Organic cities and the case of Patrick Geddes in Dhaka

Abstract

Looking at the city of Dhaka, anyone in the first instance may feel he is perceiving a chaotic construct. But amazingly this city lives and sustains millions of people living in it. Chaos may be perceived in the very form of the city and in the way it functions. The situation of Dhaka today has grown into a very complex reality, but in the beginning of this century when the city was metamorphising to become what it happened to become today, an western town planner came to the city to give a masterplan to the city. It was almost like the ordaining of an order in the Indian tradition of founding of a city. Patrick Geddes the Scotish town planner came with a huge enthusiasm to work in India. On his eastern sojourn he came to Dhaka to produce a masterplan for the city. He perceived a regenerative organic dimension in the cities form and function, instead of chaos. His work here also raises questions as to how successful or appropriate it has been in the context of Dhaka. If he was an intruder or an interpreter in a context so opposite to his industrial background? This thesis will look into all these questions and postulate a position to interpret it based on the hypothesis presented by the proposal and the situation that exist today in the city.