Urban population in Bangladesh is increasing day by day because of rural poverty and hope for a better living condition in the urban areas. With the increase of urban population, a gradual decrease has been occurred in the urban facilities and opportunities. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh has become unlivable mainly because of indifference, mismanagement and wrong planning continuing over the years in an uninterrupted sequence. The authorities have failed to create a situation where the citizens can live in minimum comfort both within and outside their homes. They suffer most because of the lack of necessary infrastructures, power and gas supply being highly erratic, water crisis being most common during summer, and drainage and swear system being under-developed. Nearly onethird of the population lives having no basic amenities of life (Zahid, 2010). There are a number of studies available on services offered by urban governments (Hossain, 2006). But there is a little work especially in case of Dhaka focusing on people’s sufferings due to mismanagement of these services. Most of the researches conducted in Dhaka focused on the distressed low income group living in slums that cover 15% of the total citizens in Dhaka (Asian Development Bank, 2008). The suffering of the low middle and middle income group (the dominant income group of Dhaka city) has always been overlooked in most of the researches because of focusing on the low income group. But the extent of sufferings is different between these two groups. Where the Low income group generally suffer from health and environment related problems (Podymow et al, n.d), the middle income groups, also experience an adverse impact on their day to day life due to lack of necessary utility services. These differences are particularly evident in case of Dhaka due to its unplanned growth and inhabitants’ extremely divergent living standards (Bertuzzo, 2009). Capital Dhaka is considered as the mirror of Bangladesh. If Dhaka remains energy starved, it creates wrong image for the entire country. But for various reasons, Dhaka city suffers greatly from power load shedding, gas rationing and water crisis that affect Dhaka every now and then (Saleque, 2008). Gas, water and power supply have influence on the citizen’s daily life cycle and activities. If any interruption occurs, people try to handle it by occupying alternative sources and compromising their daily schedule. The poor urban management and planning have led to a very high extent of informality in its dwellers’ routines (Bertuzzo, 2009). People compromise their daily schedule, because these problems are infrastructure based and they can do a little in solving these problems.

Dhaka the capital city of Bangladesh has merely been nourished with any planning guidelines or stringent development control policy since its inception. As a result, the city has been developed with lots of deprivation resulting in numerous problems such as traffic congestion, water logging, sewerage and drainage problem, water supply, gas and electricity problem, crime, unhygienic environment and many others. The old city of Dhaka (Strategic Planning Zone, SPZ 3), the most densely populated and congested area of the city inhabited by almost a million people, possesses 15% of the total population living in the city’s urbanized area (Urban Area Plan (1995-2005)). Occupying only 7% of the gross built-up area, it exhibits densities well in excess of the normal gross urban densities of 323 ppa, in localised areas with net residential densities in excess of 2000 ppa (Urban Area Plan, 1995-2005). Despite increasing congestion, a paucity of social and community facilities, inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure and ever-increasing costs for ever-diminishing space, the evidence of existing trends suggests that the old city will experience a continued influx of population and densification well into the future. Various collective initiatives, measures and researches undertaken to address various problems with their tentative remedies have stumbled in various times due to lack of proper institutional set up, non-conformal policy implementation with local settings, lack of community efforts, lack of political stability and the last but not the least, ignoring people’s participation in problem identification, their perception regarding intensity of any particular problem and possible remedies that are likely to be enforceable and preferred by the local inhabitants. Old Dhaka signifies a lot by offering a contrast with the new Dhaka, but the existing situation can never support the future growth unless the old city is brought under long term sustainable policy framework. So an informative study based on the application of participatory methods can reveal an authentic and clear picture reflecting the state of mind and perception of the inhabitants of Old Dhaka regarding the intensity and magnitude of their problems and possible remedies felt by them.

