Community participation for
sustainable urban development in medium-scale metropolitan cities of Bangladesh
ABSTRACT
The principle of modern town planning is
reflected in participatory democracy and there is a high degree of consensus on
the need for participation of the community in order to progress towards
sustainable urban development. True involvement of citizens in the
decision-making process leads to better decisions that allow wise planning and
management to create long term interventions. Despite entrenched democratic
traditions, unlike western countries, Bangladeshi cities are characterized by
politicized power and unequal social structure. Socio-economic disparity and
ineffective administrative setup seem to be largely responsible for stifling
participatory urban planning and development in Bangladesh. Most of the current
literature focuses on western culture in terms of participatory urban
development paying little attention to the peculiarities and characteristics of
the cities in developing world. Different urbanization experience shaped by
different cultural and socio-economic conditions have yielded significantly
different urban situations. It is imperative therefore to sail out in depth
research in order to find out the factors behind poor performance of planning
activities in development context and to guide the planning system to achieve
sustainability utilizing available resources. Considering the importance of
community participation for sustainable urban development, success history in
international cases and the potentials in medium scale cities of Bangladesh
(Khulna, Rajshahi and Chittagong), I intend to develop a methodological
framework to investigate effective community participation in the planning
process by evaluating legislative and urban governance framework (dispersal of
power among the actors); scoping of unused resources for effective
participation; profiling topography of the local communities to understand the
applied ethnographic dynamics that help people to make decisions or take action,
and determining the relevance of contemporary planning theories which best
define urban characteristics of Bangladesh. Both qualitative (report card
survey and discussion sessions) and quantitative (semi-structured interview of community
members) methods will be applied in this study. The research output will add to
the applicability and comprehensiveness of planning theories and the body of
knowledge related to participatory urban development to better deal with the third
world urban context. It will also suggest appropriate participatory mechanisms
to foster increased participation towards sustainable urban development and will
serve as a useful tool in achieving the targets of Local Agenda 21 in
developing countries.
