You are on page 1of 22

1

Course code & Course ID


Macroeconomics and Business Forecasting & ECO502

Assignment On
Challenges of Urbanization

Prepared By
Syed Raihan Monjur 152 640 22
Malku Martin Sangma 152 640 54
Samsunnahar shathi 152 640 07
Md. Abdus Sobhan

Prepared For
Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed
Course Instructor

Date of Submission
22 March 2017
2

Table of Contents

No. Topic Page


1 Introduction 3
2 Urbanization in the World 3
3 Urbanization in Bangladesh 7
4 Challenges of Urbanization 8
5 Urbanization Policy in Bangladesh 11
6 Recommendation 18
Reference

1. Introduction

Urbanization is a word that describes the transition of rural conditions (farms and small towns) to
urban conditions (cities). It also explained the migration of population from rural to urban areas.
On the other hand, it is the process where an increasing percentage of a population lives in the
3

cities and suburbs. This process is often linked to industrialization and modernization, as large
numbers of people leave farms to work and live in cities. Urbanization is also facilitated by
improvements in surplus agriculture, as cities are always dependent upon external farming for
food. When urbanization takes place, people around the around the rural areas are expected to
migrate to urban areas to lead a better life, because urbanization offers a sheer of opportunities
for all sort of people.

2. Urbanization in the world

The 12th century witnessed the rapid urbanization of the worlds population. Worlds proportion
of urban population increased from around 13 per cent in 1900 to 29 per cent in 1950 and,
according to the 2005 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, reached around 49 per cent in
2005. Since the world is projected to continue to urbanize, 60% of the global population is
expected to live in city areas by 2030. The increasing numbers of urban dwellers give the best
indication of the scale of these unprecedented trends: the urban population increased from 220
million in 1900 to 732 million in 1950, and is expected to have reached 3.2 billion in 2005, thus
more than quadrupling since 1950. According to the latest United Nations population projections,
4.9 billion people are expected to be urban dwellers in 2030.

The more densities decline, the more city areas grow faster than city populations. It affects
environmental sustainability at a local, regional and global scale. How we manage this
unprecedented urban growth in the following years is likely to determine the outcome of our
sustainability endeavors.
4

Between now and 2050, 90% of the expected increase in the worlds urban population would
take place in the urban areas of Africa and Asia. In other words the estimated urban growth
would be concentrated in city areas in the developing countries where the correlation of the
urbanization rate with economic growth has been weaker.

In the first decades of the 21st century, the global trends of urbanization are significantly
different from what we have faced so far in terms of urban transition. Urbanization is being
occurred at lower levels of economic development. The majority of future urban population
growth will cause in small- to medium-sized urban areas in developing countries. Expansion
of urban areas is on average twice as fast as urban population with significant consequences for
greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
5

According to this years United Nations report on World Urbanization we will observe the
following trends:

Increasing population growth and urbanization are projected to add 2.5 billion people to
the worlds urban population by 2050, with nearly 90% of the increase concentrated in
Asia and Africa.

Faster growing urban agglomerations are medium-sized cities and cities with less than
1 million inhabitants located in Asia and Africa.

Most large cities are located in the global South.

Just 3 countries India, China and Nigeria together are expected to account for 37
per cent of the projected growth of the worlds urban population between 2014 and 2050.
India is projected to add 404 million urban dwellers, China 292 million and Nigeria 212
millions.

Close to half of the worlds urban dwellers reside in relatively small settlements of less
than 500,000 inhabitants, while only around 1/8 live in the 28 mega-cities with more than
10 million inhabitants.

The number of mega-cities has nearly tripled since 1990; and by 2030, 41 urban
agglomerations are projected to house at least 10 million inhabitants each.

