Dhaka Productive City Finding Spaces to Grow Foodpodcast.bze.org.au/...Dhaka_DesignWeek_V03_LR_F.pdf · the city limits for retaining rain water as well as for maintains an ecological

Dhaka Productive City Finding Spaces to Grow Food

Intensive Design Studio Final Report

Report Dhaka Design Week v3.indd 1 28/05/15 14:46

Authors: Rob Roggema, Abiar Rahman, Jeroen de Vries

The Design Week Dhaka has been organised on the occasion of the visit of Dr Abiar Rah-man, JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow of Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, and BSMR Agricul-tural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh.

The Design Week is an initiative of the Professorship Design for Urban Agriculture and has been part of the graduation program Landscape Architecture at VHL University of Applied Sciences, Velp, the Netherlands

ISBN: 9789462286306

2 - 6 February 2015

VHL University of Applied Sciences

Velp, the Netherlands


Dhaka Productive City Finding Spaces to Grow Food

Intensive Design Studio Final Report


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Table of content

Introduction 7

Program 11

Participants 15

Basic information 17

Systems Design 33Water 33Food 36Urban Metabolism 39Energy 41Transport 43

Dhaka in Strips 45Strip North-1 46Strip North-2 48Strip Centre 50Strip South-1 52Strip South-2 54

Details 57Strip North-1: Opening spaces 57Strip North-2: Revive Dhaka City 62Strip Centre: The Food Line of Dhaka 70Strip South-1 78Strip South-2 88

Conclusions and recommendations 95

Literature 97

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Figure 1 Structure Plan 1995-2015

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Introduction

development of the greater Dhaka subzone with a population target of 15 million. It identifies the order of magnitude and direction of anticipated urban growth and defines a broad set of policies considered necessary to achieve overall plan objectives.

The plan recognizes the positive and sustainable role of green belts, preservation of high quality wet and agricultural lands. It aims to preserve the existing riv-ers in and around the city limits and their continuous upgrading and evaluation and thus recommends for building circular waterways around the city. The plan also earmarks a number of retention ponds around the city limits for retaining rain water as well as for maintains an ecological balance too and a healthy environment.

The ambition/goal: to design and develop a concept for a Sustainable Food System (Urban Agriculture) for the city of Dhaka, including aspects of sustainable water, energy and biodiversity systems, by proposing spatial interventions and adjustments for the urban design of the city. An evaluation will be made of the amount and type of possible food production.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is surrounded by four rivers: Buriganga, Balu, Shitalakhya and Turag river. The city has been subjected to periodic flooding since its early days due to these river system and low topography. Flooding of the city is mainly caused by spill over from surrounding rivers as well as internal water logging problems throughout of the city. Flood mitigation is an important issue in land use planning.

Dhaka is an uncontrolled and unplanned urban sprawl. Except for a few main artery roads and some planned housing areas, the city consists of urban slums detrimental to the healthy growth of society.

The Dhaka structure plan 1995-2015 (figure 1) pro-vides a long-term strategy for the 20 years for the

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ObjectivesThe intensive studio aims to fulfill the following ob-jectives:

a. Finding opportunities to improve the sustainable development of the city and securing food produc-tion for its current and future inhabitants by spatial interventions.

b. Developing integral spatial design solutions for improving the landscape and urban structure in or-der to meet the major challenges of the city: water management and flood control, food production, and connectivity.

c. Making landscape and urban design examples for areas and sites showing the organisation of food production integrated with closing of cycles for water, energy, and matter.

ThemesThe intensive studio addresses the following themes:

1. Food resources: local/urban/regional food pro-duction, food security and safety, self sufficiency, fostering local economy;

2. Water & Green infrastructure: water management, flood protection, water supply,

3. Urban metabolism: recycling, closing cycles of energy, nutrients, materials;

4. Energy: energy production in the landscape;5. Transport, traffic, connections, mobility, accessibil-

ity.

Food resourcesRaw food is sold at 87 wholesale markets within the area of Dhaka City.

Out of them, there are 24 rice and 13 fish markets with an estimated total number of 1.700 wholesalers (900 fish/800 rice) who work mainly as commission agents by order of rice miller, pond owners or inter-mediary suppliers in rural areas. Street vendors have an import role to bring the products to the consum-ers. Urban dwellers have little facilities for self-suf-

ficiency. The demand for safe and healthy food is growing quickly.

The urban food system of Dhaka is experiencing the rapid growth of modern retail outlets. This modern-ization process is driven by global change both in terms of new global food chains and changing food and shopping preferences and impacts the existing retail system of Dhaka. It gradually leads to shifts in its economic and spatial structure, but it also requires specific strategies from the side of the new food en-trepreneurs and local producers to cater the needs of the urban consumers.

Main questions are:• How can urban agriculture (UA) substantially con-

tribute to accessibility of food and self-sufficiency?• Which types of UA (roof gardens, allotment gar-

dens, community gardens, family enterprises, cooperatives) and which types of crops are suitable for the demands of food in the city?

• Which types of locations can be used for the differ-ent types of production?

• Which range of local food production systems can be developed that also contributes to livability, health and safety?

Water and Green infrastructureThe water system consists of the rivers, surface water, runoff water (rainwater) and groundwater. One of the major challenges is flooding.

Numerous ponds, creeks, and four major rivers used to drain 80% of the city’s floodwater during the wet season. Because of encroachment of wetlands, flood-plains and natural waterways linked with rapid and uncontrolled urban development, flooding has be-come a regular feature during the monsoon, adverse-ly affecting large numbers of urban inhabitants and disrupting the proper functioning of urban systems. The magnitude of loss due to floods has become mas-sive in the recent past.

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Low elevation, unplanned urbanisation, lack of flood preparedness, high population density and extreme poverty, poor performance of flood control works, im-pact of climate change, dilapidated drainage systems contribute to flood risk. The success of achieving efficient flood management depends amongst others on restricting urban expansion on floodplains and wa-ter reservoir areas and introducing efficient drainage facilities.

Green infrastructure may provide other ecosystem services (e.g. reducing urban heat) and can offer space for food production and leisure.

