JKM_Equipped platforms

This scheme shows the first phase of the equipped platforms. The left shows the current state (=dispersed). The right shows the first platforms that would be introduced (i thought first along the 2 river-axes we defined) and the effect of that (red arrows). Next phases will follow.

JKM_Potentials of Red+Blue

Here is another try of the scheme showing the positive points of the red and the blue network and our choice to see them as complementary networks...a bit struggling with this one to make it clear...i'm not really satisfied yet, but you can give your comments.

JKM_Observations

introductory scheme, showing the processing centres surrounded by production areas.
hmmmm, maybe the arrows are a bit too big :s

JKM_Liquid Feeder

This diagram shows the basic principle of the liquid feeder

JKM_Enhancing the Blue

These schemes go along with the text. It shows the principle of enhancing the waterways as transport systems by creating shortcuts.



The first diagram shows the basic principle (creating shortcuts means faster transport via water).




The second diagram shows the implication of this action on the regional scale.

[red + blue] JKM

this diagram shows the important red and blue networks on JKM scale and their "function"
please comment...
Sabina, you think this kind of diagram won't be telling much more than your map?

[red + blue] advantages

this diagram shows the advantages of both networks (red and blue) and the profit you have when combining the two. the second one shows the changes after our interventions.

[red+blue] restructuring dispersion

liquid conduit [red +blue]

problems of bara bazar

- traffic
Road encroachment is one of the prime reasons for traffic jam and chaotic movement of traffic in Barobazaar.
There are no parking spaces on the roads whereas all roads are used for loading / unloading purpose.
- river erosion
One of the main causes of deterioration of the economic activities of the Barobazaar area is river erosion.
The main market area has been severely eroded during the last several years and these areas are still under the threat of erosion.
Many land with both permanent and temporary structures were destroyed because of high land erosion without any protection measures.
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) can be an important actor in trying to solve this problem. They invest money under the name ‘Secondary Towns Integrated Flood Protection Project’.

source:
thesis (discipline of urban & rural planning, school of science, engineering and technology, Khulna University): Syed Shahriar Amin, Redevelopment of Barobazaar, Khulna, September 1999

trainlink India-Bangladesh

FRAMEWORK FOR GUIDING URBANISATION

TOOL SCHEME - final

pro forma, the final relation scheme

VISION SUMMARY

Story summary

From the readings on different scales, top down and bottom up, there are some issue that are crucial in improving and complementing the current situation of the urban environment:

1. flooding
The lower lands flood easily according to tides, heavy rainfall etc. while the higher lands are protected depending on their height. Mostly, the higher lands are the spaces for the formal settlements and the lower lands are, because of the flood risk, infiltrated by informal settlements.

2. lack of services
There is prominent lack of basic services such as schools, hospitals etc.

3. water contamination
The water, rivers as well as the water ponds, are polluted in a way that they no longer support the kind of cycle they should work for.
Contaminated water is taken from river and pond and used for different uses, while in the meantime waste water is being dumped in the river again. There is a net pollution of the river. This works the same way for the river ponds which even integrate an extra use in terms of productivity, rice or shrimp. These activities can also have polluting effect on the soil because of salinity.

(4.) mangrove disappearance
There is a threat for the mangrove to disappear if not properly defended.

From the different scales, different approaches are extracted that work not only within its original scale, but work on all scales.

AFFORESTATION
This comes from the country scale reading and looking at the history of the mangrove forest. Since there was a cyclone, a lot of the mangrove has vanished, therefore an afforestation process has been set up, clearing money for returning some of the destroyed mangrove. (best defence is the offence)

Afforestation can work on the different scale:

economic generator, paper mill revival
ecological balance
reinforcing the water edge
reducing salinity
water purification

This idea of afforestation can be extended to the city, not only mangrove.

RECLAIMING SEDIMENT
Caption of sediment is embedded in the history of Bangladesh, so we are not inventing anything new, coming from bigger scale, but also on a lower scale. The siltation is a process that start from way upstream, but the caption itself is a small scale intervention to manipulate the landscape. It can be a powerful tool:

brick factories
fertile ground for productive landscape
land filling, creating highland and lowland

WATER PURIFICATION
To solve the water pollution, a water purification system is needed. This can be done by aerated lagoons, or thinking of a purification system of connecting water ponds. These are two ways of different scales. But also the mangrove trees can help for purifying water.


These three different tools all work to solve the problems that we have seen, but they do even more. Now only the landscape elements are considered, but in fact, the landscape in Bangladesh is also the infrastructure, the base for urbanization.
We can use the reclaiming of the sediment to introduce a strategy of land filling with different gradients of height according to what is supposed to be more protected, or less protected from flooding. In that way, by defining strategic places, we can melt into the urban tissue certain key services that can enhance the urban quality.
This strategy does not only work on the city scale, but it can be projected onto the region in the sense that we start defining where higher land, lower land can be. The private market, or the state, can then do whatever they want on the defined land fills. Heighten it, build whatever…
We can also reflect this back on the issues we addressed in the fieldwork! The informal/formal structure, front and back of the river, permeability to river on city scale, but also on regional scale etc. Using the highland/lowland allows us to keep open spaces, or change permeability…

A lot to be further deliberate on and connecting the different effects of the tools in the sense that it helps urbanization, landscape and infrastructure, and as well an economy.

The scheme above is very complicated, it is a fast draft of the way the visions relate to the things they do, and to show that we create a sort of balance in terms of urbanization, infrastructure and landscape, and as well economy. It is very hard to read, just first draft.

