City

CITY Jimi Chakma | s3675880

ARCH 1393 Urbanism: History & Theory Course Tutor:Conard Hamann | Ian Nazareth

Submitted by Jimi Chakma | s3675880

01 Cities as Order: Recurring Historical Components of Cities Project: Barcelona,Spain

The form of city pattern has direct correlation with different historical developments. The street patterns, block size, formation of void and build forms are the collective image of that period of society, administrative system and ruling power.

The city of Barcelona has growth form a small Roman military camp-Barcino to new Barcelona. The city street pattern has distinctive typologies which represent different historical periods and influences of other city patterns.

In 250 AD, the Barcino city was a contained wall city like roman encampment having huge fortification and regular rectangular grid blocks within it. The only civic building was a large Roman temple. The defensive wall also defined the area for elites and small village and farmlands outside.

In medieval times, the street patterns outside of the previous roman citadel was become more irregular and winding pattern like Muslim occupied cities.The streets were narrow roads and undistinguishable building blocks form outside. Rather than grouping merchant shops into a square, the shopping were stripped along the narrow streets.Under Monarch rules, further fortification and contained cardinal cities appear just like other European cities. Medieval European city state had similar multiple sets of wall around the urban nucleus to accommodate increased population (Benevolo 1980). The gateways of fortification were the main attribute for road pattern which connects between gateways. The eastern and western part of old city has these type of street patterns.

The biggest transformation happened in 19th century with the introduction of perimeter block under ‘Eixample’ program to accommodate rapid growth of population and expansion of old city. The perimeter blocks were laid on infinite square grid pattern while the previous citadel of old city was demolished and converted into a wide boulevard.

The grid layout infinitely follows the European colonisation style uniform checkerboard pattern of rectilinear streets which has similarities with Manhattan street layout. Barcelona also has similar Haussmaan style distinctive diagonal major roads which cut through the regular grids.

Therefore, cities are not only forced by the internal socio-political change but also the contemporary urban practices. Sometimes it was imposed, sometimes there was direct and indirect emulation of other successful cities or major social transformation for collective aspiration of the citizens.

Present Barcelona

Colonisation Style Grid Pattern: Manhattan

Medieval City

Roman

Benevolo, L., 1981. The history of the city. MIT press.

Images: Medieval city https://www.barcelonacheckin.com/en/r/barcelona_tourism_guide/photo-articles/barcino-barcelona.php

02 Cities as Industry

Project: Silicon Valley, San Francisco Bay, USA

Industry has major role shaping up cities through setting up factories, urbanization, transport system and residential facilities for the workers. Traditionally industries refer to factories and productions but both academic and non-academic campuses are part of modern knowledge industries.

Located in the southern region of San Francisco Bay area, Silicon Valley is the global hub for the world renowned high-tech corporations, manufactures and start-up companies. Previously, Silicon Valley has seen huge success rose on Semiconductor industry in 60’s and 70’s. Currently, it becomes the hub of software and start-up companies while manufacturing facilities are mostly relocated to other countries or distant locations. Now the city is the epicentre of big tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, HP and many other renowned companies. The urban growth of the region is hugely attributed to growth of the low rise office campuses. Suburban office parks or Tech park are the hybrid concept of Garden city and university campus models where low suburban areas are transformed into office campuses. Historically Stanford Campus has significant role for growing affiliated hi tech research and companies by creating Stanford Industrial Park adjoining its boundary. Later following the same Stanford Model other adjacent towns emerged Industrial parks and office campuses (Saxenian 1984).

The majority of the large companies occupy the huge chunk of urban fabric containing their own research campus, internal gardens, parking areas as well as offices headquarters. The campus footprints are as large as traditional industry or university campus which seemingly convenient for easy internal collaboration, but leads to huge area of the gated enclave that intensify the low rise developments bounded by huge number of parking lots.

The low dense residential areas sprawl around the huge chunk of industrial campuses making the whole city automotive oriented. Further, no viable mass transit and low density housing policies accelerated automobile oriented urban sprawl. A report shows, only 28 percent office workers live within a half mile while rest of them commute over personal automobile (Hurley 2017).

As like as many industrial cities, campus cities are modern knowledge industries created buzz all over the world to set up their own version of Techno Park based on the economic success of the Silicon Valley. However, the massive urban sprawl and landuse homogeneities being created by these campuses, it is worth to think critically the negativity of the low rise mono functional industrial zone.