Main questions are:• Which spatial strategy can contribute to an (urban)

landscape and a water system that is resilient in respect of climate change and minimises the nega-tive effects flooding?

• How can the development of the blue and green infrastructure of the city reduce flood risk and enhance sustainability?

• How can the design of new residential areas and the spatial (re)development of existing built-up areas contribute to a resilient water system?

• How can the spatial development of the green infrastructure improve quality of life, biodiversity, safety and health in the city?

Urban metabolismThe urban metabolism consists of a complex network of flows ranging from materials, biota (ecology) to transport and traffic. In this case we focus on the flows of resources that are related to food and food production. These consist of biomass, agricultural products, irrigation/drainage and import, export, local consumption, dumping of waste.

Main questions are:• How does the urban metabolism of resources, pro-

duction, consumption and waste work?• How does this affect the quality of the urban and

regional landscape?

• Which (spatial) interventions can help to minimise the exploitation of resources?

• How can we optimise the processes, close cycles, recycle and reduce waste and pollution?

EnergyDhaka megacity has over 14 million inhabitants. The adequate supply of

urban utilities, particularly electricity, has been a ma-jor challenge mainly due to high population pressure and increasing demand. Given the shortfall of power supply electricity generation through rooftop solar PV systems is discussed. The driving forces are fully supportive of harnessing solar energy for electricity generation. The application of solar PV system on the city’s extensive rooftops (>10 km2) would be very effective and could possibly meet around half of the city’s power demand. The biomass of organic waste from households and agriculture might be used to produce energy.

Main questions are:• Which types of renewable energy might be devel-

oped for Dhaka city?• What are the spatial effects of developing these

sources of energy?• Does this call for a different lay-out of the (urban)

landscape?

Transport, traffic & mobilityThe Dhaka city’s urban transport system is pre-dominantly road-based with a substantial share for non-motorized transport, notably cycle rickshaws. Buses and minibuses, the cheapest public transport system, have not been able to increase their share and cater to the demand because of service deficien-cies. Long waiting and boarding times, overloading, lack of easy transfer, and long walking distance from the residence or workplace to bus stops are some of the problems that users face daily. A survey showed that in 2005 76% of travels are short distance (less than 3km). A large portion of the travellers are de-

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pendent on either foot or non-motorized vehicle for their principal mode of their trips. About one third of population (34%) use rickshaws, almost half (44%) are using buses. Only a small number of people use private cars. The policy of the city is to improve public transport (rail system, metro, buses, and minibuses), improving pedestrian facilities and decentralisation of services and facilities from the city centre of Dhaka to local subcentres.

Main questions are:• How can spatial and landscape planning and de-

sign contribute to a sustainable infrastructure?• How can people have better access to services (e.g.

food markets) in an affordable way?• What references for good practice can be found to

improve quality of life and accessibility for people living in the city?

• What are possible (green) structures for safe and attractive pedestrian and bicycle roads?

Integral aim of the intensive studioThe intensive studio is searching to answer the fol-lowing questions:

1. How can we design a urban food system, which substantially contributes to the (healthy) food demand of its citizens?

2. What are the most effective spatial interventions for Dhaka city as a whole to improve sustainable development of the city ensuring health, safety and the provision of food?

3. Which range of local food production systems can be developed that also contributes to liveability, health and safety, taking into account the ecolog-ical and environmental conditions of the (urban) landscape?

4. How can the design of the metropolitan landscape contribute to the aims of the studio on the scale of the city as a whole, in a specific district (scale 1: 5000) and a on a specific site (1: 1000 with details). The site designs are meant to demonstrate the feasibility of the spatial interventions and the im-provement of the quality of landscape and urban open space.

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Program

Day/time Content (rooms E006/E007)

Staff present

Monday 2nd of February9h Welcome and introduction

(RR):• Program of the week• Aim of the intensive

studio• Design for a Sustainable

Food System & Sustain-able development of the city.

Ard Middeldorp (till 11:30)Adrian NoortmanJeroen de VriesRob Roggema

9h30 Context of Bangladesh and Dhaka (Abiar Rahman):• Introduction to the city• Main issues for food

production and sustain-ability

• Expected effects of cli-mate change and urban growth

• Core questions of the planning and design task

10h15 Break10h45 Sustainable landscape

architecture (JdV):• What is the scope of

landscape ar chitecture on sustainable develop-ment

• Strategies and concepts for sustainable develop-ment

• The city as an organism: urban metabolism of flows and processes

11h30 Design approach (Teacher T&L, Adrian Noortman): • Steps for the three levels

of scale


Staff present

12h30 Break13h15 Exploring the potentials for

the entire city scaleIn groups: identifying the potentials and main issues for sustainability and food production. We will explore 5 themes:• Water & ecology, green

infrastructure• Food resources• Recycling/closing cycles

of water energy, nutri-ents, materials

• Energy• Transport, traffic, con-

nections

Jeroen de VriesRob Roggema (till 3 pm) Cees Zoon

17 h – 17h30

Collecting materials for presentations, composing draft presentations.

Tuesday 3rd of February9h -11h Presentation of the poten-

tialsFeedback by local expert: Abiar Rahman

Ard MiddeldorpAdrian NoortmanRob Roggema

11-11h45 Plenary discussionOn the most successful spa-tial interventions for a sus-tainable food system. What does the city need (how much food, what types), which spatial interventions will contribute the most to accommodating this need?

11.h45 Lecture on scenario build-ing (Ad Woudstra)(Reference: Simons & v Dorp,2014, chapter 13)

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Staff present

12h30 Break13h15 Workshop: testing the

potentials- scenario devel-opmentIntegrating the findings and maps of the potentials.Investigate the ‘counter-models’ of the potentials:What are barriers, hindranc-es and threats from urban systems such as infrastruc-ture, roads, sewage, energy, land ownership, and the prices of houses and land. (Indicative hindrances, by Abiar and the ones we can grasp from the maps)

Ard MiddeldorpAdrian NoortmanRob Roggema

Jeroen de Vries from 3 pm

15h Introduction on the sec-tionsSection of the city = part of the city, like a strip from east to west. The three defined strips (groups) give a broad and relatively detailed view at the same time

16h – 17h 30

Public Lecture Abiar Rah-man


Staff present

Wednesday 4th of February – cross sections or districts9h For a selected area or

district:Design a coherent and comprehensive UA system with hubs and connections, the required supply and resources and the expected crops. Evaluate the produc-tivity.

