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

of proper monitoring in housing market; a problem that the appropriate authorities and
experts seem to have no understanding of.
The study shows that the majority of the people in Dhaka city are living in the informal
settlements, and those settlements are mostly located in the periphery of the city. They
are found in the city center as well. The inhabitants in those settlements are very poor,
most of them are day labor and unemployed, and as a result they are not able to maintain
standard living condition. Based on this the study has come up with recommendation of
the housing block for those poor people. The recommendation has been made by ensuring
standard physical densities and spatial qualities where the infrastructure services would
be available. The aim of the recommendation is to combat urban sprawl by increasing
physical density and efficiency of space.
Majority of the informal settlements are developed on the government vacant land. The
inhabitants develop their own houses without considering any attributes of housing
settlements. As a result the informal settlements are being grown up horizontally without
considering density and efficient use of space. It can be said that the availability of space
inside the informal settlements are not adequate because most of the space is covered by
houses. Never the less, the inhabitants are accomplishing their household chores and
other activities on the internal roads as well as on the surrounding roads and footpaths.
The study has suggested block for informal settlers to increase efficiency of space where
there is a clear definition of private, semi private and communal spaces for performing
their household chores and other activities.
On the other hand the physical densities of the most formal housing blocks are medium to
very high and most of the mix land use can be found in any part of the city. The high
percentage of land coverage is very common in most of the formal settlements due to
rapid urbanization and high price of land. As a result the spaces among the houses are
very low and the houses are getting cross ventilation just from the front side of the
building. The presence of day light in the higher medium, medium and lower medium
class area is not sufficient due to the high percentage of land coverage by building.
However, the lower percentage of land coverage by building and good spatial qualities
can be found in the higher income class area.
In conclusion it can be said that there is a close relationship between physical densities,
spatial qualities of housing settlements and urban sprawl. To investigate the relationship
the study has analyzed the variables like FAR, percentage of land coverage by buildings,
space usability, cross ventilation, presence of daylight and plot characteristics. Finally it
was discovered that the physical densities of formal settlements are not vital factor for
Dhaka city sprawl due to their high physical densities but the low dense informal
settlements are considered as a factor of urban sprawl.
The urban sprawl can be combated by increasing the physical density and efficiency of
space in the informal settlements. If the housing block like low-rise high density could be
developed, the density would be increased without interrupting spatial qualities where the
government can provide land at cheap prices. Such project will provide private, semi
private and communal space for the household activities and the density will increase as
well.
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