Fariha Tabassum Anika

16103046

Dhaka’s Urban Revolution: Gentrification the effects on Urban development

and social relations
Dhaka became the capital of Bangladesh after the independence of 1971. Dhaka is one of
the largest cities in the world. ‘Dhaka is also the fastest-growing megacity in the world with a
growth rate of 3.2%’. For the past few years the availability of land and population increase has
been the reason the spread of this city. In the Mughal era Islam Khan established Dhaka as his
capital. “Mughal Dhaka was developed as a manufacturing center for a wide variety of cottage
products” (Kabir, 2012) During this time export from European companies increased. At that
period Mughals did not have any specific plan for city expansion.
After that Dhaka came under British rule. ‘Dhaka began to decline in importance and
contract in size. The city experienced disastrous famines, floods, and fires.” However, in the
second half of the 19th century, the city developed tremendously” (Parolin 2010). From opening
the first railroad to establishing buildings Dhaka was developing slowly into an urban city.
Dhaka became the capital of East Pakistan in 1947. During that time Dhaka city was
undergoing a lot of change and development. “the city expanded northward and the high-class
residential areas were constantly endeavoring to keep themselves at the northern periphery of the
city by creating ‘new Dhaka’; mainly, because, higher lands were available in the North and low
lands in East and West were vulnerable to annual floods” (Kabir, 2012). Motijheel area was
marked as one of the commercial areas in 1954. Mainly to accommodate migrant Muslin people
Motijheel and Mirpur area were developed by the government.
After independence in 1971 urbanization in Bangladesh saw a rapid increase, especially in
Dhaka. ‘The driving factors for this rapid rural-urban migration are surplus labor in agriculture,
globalization, drought, systematic failure of rural agriculture and perceived opportunity in the city
(Khatun, 2008).
From 1971 to this day Dhaka became a megacity without much planning effort. Where
some areas developed as capital came and because of labor migration some areas stayed
underdeveloped.

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 In this paper, I going to write about how Dhaka city developed, how some areas are more
developed than others. Also, I am going to talk about the role of capitalism in this development
and also going to focus on gentrification its effect and social relation of city people.
As Dhaka city developed modern life, and distinct social structures developed too. Once
the urban revolution began civilization progressed which evolved into more complex forms of
social life. Because of industrialization cities throughout the world cities become modernized some
more than others. Dhaka city began to prosper as capital started to flow in. More industries and
foreign companies started to settle in Dhaka. “As Adam Smith and Karl Marx noted in their
complementary works, The Wealth of Nations and Das Kapital, industrial capitalism would
forever change the nature of social relations and set in motion the powerful economic forces that
resulted in global capitalism and the emerging world city” (Gottdiener, Hohle, & King, 2019).
Capitalism also started to set the motion in Dhaka. Rural migrants came to Dhaka in search of jobs.
Many developments took place. Dhaka city began to grow.
There are several aspects of capitalism works within the urban space as observed by Eagles.
First, noted by Eagles capitalism had a “double tendency” of concentration. As it concentrated
workers and capital investment or money.
Dhaka became the center of the capital. Many large factories and factories were built
around Dhaka. Industrial production became easier because of this centralizing process. Also, the
proximity, large scale of money and people made production faster and easier in Dhaka. As an
effect of capitalism, People from the rural areas started to migrate in Dhaka for jobs and secure
life. These people looked for work by selling their labor for a wage know the labor market, From
farming areas they into cities. " they would become the urban proletariat as Marx defined them: a
person who posed only their labor to sell” (Gottdiener, Hohle, & King, 2019). These people came
to Dhaka settled in small slums. Motijheel became the first social and capital hub. National and
international offices were built in Motijheel. Dhanmondi, Gulshan, and Mirpur area are formal
planned area. In those areas mainly in Gulshan, Dhanmondi rich and affluent people started
moving in and buying houses. This resulted in uneven development in Dhaka.
Urban poor people who used to live in Dhaka were affected by this rapid urbanization and
privatization of services. Which has caused major discontent and misery for them who used live
in urban slums or a different informal settlement. Therefore, the notion right to the city has become

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a far cry for the poor. As it is controlled by the market-driven neoliberal politics. Neoliberalism
played a role in creating unequal access to basic services for the urban poor.

