is increasing environmental pollution posing ‘problems to human health and threatening the general quality of life’
Drainage is poor. Most drains remain chocked. Flooding and water logging during rainy season very much trouble the pedestrians. Rain water with waste accumulates. Resultantly roads, lanes and by-lanes become the ‘pools of water’. ‘Waste-water goes out through open drains which run along the roads.’
The capital city is growing vertically owing to lack of space. The question that may arise is whether RAJUK impose strict building codes to ensure construction of building in a manner that will not create concrete jungles even in narrow lanes inaccessible by bus, trucks, speedy ambulances and fire brigade. A few developers and builders follow ‘technically sound structural designs’. Most of them perhaps do not bother to use ‘correct materials in correct proportions’. But construction of high-rise apartments is going on in an unimaginably fast pace. More, construction materials like sands and iron lying on pavement narrowing down space for the pedestrians to move is simply outrageous. Another formidable problem is solid waste mismanagement. Water logging in during rainy season due to filled up canals and defective drainage system and sewerage is another menace.
A desirable state of urbanization with the overriding considerations of communications, traffic system, and housing and residential patterns has been stressed upon recently by the urban planners. What the city dwellers expect from the city development authority is a well planned city with asystematic clustering of houses in the residential area well connected to the city’s main points-administrative and commercial districts-through jungles growing thickly all the way around and mushrooming of vehicles plying in a limited number of roads. linking roads accessible by transports. Distressingly the tremendous growth of urban population in Dhaka has aggravated the crisis of unplanned urbanization in Dhaka with concrete
Recently urban growth is extremely unplanned showing a high degree of congestion and overcrowding and malfunctioning of the traffic system. High- rise residential buildings are springing up in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet (to some extent). Many of such buildings tend to serve commercial purposes. The business activities are found in ‘greater or lesser degree all along the roads’ and pavements but ‘intensify at the cross-roads.’ The urban communities in Dhaka and Chittagong exhibit a very high density ‘human population’ with inadequate space to live and little road infrastructures to move. The rapidly growing urban population in metropolitan cities and its outskirts is increasing environmental pollution posing ‘problems to human health and threatening the general quality of life’
Drainage is poor. Most drains remain chocked. Flooding and water logging during rainy season very much trouble the pedestrians. Rain water with waste accumulates. Resultantly roads, lanes and by-lanes become the ‘pools of water’. ‘Waste-water goes out through open drains which run along the roads.’
The capital city is growing vertically owing to lack of space. The question that may arise is whether RAJUK impose strict building codes to ensure construction of building in a manner that will not create concrete jungles even in narrow lanes inaccessible by bus, trucks, speedy ambulances and fire brigade. A few developers and builders follow ‘technically sound structural designs’. Most of them perhaps do not bother to use ‘correct materials in correct proportions’.
But construction of high-rise apartments is going on in an unimaginably fast pace. More, construction materials like sands and iron lying on pavement narrowing down space for the pedestrians to move is simply outrageous. Another formidable problem is solid waste mismanagement. Water logging in during rainy season due to filled up canals and defective drainage system and sewerage is another menace.
A desirable state of urbanization with the overriding considerations of communications, traffic system, and housing and residential patterns has been stressed upon recently by the urban planners. What the city dwellers expect from the city development authority is a well planned city with systematic clustering of houses in the residential area well connected to the city’s main points-administrative and commercial districts-through linking roads accessible by transports. Distressingly the tremendous growth of urban population in Dhaka has aggravated the crisis of unplanned urbanization in Dhaka with concrete jungles growing thickly all the way around and mushrooming of vehicles plying in a limited number of roads.
Recent tragedies in Dhaka like collapse of buildings in Begun Bari, Nimtoli fire accident episode including some ignored tragedies are eye openers. Such tragedies are nightmares for the dwellers in affected areas. Some glimpses of Nimtoli blaze occurred last year in June pinch the dwellers with a bitter taste. Dhaka is now at the risk of devastating earth quake-as the greatest catastrophe.
