Physical Density and Urban Sprawl: A Case of Dhaka City - KTH

esidential area have been selected as formal housing settlements (Fig 1.2). Among them
Dhanmondi is the first planned residential area of Dhaka city for the high income people
which has been planned in 1954. Shobhanbagh officers’ colony is developed for the first
class government officers. Banani and Baridhara are the area for high income and aristocrat
people which also have been planned in 1964. DOHS is the newly planned housing for the
retired defense officers. Mirpur 10 number is the area for middle and lower middle income
people has been developed in mid 1960. ‘Geneva Camp’ and ‘Tikkapara Bustee’ in
Mohammadpur have been selected as informal housing settlements. ‘Bustee’ is the local
name of informal settlements in Bangladesh. Two informal settlements have been selected in
the present study as cases because the type and physical characteristics of the most informal
settlements are similar. Two types of informal settlements can be seen in Dhaka. The houses
in one type are made by brick walls. Despite that, most of the informal settlements are
constructed by earth materials. The houses in ‘Geneva Camp’ are made by brick walls and
tin’s roof where as in ‘Tikkapara Bustee’ are made by earth materials.
Selection of Informal settlements
Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur
This settlement is situated in the Mohammadpur thana. This thana is a residential area for
middle income people with some minor commercial activities. The Geneva camp has been
developed in the center of this thana. Thana, which means police station, is the third level of
administrative boundary in Bangladesh. This settlement has been selected for the study due to
its old age, location and house forms. Most of the informal settlements in the Dhaka city are
made by earth materials but few of them are made by brick wall with tin’s roof. The houses
in ‘Geneva camp’ are made by the brick wall with tin’s roof. This settlement looks like
planned housing area but the provision of infrastructure and other facilities are not available.
Tikkapara Bustee in Mohammadpur
Tikka Para Bustee has been selected due to its age, location and house forms. The physical
characteristics and house forms of this settlement are similar to most of the informal
settlements in Dhaka city (author’s previous observation). This settlement is located in the
periphery of the city where the houses are made by earth materials. The analysis of the
physical densities and spatial qualities of this settlement will provide idea about most of the
informal settlements in Dhaka city.
Selection method of Formal settlements
Road number 3 at Dhanmondi residential area
Dhanmondi is the first planned residential area of Dhaka city. This area was developed as a
residential area for high income people in 1954 during Pakistan period. But now it is treated
as an area of mix function. A lot of high, medium and low rise housing settlements have
developed in this area for its mix functionality. Road number 3 is the residential area with
some commercial activities.
Shobhanbagh officers’ colony
Shobhanbagh officers’ colony at Shobhanbagh has been developed for the first class
government officers’ of Bangladesh. Most of the government housing blocks in Dhaka are
like this block where the percentage of land coverage by buildings is very low. There are 16
buildings in this block.
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