Pre Mid-Review

Dear All,

I have been deliberating over our discussions on wednesday. i am still unclear on what is the overall vision/ strategy that we have for the urban region of khulna. what is our standpoint as an office? i feel that to be better able to orient the analysis we are doing, it would help to formulate this; to me, we already have reached several scenarios and viewpoints as a result of intensive fieldwork and our present analysis could therefore be more oriented towards elucidated this vision that we want to develop. i am attaching a jpeg that i made to clarify for myself, what our various standpoints have been so far and what are the possible strategies that we have been saying we could implement... maybe we could deliberate on this tomorrow?

there are also some questions that i have related to this...

1. How are we negotiating the scenario of rural + urban = (rur)ban vis avis and vision/ strategy for the city and region?
2. Any strategic (spatial) plan requires an overview of stakeholder and powerholders - who are these in Khulna? what role do they play? (spatially of course)
3. What is the role/ position of the university? it was introduced specifically to boost the city as a learning centre - is it important to consider it in our deliberations?

there are more questions that will still come up...

i hope these are relevant...

anything new?

LANDSCAPE city scale (work in progress)

Only the topography has to be added and the ponds will have to be updated when everybody finished his tracing job and send it to me.

landscape layer city scale (work in progress)

STRATEGIC PROJECTS

having discussion with the other groups few potential sites were identified and more details about them would start to get integrated.
the first image shows the different sites with images but wasnt clear to convey the idea and so the second image differentiating between the various categories like the productive, non-productive or green pockets which i thought would show few connections or relations between them and essential distance from the centre to the peripheral parts of the city.

INFRASTRUCTURE

URBANISATION

1915

more than 200 years ago...

productive entities (first example)

The above posted scheme is the start of a flow chart of activities related to the shrimp business. We (Devangi and Sahdia) have related the direct and supporting activities as they occur in Khulna and simultaneously we have looked at the flow on the national level (e.g. transport).

This chart will be completed by adding a drawing of the regional and local flow of goods as well as the persons involved in the process (men, woman and children, settlements).

The aim is to develop similar charts for jute, brick, wholesale/ retail… related activities.

Comments/suggestions are welcome.

hydrology ...

First week post

The first image is the startup of the regional scale analysis and intervention proposal with for now the mapping of infrastructure (train, highway, airports and harbours) and basic urbanization. This is one part of a collaboration with Sabina who has created the basic hydrology, land/water map (along with other information). The layers still need to be merged, but this will be done when the layers we each work on are completed. The colours used here are a proposal of what the colours could be, cmyk used here is: land: 64,49,83,43, water: 98, 75, 48, 48. Please respond to these colours and send Sabina or me proposals for testing other coulour combinations, we can test them on the files and show them. These coulours are in my favourite because of the capability of using both black and white on the basic land layer, even a third colour (i was testing redish) could be used maybe for urbanization, for now urbanization is a white transparant layer that makes grey-ish result, which is quite nice i think... So please give feedback on the colours, thank you.

The second image is the part of urbanization that i'm working on, on scale put on the map, but here put next to one another. It is a mere informational gathering of city urbanization thoughout Bangladesh, but nice to see the sizes of the cities in comparison, also to Kolkota.

Khulna Railroad redevelopment plan

Here are our photographs of the RailRoad Company redevelopment plan for the railyards in Khulna North of Barabazar.

In white you see wterbodies, green commercial functions, red new housing for employees and black existing construction.

You can copy higher resolutions images from my hard drive on Monday.

Khulna Studio Midterm review: provisional schedule and tasks

Included the list we discussed yesterday, please make changes according to the evolution of the work.

9.00-9.15 introduction to jurors 

9.15-9.30 fieldwork synthesis by students 

9.30-10.15 reading the city (3 scales -- greater Khulna, city, potential strategic sites)

discussion 
+ break 

11.30-12.15 urban visions (and scenarios) 
+ identification of potential strategic projects 

discussion 
+ lunch 

16.00 water debate

for tasks to be done (in small groups?) 

1.fieldwork synthesis -- best of presented & re-working of land logics & river logics 

2.regional mapping / projections 
(incl. airports, sea port...)
3.khulna mapping -- river (erosion/sediment, etc.) / infrastructure (including rr) / settlement/ KDA masterplan analysis / regional masterplanning
4.productive entities and relation to settlement types -- mapping/diagramming 

a. rice farms / rice mills
b. jute mills 

c. shrimp farms
d. brick factories
e. warehousing / whole-saling 


5.'traditional / indigenous' spatial structures
a. ghat
b. maidan
c. masjid 

d. bul
e. otla 


6.vision making at regional / city scale 

7.strategic project identification at regional / city scale 

8.stakeholder analysis ... new coalitions

Juteplant

The jute plant grows six to ten feet in height. It has no branches. The stem of the jute plant is covered with thick bark and it contains the fibre. Jute is harvested in the rainy season in Bangladesh and grows best in a warm and humid climate, the plants grow up and then they are cut, tied up in bundles and kept under water for fermentation for several days. Thus the stems rot and the fibres from the bark become loose. Then the cultivators pull of the fibres from the bark and wash the fibres very carefully, dry them in the sun and put them in bundles for sale. Jute grows well in moist and swampy lands. Bangladesh has plenty of low lands that go under water during rainy season. Eighty percent of the world's high quality jute grows in Bangladesh.

(source: www.coirtex.co.za/services/process.htm)

Living with Water: Bangladesh since Ancient Times

Ahmed Kamal

Numerous rivers and canals, including the major river systems of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Meghna and 230 smaller rivers totalling 55,000 kilometers in length meander over the vast alluvial plain of Bangladesh. In addition, tiny mountain streams, winding seasonal creeks, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes complete the water bodies of Bangladesh.

General slope of country – south-south-east – avg. two feet per mile.
Sediments – 1.6 to 2.2 billion metric tons annually – delta area of 60,000 km2.
Average annual rainfall – 150 to 500 cm.
Agriculture and irrigation dependent almost entirely on annual rainfall.