Tokyo is expected to remain the worlds largest city in 2030 with 37 million inhabitants,
followed closely by Delhi where the population is expected to rise swiftly to 36 million.
6

Urban scaling holds both the key to long-term sustainable development and irreversible damages
to our planet. The expected increase in urban land cover during the first three decades of
the 21st century will be greater than the cumulative urban expansion in all of human
history. These unprecedented rates of urbanization put enormous pressure on environmental
sustainability thresholds and indicators. Tackling strategic components of urban form such as
density levels, land use patterns and connectivity will have a major impact on the global
economy and climate.

3. Urbanization in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most over populated countries in the world. From the recent decade,
Bangladesh is facing a quick growth of population. because of uneven development and regional
7

policy in rural and urban area, natural disaster and lack of opportunities in the rural areas, people
are being migrated from rural to urban areas. It is the key factor of population growth in
Bangladesh. An increasing nature in nave urban population, the territorial expansion of existing
urban area and migration to urban from rural are the factors that help in rapid population growth
in Bangladesh. Statistics shows that Bangladesh experienced higher population in urban area in
1974 to 1981, which is at 10.03 percent. It is because of both pull and push factor. Pull factors
includes transportation facilities, employment opportunities, higher wage and income and
betterment of life leading , while push factors includes poverty, insufficient career opportunities,
natural disaster, no higher education system and so on. More people are looking forward to
coming to urban areas to lead a better and enjoyable life. That is why, due to migration to urban
areas causes rapid growth in population in the city like Dhaka.

Right before the independence of Bangladesh in 1970, people of around 5034728 used to live in
urban area which is 7.7% of total population in Bangladesh( knows as East Pakistan). After the
independence in 1975, urban people had increased to around 7107810 in number, which is 10%
of total population in Bangladesh. In the year of 2000, urban people had increased to 31,229,852
in number which is 23.8% of total population. Finally in 2017, so far around 58,746,319 people
have been living in urban areas in Bangladesh which is 35.6% of total population. That is huge.

Dhaka is one of the most density populated city in Bangladesh. With a population of around 14
million , Dhaka is the largest city in Bangladesh. It is the 11 th largest city in the world. More
than 14 million people live in just 125 square miles or 325 square kilometers. People per square
kilometer is more than 45,000 in number. But in several time, Dhaka has been ranked as one of
the least livable city in the world. Although income growth is higher and the poverty incidence is
lower than the rest of Bangladesh, Dhaka still is a low income city with large numbers of poor
when compared with most mega cities of the world. Dhaka is considered for better income
opportunities than most other cities in Bangladesh. Rapid migration is causing Dhakas
population to grow much faster than the rest of the country but faster urbanization is putting
pressure on the citys limited land, an already fragile environment, and weak urban services and
contribute to create a lot of problems.
8

4. Challenges of Urbanization

Humans have created urban areas from the ancient era. Urbanization is the increased number of
inhabitants in the urban areas. Urbanization first began during the industrial revolution, when
workers moved towards manufacturing hubs in cities to obtain jobs in factories as agricultural
jobs became less common. Nowadays, half of the world's people are living in urban areas, and it
is increasing day by day. Our cities have been a great affection for people for various reasons.
One of the basic reasons is a better life. Apart from that, cities offer great opportunity to people
for their betterment.

As people continue to come to cities from different areas, a logical question can be raised if cities
can deal with the pressure of enormous population. A planned urbanization may cope up with the
pressure. On the other hand unplanned urbanization lead to create several problems. Specially in
developing countries those problems turn out to be worst situation. Apparently planned
urbanization is not that easy. There are some challenges of urbanization.

