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

CHAPTER 7
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
7.1 Recommendations
One of the objectives of this study was to recommend housing block for informal
settlements by maintaining standard physical densities and good spatial qualities to
combat urban sprawl. This chapter focuses on the recommendations of the housing block
for urban low income people to combat urban sprawl. The contemporary problem of
Dhaka city is its horizontal expansion in spite of the high or medium dense formal
housing blocks and mix land use characteristics in the inner part of the city. The
development of low dense, for instance low FAR value, informal settlements in the inner
part or periphery of the city are one of the main reasons behind this problem. Despite that
the space usability of those settlements are not satisfactory due to the high percentage of
land coverage by houses. The cross ventilation and daylight in such settlements are not
available. So it is very important issue for concern to authorities to control physical
densities and provide good spatial qualities to informal housing settlements which can
combat urban sprawl.
Many of the developed countries adopted the use of tall buildings to meet the demand of
housing and increase density. But some drawbacks of such actions can be seen in those
types of houses. Sometimes they are not viable from economic and social point of view.
Rahman notes the relationship between density and cost of houses for the case of
Bangladesh. According to him
“the rise of construction cost with the building height is prominent where
construction is labor-intensive. Unit construction cost of a 7 storey
building in Bangladesh, for example, is 50% higher than that of a 4-storey
building. The construction cost for the later example is doubled for a 10
storey building and 150% more in a 15 storey building. Unit construction
costs remain the same for buildings similar in construction within a range
of 1-2 stories” (Rahman, 2001).
Rahman also argues that 1 to 2 storey houses can be built up by cheap labor, local
technologies, construction method and earth materials which decrease cost. Since it is
found from the findings that the space availability and its usability in side the block are
not efficient; and the inhabitants use of out door space, as for example internal road and
surrounding footpath, as a semi private, private and communal space; the 1 to 2 storey
housing block can be recommended in such a way that can provide sufficient private,
semiprivate communal open spaces, and standard internal road width with the provision
of cross ventilation and daylight.
There is a lack of private, semiprivate and communal space of those blocks. But as a hot
and humid country such space is very important for household chores, recreation,
relaxation and sleep. In line with the open court yard and terrace, it can be recommended
that a cluster of houses be built to increase efficiency of open spaces inside the block.
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