Potentials of sites of historical monuments to create images of a city through planning integration

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.