Jeroen de VriesCees Zoon

12h30 Break13h15 Individual exercise: Writing

a short self reflection on the extend of sustaina-ble design for landscape architects and defining focus questions for further research

14h15 Making cross sections, explanatory drawings of the design.

15h30 Select a location for design scale on Google Earth, make a scaled print and present it.

16h Feedback by local expert on the attributes and qualities of the chosen sites

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Staff present

Thursday 5th of February – site design for exemplary situations9h Site design:

• Create a “map of de-mands” for the chosen location based on all previous insights and work.

• Use analyses of food potentials and the struc-ture for UA as developed in the former days integrating the needs for sustainable develop-ment.

Rob Roggema (till 4 pm)Renzo Veenstra12h30-

13h15Break

13h15 • Detailing according to individual decisions

• Cross sections, 3D drawings, sketches and details as necessary to illustrate the concept proposed.

16h Feedback on draft sketches Trial presentation within the group


Staff present

Friday 6th of February – presentation & conclusions9h00 Finalising sketches, de-

tailing, preparing design presentation

Ard MiddeldorpAdrian NoortmanJeroen de VriesRob Roggema

11h00 Making additions and improvements to presenta-tions

12h00 Presentations of results

13h30 Conclusions of studio 14h00 Drinks and nibbles

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Participants

Guest Abiar Rahman – JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow, Kyushu University, Faculty of Design, Fukuoka, Japan and Ass Professor BSMR Agricultural University, Gazipur Bangladesh

StaffArd Middeldorp – Garden ArchitectureAdrian Noortman – Landscape ArchitectureRob Roggema – Professor of Design for Urban Agricul-ture & Slow UrbanismRenzo Veenstra – Urban PlanningJeroen de Vries – Landscape ArchitectureCees Zoon – Landscape Ecology

Students (Landscape Architecture & Garden Architecture)Loeki Dorenstouter Mariska Blankespoor Viktor Groen Robin Warnar Maartje Webbers Feiko Heurkens Milja van HooftKevin van den Berghe Vince Ruitenbeek Tom Raats, Jens AkkermanHendrik van BeekTom BosmaJelle EngelchorMike van HaasterWytse HoekstraJoshua HollemanHeleen JongeneelJulia KinzevskajaZep KleterTomas KrizanHanneke LouwsStephanie MullaartMaikel PlugHanna PrinssenSjaak PuntArjan TopperCindy VerwaaijenSandor WalingaLennart Woelinga

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Basic information

1. Food related issuesDiet per person/day

Food item (g) Poor Non-poor

Total 816.22 1084.53Rice 406.19 420.52Wheat 20.36 28.73Potato 63.44 73.78Pulses 10.15 16.22Vegetables 141.8 177.25Edible oil 14.20 23.41Onion 15.69 24.74Beef 1.55 9.27Mutton 0.11 0.83Chicken 4.11 15.09Eggs 3.40 9.02Fish 31.16 57.81Milk/products 12.18 43.63Fruits 20.46 56.0Sugar 3.32 10.88

Outside food 17.70 35.41Miscellaneous 50.28 81.81

In this paragraph the basic information relating to the food system in Dhaka is collected. It starts with the main food topics, climate data, and a map section for insights in urban development, water management, land use, traffic etc.

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Types of agricultural crop/use: • Grain: Rice, wheat, maize• Oil: Mustard, sesame, soybean• Pulse: Lentil, mungbean, gram• Fruit: Mango, jackfruit, banana, pineapple and

seasonal fruits• Vegetable: Potato, summer (pointed gourd, okra,

brinjal (egg-plant), cucumber, gourds, taro) and winter vegetables (cauliflower, tomato, gourds, cabbage), leafy vegetables (red amaranth, spinach)

• Spices: Chili, zinger, coriander, turmeric• Others: Sugarcane, tea, jute etc. Production per hectare of major crops (Ton)

Crop Yield (t/ha) Crop Yield (t/ha)

Rice – Aus 2.01 Okra 3.27Rice – Aman 2.83 Bitter gourd 3.57Rice – Boro 4.01 Cucumber 4.1Potato 26.94 Cauliflower 10.26Pumpkin 6.5 Cabbage 10.36Egg-plant 7.44 Tomato 8.6

2. Climate Monthly distribution of rainfall (mm)

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

Jan 0 0 0 23 0

Feb 0 48 1 56 30

Mar 20 22 43 45 11

Apr 123 37 14 94 163

May 235 177 168 205 185

Jun 614 308 170 577 628

Jul 356 167 676 563 753

Aug 409 340 482 319 505

Sep 207 169 298 279 179

Oct 112 174 74 227 320

Nov 0 0 4 0 111

Dec 0 81 0 0 0

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Rainfall effectsHeavy rain causes flood/water logging that is affecting: • Housing and settlement• Road and Transportation• Water Supply, Sanitation and Health• Disruption of Power Supply: Electricity and Gas

Monthly distribution of temperatures (°C)

Max Min

January 23.4 12.2February 28.7 16.9March 32.0 21.5April 33.4 23.2May 33.4 24.6June 32.6 26.2July 32.3 26.7August 31.1 26.5September 32.4 26.3October 32.6 24.7November 29.7 19.1December 24.9 15.0

Temperature effect• The length of the Summer is extending (5 - 6

months long instead of 3 - 6 months long instead of 3 months in 30 years back)

• In some hot days, temperature goes up to 40 de-gree Celsius in the city and surrounding areas

• People in slums and poor locations suffer from heat stress in every year during April – July

• Growing heat wave and water scarcity cause diar-rhea in Dhaka city every year during the Summer

• Normally, rainfall cools down the weather, but it is erratic (in some years it comes earlier or latter in the monsoon)

• The length of the Winter is diminishing but in some years it becomes very cold

Agriculture of Dhaka – change in production area per districtDhaka District• Dhaka district is losing some 2.5 hectares of fertile

land every day to brick kilns, housing projects, industrial structures and roads endangering its agriculture (DAE).