Saxenian, A 1983. ‘The Urban Contradictions of Silicon Valley: Regional Growth and the Restructuring of the Semiconductor Industry’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 7.2: 237-62.

03 Cities as Arenas and Theatres Project: Nanjing Street, Shanghai

As like as theatres and arenas cities generate different forms of spectacles. Street, building fenestration, built form, landmark, visual axis as well as the activity happening in the urban space itself become the part of urban spectacles. The shape of the built form or the aperture of openness create urban form of arena to spectate the urban life.

Nanjing Road is a 5.5km long premium shopping street in Shanghai starting from Peoples Square park and ends at Bund-an elevated walkway over the edge of Yanzhe river.

The whole journey is like modern processional cities while the fully pedestrianized walkway illustrates the urban from, fenestration, activity as like as theatrical drama. Premium shopping malls, food courts and shopping centres flanked at both sides create urban corridor with full of both physical and visual vibrancy.

The colourful neon signage, animated lightings and visual illumination make the place more spectacle at night and the signage styles create a visual character to the street.

Along certain distance the visual hierarchy of certain distinctive and peculiar urban land form and architecture also draw visual attention to the viewers. Public activity, street performance and moving train and animated lighting make the whole place as urban drama The whole street is like directional corridor that drags visual attention towards the bund area. The axial view of Pearl tower at distance creates visual frame of spectacles by the front façade of adjacent building. The bund area has series of colonial building from old Shanghai international concessions that create both the background and boundaries for the aperture for the viewing deck of the Bund. The elevated walkway on bund provides facilities to walk along the river edge create panoramic viewpoint for the Shanghai’s skylines with full of modern towers and skyscrapers. The place has its photogenic value which always represented as image of World class cities. The spectacular view of changing illuminations on towers façade creates like an urban display where bund is the big audience deck and the skyline of other side is the stage.

In Nanjing Street, the historic street, contemporary buildings, public activity and the openness -all are the inseparable elements which create the ambience to spectate or to participate. The successful urban space must have that urban drama where all the urban actors including built environment and people create the mode of vibrancy through their own contextual stories just like Nanjing of Shanghai does.

http://havefuninshanghai.skr.jp/sightseeing/sightseeing.html

Image taken by author itself

04 Cities as Arenas for Social Change

Cities are the physical ground for the socio-cultural encounter. Urban spaces are one of the crucial tools to evaluate how physical spaces engage or socialize with the city and within the people. Physical realisation of people’s aspiration, common platform for marginalized people or lessening social inequalities between the fragmented territories of the city are the common goal of social regeneration by physical design intervention. Also, public spaces are the ground for cultural exchange and emotional negotiation for requirements of a pluralist city (Mostafavi 2011).

Located in the central Copenhagen, Superkilen is one of the diversified local neighbourhoods of international communities living in Denmark. Superkilen is a social revitalization project to cherish the different cultural identities of the locals through the concept of universal urban park. The mono-functional road is regenerated into a colourful multi-functional urban park curated with different iconic elements around the globe. The park is like a catalogue of global object that celebrates as well as acknowledge the diversity of local people. Instead of imposing a common identity, multi cross cultural identity is juxtaposed to an urban platform to enhance socio-cultural equalities among the inhabitants.

The catalogue of universal objects and the urban park provides the sense of place of multiple identities both locally and globally. Places are not dependent to single identity rather it has global and local network of identities (Messay 2010). Although people living in different context it has certain shifting boundaries of while this universal park tries to provide the platform to celebrate the multi identities with cultural negotiation. Hall and Datta (2010) found similar results in South London, where different shop signage and graphics brings cultural reference for social and economic benefits for immigrants living in London. In Superkilen, the visual signage and objects from different location around the world are the visual form of trans local identities as well as social and cultural capital for urban regeneration project.

Multiplicities of function play important role for public spaces to generate diversified activities. Distribution of facilities, recognition of multiplicities and regular social encounter are necessary to bring the social framework in action (Fincher & Iveson 2008). By different elements and coloured zone of plazas, Superkilen provides different hybrid spaces for sport, work out, bicycling, skating, casual seating, playgrounds as well as temporary event places that brings social interaction and encounter among the multi identities in co-operative way.

Urban spaces are the critical tool to intensify the direction of socio-cultural or political change. Here, Superkilen has become the urban place brand for the multiplicities of identities as well as social encountered space of intense exchange and accommodation of pluralistic differences.

