Members’ Publication

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is expected to be one of the five largest cities of the world by 2025 in terms of population. The rapid urban growth experienced by the city in the recent decades is one of the highest in the world. Urban expansion of Dhaka was slow in the 1950s, but strong growth followed the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. To understand Dhaka city growth dynamics and to forecast its future expansion by the year 2030, a self-modifying cellular automata Slope, Land use, Exclusion, Urban extension, Transportation and Hill shade - model (SLEUTH) was used in this research using satellite images from 1989 to 2014. This model showed two interesting findings. First, approximately an additional 20% of the metropolitan area will be converted into built-up land by 2030 amounting to about 177 sq.km. Second, the spatial trend of sprawl will be towards the north and north-west. The interpretation of depicting the future scenario as demonstrated in this research will be of great value to urban planners and decision makers, for the future planning of Dhaka.

Real estate business is now treated one of the main sources of revenue earnings from the developing sub-urban areas of Bangladesh. There is a high possibility that money will be invested in the real estate sector. Definitely real estate business generates the multiplier effect of invested money by creating formal and informal employment opportunities for different income groups. The real estate business is flourishing day by day in the fringe areas of Khulna city. Transformation is a continuous process. Resources, ecosystem biophysical environment, and land use on the surface of the earth undergo changes over time. This study shows that the land use pattern is changing rapidly and land price is being increased at a high rate without considering proper future development. The agricultural land and water bodies are being converted without plan degrading the land quality and damaging the biodiversity of the area. This study tried to find out land use transformation in one of the fringe areas of Khulna city during 1999 to 2014. The study has provided some findings about the changes in the diversity of development. The results of the analysis showed that the residential land use increased gradually during the study period and the agricultural land use decreased over the period. The real estate business of Khulna city plays an important role in the expansion of the city, but it cannot be considered a positive growth of urban area. That is why land use planning with proper policy guidelines are needed to addressee the emerging problems associated with real estate business and land use transformation in the fringe areas of the city.