Abstract:
Our present day town and cities ale conglomeration of faceless, hrulal '1nd munotonous
buildings and as a result our cities arc suflcring Ii-om image and identity crisis In a fast
charging world of ours there is profound p'y<'1101ogiealneed of perll1anence and eonlinuity
if ours societies arc not be anchoress
Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, has a rich cultural legacy of abuut 400 years and the
city used to have a glOlious anti ~iignitkant evidence of social hondage within its
communities Political and soeialuph{'av;rl titHing the war of libel at lOll. rnpid urbani;..ation
in recent years completed with pres.mte "r rising land value in a speculative real estate
mal'ket, ravages of nature and inconsiderate aud unsympathetic planning are destroying the
old buildings and the existing city fabric, built up over a long period of time,
The purpos" of this study has h""11 10 investigatc into the possihility <If usin!\ old
monumcnts and sites of our cultural !writ"!,,, lu wOlk as landmarks in the eity",ape. crcate
an image by IlLespecial charae1cr or "aeh illdividual monument, illlp1ll1a sense of Identity
of a locality and provide for the prol(>llnd psychological need of penna"cnce and continuity
in our society
Through literahue survey, analysis and visil., III some of the sites, home and ahroad, cases
have been identilied and presented hele, where historic monuments <lnd sites of cultural
significance have, through well thought out planning considClation, cffectively been
integrated with the surroundings ami thei, cOlllmllIlities They have worked as landmarks
and eontribuled towards giving all image <llldidentity for the socIety around and the city as
a whole.
From a larg(' li~t, four sites represe,,1mE di Ili.:rent categorics of siluati,'ns wei e ,elecled to
test if arehih.::lural and histoncal mnrlUm'~llh of Dhaka, on their w'ly tu destruelion by mcn
and nature alike, could be advantagcnu,;ly i"l"grated through plllnning dli.>rts tu make the
point of this sllldy A questionnaire SUIV"y.conducted on the CUll1munitiesalUund seleclc"l1
monument SItes indicated strong opinion in favor of conserving the cultural properti" •• and
integrating thclll into the community IiI'"
l'inaJly, probable design and plaruung solutions for those Jour ,e1ecled sites, have been
worked out The design solutions ,unply juslify that there is pluspect and scope and we
should sei?e upun the opportunity to eonscrw our monuments and cultural propertil.'S and
through semitive planning intervention reintegrate then] into our sueial and physical
i;urroundings.
In a rast changing world of ours whe,,, [,mgte," is synonymous wtth change, a,ehitects and
physical planners must respect for people's sl'ilitual values, provide lor their psychological
and emotion'll needs, like the sense orjoy and wonder and Ihe leeling or permanence and
continuity and ",1ablish a sense of conlinuity and identity in our built -up surroundings. In
their built enviwnment, old mOnUmelll.'iaHd older section (,f uur cities could, therefore, be
effectively used as tools for social bondage or our communities and prufFtably used to kellp
our cities hum:me.