Rising Levels of Pollution

Pollution has been a great problem in cities because of urbanization. Pollution cause due to water
, noise and environmental pollution. Urbanization cause deforestation. For that several type of
environmental pollution happen. For instance air pollution in in urban areas is increasing day by
day. As cities are expended, deforestation is happening.. Moreover cities have expended so much
that without fueled vehicle it is not possible for access different families. So in urban area for
example in Dhaka, people are purchasing car to make life more easy and comfortable. These
deforestation and the exhaust of cars and motor vehicles cause deadly greenhouse effect caused
by greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide. Besides, with the hope to have better life , rural
people are look forward to coming to urban area and creating slums. Consequently, their
wastages is causing pollution. Dhaka is highly affected to it.
9

Water pollution is another reason for rising level of population. decrease in the ground water is
not only problem caused due to urbanization. It is shown in city like Dhaka that pollution of river
( Buriganga) and contamination of different water sources are caused by urbanization.

Sound pollution is another cause of rising pollution. Due to excessive plying of vehicles in urban
areas cause so much sound pollution. Moreover there are many vehicles which are responsible
for heavy sound of engine cause sound pollution

Lack of the standard solid waste management causes pollution in urban area. Daily household
wastage are normally thrown on the road or open places which cause water and soil pollution.
Industries like tanneries discharge massive wastage into the river. It cause river polluted.

Population Explosion

Countries which experiencing a steady growth in population are facing many problem. In
Bangladesh population growth is 1.37% every year, although it is decreasing day by day. With
the population growth in urban area, population explosion is brought about. For example more
than 15 million people are living in just 125 square mile. That means more than 45 thousand
people live per square kilometer. . The rapidly increasing number of arrivals to the cities is
proving to be unmanageable to the authorities, owing to lack of resources and organizational
skills. The rising demand for space extreme pushes the property prices higher. More slums are
making but there is the absence of basic needs of human.

High Cost of Living

Living in cities is not that easy. People have to pay the additional cost of transportation and taxes
for regular commodities. The population explosion in urban area cause rise in price of every
commodities and at the same time it causes inflation in urban area. This inflation is caused by
demand pull inflation and leads to an influx of low-grade substitutes of food products, water, and
even medical supplies. Costs of food, transportation, rents, and other necessities are perpetually
on the rise, as their demand keeps exceeding the supply.
10

Economic Disparity

Though the cities facilitates people here , it is unfortunate to state that economic disparities are
shown in the urban areas. Cities like Dhaka is the best place to view example of economic
difference where the rich are getting richer and the poor people remain poor. Extreme affluence
and acute poverty live right next to each other in the cities. Opportunities of less wealthy people
are not same as wealthy people in Dhaka. Gap between rich gets higher day by day. As the
population spirals out of control, the disenchantment is bound to increase, resulting in a flare-up
of sorts. If there's one thing we fail to understand, it is the fact that every city has its limits, and
burdening it will only cause it to burst at the seams.

Increase in Crime Rates

Because of excessive pressure on the cities, it is not too easy for governing body to manage to
sprawling cities. Managing density populated area (like Dhaka) is near to impossible. . As the
city life is full of all sorts of people, and allows for all sorts of activities to flourish, criminals,
too, find their sheer of opportunities here. More people come to urban to lead a better life but due
to economic disparities, everybody do not get same opportunities. As a result some people get
involved into crime activities like snatching, kidnapping, stealing and so on. Street crime in
11

cities like Dhaka became common, as the law agencies find it tough to deal with. As the safety
concerns increase, it is ultimately the citizens who have to bear the consequences.

5. Urbanization and Policies in Bangladesh

National Housing Policy 1993 and 2001

The National housing Authority is the authority responsible to implement the NHP, which has
been updated in 1999 and 2004. The goal of the NHP is to ensure housing for all strata of society,
especially the poor by reducing the necessity of housing in slums and improving the existing
ones. The policy also focuses on the rehabilitation of disaster affected houses, developing
financial institutions from personal savings; engage local available materials, strengthening
housing institutions and developing property tax. One of the policies focuses on balanced
urbanization in order to address the high land values in cities. The major emphasis of the policy
approved in 2001 by the Ministry of Housing and Works in 2001 is on resource mobilization,
land availability, incentives for homeownership, incentives to developers and constructors and
promotion of research and development activities to make construction cost effective. The
objective is to create affordability, specially, for the middle and low income groups. One of the
corner stone of the Policy is to ensure development of housing for the poor and needy and
housing for the majority rural population through the use of different instruments like free land,
cross-subsidy and concessionary finance etc.