Fincher, R. and Iveson, K., 2008. Planning and diversity in the city: Redistribution, recognition and encounter. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Hall, S. and Datta, A. (2010). The translocal street: Shop signs and local multi-culture along the Walworth Road, south London. City, Culture and Society, 1(2), pp.69-77.

Massey D 2010. A global sense of place Mostafavi, M. ed., 2017. Ethics of the Urban: The City and the Spaces of the Political. Lars MĂźller.

05 Cities as Fragmented and Divided: Dystopia Project: Slums of Mumbai, India

Socio-economic inequalities of the city always have been marked distinctive difference in the physical footprint of the city formation. Imbalance development in the city gives birth to socio–economic fragmentation which gets physical form as Informal settlements.

Due to rapid urbanization and economical imbalance between rich and poor, most of the developing nations of global south are almost facing the same social challenge of growing informal settlement due to influx of urban migration to growing mega polis. In comparison with Mumbai’s growing economy half of its population live in the slum which is 12% of Mumbai’s total land use (SRA, 2016). Despite socio-economic inequalities, the slum’s informal and labour economy has significant contribution to Mumbai’s booming economic growth.

Because of the political and legal land-lock situation, the slums are scattered around the whole Mumbai even occupying some expensive central areas. The juxtaposition of premium high-rise towers and the fragmented slums sharing the same boundaries are the common urban character of fragmented Mumbai. This formal and informal tension creates both social and physical segregation in terms of public facilities and land use development. Although they share common locality, the slums often lack the basic civic infrastructure like decent house, water, electricity, sanitation and legal tenure of land.

Mumbai Fragmanted Slum Location

As slums inherit the potential land value because of centrality to the city, often the slums become the victim of eviction and relocation to accommodate space for future construction of premium apartment blocks. Sassen 2009 argues, the relocation of the slum are always point of political controversy and act of socio-spatial conflict. Along Mumbai’s vision to be a World Class Cities like Shanghai, slums are considered as major hinder for potential real estate development. On the contrary, informal urbanism theorists Robinson 2002 and Roy 2009 argue that the imposing global theory might be bad translation of modernist attitude to the context of global south.

In global south metropolis there is demand of new set of geographical theories and practical approach to tackle the negativities of informalities instead of western centred view of developments.

The informal settlements are always has been on the verge of social segregation and political conflict. It is similar social conflict in urban design that Jane Jacob protested on the issue of slum clearance of old New York neighbourhood against Robert Moses’s imposing urban renewal plan; or the same urban controversy of Le Corbusier’s modernist radiantcity proposal to clear out seemingly crowed and squalor old Paris.

Therefore, to tackle the dystopia of fragmented city urban informalities there is a significant need to be understand with more socio-political context base theories.

Dharabi the largest Slum of Mumbai, India

Sassen S. 2009, Dharavi: documenting informalities. Royal University College of Fine Arts. New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2009. Print.

Manu Balachandran SRA June29, 2016 https://qz.com/india/717519/the-worlds-biggest-survey-of-slums-is-underway-in-india/

Image by Johnny Miller https://unequalscenes.com/projects

06 Cities as Instruments and Theatres of War Project : Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Cities always have been a manifesto of conflicts including war, protest, segregation and showcase of economic or military power. Urban space and monumental architecture are the physical ground to show off both political and military power.

The military backed authority has intentional motive to shape cities, urban space and architecture into armistice culture which has been seen from Nazis Rally Ground to Red square Moscow to Trainman square. Large lane of roads for convenient movement for military vehicles or parade, monumental buildings and sculpture, dehumanizing scale and strong visual axis are always been a part of representation of military backed nations to mark the victory of certain empires or representation of military prowess.

Tiananmen Square is the largest square of Central Beijing surrounded by monumental buildings including Great Hall, Museum, Mausoleum and Forbidden City wall gate at north. The strong visual axis from Forbidden City gate to Mao Zedong Mausoleum flanked by the massive wall like similar building –The great hall and Museum represent the imposed order of authoritarian power structure. The square provides gathering space for military convoy while the large lane of Chang’an roads are used for annual military parades. Vast open space around the building territory also dictate the supremacy of the square.

