Urban Planning Approach and Production of Counter Architecture: A Case Study of New Market, Khulna
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5614/jpwk.2023.34.3.5Keywords:
Counter Architecture, Global South, Khulna, Planning Approach, Urban InformalityAbstract
Informal spatial practices in cities of the Global South are often regarded as activities taking place outside the realm of regulatory oversight. The prevailing urban governance and planning paradigms, which are largely derived from developed countries, struggle to adapt to the dynamic nature of these practices and the inherent conflicts they entail. Furthermore, the influence of disorderly political systems further complicates matters at the local level. In response to planned development, informal spatial practices persist as a critical yet overlooked/integral aspect of ever-evolving urban realities. This paper provides new insights into the current dynamics surrounding the creation of informal urban spaces in Global South cities and their interaction with the formal planning framework. Our study focused on the city of Khulna in Bangladesh, a compelling case study with a history of failed industrial planning dating back to the 1960s, when it was designed by a group of British consultants. Following its initial failure and the city?s subsequent decline in population, Khulna has witnessed an unforeseen surge in ?counter spatial? development driven by the imperative to meet socio-economic and cultural needs. This paper underscores the significance of such type of informal spatial production and introduces/highlights the concept of ?counter architecture? as a pivotal element of society that demands recognition and inclusion in the broader urban development framework. It suggests that the ?counter architecture? lens provides a foundation for challenging the rigidity of master planning and understanding the interconnectedness between formal and informal urban spaces. This perspective emphasizes the need to consider the lived experiences and tactical attributes of spatial formation, ultimately highlighting the resistance of ?inhabitants? and ?users? against the static codes of modern master planning in cities of Global South like Khulna.
Downloads
References
Alsayyad N. (2004) Urban informality as a ?new ?way of life.? Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia: 7-30.
Annual Report. (1988) Khulna Development Authority, Khulna
Bayat A. (1997) Street politics: poor people?s movements in Iran, Columbia University Press.
Chaudhury A. H. (2010) Metropolitan planning in Bangladesh with reflections Khulna city master plan 1961 and the current trend, Khulna University.
Choudhury B. I., P. Armstrong. (2013) The failure of the 1917 Geddes master plan and 1959 Minoprio, Spencely, Macfarlane master plans: Some reflections, Journal of Social and Development Sciences 4(10): 449-460.
Davis, D. E. (2017). ?Informality and state theory: Some concluding remarks.? Current Sociology 65(2): 315-324.
Gray C. L., V. Mueller. (2012) Natural disasters and population mobility in Bangladesh, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(16): 6000-6005.
Guha-khasnobis. B., et al. (2006) Beyond formality and informality: Linking the formal and informal economy: Concepts and policies 4: 75-92.
Hart K. (1973) Informal income opportunities and urban employment in Ghana, The journal of modern African studies 11(1): 61-89.
Hossain. M. Z., M. Mahmood. (2016) Rural-urban Migration in Bangladesh and Its Nexus with Some Socioeconomic Indicators at Origin and Destination, International Journal of Social Relevance & Concern 4(11).
Jabareen Y. (2014) ?Do it yourself? as an informal mode of space production: conceptualizing informality, Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 7(4), 414-428.
Jacobs, J. (1992). The death and life of great American cities. 1961. New York: Vintage, 321-325
Kookana, R. S., et al. (2020) Urbanization and emerging economies: Issues and potential solutions for water and food security, Science of the Total Environment 732: 139057.
KDA. (1961) Master plan, Khulna Development Authority, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Ministry of Housing and Public Works
KDA (2001) Master plan, Khulna Development Authority, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Ministry of Housing and Public Works
KDA (2013) detail area plan, Khulna Development Authority, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka: Ministry of Housing and Public Works
Lefebvre H., D. Nicholson-smith. (1991) The production of space, Oxford Blackwell.
Mills C. W. (1981) The power elite [1956]. New York.
Lutzoni L. (2016) In-formalised urban space design. Rethinking the relationship between formal and informal, City, Territory and Architecture 3(1): 1-14.
Podder, A. K. (2017) The politics of doing nothing: A rethinking of the culture of poverty in Khulna c. 1882?1990. Urban Geopolitics, Routledge: 105-120.
Polanyi K. (2001) The great transformation: The political and economic origins of our time, Beacon press.
Mehrotra, R. (2008). Negotiating the static and kinetic cities: The emergent urbanism of Mumbai. Other cities, other worlds: Urban imaginaries in a globalizing age, 113-140.
Roy D. (2016) ?Footpath, road grabbing woes for Khulna pedestrians?, The Daily Star, 30th November Viewed 23 May 2019, https://www.thedailystar.net/city/footpath-road-grabbing-woes-khulna-pedestrians-1322695
Roy A. (2004) The gentleman?s city: Urban informality in the Calcutta of new communism, Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America, and South Asia: 147-170.
Roy A. (2009) Why India cannot plan its cities: Informality, insurgence and the idiom of urbanization, Planning Theory, 8(1), 76-87.
Roy A., Alsayyad N. (2004) Urban informality: Transnational perspectives from the middle East, Latin America, and south Asia: Lexington Books.
Soja E. W. (1998) Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and other real-and-imagined places, Capital & Class, 22(1), 137-139.
Song, L. K. (2016). ?Planning with urban informality: a case for inclusion, co-production and reiteration.? International Development Planning Review 38(4): 359-381.
Soto H. D. (1989) The other path: the invisible revolution in the Third World, New York.
Watson, V. (2009). ?Seeing from the South: Refocusing urban planning on the globe?s central urban issues.? Urban studies 46(11): 2259-2275.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of Regional and City Planning

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Manuscript submitted to JRCP has to be an original work of the author(s), contains no element of plagiarism, and has never been published or is not being considered for publication in other journals. The author(s) retain the copyright of the content published in JRCP. There is no need for request or consultation for future re-use and re-publication of the content as long as the author and the source are cited properly.