Re-Thinking Overpasses: A Case Study in the Planning and Design of Flyovers in Dhaka City PDF

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RE-THINKING OVERPASSES: A CASE STUDY IN THE PLANNING AND DESIGN OF FLYOVERS IN DHAKA CITY By Sahjabin Kabir Bachelor in Architecture Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka Bangladesh 2009 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Design Studi...

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Re-Thinking Overpasses: A Case Study in the Planning and Design of Flyovers in Dhaka City Sahjabin Kabir

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RE-THINKING OVERPASSES: A CASE STUDY IN THE PLANNING AND DESIGN OF FLYOVERS IN DHAKA CITY By Sahjabin Kabir Bachelor in Architecture Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Dhaka Bangladesh 2009

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Design Studies History and Philosophy of Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design May 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Sahjabin The author hereby grants Harvard University permission to reproduce and distribute copies of this Final Project, in whole or in part for educational purposes

Author ___________________________________________________________________________ Sahjabin Kabir, May 21st, 2014 Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Certified by _______________________________________________________________________ Joyce Klein Rosenthal Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Thesis Supervisor

_____________________________________ Pierre Bélanger Master in Design Studies, Co-Chair Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture

___________________________________ Kiel Moe Master in Design Studies, Co-Chair Assistant Professor of Architectural Technology

Re-Thinking Overpasses: A Case Study in the Planning and Design of Flyovers in Dhaka City By Sahjabin Kabir

ABSTRACT: In recent years, spectacular flyover1 projects have taken place all over Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, resulting from the needs of mobility in the city. The flyovers, perceived as an emblem of modernity are aimed at alleviating congestion, promoting economic development, and enhancing connectivity with distant communities overlooking their voids in the neighborhoods. However, what is most striking is the marginalized inhabitants who then produce social spaces within those flyunder2 voids through their selfgenerated array of activities and attribute multiple meanings to the unattended flyunder design by the formal institutions.

Therefore, this thesis rethinks flyover projects in Dhaka city in terms of socio spatial practices- by the marginal occupants- evolving from the breach in the formal planning and design of flyovers in dense urban areas. The thesis extends its investigations on the socio-environmental implications of flyover in neighborhoods: what changes the flyovers made in the adjacent areas, and how these changes are experienced by the marginal occupants in the neighborhood areas; what are their makeshift communal usages and how these uses differ from people’s perception of flyovers as an object of mobility. This research is accompanied by local site observations, photographic documentation, qualitative interviews and informal discussions with the planners and the improvised users, which then concludes as a phenomenological spatial study of flyover in Dhaka: how the flyover blighted spaces are perceived, produced and inhabited by the marginal community in a densely populated mega city like Dhaka.

Thesis Supervisor: Joyce Klein Rosenthal

The term ‘flyover’ is known as overpass in the United States. However ‘flyover’ in Bangladesh, is often used to represent any elevated roadways.

1

2

Flyunder in this thesis refers to the underneath space of flyover

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DEDICATION:

To Jalal Bhai, who left us for another world one week before my submission, it was quite difficult for me to endure such great loss, but your prayers have always kept me moving forward.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor and my professor Dr. Joyce Klein Rosenthal for her constant support and availability for discussions and for her encouragement to work forward on my thesis. I also want to thank her for reading my previous drafts of this thesis and providing many corrections and valuable comments that improved the presentation and contents of this thesis. I am also grateful to other faculty member of Harvard Graduate School of Design for their continuous guidance. My special thanks goes to Harvard South Asian Institute for providing me with a travel grant.

My thanks also goes to my non-academic advisor Dr. Sajed Kamal for his countless comments, and tireless commitment to editing and revising my drafts and for his dinners as well. I would like to thank all those who supported me during the course of my research from my field visit to interviews. Furthermore, I want to thank all the government officials especially from RAJUK and LGED, who provided me with the necessary documents. I want to thank the Department of Environment for supporting me with the instruments and special thanks to Moniruzzaman who assisted me with the tools on site. I would like to express my gratitude to the faculty members of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, who provided me with their valuable insights. My special thanks goes to Srijon and Samain, for their great support especially in executing my figures I designed. Finally, I want to extend my wholehearted gratitude to all those whom I could not mention individually, but who supported me in my research both in Bangladesh and the United States.