The proportion and scale of the space also represent the authoritarian power by showing monumental superiority through large building mass and fenestration. The huge plaza without any trees and seating places make the space more dehumanize and devoid of intimacy. Continuous cctv monitoring and police guards make the square more scrutinized and less public friendly. The urban emulation of power in architecture across the nation has been a common phenomenon by mimicking monumental features of powerful civilizations.The building façade of Tiananmen Square has similar Germano– Roman style façade representing the powerful ancient empire like Roman Empire.

The urban square always the frontier for political movements and protest. Occupying the urban space in front of Tiananmen gate always had been a part of political movements or protest.

The picture of an unknown student blocked the tanks that supposed to be crackdown on pro-democracy protest is the best known urban image of Tiananmen Square. Other notable events are anti-imperialist movement in 1991 and proclamation of the People’s Republic of China by Mao Zedong in Oct 1949.

City formations are one of the the political tactics of the authoritarian government to demonize democracy with military celebration of urban spaces.

07 Endless Cities Project : Urban Sprawl

Infinite suburbia has been a global phenomenon due to rapid urbanization and automobile dependency.The Anglo-American upper middle class flocked in suburbia for capitalist utopias whereas European cities pushed the working class at the suburb (Fishman 2018).The urban sprawl highly regarded on the concept of the Ebenezer Howards Garden City where combination of the city and countryside could be found.

With the rise of automobile industry, a proliferation of single family houses are built on the outskirt of the city promoted by the American dream of new urban living in Suburb for the cause of freedom on mobility. It blurs the area between rural and urban.

Urban sprawls are characterised by blurry rural-urban fringe with low density cluster of housing, office or industrial parks, big box retail bounded by sea of parking lots and motor oriented urban fabric. While church is counted as the centre of walkable European cities, the low rise big box retail complex with huge parking lots are the centre for these sprawl cities. For daily work-live travel or accessing access the basic civic facilities, inhabitants are bound to use personal motorways for daily commute. Huge lane of motors and highways are the common urban scenario for these automobile dependent cities.

The typology of built form is more repetitive and homogenous with single dwelling home in a large chunk of plot.

The stamping patterns of the residential unit along the repetitive motorways create the feeling of infinitive cities which has no ends with monotonous build form or commercial strip over mile after mile. Repetitive street pattern and dwelling units make it hard to give any character to its street as well as to generate public life. Instead of functional mix of land use, these cities have homogeneity of residential or commercial land use which makes the suburban scape more predictable and lifeless.

In East Asian countries like China, Korea and Singapore super tower blocks with gated enclave are the Asian phenomenon of suburbanization. The repetitive high rise tower with perimeter block or standalone towers are the common typology of Asian sprawl. In the rural-urban frontage this big superblocks create infinite monotony and daunting expression encroaching more and more rural landscape.

No other factors in urban design has much more daunting impact on city as like as automobile driven cities does. It has risen the biggest urban problem by ever expanding cities infinitely.

Fishman, R 2018. The Divided Metropolis: The Suburb and the explosion of global Urbanization. Infinite suburbia. Chronicle Books.

08 Cities as Multiples Project :Melbourne, Australia

Multiplicities in a city depends on functional mix, multi-cultural environment, heterogeneity of built form and diversity of experiences. The central Melbourne has been transformed dramatically through the decade of careful key urban interventions, plans, projects and people involvements. Over thirty years there has been incremental change of functions where rigid Melbourne grid was breakdown into small and random laneways, leftover spaces of built form become public spaces.

The introvert looking city embraces the waterfront edge developments, development of Federation square over rail yards, pedestrianization of Swanston Street. Rather than having a central civic square Melbourne has developed series of multiple identities of Space like laneways, small plazas, waterfront development or urban campuses. The old dark alleyways transformed into cafes, pubs; streets into urban corridors, parking areas into plazas, revitalisation of street life by landscape and urban elements. This place making initiatives have added another dimension to the city form and associated activities. City dwellers are being offered a lot more humane scale experiences traversing the city through these micro scale urban reform and incremental adaptation.

Functional mix in building programme itself like accommodating residential programme over commercial uses, cafĂŠ and outdoor dining facilities on the ground floor and so on. Functional mix offers different human engagement of different scale and manner within the same urban footprint in different vertical layers. Diversity is attained within a uniformed urban physicality establishing opportunity of different human activity program across the city terrain. The city is being rendered with vibrant human involvement with careful location of public seating and urban landscape.