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• Agriculture officials in the district also said the loss of agricultural land has forced about 300,000 farm-ers of the district to change professions.

• According to the DAE, four upazilas and three metro areas of the district have lost 7,982 hectares of agricultural land from 2002 to 2011.

• Agricultural land in Dhamrai upazila came down to 23,518 hectares in 2011 from 25,581 hectares in 2002. Dhamrai is an upazila of 30,633 hectares of land.

• In Savar, the agricultural land shrunk from 18,634 hectares to 17,580 hectares over the same period. The total land size of the upazila is about 28,013 hectares.

• Keraniganj comprises of 16,997 hectares of and its agricultural land has reduced to 9,688 hectares from 11,380 hectares.

• Nawabganj encompasses 24,481 hectares in total and it has also lost about 1,000 hectares of agricul-tural land during the period.

• In the four upazilas, the total loss of agricultural land stands at 4,775 hectares.

• Only in Dohar upazila, the agricultural land has increased by 379 hectares due to the formation of a new char on the bank of the Padma River.

Dhaka City• In Dhaka metropolitan area, Tejgaon has lost about

2,500 hectares of agricultural land, while Moham-madpur and Gulshan have lost about 300 hectares and 500 hectares respectively.

• Tejgaon, Mohammandpur and Gulshan metro areas had about 9,790 hectares, 922 hectares and 843 hectares agricultural land respectively. About 30.5% of the land in Gulshan area is rooftop gar-den, park, government office and cantonment. In Tejgaon and Mohammadpur, the ratio is 25%.

• The study also revealed that annual loss of agricul-tural land in Dhaka during 2000-2010 was 0.65 per-cent while forest land decreased to 3.17% during the same period. The rural settlements, urban and industrial area, and charland increased by 4.78%, 8.75% and 9.81 % respectively during 2000-2010.

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3. Maps

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Topographical map with elevation

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Geology

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Map Suitability for urban development source: Dewan, A. & R. Corner (Eds) Geospatial Perspectives on Urbanisation,

Environment and Health Dhaka Megacity, 2013

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Water pollution: mostly by tanneries and bleacheries Source: Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan, Strategic Environmental Assessment, 2007

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Flood prone areas Change in surface of wetlands

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Proposed Flood Retention Ponds (Structure Plan) Dhaka Road Network

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DMDP Structure plan 1995-2015 source: Dewan, A. & R. Corner (Eds) Geospatial Perspectives on Urbanisation,

Environment and Health Dhaka Megacity, 2013

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DMDP Structure plan 1995-2015

source: Dewan, A. & R. Corner (Eds) GeospatialPerspectives on Urbanisation, Environment and Health

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Systems Design

WaterThe water system of Dhaka consists of four types of water. Water in the river is relatively heavily polluted and needs to be purified before it can be used.

Rainwater is infrequently available and cannot be used for functions that depend on a steady supply. Groundwater is clean and available, but the extrac-tion of ground water is not very sustainable as it can be taken out of the ground only once. Wastewater is dirty, but comes in different qualities (grey, black). Black water requires purification in an efficient waste water purification plant, while grey water (shower, cooking, can be used for gardening or other uses that are not very sensitive to water quality. Rainfall is une-venly distributed over the year. The surpluses

of spring and summer periods could well be stored for usage later in the year (winter). This implies that rainwater needs to be kept in the area where it falls. Storage basins can be realised under or inside build-ings, in underground cisterns or in the urban public space, and as part of green infrastructure or nature areas in larger retention ponds.

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Dhaka city map

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FoodThe ambition for the food system is to organise a larger part of the food production within the urban boundaries. The transport time from the country-side has a negative effect on the availability of fresh products in the city. The proposal aims to open up old river arms and connect these with the broader river system. This provides an easy transport system, avoiding the hassle of the overland transportation, to floating markets. The larger green areas in the urban landscape can function as larger production units of the city with efficient production techniques. In densely built areas urban farming can be implement-ed on the rooftops of residential and governmental buildings. Tyres, plastic bottles and other waste ma-terials can serve as containers for growing vegetables, herbs, potatoes, and fruits. The roofs are suitable for fish/aquaponics and keeping goats, pigeons or ducks.

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Water storage in low area

On roof, transporting to basement

- Less water transportation- Use waste water- Reduce flooding- Also useabel to grow food

Legend

Purification through green filter

Collection of rainwaterU

rban

Met

abo

lism

of

Dh

aka

Purification of pollutedsurface water

Purification of polluted industrial surface water

Garbage collection and repair point in slum Urban Metabolism Slide 1 of 3

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Urban MetabolismUrban metabolism aims to close cycles of the flows of water, energy, food and materials. Waste from these flows is reused in the process as new resourc-es for productivity. For instance, the water from the polluted river can be purified, then used in the food production and then recycled and cleaned again. The amount of household waste is bigger in richer areas, where it can be easily sorted and collected at central points to be re-used for food production, cooking and building purposes. Rainwater that is collected on rooftops can be stored and re-used for lower quality purposes in the houses before it is discharged to pu-rification plants. Water, materials, but also rest heat, and waste from food are resources.

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EnergyThe main sources for a sustainable energy supply in Dhaka are seen in harvesting biomass, use waste for energy production, and use of solar energy. Biomass can be converted to biogas in small pro-duction units. To organise this the waste needs to be separated, so that organic waste, plastics and other materials are kept apart. This process is stimulated when waste markets are introduced where this can take place. The energy production (plastics and other rest material will be burnt, organic can be fermented, other materials reused), is owned by

the local communities, so they can profit from the revenues. The application of solar PV system on the city’s extensive rooftops would be very effective Solar panels can also be used in combination with food production.