This research would not been possible without the support of my parents and my siblings Maha and Jabir. Their continuous love, support and encouragement have brought me where I am.

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PRILIMINARY REMARKS: Use of terms:

Flyover: The term ‘Flyover’ is commonly used in the United Kingdom and in most Commonwealth countries to describe a grade separated or elevated bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. It has the similar meaning of overpasses-known in the United States, yet with some differences. They have variable names in different countries and thus the term flyover is not fixed or agreed upon. However, in this thesis, the author decides to go with the term ‘Flyover’ for its popular contextual use.

Flyunder: The term ‘Flyunder’ is not an established term. In this thesis, the term is used to describe the flyover underneath spaces.

Phenomenology: Phenomenology according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is commonly understood in either of two ways: as a disciplinary field in philosophy, or as a movement in the history of philosophy. Here in this thesis, ‘Phenomenology’ is referred as the disciplinary field in philosophy which then focuses on unpremeditated actor’s experiences evolving from a completely different set of contemplated use by the formal institutions.

Formal Institutions: By formal institution, this thesis means to describe the stakeholders directly involved with the planning and design or flyover namely the planners.

Non-formal/ Informal: There has been a debate with the term ‘Non-formal’ among the historians as the defined non-formals are sometimes very formal within their own realm. However, by ‘Non-formal’, this thesis means for the ones that are more invisible to the society and also the ones that came out without of any prior planning.

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Voids: The term ‘Void’ in this thesis refers to vacant physical spaces underneath the flyover.

New Owner: By new owner this thesis means the extra-legal owners, who acquire the vacant parcels without any statuary documents but through power relation with the political institutions. These new owners then regulate those spaces as their own territory and get some benefit from other actors using those parcels for their economic activities. These new owners not only enjoy the similar benefits that of the formal owners in the city but also facilitates services to the users according to their need.

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LIST OF FIGURES: Fig.1

Completed flyover projects with two case study sites in Dhaka city map …………………………3

Fig.2

Informal settlement next to the rail way track and flyover at Khilgaon and Tejgaon ………………4

Fig.3

Lefebvre’s first Ontological transformation of space……………………………………………..10

Fig.4

Diagram of Urban Design Theories …………………………………………………………..…..12

Fig.5

Baltimore’s farmer's market beneath a couple of highway overpasses on Sunday mornings……21

Fig.6

Underpass Park — Toronto, Ontario……………………………………………….……………..22

Fig.7

Expressway Park, Louisiana………………………………………………………………………23

Fig.8

Bus terminal under the New Bridge in Bratislavas with design intervention ……………………24

Fig.9

Making public space for sport under the many elevated tollway roads in Bangkok….…………..24

Fig.10 Shop under flyover in Bangkok ……………………….……………………………………..…..24 Fig.11 Fire station under flyover in Taipei ….…………………………………………………….……..24 Fig.12 Children drawing competition organized under King’s Circle flyover in India…………………...24 Fig.13 Dhaka river front of late 19th century…………………………………………………………….26 Fig.14 Vibrant Street at Old Dhaka………………………………………………………………………28 Fig.15 Car congested motorways in New Dhaka………………………………………………………...29 Fig.16 Flyover packed in heavy traffic…………………………………………………………………...29 Fig.17 Flyunder activities ………………………………………………………………………………..31 Fig.18 Location Map of Khilgaon and Tejgaon Flyover…………………………………………………34 Fig.19 Analysis of Khilgaon Flyover……………………………………………………………………..35 Fig.20 Analysis of Tejgaon Flyover…………………………………………………………...…………41 Fig.21 Flyunder social activities by the day (left) and night (right) ……………………………………..42 Fig.22 women labor (left) and new small businesses (right) ……………………………………………..43 Fig.23 Activities beneath Tejgaon Flyover……………………………………………………………….43 Fig.24 Flyover user interface prepared…………………………………………………………………...44 Fig.25 Flyover and the social practice, z= new actors and activities………………………………..……45 Fig.26 Flyover and the social practice, z= new actors and activities…………………….……………….45 Fig.27 Existing informal financing …………………………………………………………………………46 Fig.28 Initial planning and outcome……………………………………………………………………...47 Fig.29 Community Resilience and Ingenuity. ……………………………………………………………48 Fig.30 Proposed goals by author……………………………………………………………………….…49