Jane Jacob’s theory of social mixing are indirectly refers to the mentioned approach of density, mixing and accessibility.

Campus situated within the city has been redefining the city character and engagement with the city both culturally and economically. There has been a significant increase of the International students which has created a new layer of economy associated with their lifestyle.The campus and city life is juxtaposed by integrated urban spaces that also become a part of city urban spaces. With RMIT’s addition, subtraction, adaptation and expansion in scattered way provides more resulting more physical and cultural cohesion

Functional Mix by Kim Dovey

with the city. These urban phenomena enriched city fabric and experience by multiple ways.The city has also become an Informal learning spaces, within walkable range of student accommodation. The student housing has greatly benefitted each other through the city and campus integrity (Dovey 2018).

Many public urban spaces controlled by private authorities which are being defined as ‘Privately Owned Public Space (POPS)’ are generating a different layer of the public realm. In this way multiplicities of urban spaces has been possible alongside government owned and maintained public spaces. Privately own thoroughfares by Shopping malls provide supplementary accessibility and permeability within the large blocks.

This virtue of multiciplity is an ever-growing process; time shapes the process and outcome reflecting the collective aspiration of a given time and place.

Dovey, K., Jones, R. and Adams, R., 2018. Urban Choreography: Central Melbourne 1985.

Planning News, 44(3), p.26.

Photo by Tariqul Islam | www.flickr.com

DHAKA as URBAN INFORMALITY Jimi Chakma| s3675880

Introduction The Growing urbanization in Global South has seen a mixture of formal and informal developments. Post-colonial urbanism generates the new set of urban rules and informalities within the regional modernism seen different kind of urban developments in Global South cities especially in South Asian countries. Whereas informalities often refer to the illegal, slum and poverty Roy 2013 argues it is necessary to define the informal modernities could be as different approach of handling the postcolonial urbanism in global South.It is necessary to understand how informal characteristics are also developing modern developments. It is also significant how the ambiguity of formal and informal spatial order creates the character of the City. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh is world’s most densely populated city having 14 million inhabitants. Although there are some fragmented planned urban areas, most of the Dhaka has the informal organic planning pattern which creates the character of Dhaka. Within the formal and informal developments, informality plays an important role in both areas.

To intervene any urban development or renewal project, it is crucial to understand the informalities both in the formal and informal sector.

Photo by TopU | www.flickr.com

Urban Informality Informality often regard as illegal, unregulated, unplanned or development without proper infrastructure. On the other hand, it also defines as spontaneous, organic or sometimes as extra-legal form of formalized city.

Generally, informality is mis-concepted by mere definition of poverty, slum or squatter. Dovey 2012 argues, if poverty is considered as problem the resilience techniques could be defined as informality.However, informality refers the domains where planning, design and construction are not regulated by formal administration (Dovey 2012). While the formal city often regulates by state approval and proper planning and infrastructural facilities, informal city developed sometimes without prior planning and spontaneous growth.

Informality is the extral-legal version of formal legislation while state has some extend of indirect acceptance over it. Informality is another mode of the under regulated flexible domain which is within the scope of city’s extra-legal or controversial legislation (Roy 2009). Although considered as violation of master plan and building codes, the informalisation process of peri-urban scenarios is often result of state’s informal sanction (Roy 2009).

Also, informalism creates an imbalance of spatial value between formal and informal spaces which indirectly create opportunities of profit and value for future developments.

While Formal cities are result of few policymakers, planners and architects, informal spaces is the outcome of multiplicities of socio-political and economic influences directing toward spontaneous, organic and adaptive spaces.

Pre-Mughal Hindu Period

Mughal Period

British Colonial Period

East-Pakistan Period

Bangladesh 1971-1990

Present 2018

Morphological Development of Dhaka’s Informality Dhaka has seen its morphological development mostly informal over different historical periods starting from pre Mughal to Present Dhaka. Informal organic growth was the inherent pattern from very starting of its growth at the pre Mughal and Mughal period as well for present unplanned areas.

The natural features have been the main determinants of the informal organic growth. Though, historically there is significant patch of planned development, rest of the Dhaka’s area has more or less same informal spatial formation as its original settings.

Both in pre Mughal Hindu period and Mughal period, the old Dhaka’s street pattern grows like webby and winding pattern while major roads have growth parallel to the Buriganga river. As like as other Indian cities commercial development known as Bazar developed informally along the irregular narrow streets while the residential areas known as Mohollas developed along the bazar (Hossain 2014).The large civic spaces were developed at the nodal point where the big bazaar or the chowk bazaar was the major square for activity and shopping emporium.