ANCIENT PERIOD (4th cent BC – 12th cent AD)
Construction of canals – for irrigation
Maintenance of canals, tanks – community responsibility
System of overflow irrigation of the Ganges used by early Bengal kings:

CANALS
- Canals were broad and shallow, carrying overflow water of river floods, rich in fine clay and free of coarse sand.
- Canals were long and continuous, fairly parallel to each other, and spaced out to allow irrigation.
- Irrigation performed by cuts in the banks of the canals, which were closed when the floods were over.
- Red silt from upland canals were distributed by overflow over wide areas to create fertile land for traditional rice monoculture.


SULTANATE PERIOD + MUGHAL PERIOD (13th – 16th cent AD)
Respect for ancient method of canals.
Rulers built series of embankments and bridges to protect their cities and capital from flooding and becoming waterlogged.
Grand Trunk Road – 150 miles long, built with multiple purposes of flood control, irrigation, communication and military manoeuvres
Large parts of southern Bengal came under cultivation due to flood control dafter (law). Husbandry developed to a great extent due to these initiatives.
Great importance given to regular maintenance of bridges, roads, embankments and other water works
Onus on zamindars (landowners) to ensure regular maintenance of water works. Organisational structure for building and repairing water works was of a hierarchical nature.

TANKS
Special interest towards building of tanks
Tanks believed to be the most suitable method for managing flood and irrigation. Tanks contained water during the rainy season and supplied water for irrigation during the dry season.
Banks of tanks used for village settlement above flood level.
Land used for digging tanks was rent-free.
Excavation of tanks was recognised as a deed of piety and was often associated with religious ceremonies.

MUGHAL PERIOD
Mughal technology of flood and irrigation management concentrated more on the distribution of waters through arteries of planned canals and embankments between the great rivers, than the digging of deep tanks.
Water was controlled and made available to husbandmen through a maze of channels.
River dredging introduced.
Mughal provincial government maintained independent pulbandi dafter (public works department). Varieties of taxes levied to for various public works.
Eg. Tolls on users of rivers; inter-district trading boats, tolls used for improvement and maintenance of hats and bazaars and river system.

SYNTHESIS
Pre-colonial regimes singled out agriculture as the basis of their power. Therefore high priority was given to water management and all possible measures taken to improve husbandry and protect crops from preventable natural calamities. Roads, embankments, bridges and canals were constructed with a view to achieving proper preservation and distribution of water in a region of floods and droughts.

COLONIAL PERIOD (1757 – 1947)
Ignorance of traditional relation and dependence of water systems
New land ownership systems fixed land revenue in perpetuity and aimed at developing private ownership of land – dissociated ownership from actual use of land. Gap created between zamindars and cultivators
Zamindars were mostly absentees – had no interest in development of land – hence investment lacking in water management sector.
Revenue charged on making of tanks. Burdened the primary land cultivator, Tank building activity completely stopped
No respect or perpetuation of traditional water management systems. Constant annual flooding begins.
Introduction of railways further aggravated flooding.


POST-COLONIAL PERIOD (1947 on)
Long neglect of river systems – waterlogging, drainage, salinity, silting up of river beds and canals, sudden change in course of rivers prevalent condition in Bengal
Taking stock of conditions of rivers, rivulets, canals, marshes, ditches and drains – several canals silted up, rivers dead
Local floods leading to loss of annual crop loss – aggravating food shortage in country
Salinity .in coastal Khulna rivers – needed urgent embankment measures.
Neglect over time of water management caused several problems – embankments, reservoirs and tanks declined. Rivers were allowed to become silted. Chars (small islands) were never removed. Works left to the mercy of nature. Cumulative result was frequent flooding.

GOVERNMENT MEASURES
Heavy dependence on international aid
Large scale infrastructure projects such as road building carried out over measures to correct irrigation infrastructure.
Dredging fleets from Holland ordered and operated at huge costs.
Large-scale irrigation projects initiated but with little respite at local level.
Public agitation towards government actions- largely squashed by heavy-arm tactics of the government and military

CONCLUSION
It seems important to understand and re-instate/ re-work traditional methods of land-water management.
Re-establish the connection between people and their land by modifying the present situation of state governed elitist, centralised, technology-dependent development.
Re-establish community-driven water management systems.

Monday 10/3 PRESENTATION

Monday's presentation is the last session compulsory for students enrolled in relevant practice+ studio trip. Grades will be given on the quality of this presentation. For students enrolled in studio, the presentation is part of the overall studio work and grades.

The structure of the day:
9 am A. back to back presentation of photo assignment (4min each) + discussion
11 am B. fieldwork presentation reworked (7min each) + discussion
2 pm C. group discussion on research topics and readings (using the blog)

A. each student is to present a series of selected photo's from the studytrip photo-lens assignment. This short powerpoint illustrates specific observations made on site and explores recurring tendencies of daily life and the use of space in Khulna/Dhaka.

B. the presentation given in Khulna University is to be reworked and clarified with the necessary drawings/scans/images. We repeat the importance of being less descriptive, and more precise in the onservation or argument made about the operational character of the sites studied. The presentation is still 7min maximum.

C. the reading assignments and research work done before the studytrip are to be revisited, based on the new information gathered during the study trip and comments given on the blog.

Please bring all materials collected in Bangladesh with you on Monday and make sure you use the time to organize all photo's.

see you all on Monday.
Ward

Preparation for structure plan, master plan and detailed area plan for Khulna City by KDA

(The following are parts of a study done by the KDA)

Analysis at three levels for the city of Khulna:

National, regional and local.