Dhaka possesses a glorious history of 400 years since it started journey on the left bank of River Burignanga. There goes a saying that, the pre-Mughal Dhaka consisted of 52 bazaars and 53 lanes. The main settlement in this period was limited in between the River Buriganga and Dholai Khal with its center near Bangla Bazar. During the Mughal (1606-1764) reign Dhaka further flourished in the commercial sector and it covered the area presently known as old Dhaka. The Chawk (square) was the main market place of Mughal Dhaka. Till today, it is one of the major wholesale areas of the city and vibrant in a transformed physical and social context. The spatial expansion of Dhaka and formation of new Dhaka started in British period. It was expanded in size and was developed in commerce, administration and industrial sector. Dhaka experienced several inclusions of commercial centers during the Pakistan period (1947-1971) both in planned and unplanned manner. The commercial land development in Dhaka had undergone rapid changes since the independence of Bangladesh. Ribbon commercial development, initiated in the 1960s, became a popular addition to the city fabric. By the early 1980s, private developers started to enter the land market of Dhaka and commercial land development projects are primarily dominated by them. An analysis of commercial land use pattern of Dhaka reveals a long historical background of the growth of Dhaka in relation to the physical, socio-political and cultural context. Dhaka City Corporation area has been considered as the study area. This study aims at describing and analyzing the commercial land use trend of Dhaka from a spatio-temporal perspective. This paper also intends to analyze the contemporary commercial land use pattern of Dhaka city and its associated consequences. The distribution pattern and nature of commercial land uses of Dhaka over time has been studied from urban planning standpoint. For this purpose, land use maps of different periods, have been collected and GIS database have been developed for the preparation of necessary maps. The transformation of Dhaka from a monocentric to a polycentric city has been discussed here in detail. Urban spatial structure indicators such as density profile, average distance per person to Central Business Districts (CBD) have been used to understand the nature and spatial structure of these commercial cores of Dhaka. Necessary land use related data have been collected from Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Detail Area Plan (DAP). Several secondary sources have been utilized to collect old land use maps of Dhaka. The historic and concurrent trends of development of commercial land uses in Dhaka as discussed in this paper unveiled various issues regarding the growth of Dhaka and its sustainability.

One of the most important ecosystems of earth is wetland. It provides enormous services to the human being and the environment. But a significant amount of wetland has already been lost along with agricultural and industrial revolutions. Changing social, economic and political contexts of the regions often have devastating impact on the wetland. All over the world, scientist and professional are now become aware of the adverse impact of loss of wetland and thus come up with strategies and policies to save remaining wetlands of this blue planet. Like many other cities, Dhaka as one the most fast growing mega city of the world is also expanding by exploiting its natural resources and paying little attention to her ecological and social values. The recent trend of development in Dhaka has become an alarming threat for her remaining wetlands which has a close association with the life, livelihood of her people and natural setting of the city. The private land developers has filled out large tract of wetlands in the fringe areas of Dhaka despite of enactment of various environmental acts and policies and significantly deviated from the policies stated in the structure plan of the city. In this backdrop, this research designed from a realization that policy makers, environmentalist and inhabitants of Dhaka are all aware and concerned about the loss of wetland in the city and its adverse impact but there is absence of comprehensive research work which can give a clear perspective regarding the process, trend and context of loss of wetland in Dhaka Metro Area. The issue of loss of wetland is the outcome of interaction on number of forces. A clear understanding of these forces is a prerequisite to undertake programs to save remaining wetlands of Dhaka. This study primarily focused on three broad objectives: (i) To study the nature and process of loss of wetland in Dhaka Metro Area and associated consequences; (ii) To understand the social and economic forces related with the conversion of wetland; (iii) To assess the role of institutions and planning practice in Dhaka Metro regarding the conservation of wetland. Several research works has documented the loss of wetland in different parts of the city up to the year 2001. This research calculated the loss of wetland in Dhaka Metro Area over the period 1989-1999-2005. Findings portray the alarming Wetlands of Dhaka Metro Area: A Study from Social, Economic and Institutional Perspectives.....

Bangladesh has had a long history of malaria occurrence. During the British era, malaria mapping was first initiated by Bentley in 1916; the west central part of the country being moribund had the greatest concentration of malaria. There-after, during the Second World War large-scale anti-malaria activities were carried on using DDT. By the 1970s malaria incidents declined. It was wrongly thought that the disease has been eradicated. Malaria infected people from India, particularly Assam, and adjacent hilly areas brought the disease to Bangladesh, showing migration diffusion. By 1984, it was identified that there was a positive correlation between forested areas and high Annual Paradise Index areas. During the resurgence and post-resurgence periods the country was divided into several divisions based on convex growth pattern of malaria belying vector resistance to DDT and other insecticides.