Similar type of narrow, winding streets pattern and major focus on nodal developments with Mosque and Bazaar along it are seen in Medieval Muslim cities like Cairo, Istanbul, old Delhi and others Muslim occupied cities.

In British Colonization period, there is a significant difference between formal and informal Dhaka based on the open spaces ratio and density of built forms. A green belt of civic buildings, University campus and few grids residential developments were seen along the edge of old Dhaka. Although some planned grid layouts were intervened by British, the next informal growth follows the spontaneous organic pattern instead of the grid patterns. The first grid residential developments of Wari of Old Dhaka had seen similar types of developments. However, the formal grid of Wari merge into intricate informal patterns of Old Dhaka.

After the end of British period, Dhaka becomes the administrative centre for East Pakistan having new high class residential and commercial developments in the grid formats in Dhanmondi and Gulshan areas. However, most of the other parts follow the informal growth of planning.

After the independence as Bangladesh, Dhaka has seen major urban growth toward its northern territory. Most of the formal and informal areas are developed on the low lying flood plain areas. Without the attributes of proper planning, the informal settlements grow over the exiting villages while keeping the organic street pattern previously determined by allowable land along the flood plains. Then the informal growth developed spontaneously taking over the left over agricultural land by filling up by land.

Nilufar 2010 defines this informal developments as new indigenous informal community has same intricate street patterns while have the blend of the traditional and modern look accustomed with new planning rules into these informal settings. Vivian 2014 argues that the current irregular street pattern of Informal Dhaka could be traced backed to the Mughal period’s webby networks of patterns.

So, over the historical growth Informal organic developments were prime urban character of Dhaka.

Though it has similar webby and organic features of past Hindu or Mughal periods, the common determination of the organic informal pattern has rural traces. As The rapid urbanization has forced taking over the agricultural land the previous linear village settlements are actually transformed into intricate informal urban settlements. The transformation of the new peri-rural development are finest example of informal developemnts.

Unplanned In

Planned Form Historic Inform Govt/ Adminis

nformal

Historic Informal Old Dhaka

Unplanned Informal

Planned Formal

mal mal Core strative Area

Informal Fringe Area

Formal attributes Informal Formal and informal are always integral part of any city development. Any kind of planned developments need other services which directly or indirectly rely on the informal communities. Also formal developments raise the space value of adjacent areas and gradually informal developments transformed the adjacent areas incrementally resulting webby linear pattern. For example, after the introduction of Barcelona’s famous Cerda grid is proposed gradually with ages the informal medieval patterns grows outside of the very edge of Cerda block taking over the mountain and other outer fringes. Formal cities are master plan driven whereas informalities are more spontaneous and adaptable so informal cities are always dynamic and ambiguous in planning.

In Dhaka, formal planning schemes attribute the growth of informal development along its periphery. The proposals of formal grid iron pattern of Dhanmomdi, Mohammudpur, Baridhara, Gulshan and Uttara has caused the unplanned informal growth along its very edges. Usually, the formal planned neighborhoods were located at fringe area when the plans were applied. However, this situation attracts more gradual informal development along its periphery resulting seemingly unplanned. The contrast of the formal and informal has clear difference in road patterns and density. The largest Karail slum and informal development Kalachandpur area are the informal output of formal planning of Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas. The previously agricultural land with scattered villages is gradually generated into informal urban growth.

Currently, the formal neighborhood of satellite cities like Uttara and Purvachol are indirectly attributing informal developments along its periphery. The Informal settlements including slums are locked into legal and scoio-political situations because of the formal developments.

Informality within Formal If formality is the situation, informalities are the necessities. Informalities have been always generated from the necessity and demand of the situation although it might be illegal or legally corrupted. As most of the formal planning are decided by top down process and westernized view, it overlooks the urban behavior and intricate layers of functionality.

As Christopher Alexander (1965) defines in the ‘City is not a tree’; instead of a tree like top down process down urban complexities depend on intermixing of both formal and informal necessities.

