Redevelopment of a Dense Area: A Participatory Planning Approach for Regeneration in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh

Urban redevelopment is a critical process that needs to apporach issues from different angles with the intention to arrive at one single point: sustainability. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with a density of 28,000 people/km2, is currently having a tough time to give its people access to urban facilities. Old Dhaka, the 400-year-old part of the city, has very distinctive characteristics: historical buildings, wholesale trade, a dense urban pattern, narrow roads, low standard of urban utilities. This study attempted to describe persisting problems and expectations of the local people in this area, to be considered during redevelopment. This study followed the method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). First, the existing development pattern and business zones were determined based on a historical timeline, a transact walk, a social and resource map, and a mobility map. The pair-wise ranking method was used in several focus group discussions to prioritize the problems. After prioritizing, a cause-effect diagram was created for the top problems. Then, after a rigorous SWOT analysis, several strategies were formulated from the point of view of historical conservation, development pattern, and the existing chemical industry. The importance of this study is that it is a real-time study and that it has some general implications for similar future cases, such as prioritizing the most persistent problems, thinking with empathy while dealing with old, traditional areas and to ensure local safety, livability and business performance simultaneously in the case of commercial areas. The results of this study are useful for local policy makers as they provide a valuable blend of technical analysis and local people’s feedback.