National context:

Export structure has undergone major transformation in which jute has been replaced by ready-made garments

Informal economy:informal activities in the cities in Bangladesh are expanding at rapid rate. Through these informal activities, the small entrepreneurs maintain vital links between the rural and urban areas as well as other forms of backward and forward linkages. In the absence of such informal sector, the formal sector of the urban area could not provide employment to such large number of labour force.

Infrastructure: The present trend of urbanization and macro economic characteristics in the country and the role of urban sector in the GDP suggest that the urban sector will play a dominant role in the national development. In particular construction of the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge, other bridges and an excellent road network system throughout the country will boost the emergence and development of growth centres, semi-urban centres and strengthen the rural-urban continuum in the country. Such a situation will lead to further growth of the cities, particularly the big ones like Khulna. Thus Khulna will have to be ready to accommodate increased population and provide required services to these (migrants) additional people.

The KDA believes that migration will occur towards Khulna thus the city will grow.

Performance of Khulna at the regional level

The city of Khulna serves the whole south-western region of the country in terms of providing transport and trade network, port facilities, producing industrial goods, and providing health and educational facilities. The region of Khulna is rich in terms of raw materials and cheap labour force for industries. Khulna region contributes to about 82 percent of the shrimp production and 74 percent of the shrimp farms. Eight percent of the nation’s export earnings come from shrimps and frozen food which is mainly concentrated in the Khulna region. The export is mainly done through Mongla port.

The KDA assumes that in the future, Khulna will continue to play the economic role that it is playing now. The KDA also assumes that its manufacturing sector will be further expanded, if required infrastructure, policy support including credits and investment opportunities are given. New industries can also be set up in appropriate locations.

Strong agricultural base around Khulna city: the hinterland of Khulna is highly rich in production of paddy, vegetables and horticulture of several varieties.

Local context

Traditionally Khulna city has been functioning as a large employment centre. Despite the fact that many industrial units have become sick.

The KDA assumes that prospects for employment will rise with the completion of Rupsha Bridge and the possible installation of gas grid. The study team also assumes that decentralization of administration and industry and gradual incentives of investment away from Dhaka will facilitate economic activities and generate employment in cities like Khulna. (national policy)

Forecast for private investment is extremely difficult because of lack of data and stability.

Housing: there is at this time no shortage of housing in Khulna but it lacks quality. (illegal housing ?)

spatial manifestation of social norms

Bangladesh Fight from Partition to Liberation

• The partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 created two independent countries: India and Pakistan. India, which became independent on 15 August 1947, stood for a secular, equitable polity based on the universally accepted idea that all men are created equal and should be treated as such. Pakistan, which officially came into existence a day earlier, was based on the premise that Hindus and Muslims of the Subcontinent constitute two different nationalities and cannot co-exist. East Pakistan (Bangladesh) has been subjected to colonial rule and exploitation by a power-mad minority which has built up an authoritarian pattern of government even in the metropolitan area the West Pakistan. But East Bengal was never a sub nation, not only does it has a majority of Muslims but also shaped into national identity. Pakistan always claims East Bengal to be its province; a dictatorial regime in the metropolitan country which used the argument of religious affinity to bolster its claim to colonial domination over a distinct and different people. JINNAH-his political capital was the Indo-Muslim consciousness and his political outlook was all-Indian largely because of the nature of the all-India Muslim league. This league readily accepted the cabinet mission plan of 1946 promising to create a loose conferral structure in India. He created an impossible problem of identity (image of absurd state created by British before their withdrawal in 1947) for the new state-a problem of identity which successive governments tried to resolve in terms of a nationalism based on religion and sustained by unabated hostility towards India. East Bengal was represented in the constitutional assembly of Pakistan by the hard core conservative elements of the Muslim league including a number of members from India. The Indo-Muslims migrant elite succeeded in holding the two wings of Pakistan by manipulating the Indo-Islamic consciousness created in 1947. The attitude of the West Pakistan to the East Pakistan was so hard that they couldn’t accept Bengali as their national language and visa versa, and resulted in a violent agitation when the Basic Principle Committee recommended urdu as the national language. The USA and the West supported Pakistan with enormous military support which was not supported by the Bengalis as they had less support in bureaucracy and military. Caught between the pressure exerted by the army, bureaucracy, and no support of the people below the politicians of Pakistan lost their grip over the situation and functioned for personal interest rather than larger cause which resulted in the military coup in Oct 1958. The entire benefit of the industrial dev. in Pakistan was limited to only 20 families, this in equitability and oppressive economic structure was not only limited to Pakistan but also East Bengal. this exposed some hidden aspects of the west Pakistani colonialism to the East Bengal also resulted the east Pakistan without defense when the war broke out in 1965 and resulted in the launch of the ‘Agartala Conspiracy Case’ against the leaders. The rise of freedom threw up issues like the internal colonization of some new states, overlooked by the status quo oriented in the international system in order to preserve tenuous system of states in the world. The process of East Pakistan’s isolation was underway when the elections in the East Bengal turned out to be a referendum on the Awami League’s six-point charter of autonomy rather than voter’s choice. The league began immediately after the partition as the revolt of East Bengal’s infant but growing middle-class against the rule of well-entrenched alliance of the top echelons of the army, the bureaucracy and monopoly based in the West Pakistan. One thing is clear that the Pakistan as conceived by Jinnah as one is dead without any chance of correction. Few things getting clear for the future character of East Bengal;
• long freedom struggle waged with help of indigenous support both in terms of human and resources.
• the resistance movement is bound to take a guerilla warfare.
• the actual organization and operation to come into the hands of dedicated and visionary leaders having an ideology to fight against heavy odds.
• the guerilla movement would form a firm base under control of liberation force having located somewhere in north of Bangladesh.
• the remnants of East Pakistan rifles and East Bengal regiment could combine to form the Mukti Fouj which would gradually mix into the general political culture of the guerilla movement.