Throughout the new urban growth of Dhaka, major development of the formal master planning like Dhanmondhi, Banani, Mohammadpur, Mirpur,Uttara and other new urban fringe is mostly based on top down process of intervention and the planning scheme depends on plot division rather than programmatic necessities and logical placements. The commercial strips are located only along the major thoroughfares disregarding the necessities of bazaar concept. Mosques also become the stand alone object of landmark within open space while losing its socio-cultural integrity with bazaar and community. Building codes of having parking on grounds floors also destroyed by the opportunities of functional mix and urban drama while losing eyes on the street which is cherished by Jane Jacob’s (1980) informal cities.

The necessity of fundamental essentials within walking distance caused informal growth like small shops, tea stalls and other temporary hawker is seemingly illegal to have in residential areas by land use law. Though having strict land use rules and planning scheme, informality is still adapting into small scale within the formal neighborhoods.

Informal Urban Settings Post-colonial urbanism in global south has raised the different kinds of new informalities that has upgraded version of informalities. Under gradual planning rules and modern built forms it has creates a new set of urban settings where informal and formal planning and construction blend each other.

Street Pattern The informal urban neighborhoods have same winding laneways and street but less winding and permeable than older Dhaka. The major community facilities and civic areas like Bazaar, grocery shops, convenience store and community mosques are grouped together on nodal intersection points and stretching along narrow roads.

Landuse Around the nodal and strip developments, most of the residential built forms has the small commercial programme like shop, groceries, tea stalls and other everyday shops on their ground floor which are formally illegal to have the commercial at the ground floor without dedicated commercial roads. As new constructions with parking facilities on the ground floor it reducing opportunity of the functional mix while some buildings rent space illegally for shops or small groceries.

Bazar The bazaars have been built on leftover public or private spaces or seemingly illegally occupying the leftover public streets. The name of the street also followed by name of the bazaar like Rajabazar, Boubazar, Tanti Bazaar and other local names as like as other premughal and Mughal bazars.

Mosques The Mosques are also important part to create the landmark while meeting the congregational praying facilities for Muslims. Most of the mosques are built on public donation and it considered as pride for local community which are pragmatically located at around nodal or Bazar areas.

Ambiguity The ambiguity of public private spaces is the common scenario of this type of new informal neighborhoods. The public street is occupied by street vendors while gradually it becomes permanent. Small restaurants, tea stalls and floating hawker cart are the gathering point for public activity and gossiping.

In some areas slums are seen landlocked by legal dispute or political objectivity.

The mixture of illegal buildings, slum and modern buildings, informal bazar or floating hawkers make a mix character of new kind of informal functional mix.

Also garments factories mostly sewing and manufacturing industry are situated around this informal neighborhood which is prime source of income for the women living in the slum while men usually depends on rickshaw pulling or small trading around their homes.

Mobility Because of winding and narrow streets, rickshaws or walking are seen primary mode of travelling to the main streets. Informal mobile hawkers are common as rickshaw pulling hawkers and vegetable sellers float around the narrow laneways to sell their products.

The maneuvering and navigating of private cars are troublesome causing serious traffic logging due to narrow roads.

Torrential flood in infromal neighbourhood https://www.dhakatribune.com/image-gallery/2018/04/30/pictures-torrential-rain-floods-dhaka

Deficiencies of Informality Although informality generates the resilience and adaptability, informalities might generate the negative effects of different form of corruption. The unplanned way of informalities might be cause of illegal land grabbing, destruction of heritage, traffic congestion or fire hazards.

Current fire hazards in old Dhaka have raised the issue of fire safety in the informal settlements as most of the buildings are attached to each other without any fire safety control. Mismanagement of roads and hierarchies of traffic mobility resulted serious traffic congestion even in the small alleyways of the informal neighborhoods. Illegal land grabbing and encroachment over existing canal and water bodies causes major water logging and flooding. Additionally, poor drainage and waste management are the major cause for water logging and monsoon flooding with minimum rains.

Lack of proper management of sewerage and waste resulted disorganized dump of domestic wastes causing serious environmental pollution and health hazards.New construction over heritage buildings or modification have resulted in demolition of the heritage memories and further retrofit opportunities.

https://archnet.org/sites/4360/publications/1186

Informal Modernity Robinson 2003 argues how post-colonial urbanism in global south cities are emerging new sets of regional modernities based on local context.