Another possibility is to regain energy out of water movement. When the water is slowly transported downwards, each step could harvest energy, using a small water turbine. The benefits are multiple: an energy sawah system prevents flooding, it provides energy, manages the water and supplies food.

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Traffic

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TransportThe main problems related to transport in Dhaka are: 1. Differences in speed between kinds of transporta-

tion, 2. The absence of highways, 3. The widths of streets in neighbourhoods, which are

too narrow and 4. The structure in street profiles.

Possible solution could be to separate fast traffic from slow. For instance through lifting fast traffic or intro-duce a monorail system in combination with fast bike lanes on top of existing infrastructure. Besides this new highways are proposed for a new ring-road and a fast connection between the airport and the city centre.

Further, the suburbs each will get their own food depot where food is stored and sold at the markets nearby. This reduces the mileage of food transporta-tion within the city.

In the urban fringes park and ride stations can be de-veloped to allow people from outer parts of the city to transfer to fast public transport. This can be connect-ed to the monorail system and also to the waterways on which fast ferries are introduced. The waterways are the main means for mass transportation. Between the airport and different parts of the city watertaxis are used to transport people. Crossings between fast and slow traffic are separated, local traffic is kept on ground level, while the through-traffic is using raised infrastructure.

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Dhaka in Strips

After understanding the systems of water, food, energy, transport and metabolism, the next task is to integrate these systems into design concepts propos-ing a sustainable and productive city. For this task the city is subdivided in five strips. For each strip an integrated concept has been designed in which cer-tain elements of the investigated systems are used. In the detail section of this report each of these strips is further elaborated, designed in more detail and visualised.

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Strip North-1The Northernmost strip focuses on the (re)creation of public spaces in the urban areas and neighbour-hoods. It tackles the problems caused by the pressure from traffic and the surpluses of water. The area is subdivided in seven typological areas.

1. The space of the old airfield is abandoned and used as a place where rainwater is harvested, can be stored, collected and cleaned. Where the water is retained the houses are built on poles in the mid-dle of a nature area and comfortable living spaces.

The houses are new, surrounded by nature and food productive areas.

2. This area is connected with area 1. It consists of a series of fishponds, and living areas, where the houses have green facades and rooftops are used for food production.

3. This is a richer part of the neighbourhood where the people are more open to implementing rooftop gar-dens, water storage basins and solar panels on their roofs, or storages in cisterns under the building

4. A newly built area where new houses are mingled with green spaces, which are mutually connected.

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5. The big hangars of the old airfield are reused as a market hall and a main distribution centre for Dha-ka. From here food is distributed to places where it is sold, i.e. where traffic gets stuck.

6. The slum area where water is collected and trans-ported trough swails towards the southern slum area, which is a relatively low-lying area.

7. The southern slum area collects the water from the northern part, it is purified it in a natural way (using reed and helophytes) and stored it in small ponds, where fish can be kept.

The areas 5, 2, 3 and 1 are connected as one system. The water is stored and transported slowly down-wards, where the motion of the water is used to generate energy, after the water is collected in ponds, aquaponic water systems produce food (fish, vege-tables). This food is transported back to the elevated area, where the newly developed market hall stores the food and redistributes it for sale.

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Strip North-2This strip focuses on traffic. The proposal is to raise the highway and connect it to local roads. Each neighbourhood will develop its own specialisation. At the crossroads local markets are planned. Water will be saved on the rooftops and the surpluses are collected in the streets. The main green-blue areas produce most of the fruit, vegetables and fish, in the ponds, for the entire neighbourhood.

The water structure in the center consists of two systems. The water on the higher level produces fish, while at the lower level the water is purified. The clean water is pumped back into the higher level of the river. The system produces 50% of the food demand in the entire area. The ponds and helophyte filters clean the water and this can be reused to save water. The eastern slums operate as retention place. The ponds are the places where water is stored and

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water is kept in the dry season. Cascades of water are used to produce energy. The traffic is divided in sever-al levels. In each neighborhood there is a food-market near a crossroad where locally produced food is sold.

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Strip CentreIn this area, new waterways are connected with the main streets. The monorail system provides the pos-sibility to use spaces in a multifunctional way, under-neath the infrastructure at street level. The current airport is transformed in an area of food production. The main infrastructure connects eastern with west-ern parts of

the city. It consists of the road network and several hubs, where

food is provided at markets and storage halls. This ‘food-route’ is a corridor where quality food can be guaranteed, mainly as result of the short distances between the places where the food is offered and the customers. Each hub consists of a multi-layered

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market, fish factory and a green agricultural roof garden on top. Rainwater is collected and stored here to supply the growth of food. Unplanned residential areas are provided with canals including hydro-filters for cleaning. There are basins where drinking water is stored and retention basins for recreational activities and ecological development.

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Strip South-1In this strip a combination of two monorail tracks, a fully filled residential area with solar panels and retention of rainwater under the building is proposed. The main intervention is however, to create energy and food harvesting sawahs. The water flows in a cas-cade from elevated terraces to lower fields. The wa-

ter-flow generates energy. The terraces are meant for food production and temporary water retention for watering the plants. This system consists of rice-pad-dies, rough forest gardening and fine reed along the river, to use the water for production and also purify it before it streams into the rivers. The forest garden contains trees, bushes, smaller plants and fruit trees

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and plants that form a symbiosis. Alongside the sawah system a ‘highway’ for water is projected to direct surpluses of water directly to the forest garden and river. Along the river flood plains are proposed, where large amounts of water can flow in times of heavy rain. In these areas river water infiltrates in the soil, meanwhile getting purified.

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Strip South-2In this strip transportation is organised using a combination of infrastructural works, monorails and stations at crucial hubs. These hotspots combine markets, traffic and social life. They function as a set of connected transferia, where people swap transpor-tation mode. At the interchange there is possibility

for shopping or socialising. The rainwater is in this proposition stored and purified to be reused.

The new water system does also generate energy. The water flows into the large storage fareas, where rice, aquacultures and fish breeding occur. The basin also provides water for the dry period in winter. In the

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new water structure an island is created with a nature function that can serve as an attraction for nature experience.