National Urban Sector Policy

The National Urban Sector Policy is developed by Ministry of Local Government, Rural
Development and Cooperatives Local Government Division in 2011.The major objectives of
National Urban Sector Policy for Bangladesh, therefore, will be toensure regionally balanced
urbanization through decentralized development and hierarchically structured urban system:
12

facilitate economic development, employment generation, reduction of inequality and


poverty eradication through appropriate regulatory frameworks and infrastructure
provisions;
ensure optimum utilization of land resources and meet increased demand for housing and
urban services through public- private and other partnerships;
protect, preserve and enhance the urban environment, particularly water bodies;

devolve authority at the local urban level and strengthen local governments through
appropriate powers, resources and capabilities so that these can take effective
responsibility for a wide range of functions;
involve all sectors of the community, including women and the poor, in participatory
decision-making and implementation processes;
protect, preserve and enhance the historical and cultural heritage of cities and enhance
their aesthetic beauty;

The National Urban Policy envisions strengthening the beneficial aspects of urbanization and at
the sometime effectively dealing with its negative consequences so as to achieve sustainable
urbanization, keeping in view the multi-dimensional nature of the urbanization process. The
policy also envisions a decentralized and participatory process of urban development in which
the central government, the local government, the private sector, the civil society and the people
all has their roles to play. The policy therefore, covers spatial, economic, social, cultural,
aesthetic and environmental aspects of urban life directed towards achieving an urban reality that
can ensure freedom from hunger and poverty; capacity to live a healthy life; access to education,
shelter, and basic services, and a secure and livable environment at home and at the workplace.
The policy will be gender sensitive and friendly to children, the aged and the disadvantaged.

Road Master Plan (RMP: 2010-24)

The RHDs Road Master Plan (RMP: 2010-24) includes the following important roads and
bridges to be constructed by 2024:
13

4-lane roads: Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Mymensingh (to Mawa), Dhaka-Bhariab, Bhairab-


Moulvibazar,Habiganj-Sylhet, Dhaka-Tangail, Dhaka-Baniajuri, Jessore-Benapole, Chakaria-
Chittagong, Baneshwar-Belephur.
Other important roads and bridges: Mynamati-Brahmanbaria, Sylhet-Sunamganj, Bhatiapara-
Narail-JessoreRoad (upgrading), Dhaka Eastern Bypass, Dhaka Western Bypass, Chittagong
Bypass, Hatazari LinkRoad, 2nd Meghna Bridge, 2nd MeghnaGumati Bridge; and the Padma
Bridge.
In addition, 13 other new roads, bridges (Padma 2) and upgrading to 4-lane roads have been
identified.

Improving Railways
Priority to be given to railways over other forms of transport.

By 2021, all routes should be dual gauge so that meter and broad gauge trains can operate
effectively between the East and West Zones.

Improving Inland Waterways


Establishment of inland container river port on priority basis.

Priority upgrading of port facilities (both cargo and passenger) and storage facilities for
prompt vesselloading/unloading, mechanical equipment will be introduced for handling of
cargo in place of headloadsystem.

Air Transport
Second runway in HazratShahjalal International Airport for cargo planes.

Second international airport near Dhaka.

Expanded runways at Chittagong and Sylhet.