In Dhaka, the distinct sort of informal modernities is happening in-between those informal urban Developments. There are also seen some change of plot distribution where the small grains of adjacent plot are merging into bigger plots to accommodate greater floor areas. The growing real-estate industry and developers in Dhaka have helped to follow the building codes and regulations to the new developments within the informal areas. Also, there is an emerging trend where architects and engineers are commissioned to design and construct these building. These new building constructions have formal assemblage into these unplanned informal areas.

Although there are lack of proper urban renewal scheme by the government, these private sectors have provided the formalization opportunities into the informal area. However, this private development often caused the destruction of landscape, heritage buildings and urban activity without the proper knowledge of informal setups.

In recent years, Dhaka North and the South City Corporation have taken initiative to redevelop the park by eliminating wall barriers to make more public accessible and permeable which was previously bounded by wall.

Though major small initiatives are taking place there are significant lake in understanding the informal socio-economic setups and planning coherence of neighborhood developments to correlate each elements actively.

Residence designed by Architect Rafiq Azam is one of the examples of infromal modernities in old Dhaka.

Understanding vs Imposing

Formal Informalities: An Informal Choreography

Through the ages informalities always regarded as dystopia because of poor infrastructure, living qualities. In relation with global economic boom there is always a reactionary view to develop cities like World Class cities. The constant fire hazard in informal parts of old Dhaka raises the same question of Haussmann imposed planning of wide road over the informal Paris. Also there are similar proposals renewing the informal neighborhood blocks into Global city like residential towers which has similar case of Le Courbusier’s radiant city plan with modernist tower after demolishing the seemingly informal and squalor Old Paris.

The term urban choreography was proponent

by Kim Dovey (2016), how careful incremental changes could be used as a tool for Urban renewal. The book urban choreography 1985- illustrates how incremental changes to leftover spaces and unused laneways has created Melbourne both socially and economically livable.

But the major challenges in urban design how to design the informalities while keeping the same adaptability and resilience of the informal city.

Formal informalities could be the tool to intervene in order to upgrade, acknowledge as well as formalize the informal system into policy, planning and construction. Formal informalities are the new paradigm to create more ambiguity between the formal and informal.

Whereas formal and informal separation creates social segregation. In informal areas, formal informality could provide the legal approach for careful choreograph of adaptability, resilience and flexibility of informal developments. In formal cities, it could be used to reactivate the vibrancy and bringing more ambiguity in functional mix, public private, and usefulness of spaces.

In the context of Dhaka, the formal seed of development in the existing informal commercial nodes could be choreographed to bring formal informalities in unplanned areas. Intricate commercial strips in neighborhoods with focused development of community. In the context of Dhaka, the incremental development of the community Bazaar, mosque and other Facilities could be the urban choreography approach while keeping the informal variables to prevail. The policy, building codes and planning rules could be revisited to shape it more context specific rather than generic to capitalize the prevailing social capitals to enhance the Formal informalities. The seeds of development could be different based on different local context.

In the major urban planning approach, these urban informal areas are often regarded as unwanted and marked as problematic whereas the informalities are the resilience product of formal cities. To tackle the deficiencies of informalities, understanding of new dynamics of 21st centrury informal modernities are necessary. It is necessary to have clear knowledge about the informal characters of the city to make productive use of every part of it. Informal and formal are integral parts of the city and it needs acknowledgement in both city development. This relationship has the ambiguous, complex and adaptive interdependency of socio-economic, political, economic and cultural attributes. Dovey 2012, refers it as urban assemblage theory where every part of urban form have complex adaptive connectivity or relations which creates a holistic character or sense of a place.

As both traditional and euro American theory could not cope the growing urbanization in Global South as in the era of globalization there is a mixing of global and local ideas which creating new set of theories based on their global and local context. Based on urban up gradation, most of the European cities developed their medieval urban cores to global tourism hub. Rather than master planning adopt the new incremental growth of formal informalities to provide scope of the formal and informal to create urban assemblage.

Conclusion

In Global South with the aspirations of becoming more and more World Class Cities, informalities has been misunderstood mostly as negative connotation. To tackle the development barriers, the Euro-American theory centric urban developments need to be adjusted with the more contextual theories and local understandings. For growing economic development in Dhaka, there are so many scopes of urban development through incremental informal choreograph to bring the underdeveloped informal areas into global modernity with new sets of development goal. The potential growth and deficiencies of the city could be managed by injecting formal informalities to achieve a synchronized blurry line between formal and informal, legal and illegal, public and private, history and contemporary, modern and traditional at a time.

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