ABSTRACT
Dhaka, the economic engine of Bangladesh, is one of the world's fastest urbanising megacities. The economic benefits of urbanisation are outweighed by its rapid, unregulated, and haphazard urban growth; the quality of life, sustained and inclusive economic growth, and environmental sustainability present grave risks in Dhaka. This chapter traces the spatial transformation pattern and process of the city and its neighbourhoods and highlights the critical urban growth management challenges. Findings suggest that urban policies and interventions have been ineffective at stemming and managing Dhaka's rapid, haphazard, unstable, and unregulated urban growth. Securing distributive justice, growth management, and decentralisation remains difficult within the prevailing economic and political rationality. This chapter calls for a shift in philosophical preferences that would demonstrate the state's willingness to ensure distributive justice of economic growth, commitment to sustainable urban growth, and a people-centred development approach that would make Dhaka a liveable and inclusive city.