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics BDT Bangladesh Taka BRTA Bangladesh Road Transportation Authority BRTC Bangladesh Road Transportation Corporation DCC Dhaka City Corporation DITS Dhaka Integrated Transport Study DIT Dhaka Improvement Trust DMA Dhaka Metropolitan Area DOE Department of Environment DTCB Dhaka Transport Coordination Board DUTP Dhaka Urban Transport Project NMV/NMT Non-Motorized Vehicles/ Non-Motorized Transport RAJUK Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha RHD Roads and Highways Department STP Strategic Transport Plan IAP Immediate Action Plan UNDP United Nation Development Program WB World Bank

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Table of Contents ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION....................................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................................. iii PRILIMINARY REMARKS ............................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.............................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1

Two parallel world: the seen and the unseen ................................................................................ 1

1.2

Background: development of flyovers in Dhaka .......................................................................... 2

1.2

Prior literature works: Flyovers and informal public spaces in Dhaka ......................................... 4

1.4

Objectives, goals and research questions .................................................................................... 5

1.5

Scope ......................................................................................................................................... 6

1.6

Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 6

1.7

Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 7

1.8

Framework ................................................................................................................................. 8

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1

Lefebvre Space and spatiality ...................................................................................................... 9

2.2

De Certeau, Strategies and tactics ............................................................................................. 10

2.3

Massey, Space heterogeneity ..................................................................................................... 10

2.4

Kevin Lynch, Spatial rights ....................................................................................................... 11

2.5

Trancik, Lost spaces ................................................................................................................. 11

2.6

Gehl, Public life ....................................................................................................................... 12

2.7

Miscellaneous ........................................................................................................................... 13

CHAPTER 3. FLYOVER: AN OVERVIEW 3.1 History of freeways ......................................................................................................................... 15 viii | P a g e

3.2 Freeways and the failure...................................................................................................................... 3.3 Car vs community ........................................................................................................................... 17 3.4 General impact ................................................................................................................................ 18 3.5 Emergence of act............................................................................................................................. 19 3.6 Case studies: rethink of the flyunder ................................................................................................ 21 3.7 Random examples ........................................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 4. FLYOVERS IN DHAKA: AN OVERVIEW 4.1 Dhaka: the urban evolution ............................................................................................................. 25 4.2 Demographics ................................................................................................................................. 26 4.3 Existing transport scenario .............................................................................................................. 27 4.4 Flyovers: the extension of congestion .............................................................................................. 30 4.5 Flyover design and planning: Policies, Acts and Legislations ........................................................... 31 4.6 Administrative framework: planning without plan ........................................................................... 32 4.7 Flyover: the community intervention ............................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 5. FLYOVER CASE STUDIES IN DHAKA 5.1 Case studies: Khilgaon Flyover and Tejgaon Flyover ...................................................................... 35 5.2 Comparative analysis ...................................................................................................................... 35 5.3 Observational analysis ..................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 6. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND PROPOSTION 6.1 Flyunder: the phenomenological spatiality ....................................................................................... 43 6.2 Flyover: a negotiation between informal actors ............................................................................... 46 6.3 Summary of findings ....................................................................................................................... 47 6.4 Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 49 6.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 51 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................... 52 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 54

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

Two parallel worlds: the seen and the unseen

The development of flyovers in Dhaka city can be seen through the city’s aerial view, but that aerial view camouflages inhabited underneath. One can see the growing number of vehicles on flyover, but one can hardly foresee the growing number of diverse activities that evolve from the migrant workers entering into the city every day. The flyovers delivering distant communities to their destinations- home or work- at high speed and with less time, themselves become a destination for countless migrant workers in the city and capture the time beyond. Distant communities bypassing through the flyovers hardly acknowledge the communal life underneath. These lived-in spaces of the flyovers are reinterpreted by community people, but conceived for purposes distinctively different. The formal institutions target at the flyovers for serving the transport facilities for the middle to high income groups, and the marginal people on the other hand search for their fortune in the flyunder voids overlooked by the formal institutions. Even before the formal institution’s premeditated use of flyover for vehicles, the flyunders become a roof for the socio-economically poor households. What is most promising about these marginal people is that they find innovative ways for fulfilling their needs at different sections of the flyover and their ingenuity extends to parts of the flyunders which then become places to wait, gather, chat, play, rest, sleep...