Wind, Water and Clay: The Architecture of Bangladesh

by Kazi Khaleed Ashraf

The article describes the Bengal architectural evolution chronologically through history

1. General Introduction

The Bengal Delta is in between “two geo-cultural matrices”: the western matrix, based on the Indian culture and the eastern matrix, relying on South-East Asian cultures (dominantly water-based cultures)
Hut = a freestanding structure, composed of a parasol roof and permeable walls; it is the simplest form of the pavilion type and the basis of Bengal architecture
Clay is the traditional building material: bricks and terra-cotta

2. Chronological Overview

2.1. In the 6th c.BC monumental architecture includes temples, stupas and monasteries, largely influenced by the Buddhist tradition

2.2. The arrival of the Turks is marked by the influence of Islam on architecture: Sultani period (13th c.)
dual situation: submission to the Delhi regime or independent rule of ‘houses’ which represent the connectedness to the place
Sultani architecture: mosque, mazar, madrasa and new techniques such as arch and dome
Bengali mosque = most significant type of this period
· basis = pavilion/hut idea
· use of local materials such as bricks and terra cotta
· openness and relation with the surrounding landscape is important: the mosques are opened to the outside instead of looking inward to a closed courtyard

2.3. Laukik (vernacular) Bengali culture (15th – 16th c.)
Islam affected deeply the cultural matrix of Bengal. It was the impetus for the flourishing of the vernacular stream (domain of the plebeians, villagers, local beliefs and rituals), while the Sanskritic tradition was in decline. At the same time the Muslim culture enters into a dynamic relationship with the laukik culture. An "osmotic relationship" between the two communities resulted in specific Bengali architecture: an example is the mosque of Shah Mohammad in Eagarasindur (17th c.) The hut was again at the basis of the development of the Bengali mosque (and chala form) and later on also of the tomb-shrine.

2.4. Mughal empire (16th - late 18th c.)
Formation of the province of Bengal (Subah-e-Bangla) -> Delhi-centred authority interupted the laukik culture:
· interest in provinces for economic reasons -> establishment of efficient administrative system (road and fort construction), but there are some evidences of Mughal influence in mosques (different plan type...) and later the temple-building flourished.
· the traditional practices, building techniques and materials and vernacular iconography are mainly ignored, an exception is the privilege given to the bangla roof.

2.5. Colonialism (late 18th + 19th c.)
contact with European culture => new civic institutions + segregated dual city

· European city = “progress and development”
· native city = “congested and chaotic”

new economic structure => building activities => new types: offices, railway, warehouses … but some original architecture persists: bungalow = a building type which is a reconfiguration of the hut
· idea of connection with surrounding nature + freestanding dwelling is preserved
· climate and local idioms are primary considerations in the development of new forms
New Bengal elite elaborates a complex relationship of resistance and acceptance with colonial culture => architecture of their homes: severe neo-Classical style combined with a great degree of spontaneity in the disposition of volumes
Palaces (tension between ‘publicity’ and ‘domesticity’) and religious buildings were also site of Europeanization.

2.6. Modernism (20th c.)
double-edged nature of the colonial experience becomes noticeable:

1 mercantilism + industrialization => breakdown of self-sufficient cultural entities -> increasing influence of international modernist ideology ("modern project")
2 idea of cultural and national identity -> movement for independence

2 important names:
· Muzharul Islam, establisher of a modern architectural culture
“the lessons of European modernism were mediated and manipulated by “localism”, the rationale of place and time”
· Louis Kahn,

Capital Complex project with the Assembly as the crown piece (character of the centre)

overall master plan, reflections on "how the buildings are to take their place on the land": particular urban morphology in the delta

3. Conclusion: "Wind, Water and Clay"

Architectural history is contestation between competing ideologies; however the consciousness of nature is at the root of building. The hut-type recurs through history and changes. It is also the basis of the pavilion paradigm: interpenetration of nature and architecture -> key to the organization of settlement pattern.

Historical growth:
1884-1947: Khulna City had little prospects for growth.
1947: After the partition of India and the liberation of Bangladesh: migration of Indians to, what then was ‘East-Pakistan’. By 1951 the population was fourfold.
1950’s – 1960’s: Khulna became an important centre for industrial development: new port and commercial activities increased. Jute-based industries contributed to the national economy, created new employment and led to urbanization.
1971: After political changes the industrial boom was over, industrial growth couldn’t keep up with population growth, the city started declining.
1990: Reviving economy mainly due to shrimp-farming and the development of a new University.

Khulna is a linear city parallel to the Rupsha-Bhairab rivers. The expansion in east-west direction is limited due to geo-environmental conditions. Environmentally it’s a low-risk area but any rise in the sea level can affect the land. The area, {population of a million (1998)}, has potentials, the important link to the second harbour and the shrimp farming activities, but are not well exploited due to lack of strategic infrastructure, investments and political commitments. Khulna has a low employment rate with an income of $283 a year/capita. 14% of the households are below the hardcore poverty line. The land market is dominated by the private sector, while a large amount of land is owned by the public sector that remains mostly unutilized, so land market is not supporting the urban development. Physical planning and development, like providing services, are in the hands of different organisations, which lack good management and coordination. Khulna has 0.07 acres of open space per 1000 population. Extensive water pollution, mainly arsenic, leads to a scarcity of drinking water.

Determinants of landuse:
Transport network: The main transport ways (river, road and railway) go parallel from north to south and dictate the major use of land.
Economic opportunities: In the past: centred on the port and industrial activities along the rivers. Now: shrimp farming and educational activities are gaining importance.
Land value: Because of the physical growth and the rise of land value a large part of the population and small/medium scale enterprises shift to informal settlements in the low cost fringe areas.

