Abstract:
Dhaka, a mega-city is one of the oidest major cities in South Asia. Outing the past
decades, due to a range of complex, inter-related forces of urbanization and major
demographic changes with economic, social and technological modernization, the city
have experienced a rapid and drllIllatic transtonnation in its basic organization of urban
form. This structural change in its original form may be attributed to the spatial shift of
centra! city functions, intensive restructuring of land use and land value. The planned
residential areas are prominently affected by this process. Originally conceived and
designed for the high income and middle income group of the society, the serene
environment of these residential areas are gradually disrupted by the inva~ion of
commercial functions, more intensely observed along some of the major connecting
routes of the city. This process of transfonnation further continued to affect the physical
attributes of the urban fonn by bringing incremental changes in plot configuration and
built-fonns with an increa~ed density, Gulshan residential area faces such a
transfonnation specially along Golshan Avenue. Land usc restructuring and
intensilication along this road manifest a complex dynamic system of continuous change.
This study is focused on the functional and physical analysis of the process of
morphological transfonnation that is reflected by the changing spatial patterns of activity
locations, land use intensity and land values along Oulshan Avenue. The findings will
show that along Gulshan AvClloo the fundamental physical elements of urban
morphology are continuously affected by this process of transformation. And this
phenomenon reflects that the location of this urban area within the city and its subsequent
evolution pattern have contributed to the organization of distinctive functional activities
along this road. The concentration ohuch activities enhanced the importance of this area
and transfonned the economic base of this area. Thus the unique pattern of morphological
transformation observed along Gulshan Avenue is witnessed through the emergence of a
commercial sub-centre in this area.