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Details

Strip North-1: Opening spacesDhaka City strip 1

Opening spaces

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Concept 6 different areas

Flow chart strip 1 - summer Flow chart strip 1 - winter

Masterplan strip 1

1 Fishponds, farmtowers en foodforest 2Waterstorage, purification and solar energy 3 Roofgarden and solar energy 4 Community garden, solar energy and polehouses 5 Distribution center 6 Slums, water retention and water drainage

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Keep spaces open for water end green Houses on poles

This area floods occasionally, the houses are built on stilts. The green open spaces are used for food production.

Create open productive spaces

In this area spaces are created for food production. The water basins are used to breed fish, in the food towers integrated farming takes place.

Farm-towers

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Open spaces for clean(ing) water and (food) production

This slum area is an area where green and water is retained. The water is moves through connected fields of agricultural production.

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Productive landscape in a slum area

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Strip North-2: Revive Dhaka CityIn this strip there are a lot of problems. The area near the river is frequently flooded so it can’t be used for food production and other functions. In the entire strip there is a shortage of food, in particular of veg-etables. In the dry season however, there is a short-age of rainfall which limits the food production. The surface water is polluted. Another problem is the high intensity of traffic in the roads. All types of traffic are mixed, the different speeds and modes of transport are not structured.

What is the essence of your idea/the solution? (concept)In this strip there are higher and lower areas. In the lower areas there is a lot of water and are only a few houses. These lower areas are very green and it are green fingers in the city which act like green lungs. In this concept a lot of problems will be solved by redesigning the green fingers. All the small pools will be connected to each other by a central stream. The pools can be used for purify the water or people can grow their own food. The city is built on the higher areas. Here will rainwater be collected on roofs and flows through terraces down to the central stream. On the terraces can grow food which can be collected on central markets. These central markets are located on intersections. This is a place where garbage will be collected. Food transport can be transported on a raised road above the street on ground level.

What will be the most important spatial changes and where? What is needed to implement those changes? What will it look like?The biggest change occurs in the lower parts. A water stream will be dug and the soil will be used to make terraces. Here different types of food can be grown

and the whole area will a green image. Terraces form the transition from higher to lower areas. Canals that stream through the terraces transport water from the higher parts to the lower parts. The new stream is provided by bridges. The new street above the street is for public transport. Here are buses and cars for fast traffic. The markets, central points for collecting garbage are open areas in the higher parts. Here peo-ple can reach the higher streetlevel.

How does the proposed system work? How are different goals strategically combined in the spatial solution?Rainwater will be collected on every roof in the city. This water can be used for growing vegetables on the roofs. With an excess of water, it could be emptied into the canal and it streams to the highest terrace. Here the water will be purified before it will be used for the food production on the lower terraces and household use. The water will also used to produce energy by a big wheel. Near the stream are many pools that serve as fish ponds.

Calculation of productionThe calculation is based on the average diet of peo-ple living in Bangaladesh. When the only crop on the terraces consists vegetables the yield will be enough to provide in feed for vegetables of the people living in the adjoining neighbourhoods. This means that staple food like rice and potatoes have to be grown outside the city. The production of vegetables close to the city is important because it minimises transport time and ensures the availability of fresh products.

The additional a water body with fish nurseries along the existing stream can provide in 50% of the local fish consumption.

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System - rainseason

System - dry season

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Concept

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Detail-1: Terraces

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Guiding image of strip 2 with additional water body and production of fish and vegetables.

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Detail-2: Water wheel and elevated river

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Creating fast connections Minimize number of polluting cars Streets provide a space for markets

Detail-3: Streets

Walking - along markets Cycling - fast route Driving and public transport: travelling fast

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Reference image infrastructure strip 2: unclotting the main arteries of the city

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Strip Centre: The Food Line of Dhaka There are several major problems in Dhaka: • Due to the fast population growth the traffic has

grown fast too. Dhaka still has an old and narrow infrastructure, which has too small capacity and se-vere traffic jams are common. Also there are many unplanned neighborhoods with no organized infrastructure, which also causes traffic jams.

• Due to poor food management and poor infra-structure, not enough proper food gets into the city. Often there is only unhealthy food available. Increasing drought and shifting monsoon time causes harvest losses which causes food shortages.

• All the surface water is polluted in Dhaka. This is especially a problem for poor people, who cannot access clean water and are forced to drink the pol-luted water, causing many diseases.

• Dhaka is located in a river delta, surrounded by three rivers and is situated relatively low. Due to increasing rain in monsoon time, floods are more

common. This is also caused by poor city planning, where people build houses illegally in lower areas, where flood comes regularly.

• Dhaka has also a waste problem, where waste is sometimes piled up on roads or other random locations, especially in poor neighborhoods.

Our ideas to these problems must improve the situation in Dhaka on a sustainable way. Also the plans must be affordable. Our ideas:• Improve existing infrastructure: Important roads

must be connected in a proper way, so critical points in the infrastructure cause less traffic jams.

• Create alternative transport: people can walk to a station from where they can travel, so less people use cars and rikshaw, and traffic jams are reduced

• Produce food in unused areas and roofs, like roof gardens, fish tanks and cattle buildings

• Recycle materials and nutrients, to close cycles and create cheaper products

• All the waste water from the houses must be cleaned by a natural filter, before it is released into surface water

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• Collect rainwater on roofs or in basements, to pro-vide clean drinking water

• Collect excess water in monsoon time in retention basins to prevent the city from flooding.

The most important spatial changes and how they work:• Create a monorail system above the existing roads

with a station every kilometer from where people can travel. On the more important stations, people can go to another way of transport or a monorail that goes in another direction. There must also come transferium stations outside the city, so people and goods from outside the city can travel more easily into the city.

• Connect surface water with each other, so people can also travel by waterbus. This cannot be done on the higher parts of the city. If people want to go there, they complete their travel by monorail.

