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Where is the city in the manifestos?

If there is a political will, there will be a way out of perdition. But in a widely accepted culture of promises made and broken, rhetoric delivered over and over again, the fear is that it is the political will that takes the beating. Even then, why should we not dream of life in the city that is truly civilised and modern, and yet Bengali.

Kazi Khaleed Ashraf
YOU know that when the merchandising of dreams and hopes, and fears, is in full swing the election is knocking on the door. And with that come a fusillade of manifestos and promises, and all of a sudden the fate and future of the country take unprecedented priority.
The two major parties of the country have put up reasoned plans for the future in their manifestos, from economy, governance. and security, and from controlling price, militancy and traffic, but there is very little reasoned proposal for something deeply vital: Dhaka city.
Sure, underground railway and IT parks have been mentioned in the manifestos of both the parties, but looking closely, neither makes us confident that the political parties understand the planetary phenomenon of cities, what makes cities function, and most importantly, how cities have become crucial in the development future of any country.
A hugely urban phenomenon has taken hold of the country -- but something that is largely spontaneous, uneven and unmapped. It should be obvious that
cities and t »wns are no longer minor players in the national framework; more and more people live in cities, and if they do not, they participate in their dynamic. The cities have become vigorous sites of human habitations, relationships and economies. As the Brazilian urbanist Jaime Lerner declared, cities are not problems, they are solutions. If cities are the battlegrounds of our anxieties, they are also the decisive sites of our imaginations and energies.
Any vision for Bangladesh will have to ponder on the emerging urban landscape, and not to see that as a crisis but as vast opportunities. Citics are not merely dire sites of institutional and social failures that need constant remedial attention; if properly oriented and organised, they can be economic, social, and cultural dynamos. For example, readymade garments, textiles, light manufacturing, and computer/information and medical outsourcing can be part of global industries in a far more energetic and productive way only if they are urbanistically organised.
While it is imperative to plan the urban landscape of the whole country, from the primary cities to the small towns, Dhaka
will continue to play a vital role in impacting places far and wide. In the absence of any solid tradition of civic urban culture, Dhaka city remains the sole model of urbanism in the country. It is ironic that every small town, every nook and corner in the mofussil, wishes to mimic the characteristics of a dysfunctional Dhaka. Buildings, groupings of buildings, roads, institutions and businesses, in the small towns are all beginning to look like some pale imitation of things Dhaka.
It is in that sense the future landscape of the country depends on what we make of Dhaka city, and that is where the most imaginative plans ought to occur. Cities require the boldest thinking, especially when our cities - again Dhaka being the "role model" -- continue to exemplify the ignoble conditions of power failures, pollution, floods, malfunctioning infrastructures, and transportation nightmares.
The future of Dhaka city is the future of the country. But a "good" city is not an accidental outcome; it is envisioned, planned in a professional manner, and then implemented with meticulous dedication. The future of the city cannot be entrusted to bureaucrats and ministers, with dubious intentions and half-baked understandings, as has been the case all along. To bring real and effective changes to Dhaka, we need a political will, bold imagination, and a serious commitment to carry that out. And we do not see much hint of that in the manifestos.
It's not a fairy tale to say that the fate of a troubled city can be turned around. From the urban wizard of Curitiba Jaime Lerner, to a series of enlightened mayors of Istanbul, to the "city father" of Seoul, and to lesser known urban leaders in
Bangkok or New Delhi, it seems that when a planning and professional commitment is combined with a political will for public good, magical things can happen to the city.
In South Korea, it appears that the road to the presidency leads from the mayoralty of Seoul where one's mettle needs to be proven in undertaking major public projects. Lee Myung-bak, as mayor of Seoul, like his predecessor, undertook radical urban renovations by cleaning and reviving a historic canal, creating the Seoul Forest in the city, and taking down flyovers in order to create a non-disruptive urban landscape.
In Awami League's manifesto, there is only one paragraph directly related to Dhaka city: "In Dhaka, construction of metro tunnel, elevated rail and circular rail to remove traffic jams and to solve public transport problems will be studied forthwith in order to undertake a feasible project and will be implemented on a priority basis."
This is well and good only when the idea is integrated with an overall plan of the city. Where is that plan? Where is a plan that such a plan will be taken up? Piecemeal suggestion of a metro tunnel, for example, may only seem as sloganeering, especially when it may be an unjustifiable idea, and when there is no reference to the overall development ofthecity. Howcanwejustthinkoftrans-portation without knowing where we are going with it?
The Awami League also ensures that there will be "housing for all" by 2015, which certainly is a commendable idea to begin with, but does not give any hint on what kind of housing, how it will be deliv-
ered and how it will first of all constitute a human settlement (for housing is not a numerical thing but a matter of creating communities).
The idea of "growth-centre centric village housing" in every union and upazila is also promising if considered in light of the older idea of "consolidated villages" in a larger region.
While the Awami League's proposals seem a bit more coherent and comprehensive, the 36-point BNP charter had only few lines about the city, something on easing traffic and an unclear reference to an IT village.
While it may be too late to bring the urban question in the electoral equation, it is still important to maintain a focus on the city when the election is over and the
winning party gets down to real business.
If there is a political will, there will be a way out of perdition. But in a widely accepted culture of promises made and broken, rhetoric delivered over and over again, the fear is that it is the political will that takes the beating. Even then, if the political parties have set us up on a dream time with promises of social justice, environmental protection, economic equality, good governance and human rights (until, as the cynics say, when one of them actually takes over power), why should we not dream of life in the city that is truly civilised and modern, and yet Bengali.
Kazi Khalsed Ashraf is an architect and urbanist, and teaches at the University of Hawaii