Morphological study of Tanti Bazar area in old Dhaka with particular attention to the development of shophouses

Abstract

From a small trading town Dhaka city has expanded to a megacity in its evolution. Historically, an important aspect of Old Dhaka’s economic life was the handicraft industries organized on household basis. 'Shophouses' hold the physical manifestation of these home based economic activities. It has been recorded that shophouses have originated in Old Dhaka since pre-Mughal period and eventually flourished in other locations of the old city. In spite of numerous socio-economic upheavals in the city’s history, shophouses existed in Old Dhaka with their unique physical form even up to mid 20th century. But in due course, Old Dhaka had experienced a change in settlement patterns and land uses due to rapid population growth. To keep pace with the demand of growing population, the growth of shophouses has increased in different areas of Old Dhaka. Spatial structure of cities usually has significant control on how it works and transform. The morphological transformations in Old Dhaka require investigation into spatial dynamics of the city in relation to its economic activities, particularly the growth of shophouses. Along with its growth, it is also evident from the present urban fabric that the traditional shophouses of Old Dhaka had undergone a significant morphological transformation in local level in terms of physical and functional aspects. The objective of the thesis has been set to find out the spatial logic of the growth of shophouses within the urban morphology of Old Dhaka. Moreover, this thesis also investigates the morphological evolution at area level to find out the level of development of shophouses considering functional and physical aspects in order to reveal the impact of transformation on individual plot and built form. Tanti Bazar in Old Dhaka has been selected to explore the changes of shophouses because this is one of the earliest urban developments where shophouse was evident and a large concentration of shophouses is still remaining which has undergone a rigorous process of transformation. The notion of shophouses and its morphology, development in Southeast Asian cities have been explored from the available literatures. Depth map method of “Space Syntax” has been used to analyze the spatial properties of street configuration of Old Dhaka in different periods to find out the relationship that exists between the spatial structure of Old Dhaka and the locational aspects of shophouses. In order to identify the morphological changes of the shophouses in the Tanti Bazar area, cartographic maps and records have been examined. Besides, a field survey has been conducted to find out the present functional and physical status of the shophouses in Tanti Bazar. It is found from the analysis of the spatial structure of Old Dhaka that from the historical periods, the shophouses mostly located on the accessible roads of the city and thus revealed a strong relation with the movement pattern. It is also revealed that the traditional fabric of Tanti Bazar has been undergoing a continuous change with the development of shophouses. Although the street pattern remained unchanged, the density of built form has been increased and open spaces are squeezed in course of time. Moreover, due to the increase of commercialization, the extension of the built forms is remarkable both horizontally and vertically in the present context. As regards the changes in building level, the traditional shophouses having introvert and elaborate layout focusing the courtyards have been transformed into compact and multistoried buildings. In the new developments, increased number of shops are being placed on one or both sides of the corridor along the full depth of the building as against the traditional shophouses having a few shops only adjacent to the street. The ownership pattern of the shophouses has also changed and are being manifested as mixed use developments in Old Dhaka.