How to make decent living in an \\\'unliveable\\\' city

Shahiduzzaman Khan | Published: August 23, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Dhaka city has retained the second position as the least liveable city in the world in the Global Liveability Index 2015. Released late last week, the capital city of Bangladesh scored 38.7 out of 100 in areas of healthcare, education, stability, culture and environment and infrastructure.
Conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU), the liveability survey again highlighted the worsening quality of life and urban governance in the Dhaka city. The city has been suffering from perennial traffic gridlock, destruction of wetland and green spaces and encroachment of pedestrian space. Moreover, it lacks an efficient waste management system, an effective public transportation system and a functional cultural life, according to experts.
In fact, Dhaka continued to remain at the bottom of the index for the last few years. It came second from the bottom of the index in 2014 and 2013 as well. It was rated as the least liveable city in 2012 and the second worst in 2011.
Reports say the Syrian capital Damascus saw the biggest fall in liveability scores over a five-year period. Of the poorer-scoring cities, 14 continue to occupy the very bottom tier of liveability, where ratings fall below 50 per cent and most aspects of living are severely restricted, said the report.
Melbourne in Australia remains the most liveable location surveyed, followed by the Austrian capital Vienna. Vancouver in Canada, which was the most liveable city surveyed until 2011, lies in third place.
Dhaka's ever-worsening liveability index also came up in a recent EU-conducted survey in which the city was ranked as the worst liveable metropolis in the world. Though that survey focused more on social dimensions of liveability than its physical characteristics, the fact remains that both these aspects are interlinked so far as they relate to the city's ability to provide a decent living condition for its citizens.
Dhaka has been ranked as the worst liveable city in the world although the country's overall economy has otherwise developed to some extent. Liveability means equitable access to resources, public transportation, quality of life, standard of living or general well-being of people.
Urban development analysts say the city has been losing liveability in the absence of rule of law and anti-people activities. Criticising the various relevant authorities involved in the urban planning and development, they said there were four development plans for Dhaka city, but none was implemented due to unexplained reasons.
Day by day every inch of the city is being gobbled up and almost all the rivers and canals are filled up and public places grabbed by powerful quarters in violation of master plans as the custodians have been turned into predators, analysts say. They termed Bangladeshis an anti-planning nation.
Due to traffic congestion, working hour worth Tk 200 billion and fuel worth Tk 120 billion are lost annually. The detailed area plan (DAP) could not be implemented due to pressure from the realtors as many of their projects could be affected. However, the authorities are preparing another master plan.
There is no denying that urbanisation process in Bangladesh is painfully slow. In 1950, only 4.0 per cent of the population used to live in the city while it will be around 40 per cent by 2030. There should be long-lasting approach for bringing a change to Dhaka city. These include stopping of sprawl of the city, getting out of the plot mentality, reduction in number of cars, formulation of policy for the young generation to embrace biking, walking and other mode of transports by deglamourising car ownership.
As an obvious conclusion, unplanned and uncontrolled pace of urbanisation of the capital has been taking its toll on the city's living condition. Added to this, the chaotic traffic system which is getting worse day by day as private cars, buses, motorised and manually-driven vehicles are jostling for space on the city's roads constituting less than 8.0 per cent of the city's land area in place of the ideal 25 per cent.
Such negative factors are robbing Dhaka of its beautiful cityscape girdled by rivers, lakes, greenery and open grounds. To stop this alarming trend, experts stressed vertical expansion of the city to save space and avoid sprawl, introducing mass transports in place of private vehicles on the roads and reclaiming the lost open grounds, wetlands, rivers and greenery to improve the city's natural environment.
Planned urbanisation with housing and civic amenities is also imperative for poverty alleviation and development. The urban poor, migrating to cities in search of livelihood, should be made integral part of a healthy urban growth and development. There is a need to delegate power to local government for urban poverty reduction and developing slums with housing and civic facilities.
The government has to ensure zoning and land use plan to achieve the goal of planned urbanisation. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has to play the role of a planning organisation and stop functioning as the lone development programme-implementing agency.
In the absence of fast moving transport system like subways or mass transit, Dhaka until now is a harrowing labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys. On the other hand, unbridled construction in every vacant place diminished Dhaka's past charm and blanketed it under a layer of haze.
Experts say the city-dwellers would have to lead miserable lives in near future as the unplanned nature of the growth of urbanisation has emaciated the supporting environment -- destroying surrounding rivers and canals and filling up of low-lying areas. Water-logging will soon be a serious problem for the city as the drainage system is too inadequate for rainwater disposal.
The role of the regulators should be sincere in order to save Dhaka from devastation. Also establishment of rule of law and political commitment is necessary for healthy urbanisation.
What is of utmost importance here is the political will to change the things around. There are reasons to believe that the government can muster the necessary political will to improve the situation. And in such a way, the liveability condition of the city can be otherwise improved.
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