The first thing you notice when you come out of the airport to meet Dhaka for the first time has to be the sheer number of people overflowing from every corner in Dhaka. UN Habitat’s Urban Data tells us that Dhaka hosts 14.54 million people in 324 square km (according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics more than 2 million are slum dwellers). 44,500 people lives per sq km in Dhaka. That makes it the most densely populated core urban area in the world.
According to World Population Review, the population of Dhaka was about 300K in 1950, which means it has grown some 50 times (yes, that’s right) in about 65 years. Also it continues to grow 2.2 times faster than the national average, which is saying a lot for the 9th most populated country in the world. In 15 more years it will be more than 27 million people. According to Daniel Hoornweg & Kevin Pope, it will be the third largest city by population in 2050 (they predict New York to be 9th and Tokyo to be 7th in that year).
This is how they live.
This how they move.
There are 3,000 km of roads in Dhaka (The Only Solution by Md. Saidur Rahman), which is less than 7% of urban area (compare to New York and Paris with 30% of land given to roads). More than half of only 400 km of sidewalks are overtaken by street vendors, and there are only 60 traffic lights in the city. The streets have 128 street corners per km (The Geometry of Urban Layouts: A Global Comparative Study By Mahbub Rashid), making them even less navigable for some 1 million cars, half a million rickshaws and half a million more of unregistered vehicles.
The sheer chaos of so many people crowding together, putting extreme pressure on every infrastructure, is spectacular (for example 4.5K tonnes of waste generated daily and only 63% of that is never collected - the stench is awesome). It is compounded by the lawlessness of the systems and the natural inclination of the people to be unruly. Mercer ranks Dhaka 214 among 231 cities in their livability index and Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Dhaka as the 2nd least liveable city, while the Future Law Initiative ranks Bangladesh 103 among 131 countries in their rule of law index.
The above picture is from an affluent part of the city, expect uncollected rotting trash.
You would still be fortunate if you are travelling now, as the all pervasive billboards of Dhaka were outlawed in August 2016. Otherwise that would have been the first thing you would have noticed.
This how billboards covered the city two years back.
You still would probably be visually struck by the 500K cycle rickshaws plying the overcrowded streets of Dhaka. These cycle rickshaws are the mainstay of middle class transport in Dhaka (approximately 20% of the Dhaka population and 50% of Dhaka landowners), and are a highly interesting sight with their bright decoration and folk-artsy back-boards.
You can’t miss the cycle rickshaws.
Rickshaw art 1
Rickshaw art 2
Dhaka is one of the least motorised cities in the world. Number of all vehicles per 100,000 population is only 2,630 vehicles, among them about 2,195 are non-motorised vehicles. It is observed that rickshaws and other NMT account for 50% or more of the overall traffic flow on roads. After pedestrians, the rickshaw is the most preferred mode of transport in Dhaka. About 60% of trips are on foot while almost half of the remaining trips are on non-motorised vehicle. (source) But still, lack of roads makes Dhaka the traffic capital of the world.
You can’t miss the traffic congestion either. And, you can’t miss the noise levels. While UK Environment Protection Act of 1997 sets 45 dB, in Dhaka the average noise is 75 or more for residential areas, making hearing loss, stress and other noise related problems a major health hazard.
Sight, sound and smell - Dhaka will strike first time visitors very strongly. Try not to experience Dhaka in the night. According to Numbeo, safety index for walking in the night in New York is 50, for walking during daytime in Dhaka has an index of 46. Stay safe, stay patient while in Dhaka.
According to World Population Review, the population of Dhaka was about 300K in 1950, which means it has grown some 50 times (yes, that’s right) in about 65 years. Also it continues to grow 2.2 times faster than the national average, which is saying a lot for the 9th most populated country in the world. In 15 more years it will be more than 27 million people. According to Daniel Hoornweg & Kevin Pope, it will be the third largest city by population in 2050 (they predict New York to be 9th and Tokyo to be 7th in that year).
This is how they live.
This how they move.
There are 3,000 km of roads in Dhaka (The Only Solution by Md. Saidur Rahman), which is less than 7% of urban area (compare to New York and Paris with 30% of land given to roads). More than half of only 400 km of sidewalks are overtaken by street vendors, and there are only 60 traffic lights in the city. The streets have 128 street corners per km (The Geometry of Urban Layouts: A Global Comparative Study By Mahbub Rashid), making them even less navigable for some 1 million cars, half a million rickshaws and half a million more of unregistered vehicles.
The sheer chaos of so many people crowding together, putting extreme pressure on every infrastructure, is spectacular (for example 4.5K tonnes of waste generated daily and only 63% of that is never collected - the stench is awesome). It is compounded by the lawlessness of the systems and the natural inclination of the people to be unruly. Mercer ranks Dhaka 214 among 231 cities in their livability index and Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Dhaka as the 2nd least liveable city, while the Future Law Initiative ranks Bangladesh 103 among 131 countries in their rule of law index.
The above picture is from an affluent part of the city, expect uncollected rotting trash.
You would still be fortunate if you are travelling now, as the all pervasive billboards of Dhaka were outlawed in August 2016. Otherwise that would have been the first thing you would have noticed.
This how billboards covered the city two years back.
You still would probably be visually struck by the 500K cycle rickshaws plying the overcrowded streets of Dhaka. These cycle rickshaws are the mainstay of middle class transport in Dhaka (approximately 20% of the Dhaka population and 50% of Dhaka landowners), and are a highly interesting sight with their bright decoration and folk-artsy back-boards.
You can’t miss the cycle rickshaws.
Rickshaw art 1
Rickshaw art 2
Dhaka is one of the least motorised cities in the world. Number of all vehicles per 100,000 population is only 2,630 vehicles, among them about 2,195 are non-motorised vehicles. It is observed that rickshaws and other NMT account for 50% or more of the overall traffic flow on roads. After pedestrians, the rickshaw is the most preferred mode of transport in Dhaka. About 60% of trips are on foot while almost half of the remaining trips are on non-motorised vehicle. (source) But still, lack of roads makes Dhaka the traffic capital of the world.
You can’t miss the traffic congestion either. And, you can’t miss the noise levels. While UK Environment Protection Act of 1997 sets 45 dB, in Dhaka the average noise is 75 or more for residential areas, making hearing loss, stress and other noise related problems a major health hazard.
Sight, sound and smell - Dhaka will strike first time visitors very strongly. Try not to experience Dhaka in the night. According to Numbeo, safety index for walking in the night in New York is 50, for walking during daytime in Dhaka has an index of 46. Stay safe, stay patient while in Dhaka.