• On the former airport, we want to create space to produce quality foods, like tomatoes, fruits, etc. There also must come buildings where fish and chickens can be produced. These buildings contain

multiple floors to increase capacity. The fish and chickens also produce manure that can be used for bio energy and nutrients for vegetables. At the edge at some points, markets can be created to sell the produced food at the former airport. Fish need more buildings to produce enough for the people in Dhaka. These buildings come throughout the city in slum areas, where people can be moved to another area, because slum buildings are mostly illegally built.

• At the eastside of Dhaka, there is a large slum area that is built on lower grounds. We want to create a cannel system, where excess water and wastewater runs into the cannels and is cleaned by a natural filter before it is released into the retention basins.

• Large retention basins should be constructed in the lower areas in the city. Excess rainwater and wastewater is first cleaned by a natural filter and then emptied into the basins. When the river level is lower, the water in the retention basins can be released into the rivers, and these retention areas can be used for recreation.

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Connecting waterways Monorail development Food production on old airport Waterretention and cleaning Improve water management Create transport over water Connect important roads to reduce traffic jams

Faster traveling in Dhaka Create transferium points in the city Transferium points from outside the city

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Large scale: on former airport Small scale: on rooftops

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Reference image of buildings with fish nurseries and animal production in center strip

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Catch rainwater on rooftops and basements for drinking water Waste water from houses cleaned by natural filters Access water and cleaned waste water go to retention areas Collecting rainwater from the roof

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Create cannals in lower slum area at east side of Dhaka Clean the water and store it in retention area’s

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Reference image of public space and transport system of center strip

Strip South-1• Monorail = replacement for bus (50% traffic)• Monorail + riksja highway (long distance)• Connecting the suburbs & airports• Monorail stations on the edges of Dakha• Transferium (P&R) + fooddepot + social• Connect old riverways in the east+ riverbus

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Traffic

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Monorail and Riksja highway

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Transferium (P&R) Food-depot Social connection point

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Energy sawahs DhakaEnergy-sawahsWith rainwater collection, purification of water and food produce. To make place for the sawahs houses should be removed. These are mostly slums, which are to be replaced and improved at the same time.

Food ForestingAn extensive type of gardening, with different types of food delivering plants. This is easily to start with for the people of Dhaka.

Flood fieldsWater retention in flood periods, water infiltration while leaving the pollution in the flood fields where

plants purifies the nature again. These lie behind the food forest, and are lower situated. It’s also very easy to improve this, the only thing to do is unearth the top layer of this space.

Solar panels, rainwater collection in basement and small rooftop gardeningAs bottom up strategy; people start these kinds of solutions in their own households. It’s the govern-ments task to provide knowledge and handles to start.

Monorails to connect different slumsTo reduce the traffic jam, integrated with a bicycle highway to encouraging. This point is to carry out by the government, since it’s quite valued.

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Water-energy-food system

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Energy-sawah system

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Reference image strip south with house on poles to accommodate for flooding and local food production in green verges.

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Strip South-2The new designed water system contributes to sus-tainable energy, well organised infrastructure and availability of local food.

Rooftops: collect rainwater, which is used in house-hold and rooftop gardens and flows (via the street) into small circular waterways or ponds.

Small circular water ways and ponds:• collect rainwater from roofs and streets;• function as ecological filters (reed, hennep);• serve as fishing water;• are a way of transport inside the neighbourhood

and to the hubs;• empty:

• into small circular waterways on a lower level,• eventually into water retention lakes;

• produce energy via dynamos or a mill (for house-holds or monorail).

Retention lakes:• store the water during the dry season);

• contain relatively clean water;• consist of compartments with different depths for aq-

ua-agriculture, fish, eco-filter, recreation and nature;• empty into to the river via a dynamo/mill creates

energy The river:• drains water towards sea;• is a way of transport. Large scale infrastructure: • functions to transport food and people from:

• outside the city to hubs• inside the city to hubs• hub to hub

• is fast, so food will still be fresh• is safe• functions for large quantities• consists of various modes of transport: monorail,

train or trolleybus• the preferred mode is by monorail because:

• it is high above the ground and not affected by flooding

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• is in line with existing strategies• prevents traffic jams on ground level

Hubs are multifunctional places that consist of:• a station• parking lots• markets for

• food (from outside and inside the city)• seeds• plants• fertilizer

• knowledge café (grow-your-network.org (anically)

Small circular waterways or ponds• Every neighbourhood has its own water circle, so it

can be adapted to: • The pattern of the streets and buildings• The needs of the different people• The cultural differences (in collective communi-

cation)

Lake A• Expanding the existing lake• Low part• Few buildings Lake B• Low part• Few buildings The Monorail follows either the structure of the planned/existing city or the shortest route (through slums)

Public transport network• Hubs are the multifunctional points on the public

transport network (station, parking lot, market etc.• Rooftop gardening• Multifunctional wet areas on the edge of the city:

Rainwater storage, fish breeding, rice production.• Streams’ of rainwater to the wet areas. Streams are

used for water purification, generating energy etc.

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Detail-1: SlumHUB

The use of free space, redesign as water boulevard. A productive water boulevard with fishponds, rice fields and docks for boats and rooftop gardening.

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Detail-2: CityCentreHUB

Traffic problems are solved through the monorail. The market moves into a large-scale building, inspired by the sawah idea, in terraces.

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Detail-3: WetAreaHUB

Developing space for producing rice and fish, a green productive boulevard.

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Conclusions and recommendations

The Dhaka Design Week at the landscape architecture school of VHL University offered multiple benefits. For our guest Abiar Rahman it offered an approach to dealing with a problem in a complete new, creative fashion, which was refreshing and enlightening. For the landscape students it was, at the start of their graduation period, a dive into deep water. First, in the intensity of dealing and taking up new information and transforming this into understanding and design propositions. Secondly, the students were confronted with a location and cultural background in Bangla-desh they did not know about or were familiar with. This caused trouble and unease, as they were in lim-bo between what they had learnt before and the new demands they did not yet grasp. However these new challenges caused new insights and innovations, that local planners and designers most probably never would or could propose.