Major features of landuse.
Residential use of land is dominant. In the built up areas the mixed middle and low-income residential areas cover nearly 49%, leaving 10% for other type of residential use. The residential population density varies from 346 to +480 persons a hectare. Most residential areas were not planned, so at least 18% of the people live in squatter settlements.
Commercial: 3.35% of the urbanised area is commercial existing of a major CBD, called ‘Bara Bazar’ and some small commercial zones.
Industrial structure: The heavy industrial activities, mostly situated along the river banks, are jute, brick fields and export oriented fish industries in the south. Small type industries are scattered throughout the city.
Administrative zone: There are two major concentrations of administrative and institutional use. The University and the Bangladesh Railway are two of the larges institutions.

Muzharul Islam. An architect in Bangladesh

Muzharul Islam. An Architect in Bangladesh.

After independence of Pakistan, Islam was the only formally trained architect working in Dhaka, with degrees from Calcutta University, Oregon University and Yale.
The 1950’s and 60’s were turbulent times, with the split of the country in East and West Pakistan, later on followed by the independence in 1971. It was the beginning of a search of self-identity and a significant era in the architectural realm. Despite the chaos, it was in this decade that formal architectural education was established and that important foreign architects like Louis Kahn, Paul Rudolph and Stanley Tigerman produced their works here. The involvement of these 3 architects was mainly due to Musharul Islam. Rudolph was invited in 1966 to prepare a Master Plan and to design buildings of the Agricultural University at Mymensingh. Interesting is the encounter between architectural ideology, mainly developed in the West, and conditions that are often totally different from their original milieu. In 1959 the decision was made to make Dhaka a ‘second’ capital with the National Parliament. Louis Kahn was invited to make the design of the capital.
Together with Kahn’s capital buildings it is Muzharul Islam’s work which has dominated the early architectural scene in Bangladesh. Islam created the nascent architectural culture of Bangladesh, and tried to fight against government bureaucracy, political domination by engineers and academic sterility. His crucial contribution was his continuous search to formulate a Bengali sense of identity, social needs and cultural imperatives were his focus. At the end of the 1960’s he even became more political active which he saw as a more immediate role to confront social conditions.
In the chaotic times of the 1970’s, after the Liberation war of 1971, there was a breach. Most of the active architects submitted totally to mere profit-making and disunited the building task from real social needs. Islam ended up in some sort of isolation and his aims to come to a new paradigm was not reached.
Even today there are a lot of issues presented to the Bangladeshi architects, and the question still remains how to take on the situation and what should the role of the architect be in order to confront this dilemma of housing and organization of the human environment.

Flood Management

Flood Management Designing the Risks (by Heike Langenbach)

Current and future flood defence requirements are a major challenge for cities not only in terms of technology and economics but also design and aesthetics, because protective dikes impact entire urban spaces

Flood is the most challenging phenomena between edges of city, river, lake and sea shore, this can easily be experienced due to ambiguous and chaos occurs when the two opposite elements clash and results into disaster, destruction of infrastructure and diseases. Although river or water in general is useful for commercial, transportation, and natural landscape in urban context, however mankind effort and search is to ensure the balance between the nature and technology in dealing with flood defence through designing approach.

The introduction of dikes and other technologies has shown failure on ecological and precaution measure to retain the relation between cities, social values and use of river, meanwhile flood management through design approach has to meet challenges of climatic change which has been documented since 19^thc due to increasingly rising of sea level, the danger of climatic conditions forced many cities to develop outline strategies and several alternative to attain the equilibrium of living without flood for cities located alongside rivers, lakes, seas and oceans.

For example “Hamburg needs to adapt and update its flood defence system to current high water marks. With the 2006 architecture Olympics, the city therefore sought new design ideas.”

Beside of new concept and ideas introduced by Zaha Hadid Architect on redesigning Hamburg’s prominent water front by piers, as an alternative for dikes which were used since 1962 after disastrous flood. This can sound great in the sense of aesthetic and prevention but on the other hand is totally an obstruction of natural relationship between land and water, also is a creation of new urban intervention to existing and new sculpture in coherent with urban fabric for sustainability of social activities.

Performance of designing in controlling and managing of flood is not limited by hydraulic engineering, barrier, dikes and piers by itself but can also be by introducing innovative concept using urbanism landscape such as introducing canal, green with specific tree which can function for prevention, aesthetic and purification of water, hence to overcome climatic conditions with friendly environment and achievement of ecological revitalisation as well.

For instead “The fluvial Parc del Besos in Barcelona provides huge public green areas for recreation, when it rains in the mountains, the meadows are under several metres water within hours. Keeping these flood events from becoming fatal traps are the new stairway and ramps, flashing warning panel and standby vehicles to point out imminent danger on time. After the floods the green areas are cleaned up and city life on the river resumes its course.”

Moreover the meeting of city and water at ambiguity space like river banks, it posing the question on how can these interfaces be defined appropriately?, Because the boundaries which creates these differences between the two places inline with the images and altitudes as well as divergent spheres of action, are both in needs of solutions to be a Venetian equilibrium, whereby the categories of various models dealing with flood defence system in designing can be assessed based on ecological manner.

Water History is World History

Introduction: Water History is World History
Tjerje Tvedt & Eva Jacobsson

The text reflects on the control over water in history and the changed relation human and environment in history.

Water control is as old as human society and man has tried to master nature by transforming and controlling water and using it as a source of power.
The authors use the distinction of 3 temporalities in water control based on Braudel:
The événementielle: short-lived dramatic events (large water projects)
Conjoncures: cyclical processes (planning traditions)
La longe durée: historical waves of great length.
The authors stress it is important that water history cuts across these temporalities because when it comes to water, events may have a broader long-term, irreversible impact on both nature and on society.
The prospect of climate change will make water control an even more pressing issue across the world.
Therefore the era of large-scale water control projects is probably not over. They give the example of China and Libie where the exploitation of modern water transfer technology is driven to its maximum.