Bangladesh National Building Codes 2010


14

Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) was first drafted in 1993 by Bangladesh University
of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and recently in 2010 updated again by BUET.The
national building code is the legal document that provides codes for the design, construction,
materials, use, maintenance, occupancy and location of all buildings and also fire and earthquake
resistance. The buildings are categorized according to their use: residential, commercial,
industrial, educational, medical, industrial, storage etc. The officers of the Development
authorities are supposed to consult the code with inspections and building permissions.
Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Rules 2008

Dhaka Metropolitan Building Construction Rules 2008 is developed by Bangladesh University


of Engineering and Technology (BUET). The rules covered mainly the issue of Maximal ground
coverage of plots in Dhaka. This statue is only applicable in the Rajuk jurisdiction. One of the
crucial elements of the statue is the Floor area ratio indicating the maximum floor area in relation
to the area of the plot it is located on. The ground coverings is maximized to ensure proper
circulation of light and air around the building. Examples of rules within this policy are the
mandatory involvement of architects/ engineers in building construction, discouraging on-
residential functions in residential areas (through occupancy certificates), and narrow roads
should remain or become at least 20 feet wide. The Urban Development Comity has been
established with the power to resist violations of the rules.

National Land use Policy, 2001

Land use is an important natural resource and the provider of foods, industrial goods, settlement
and other services. More than fifty percent of the land use in Bangladesh is used for agriculture.
Huge population growth and urbanization is increasing the settlement area and reducing the
agricultural land. With the intention of proper utilization of land resources, the Government
prepared the National Land use policy in 2001.The major objectives of the policy were: a) To
prevent the reduction of land used for food production; b) To prevent misuse of land; c) To give
directives for the optimum utilization of land of different regions by its type; d) To ensure that
the use of land is harmonized with the natural environment; e) To ensure maximum utilization of
15

land for poverty reduction and creation of employment opportunities. The land use in
Bangladesh mainly covers: Agriculture, settlement, forest, rivers, irrigation and drainage canals,
ponds, jolmohol,roads, railways, commercial institutes and industries, tea and rubber garden,
horticulture garden, coastal region, chars and islands etc. This policy highlighted the need for
land use zoning for each urban and rural area to ensure proper utilization of land. Placement of
residential areas far away from the industrial area has-been also emphasized.

National Environment Policy and Implementation Plan, 1992

The major objectives are:


Maintain the ecological balance through preservation of environment and development,

To save the country from natural disasters,

Identify and control the all types of pollution and environmental degradation activities,

Ensure environment friendly development.

This policy was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The specific statements
regarding water resources management, flood control, forest, wildlife and biodiversity, fisheries
and livestock are:
Keep the rivers, canals, ponds, lakes, haors, baors and all other water bodies and water
resources freeform pollution.
Preservation and development of all the wetlands and migratory birds.

Prevent activities which diminish the wetlands/natural habitats of fish and encourage
rehabilitative measures in this area.

National Forest Policy, 1994

This policy was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The major objectives are:
to afforest about 20% of the total area of the country by initiating various forestation
programs in forest lands, fallow lands, lands not useful for agriculture, hinter lands and other
16

possible areas to meet the basic needs of the present and future generations and to ensure
greater contribution of the forestry sector to economic development ;
to enrich biodiversity in the existing degraded forests by conserving the remaining natural
habitats of birds and animals ;
to strengthen agriculture by extending assistance to those sectors related with forest
development, especially by conserving land and water resources ;
to fulfill national responsibilities and commitments by implementing various efforts and
government ratified agreements relating to global warming, desertification and the control of
trade and commerce of wild birds and animals ;
to encourage effective use and utilization of forest products at various stages of processing ;

Sixth-five Year Plan (SFYP)

FY2011-FY2015 focuses on a number of core targets to monitor the progress of the Sixth Plan.
These targets have been set according to the vision and objectives of the Outline Perspective
Plan 2021 as well as the goals of the MDGs. These targets fall in seven broad categories:

