400 Years of Capital Dhaka and Beyond

The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh is celebrating 400 Years of Dhaka as a capital city. In this connection the Asiatic Society decided to publish 19 volumes depicting the heritages and development of Dhaka.Among these 19 volumes,a 3-partseries is especially devoted the history and urban development of Dhaka and the city’s future prospects under the title “400 Years of Capital Dhaka and Beyond.”The Present volume is the final volume and has been titled “Urbanization and Urban Development of Capital Dhaka.”In this volume there are twenty-seven articles written by distinguished urban specialists,historians and urban planners.This particular volume particular volume traces the physical growth of Capital Dhaka during the last 400 years and discusses various aspects of urbanization and urbanism of Capital Dhaka.In these articles there are stories that are heartening and cheerful and others that are very depressing showing the complete absence of serious city planning by generations of city administrators and politicians in the past and also at the present.Having said all that one must remember that in the Asian context where urbanization are controlled and city development very successful,these were matters of many years planning efforts and development programs and their perspectives and cultures very different from ours.The South Asian cities apparently look very unimpressive,unplanned,problematic and difficult to live in.But the story does not end here.With new scientific knowledge and consciousness growing more among citizens than ever before,particularly in the case of Dhaka,city administrators and planners are seriously working on the redevelopment, modifications and for additions of new elements which make the city a better place to live in the near future. The readers,will thus, find in this particular volume very interesting information where one can see the glorious days of the past and the unsatisfactory state of the present;but certainly hopeful and