The text examines the role of water in history and development in the traditions within the social sciences the last 200-year. Historians and other social scientists have long been reluctant to analyse relationships between water landscape and social organization. Historical development has been regarded as a process by which mankind is liberated from nature or from the powers of nature. The separation of nature from society was one prerequisite for regarding nature instrumentally, as a set of passive objects to be exploited.
Within the idea of modernity nature and water landscape was relegated.
According to the authors Karl Wittfogel was the first to developed a theory of history that gave nature a central place within a broad framework of development-orientated, historical materialism, which aroused much criticism.

In the 1990s environmental concern and development pessimism brought about a dissolving of the dichotomy of culture and nature. Historians stressed on how humans negatively affected the vulnerable waterscape and how control over rivers meant power of some people over others. The text compares Richard White’s and Blaine Hardens writing on the Columbia River. To Harden the river is transformed to a man-made machine while White considers the river as an organic machine. He argues by stressing canals and dams are part of the river one can maintain that there is no border between man and nature. According to the authors water is both an actor in its own right but this reality cannot be accessed except through cultural and social lenses. They argue it is important to study both the unnatural and natural history of water disasters.
And they stress on the importance of water control and water management to be based on historical, concrete, empirical knowledge to meet the challenges facing societies in the future. Despite all the differences in time and amongst societies water control is one thing which all people at all times have, had and will always have in common.

Infrastructural Urbanism

J.G. Ballard, Infrastructural Urbanism.

“Think only of essentials: The Physics of the gyroscope, the Flux of Photons, the architecture of Very large structures”

“Infrastructure, in its very nature, is similar to landscape in that it is continually evolving, simultaneously precise and indeterminate and works strategically. It allows multiple authors and accommodates existing conditions and local contingency while maintaining overall functional continuity. Infrastructure constructs the site itself through the division, allocation and construction of surfaces, provision of services to support future programs and establishment of networks for movement, communication and exchange”.

In this article the author explains the evolution of the design process that has past through different stages. It’s a movement that identified and described in different images to show a certain period of development, like moment in which the technical and aesthetic formed a unified whole.

He starts with sequence of three images spanning six decades of the twentieth century.

• 1^st image: an Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington, it is bulk of the craft looms over an invisible horizon, a blank open-mouthed face stares back at the viewer; published 1935, in collection edited by Le Corbusier, the caption reads: “Neptune rises from the sea, crowned with strange garlands, the weapons of mars”.

It presents the instrumentality of advanced engineering design and organization of the forces of production that made construction at this scale possible process. It was fully linked to the war machine but integrated into a meaningful cultural and aesthetic framework, even to the point of establishing continuity with classic mythology.

• 2^nd image: the linear Andrea Doria Foundering off the coast of Nantucket in 1956, (Twenty years after the 1^st image) Recalling to iconic status of the linear in the theories of modern architecture.

These developments cannot separate themselves from architecture movements. The author describes that “although during cold war, the modernist dream of an integration of technology and aesthetics was no longer believable, the social and technical forces of modernity tried detached from the production of images, both in popular and higher culture”.

• 3^rd image: B-24 bomber factory in Forth Worth, Texas.

The implementation of the modernist dream of a rational production was influence of the wartime economy where the standardization of material, bodies and time that allowed such incredibly efficient production.

The effect of this shift toward images and signs is that architecture disciplinary frame shifts. He explains, architecture relationship to its material is however indirect.

Beyond style or formal issues, infrastructural urbanism offers a new model for practice and renewed sense of architecture’s potential to structure the future of the city. It understands architecture as material practice as an activity that works in and among the world of things and not exclusively with meaning and image.

Architecture and urbanism, technique does not belong to an individual but to the discipline as whole. Architecture works with cultural and social variables as well as with physical materials, and capacity to signify is one tool available to the architect working in the city. Architecture is uniquely capable of structuring the city in way not available to practices such as literature, film, politics etc.

The critics on infrastructure Urbanism is retrograde, bordering on fascist. It decries new urbanism as nothing more than conventional sprawl dressed up with superficial stylistic cues.

South Asia Readings

Frampton, Kenneth, South Asian Architecture: In Search of a Future Origin, in: “An Architecture of Independence: the Making of Modern South Asia”, The Architectural League of New York, New York, 1998, pp. 10-12.

In this article, Kenneth Frampton discusses the work exhibited in An Architecture of Independence: The Making of Modern South Asia. Although he starts off by saying that the representation of the large South Asian subcontinent by the work of only four architects “is necessarily biased and full of lacunae”, he continues by stressing the importance of their contributions, as it is “work of the highest quality that further the modernist project while coming to terms with the demands of climate, topography, and indigenous culture.” The (early) work of these architects – Achyut Kanvinde, Muzharul Islam, Balkrishna Doshi and Charles Correa - has been influenced by that of Louis Kahn. The ease by which Kahn’s work was received may be explained by the extent of the Mughal civilization which covered most of South Asia. This civilization, however Islamic, “reinforced the pre-existing South Asian propensity for cosmological, geometrical architecture”.

The exhibited work of Achyut Kanvinde and Muzharul Islam is briefly discussed. Kahn’s work, like the Bangladeshi parliamentary complex, influenced especially the latter – Islam also being “the most overtly political of the architects included in the exhibition.” The early works of Balkrishna Doshi were influenced by Le Corbusier (Chandigarh). In his later works, Doshi “brilliantly” fused this influence with Kahn’s legacy and the Moghul heritage. Doshi, as well as Charles Correa, “demonstrated the general viability of low-rise, high-density housing as a normative form of ecological development”. One of Correa’s well-known early realisations is New Bombay, a project which has known limited success. Later on, the scope of his work shifted from the design and realization of residential fabric to that of “symbolic public buildings”, the symbolic “invariably accompanied by the traditional value that Correa attaches to the concept of ‘open-to-sky-space’”. This shift makes up the mayor difference between Correa and the other architects included in the exhibition.