Frequency Percent
Owned 49 27.2
Rented 117 65.0
Rent Free 12 6.7
Others 2 1.1
Total 180 100.0

The above figure is taken from a study done by Arefin and Rashid. Where 180 people from
Mohakhali and Mirpur slums took part. The above figure shows that around 65% out of 180
respondents do not have access to homeownership. As they are mainly living as rented. Because
of free-market capitalism and privatization of lands urban poor people are forced to live in slums
and other settlements. As the figure shows only 27.2% of the total respondents have permanent
homes.
Neoliberalism also causes uneven development. As it favors free-market capitalism,
privatization of property, focusing on the creation of wealth. The city area grows and develops
because of capital investment. Where the second circuit of capital is real estate investment.
Community well-being is determined by money flow. Tax revenues are created by economic flow
and also jobs are created. Tax revues are used by the government to finance public projects. Which
are meant for improving the quality of community life. Because of free-market capitalism system
funds are not equally distributed across metropolitan spaces. A huge amount of discrimination of
funds can be seen in private and public areas. As some areas obtain much more investment
compared to other areas. In cities, there is a huge difference between sections that are center of
economic activity compared to those sections which are hardly touched by commerce and industry.
This a result of uneven development. “In the metropolitan region, the variation in the affluence of
particular places is called uneven development ’ (Gottdiener, Hohle, & King, 2019)
Though city space tends to grow over time however then does not tend to uniformly. Which
causes uneven development in cities. Neoliberalism in Dhaka has also caused uneven development

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in different sections. About neoliberal economic reorganization, Harvey (2008) said that “the poor
are forced to push from metropolitan to semi-periphery under the neoliberal project of capital
accumulation.” As places like Gulshan, Dhanmondi, and Banani are more affluent than in other
places. Powerful and rich people tend to live in places like this. Where more money are invested
in developing these places. These places have easier access to hospitals, better school, parks and
shopping malls. Mirpur and Mohkhali areas have become dumping areas where urban poor people
are settling.
These places where urban poor people live are often are informal settlements or slums.
Where they lack basic services like gas, water, electricity, health care and housing. Compared to
these places affluent places in Dhaka have easier access to basic services. Even in the case of a fire
breakdown we can notice in the news how slums are burnt down and causing severe misery and
damage to urban poor people.
These people often live in houses made out of "Tin-shed". David Harvey in his book “The
Right to the City (2008)” said "that urbanization permits a few people to afford sky rocking houses.
On the other hand, it permits a majority not to afford the sky rocking house prices in urban centers.
Rather they are forced to metropolitan semi-periphery."
As Henri Lefebvre said the city development is a product of capital investment. The idea
circuits of capital were introduced by him. The first circuit of capital or primary circuit is industrial
activity. This second of capital causes uneven development and results in gentrification, which is
apparent in Dhaka city. In Dhaka city we can we how investors choose a property and buys. Then
they develop the land which is sold in the market for housing or profit. When the investors take
the profit and reinvest in more land the circuit is done. There many real estate developers in Dhaka
who buy land in various places and develop them. For instance, the Shagufta group is an example.
Who has various lands near the ESB area and built houses for selling? They sold the houses for a
profit. Boshundhora group is another example of a real estate company. The Bashundora group
has brought many lands in various places in Dhaka city. For example, near 300 feet. Navana Group
is another big real estate company in Dhaka who mainly develops houses near Gulshan area. Here
we can see how Henri's third circuit of capital settlement for space works. As the Navana group
chooses to build houses in posh places like Gulshan where many affluent people live it shows
social activities interaction is also about space as well. As spaces like Gulshan influences people's
behaviors. To suit their own needs people alters space. Though wealth is a reason for their

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behavior however the most important characteristic was symbolic and cultural. As coined by
Velben in his Theory of the Leisure Class (1899) this is called conspicuous consumption. “This
concept refers to an outward display of consumption that demonstrates wealth and power through
the wasting of resources and the symbols of upper-class membership” (Gottdiener, Hohle, & King,
2019). As in Gulshan area we can see huge houses, different club, also there are restrive
membership. Which is also apparent in many other parts of Dhaka city. In Dhaka cantonment there
are tennis clubs, swimming pool, clubs like “Ladies Club”. This shows how it is more symbolic
and cultural.
Also, in Dhaka city we can how government and army which part of the government uses
space for control. As the army developed the whole cantonment are to control people’s behavior.
Also, outside that army has taken control of many lands developed house in places like Mirpur
DOHS, Baridhara DOHS, Banani DOHS which controls people’s behavior. However sometimes
this creates conflict within the abstract space and existing social space. As people who used to live
here may find it hard to adjust to relocation. This creates the problem of Gentrification
“Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change that includes economic change in a
historically disinvested neighborhood by means of real estate investment and new higher income
residents moving in as well as demographic change, not only in terms of income level but also in
terms of changes in the education level or racial makeup of residents.” (Freeman, 2016). There are
three things to consider when it comes to gentrification the historic conditions, investment and
policy decisions and community impacts. In Dhaka city gentrification has become a common thing
as a result of the second circuit of capital. For example, places like Mirpur, Banani DOHS is where
migrant people from other cities used to live. However, as the army decided to buy land they were
relocated. Take Mirpur DOHS for example before the year 200 in the area Bihari people used to
live. After that army bought a significant amount of land which is now called Mirpur DOHS. After
they slowly started the construction work and all the Bihari people who used once live in Mirpur
DOHS got relocated outside Mirpur DOHS. Outside the gated community lives people who once
used to live in this area. It leads to the replacement of Bihari people to move from their
communities. It affected social relations as well. Bihari people had to move away from their
traditional area to new ones. Where they were relocated, and they start a new life in unfamiliar
living conditions. While the development helped the upper-class people to get settled in their
comfortable life in Mirpur DOHS. At the same time, it relocated urban poor people to slums area