Income and Poverty


Human Resource Development
Water and Sanitation
Energy and Infrastructure
Gender Equality and Empowerment
Environment Sustainability
It has recognized in the plan that rapid urbanization is taking place due to socio-economic,
political and demographic factors. Business and income opportunities beget rural to urban
migration leading to the urbanization. Dhaka is expected to reach a population of 14.3 million
(World Urbanization Prospects: The 2009 Revision, UN). It has been estimated that by 2010 and
2016 the population in the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area will be 9 million and 10 million
and in the Dhaka metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP) area it will be 14.88 million and
18.00 million respectively. The city is expected to reach the 5th position with 20.9 million people
in 2025. The existing problems along with urbanization are poor city management, low
17

efficiency, massive corruption, traffic congestion and lack of proper traffic management, air and
water pollution, slumsetc. There are 2.8 million slum dwellers living in 4300 slums and squatter
settlements.

Major Strategies undertaken for Urban Development:

The major strategic plans undertaken for development of urbanization include the following:

Improvement of city governance through institutional reforms, decentralization of


responsibilities, civil societies participation, facilitation of networking at all levels and building
capacity in all sectors for contributing in urban development process.

Promoting Balanced Development of Urban Centers through encouraging labor intensive


sectors of the economy, support small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) and enforcing
regulatory framework that creates an environment conducive to investment

Resource Mobilization in urban area through improvement of land and property valuation,
better tax collection through improvements in property tax administration, and setting prices for
urban services.

Development of a sound real estate market will be assured through restructuring of House
Building Finance Corporation and encouraging housing finance in lower income households.

NGO Involvement in housing will be facilitated for poor people.

Sustainable land use planning will be promoted through integrated and environmentally sound
physical planning and land use zoning.

Economic incentives and disincentives will also be used to encourage land development.

Development of sustainable urban transport system through increasing the number of large-size
buses, introducing Rapid Bus Transit, Elevated expressways and rail-based mass transit systems.

Urban poverty reduction strategy will be implemented through emphasizing urban policies.

Private Housing Project Land Development Rule 2004


18

Private Housing Project Land Development Rule 2004 is developed by Ministry of Housing and
Public Works. The main issue covered was Consistency of private developments with the Dhaka
Metropolitan Development Plan (DMDP). Only formulated for the greater Dhaka area. To
prevent building in valuable wetlands and building without sufficient public facilities
required for a residential neighborhood. Private land developers have to consult DMDP to check
if the land use and space standard is consistent. You have to submit the plan to the
authorities in charge with regard to transportation, water supply, electricity, tele-phone,
environment, geology and other authorities if the site is located in proximity of their
establishments. All private land developers have to consult the DMDP to justify the consistency
of land use and prepare a detailed plan. The plans are subject to the permission of the authorities
in charge of transportation, water supply, electricity, telephone, environment, ecology, geology
and other authorities.

Upcoming infrastructure developments

Major infrastructure developments can have a big impact the rural and urban development.
Additional or improved roads and waterways give new opportunities previously unconnected
areas, as good (or improved) connectivity is a major settlement condition. New land ports,
seaports or industrial areas (such as the economic export processing zones) create job
opportunities, and hence attract people that settle in proximity of the new developments.

The main major upcoming infrastructure projects are:


India -Bangladesh - Myanmar - China corridor, which includes the Padma bridge and the
UDDs Kolkatta - Jessore corridor project
Bangladesh Ganges barrage
Upgrading of the Mongla port (near Khulna)
Sonadia deep sea port (near Cox Bazar)

6. Recommendation
19

The challenge facing the world today is to minimize the negative effects and build the benefits.
Infrastructure needs to be improved. Opportunities should be created within rural areas to prevent migration
to cities.
The challenges of future urbanization in Bangladesh are enormous. Poor management,
inefficiency and lack of coordination among implementing agencies combined with insufficient
financial resources have been aggravating the situation. Failure to address them with a strong and
coordinated planning will have disastrous consequences. Sound planning and well thought out
strategy, strong coordination and a compact implementation plan supported by ample finance is
essential.

