Architectural visions to save Dhaka's heritage sites
Old Dhaka is usually looked at as a part of the city that is nothing but an intricately woven labyrinth of dingy streets, massive piles of junk, dead-end alleys and cramped, dilapidated buildings. What is often missed by most is that the “old town”, as it is commonly known, has immense historical value and it bears the legacy from the Mughal and colonial period. Considering all that, one may wonder what might have caused these areas that evolved over centuries to be reduced to a kind of inner city ghettos with chocking problems at every turn. A sheer disregard for the preservation of our cultural heritage on the successive governments' part is responsible for the situation, asserts a voluntary organisation of architects called Urban Study Group (USG).
USG is displaying 50 digitally manipulated collage photographs of several sites in the old town, particularly Shankhari Bazaar, that show how the neighbourhoods would look had the government taken necessary steps to preserve the historical integrity of the area. The exhibition, titled "Save Puran Dhaka: An Architectural Vision for the Urban Regeneration of Puran Dhaka through Mohalla (neighbourhoods) Revitalisation", that began on June 10 at Nalini Kanta Bhattasalli Gallery, National Museum, will end on June 22.
The architects believe that the old town “has what it takes to once again be a valued and cherished historic quarter of the capital”. And all that is needed for the aesthetic “revitalisation” of the neighbourhoods is awareness and protective measures to prevent unregulated constructions of new buildings.
“Under an uncontrolled and unregulated development spree that has taken over the old town, it seems everything special in Puran (old) Dhaka is about to be lost forever,” reads the USG introduction to the exhibition.
Most of the major cities around the world have retained and conserved their heritage sites and the centuries-old edifices not only for their historic value but also for their magnificence. USG has been campaigning for the conservation of Shankhari Bazaar since June 2004 and the members are of the opinion that an awareness regarding heritage protection and preservation has been generated among people. Taimur Islam, CEO of USG, said, “An in-depth feature on our campaign published in Star Weekend Magazine (July 28, 2006) was of tremendous help to our work.”
The group agrees that there is a general level of agreement among everyone that buildings of historic value should be preserved and taken care of. However, the architects are of the opinion that the whole area needs to be preserved if we really want to save the antiquities of old Dhaka.
USG has, so far, listed 2000 buildings of architectural and historic values in the neighbourhoods of old town. And it hopes that the government will include these buildings on their list of heritage sites. The rate, at which the buildings are being demolished and replaced by newer ones, will leave nothing to preserve after 2-3 years if immediate actions are not taken -- warn the architects.
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