Mehrotra, Rahul, Introductory Essay: The Architecture of Pluralism – A Century of Building in South Asia, in: Frampton, K. (ed.), “World Architecture: A Critical Mosaic 1900-2000 - Volume 8: South Asia”, Springer-Verlag Wien New York and China Architecture and Building Press, New York, 2000, pp. XVII-XXX.

In this article, Rahul Mehrotra discusses the role of architecture in the South Asian landscape, “a landscape of extreme paradoxes and dramatic transitions”, past and present ones. This role “has not only represented and expressed the contemporary aspirations of a society, but more critically the setting up of crucial counterpoints of showing new ways and preferred realities.” To show this, Mehrotra browses through history (some pages of the article are missing):

• The ‘Indo-Saracenic’ style was preferred by the British in South Asia at the end of the 19^th – beginning of the 20^th century. It was inspired by the Mughal architecture: “an architecture of synthesis ‘reassembling’ components from all over South Asia”, as to create “a composite identity for the region in validation of the colonial boundaries”.
• Between 1900 and 1940, there was a constant tussle between (suggested) modernist (internationalism, Art Deco, ‘minimal’ Ghandian architecture) and revivalist ideas (folk tradition). The latter one first gained currency in nationalist circles as it was most clearly opposed to ‘western decadence and imperialism’. Later on, modernism prevailed under Nehru as to fulfil a new (nationalist) social agenda (e.g. Chandigarh).
• By the 1970s, the search for regional (instead of national) identity came into prominence. Out of this, “a ‘regionalism’ with a play between modernity and traditional vocabulary emerged as the focus of the profession in South Asia.” This architecture now can be considered as “a middle path between global corporate architecture and religion driven fundamentalism (that takes refuge in icons, methods and building practices of the ancients)”.

Khulna City: a general introduction

GENERAL:

- Khulna is the 3rd largest city and 2nd largest sea port of Bangladesh
- the city is developed on artificially raised lands

CLIMATE

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY
- British period: agriculture --> market place
- 1904: Calcutta - Jessore - Khulna railway opened
- 1947: partition --> Muslim refugees India --> Bangladesh
- sea port: became nerve centre of jute trade of Bangladesh
- 1965: Calcutta riots: more Muslims India à Bangladesh + migration from rural areas
> population grew rapidly which induced problems

industrial development:

60s ↑
70s ↓ but population kept ↑
≠ industrial employment

POPULATION
density

migrants
- 53%
- main causes are poverty, famine, natural hazards and unemployment
- tendency to stay in Khulna
- most migrants are very young, unmarries men of whom 1/3 is illiterate

LANDUSE




summary of: CUS report, Chapter II Khulna City: general introduction, in: “Population and Migration Characteristics in Khulna City”, Khulna: CUS report, 1981.

Summary: Colonial Urban Morphologies

Colonial Urban Morphologies
Mowla, Q.A.

Introduction

The city morphology should be studied through different fasing of development and evolution.
Eg. In Singapore, there is a strict segregation of ethnic groups and some of these patterns are still present.

Typology of colonization

The typology differs because of different factors: territory, time etc., for that, it is difficult to come to a general pattern. We can try to categorize them in broad categories: colonial growth, indigenous growth or both (Dhaka).

Context of evolution

The characteristics of the urban morphology can be divided into 2 groups:
1 cluster of settlements on the basis of tribe (Dhaka)
2 gated street, market village with open space, narrow paths crossing a main axes

Impact of colonization

Sources of impact
· Show power to local ruler (with architecture)
· Grid pattern of fortified chessboard with colonizers and indigenous separated

Development of pattern
Start by implementing small element in city centre square, mostly there is a second centre, making the separation between colonizers’ and indigenous’ atmosphere (quiet to more chaotic)
Mostly functional mixture, except French colonisation

Urban Morphology under Spanish Colonisation
Walled, grid with a plaza mayor and plaza de armas, colonizers inside walls becomes congested and strive away along river edges and shores.

Spanish Colonial Policy
They integrated social, religious, economy and politics transformations because of the lack of resistance.
Ethnic minorities in the urban fabric
There was mostly a buffer created between Spanish and Chinese immigrants out of fear, they remained therefore quite independent (the immigrants)

Urban Morphology under British and French

Many third world cities influenced and due to what has been said before there were differences between characteristics because of changes in colonisation.

Colonial Policy
Important to involve ‘middle class’ (eg. Indians with English thinking)
No interference = no extra costs
Assimilation (forcing principles upon indigenous)
Association (respect for cultural differences)

Socio Cultural Attitude
British system of power had resulted in merchants, traders land holders to have more power because of commercial superior local level was removed, shows in physical morphology

Experimental Terrain
French: tried to blend colonial style with traditional motifs, they saw the colonial cities as experimental grounds.
English: less interference, but few improvements
Colonial had to be better to show the grandeur of the nation, so no slums.

Spatial Manifestation of Col. Policy
Colonial powers: do things their own way, without local participation.
In the colonisation, the difference in civilisation evolution is so abrupt that no matter how, the natural growth of the city is altered.

Comparison of the British and the French Colonial Urban Morphology

Weak politics led to the compensation in architectural terms, ending up in buildings with a lot of authority.

Concluding remarks

The colonial legacy is still present because of strong social classification

European rulers were replaced by local = same privileged areas, just as bad

Assimilation of different architecture may eventually give direction to valid and authentic architecture and urban morphology suited to land and people.