Developmental trends at the urban level are rather non-ecological contributing much to the havoc created by climate change. Man-environment interface in Dhaka, Chiattagong and other major urban areas in the wake of misdirected urban development seriously impairs ecology. It has become a matter of concern to the urban planners. City environment has worsened i in the wake of unplanned urbanization. There is hardly any marked development over the years. The authorities are spending lavishly mostly in unproductive sectors without producing any commensurate results. But there is rampant corruption and blame game to account much for fuzzy urban governance.
Environmental degradation stems from rural-urban migration from villages and small market towns with rural characteristics to the metropolitan urban centers full of development activities. All such development activities centering on urbanization come in disharmony with ecological factors leading to ‘gradual degradation of life-support systems including air, water and land’. Enormous population pressure in the core of the city even downtowns aggravates situation.
Since a couple decades urbanization has assumed ‘greater significance’ influencing ‘growth, distribution, density and structure of population.’ Even then there is no proper system of waste disposal. There is a generation of ‘organic pollution hazard’. The garbage spreads everywhere in the form of heaps all over the filthy city points. Now there are dumping grounds in outer loosely built up communities. Well maintained garbage disposal system is lacking. The city corporations in statistical metropolitan areas are collecting garbage through its scanty resources and manpower. The garbage collected from the residents and offices through van is disposed on the dumping ground. In many city-points some amount of solid waste is discharged into the drains or canals causing a great deal of water pollution. The waste from kitchen throwing out of window is emptied into the river through rain water. Garbage disposal requires responsible urban governance which is supposed to give immediate action. Haphazard garbage disposal may cause hazardous diseases.
It is heartening to note that action has been taken to recover river. There are reports that huge illegal structures built along the banks of Buriganga, Turag and Sitalakhya have been knocked down barring some stray incidence of resistance against river recovery operation. The DCs of Dhaka, Narayanganganj, Gazipur and Munshiganj have been asked by the High Court (HC) on June 25 to ‘take measures to protect the rivers under their jurisdiction’ Some pieces of land created by encroachment on the river bank have been recovered; more to be done to demarcate the rivers. Even then encroachment of low lying areas and wetland and occupation of sand along riverbank is going on. The implementation of detailed area plan (DAP) suffer setback due largely to inept management and politico-legal constraints. The illegal structures spring up in city canals are difficult to be removed under the plan.
Disaster in Chittagong in June 2007, the worst in recent time, claimed more than 120 lives injuring many. The rescue operation was on to retrieve bodies from beneath the mudslides that wrought havoc in hill top slums in the wake of torrential rains. The reasons behind landslide, according to expert are unstable geographical formation, reckless construction, lack of a proper sewerage system and lack of knowledge about nature’s ability to lash back with huge fatalities.
There has been an increasing institutional concern for a planned urbanization to make Dhaka and Chittagong suitable for living. Urban development authorities like RAJUK and CDA are supposed to do the needful according to Master Plan. These implementing agencies do not have adequate infrastructural facilities, manpower and recourses to implement the plan. Besides, co-ordination among the operating development agencies like City Corporation, urban development authorities, environment department, WASA, PDP, to mention a few, is awfully missing.
Responsibility of REHAB for planned city development cannot be left out of equation. It should work in collaboration with city development authorities like RAJUK and CDA for planned development of residential enclaves. The city development authorities must see to it that building codes are properly maintained and schemes under Area Development Plan (DAP) are implemented in a desired direction. At times the image of REHAB will be tarnished if it allows to incorporate numerous land development and housing projects in participate in its fair that does not obtain any approval from RAJUK. This apprehension arose from the report that High Court has recently issued order preventing participation of the projects in REHAB fair unapproved by RAJUK.
(Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-VC, BUP and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Retired Professor, Chittagong University).