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outside Mirpur DOHS called Brindaban. This affected their work environment as well. As they
have to look for news jobs, as at first many Bihari people faced the unemployment problem.
Because Mirpur DOHS developed slowly and which why Bihari people could not find work in
DOHS as there were fewer people. Also, they faced the lack of Education institute problems at
first however the situation is better now.
The rich people's lives change differently in the process of gentrification compared to the
poor. As those who moved in Mirpur DOHS had a better life than those who got relocated. For
them it was an upgrade from their previous life. They better access to services like gas, water,
electricity. The relocation did not have that much effect on their work-life. As most of the residents
have corporate jobs. Where the Bihari people used to maintain their livelihood through daily
works.
Changes in social relations are also part of city life. Sociologist worked with an idealized
image of small-town life as a community. As they thought everyone shared personal friendship.
Sociologist thought people had primary in villages for the city would force secondary anonymous
relations. However, Ferdinand Tonnies talked about the shift from community to society. Where
in community people had personal relationships where interdependent on each other for jobs. In
society people did not know each other personally and jobs were unrelated. Which is apparent in
Dhaka city where relations are more society based then community-based. Unlike villages where
father-son runs a family-based and jobs are interdependent. Still, in villages we can see more
mechanical solidarity a term coined by Emile Durkheim. However, in Dhaka city relationships are
more organic. However, as sociologist thought that people do not have intimate relationships in
the city is not true. As later sociologists found that people do have intimate relationships with each
other in cities. For instance, in my area Mirpur DOHS I can see people gathering for functions
neighbors talking with other neighbors. Neighbors sitting for a cup of tea. These relationships are
organic. They are not based on kinship however people in cities are intimate. We have intimate
relationships with our servants in cities. Even in the Brindaban area the urban poor people also
have intimate relationships more than people living in Mirpur DOHS. Though the Dhaka has
transitioned to a modern city from traditional society, people in some areas do have intimate
relations. City environment does influence people’s behavior as Louis Writh said. As we can see
people living in cities having different manners compared to those who live in villages. In Dhaka
city we see people eating with forks and spoons in restaurants however in villages people still eat

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with hands in small shops. Also, in Dhaka city people buy cars for transportation in the village we
rarely see any cars as rickshaw, cycle and motorcycle are the main media of transportation. This
how a city influences people’s behavior
To conclude Dhaka city has evolved into a modern megacity. Capitalism has played a huge
role in the transformation of Dhaka city. Where we can uneven development and class struggle.
The rapid development and growth of Dhaka city are apparent. As more areas are getting
developed urban poor people are getting relocated to new areas. Also, in the city, we can see how
social relationships are different compared to villages. As they are more organic and secondary
however some area people do have intimate relations.

Works Cited

Freeman, L. (2016). Commentary: 21st Century Gentrification. Cityscape, 18(3), 163-168. Retrieved
April 4, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26328278

Gottdiener, M., Hohle, R., & King, C. (2019). The new urban sociology. New York ; London:
Routledge.

Harvey, D. (2008). Right To The city.

Khatun, F. (1997). The Cost of Particulate Air Pollution in Dhaka City. The Bangladesh Development
Studies, 25(1/2), 95-124. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/40795570

Parolin, K. (n.d.). PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF DHAKA – A STORYOF

400 YEARS. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/document/291059589/Kabir-Parolin

Shamsul, S., & Rashid, T. (2018). Access to Urban Services in the Wave of Neoliberalism: A
Study of the Urban Poor in Dhaka, Bangladesh. International Journal of Research and Innovation in
Social Science, II(XI).

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