To Improve of City Governance:


The key constraints to the effective functioning of the city government are unclear mandate and
service responsibilities; lack of accountability; weak finances and financial autonomy; poor
coordination and control among service agencies and weak management. These problems call for
a major rethinking and wholesale change in city management and its enabling environment. City
governments will be organized to manage their functions by themselves, with the central
government playing a supportive role. For the urban cities of Bangladesh to be dynamic growth
centers it is essential that they have elected and accountable governments with clearly defined
responsibilities. Transport, power, water and sanitation all require capital intensive enterprises
and require large investment. The backlog of demand for services suggests large funding needs.
However, the countrys fiscal situation is severely constrained. Much of the additional funding
will need to come from service charges. Indeed, a part of city reform strategy will be to develop
viable city government that is able to attract private investment and mobilize public resources
based on service delivery and attractive city environment.
To decentralize of Functions and Responsibilities:

In recent days, decentralization in Bangladesh is a burning issue for social scientist and urban
planning professionals. Much of the recent debate on decentralization in Bangladesh in focus on
local government. Expert opined that local government tries or level should be governed by
elected officials. However the process of decentralization should be ensured through more people
participation in local government. Our government can pursue for effective decentralization
20

through developing power to grass-root levels and strengthening local government system. Little
attention has been paid in the public debate as the local governments play minor role in the
public provision. For example, education sector has shown success in service provision in
decentralized way. The practice of urban land use planning in relation to the autonomy,
participation, capacity to address and understand the decentralization in planning. Special
emphasis is giving on determining the importance of decentralization in urban land use planning.
If different aspects of this policy chain are under the purview of different urbanization in
Bangladesh. Present status and policy implications tries of government, the ability of Dhaka to
coordinate its traffic movement will depend on the ability to coordinate public sector agencies.
Thus establishing decentralization to appropriate levels of achieving greater coordination among
public sector agencies will be a strategy of the plan.

Coordination of Fiscal, Regulatory and Administrative Systems:

The ability of city managers to coordinate fiscal, regulatory and administrative systems which
influence the efficiency of cities is crucial to improving the welfare of urban citizens. In this
context, cities need to be managed as standalone economies where project investments are
planned in the context of a coherent city strategy and better understanding of how urban markets
perform overall. Where city managers do not have the authority for managing the city as a whole
as a self-contained system the ability to leverage the productivity of the city to improve the
welfare of residents will be limited.

Better Urban Planning and Sound Incentives:

The challenges of urbanization and homelessness discussed earlier point to the magnanimity of
the problem in coming years. To meet these issues squarely will need sound urban planning and
incentives to facilitate housing, particularly private sector housing initiatives. Job creation should
be a part of the strategy so that expansion of employment and income will allow the urban
population to move into formal and informal housing. The trend of slums in open spaces
transforming themselves into private real estate which has been experienced in the periphery of
many urban cities in the developing world appears to be emerging in the periphery of Dhaka and
21

Chittagong at present. This will necessitate urgent steps for improvements in landuse planning,
property valuation and taxation and improvement of service delivery.

To explore the Feasibility of NGO Involvement in Housing:

NGO involvement in housing programs in Bangladesh has been limited. However , some
programs exit that offer interesting insights into solution to this issue. A promising approach to
providing shelter solutions to the poor is the type of projects run by some NGOs which offer cost
effective rental hostel accommodation for female garment workers. The feasibility of replicating
such initiatives will be explored as a housing strategy.

------------------- Thank you ------------------


22

References:

1. The New Climate Economy Report. 2014.

2. Bertaud, A. and Richardson, A.W., 2004. Transit and Density: Atlanta, the United States
and Western Europe.

3. Shlomo Angel, Making Room for a Planet of Cities

4. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2014).
World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352).

5. [IPCC AR 5 WG3 Chapter 12]

6. Sustainable Urbanization Policy Brief

7. http://forum.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd/index.php?topic=13521.0
8. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/challenges-of-urbanization.html

You might also like