For the research project of urban agriculture it offered an opportunity to develop spatial systems for urban agriculture and local food production and evaluate strategies and design concepts in a metropolitan context.

Main challengesThe main topics of interest, or the most demanding problems were traffic congestion, water supply and quality, food production and creation of new public spaces and centres of social meeting places.

Spatial strategies and design propositionsThe design propositions showed different spatial strategies for different places in the city. This provid-ed a range and variation of solutions.

The general strategy is to build on the conditions of the existing landscape, to develop green and blue in-frastructure that provide a combination of functions: food production, flood prevention, water purification, water storage, reduction of heat, local transport, energy production, leisure and enhancing beauty on different scales.

A second part of the strategy is to find space that is very limited in this densely built and used city. The quest was also to find space for productivity. The strategiy varied from the stacking of functions, use of multiple layers and spaces. Even water was elevated

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in the third dimension and traffic, gardens and people are stacked. Besides this the solution was found in the use of left-over places (e.g. unused rooftops, road-sides, wasteland) or multi-functional use of one space (e.g combination of energy and food production). The design propositions illustrated the linking pin be-tween practical knowledge and the range of problems where it has been applied. They paired challenging propositions with realistic outcomes.

The intensive studio processThe students have developed their personality, work-ing under stressful circumstances and collaboration with fellow students they might not have known so well before. This enriched them and helped them to develop further into the future.

The design solutions are sometimes ambitious, especially in the context of Dhaka practice, but in a Research by Design context to dream about the future solution leads to innovative solutions.

Without these there is a standstill of thinking and nothing will happen.

The short period of the intensive studio helped to focus on the essentials of food systems and relating people’s diets to the amount of productive areas that are needed. It also provided insight in the way sus-tainable designs are depending on circular economy, local production and recycling material.

RecommendationsThis type of intensive design week is successful and is worthwhile to repeat. It is recommended to evaluate the results and the design week agenda to improve the approach for future similar events.

It is recommended to take the results from this design week and discuss and present the results to the rele-vant stakeholders in Dhaka.

It is also recommended to investigate future collab-orative research projects to be developed together with the BSMR Agricultural University. In order to ex-plore the opportunities it is also advised to organise a fact-finding mission on short notice to Dhaka.

Velp, 20 February 2015

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Literature

Ahmed, B. and R. Ahmed (2012) Modeling Urban Land Cover Growth Dynamics Using Multi-Temporal Satellite Images: A Case Study of Dhaka, Bangladesh. International Journal of Geo-Information 1 3-31

Ahmed, S.J., Kh. Md. Nahiduzzaman, and G. Bramley (2014) From a Town to a Megacity: 400 Years of Growth. In: Dewan, A. and R. Corner (Eds.) (2014) Dhaka Megacity Geospatial Perspectives on Urbanisation, Environment and Health. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer. Pp. 23-43

Dewan, A. and R. Corner (Eds.) (2014) Dhaka Megacity Geospatial Perspectives on Urbanisation, Environment and Health. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer

Dewan, A.M. (2013) Floods in a Megacity: Geospatial Techniques in Assessing Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer

Islam, S. and R. Ahmed (2011) Land use change prediction in Dhaka city using GIS aided Markov chain modeling. Journal of Life Earth Sciences 6 81-89

Khan, A.M. and Dr. Md A. Mahmud (2013) Transport Planning of Dhaka City: Some Contemporary Observations. Private article.

Rajdani Unnayan Kertripakkha (RAJUK) (1997) Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (1995-2015). Volume-I Dhaka Structure Plan (1995-2015). Dhaka: Dhaka Metropolitan Development Planning (DMDP)

Rajdani Unnayan Kertripakkha (RAJUK) (1997) Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (1995-2015). Volume-II Urban Area Plan (1995-2015). Dhaka: Dhaka Metropolitan Development Planning (DMDP)

Roggema, R. (2013) The Design Charrette: Ways to Envision Sustainable Futures. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London: Springer

Roggema, R. and G. Keeffe (Eds.) (2014) Why We Need Small Cows. Ways to Design for Urban Agriculture. Velp: VHL Press Rohmensen, G.J. (2007) Dammen in delta Bangladesh. Private publication.

Samarakoon, L. (2007) Land Use Planning for Flood Mitigation in Dhaka City using Remote Sensing and GIS. VAT Asia Case Study 4

Shaw, R., F. Mallick and A. Islam (Eds.) (2013) Climate Change Adaptation Actions in Bangladesh. Tokyo, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London: Springer

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COLOFON

Authors Rob Roggema, Abiar Rahman, Jeroen de Vries

Editor Rob Roggema

Graphic design Erwin Vrensen

Press VHL Press Velp

Images Table: Diet per person/day Nahar Q. 2013. Desirable Dietary Pattern of Bangladesh. Project Completion Report of NFPCSP. BIRDEM, Dhaka.

Table: Production per hectare of major crops (Ton) BBS. 2011. Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. Dhaka

Table: Monthly distribution of rainfall (mm) / Monthly distribution of temperatures (°C) Source: Bangladesh Meteorology Department (BMD). Govt. of Bangladesh.

Map in Page 24 Source: DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority)

Map in Page 25 Source: DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority) IWA (The International Water Association)

Map in Page 26 Mahmud, M.S., A. Masrur, A. Ishtiaque, F. Haider and U. Habiba. 2011. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 3: 781-787.

Maps in Page 28-29 Change in surface of wetlands Mamun, A., A. Mahmood and M. Rahman. 2013. Identification and Monitoring the Change of Land Use Pattern Using Remote Sensing and GIS: A Case Study of Dhaka City. IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 6(2): 20-28.

Maps in Page 28 Flood prone area Source: Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Study (BCAS)

Maps in Page 30 Dhaka Road Network Source: DAP, 2004

All other maps and images have been developed during the Design Week by the students. ©2015 VHL University of Applied Sciences

ISBN: 9789462286306

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Documents

Dhaka Productive City Finding Spaces to Grow Foodpodcast.bze.org.au/...Dhaka_DesignWeek_V03_LR_F.pdf · the city limits for retaining rain water as well as for maintains an ecological