What are the development priorities for a mega city like Dhaka? Can you draw any parallels with Shanghai?Zhu Ruo lin: To transform a city into a livable space with great facilities, at first you need political commitment. Second is capacity building, that means enhancing skill and improving the implementation quality for sustainable development.
Dhaka is facing massive challenges. If Dhaka aims to become a smart city, the authorities should improve the city gradually in a planned and coordinated way. Once Shanghai was at the stage that Dhaka is in now.
The central government of China, along with the city government of Shanghai, had decided to transform Shanghai into a livable city in the 1990s. As per the decision, authorities set up committees of experts who designed the city with high quality technical know-how. Urban planners were hired to enhance the capacity of various agencies to implement the plan to turn Shanghai into a globally acceptable livable city.
China is now on a zero tolerance path with traffic and waste management systems. No one can violate the traffic rules and nobody is allowed to contaminate the environment. The regulatory bodies are strictly implementing the law. This lesson should be followed in every city that wants to become livable
Dhaka’s traffic system is currently quite poor and that is a major problem that needs to be fixed. The city environment is over-polluted, something that disrupts everyday life.
But Dhaka has an opportunity to transform itself into a livable city gradually. First, authorities should implement a mass rapid transit system for better traffic flow and also remodel the drainage system.
Shanghai has an extensive metro rail (MRT) and bus rapid transit network. The city designed a standard water management system to protect the city from waterlogging. The idea was borrowed from Australia.
In a densely populated city, any large-scale construction work, be it a flyover or a metro rail line, causes a lot of suffering for citizens. How can Dhaka pursue infrastructure development without disrupting city life?Zhu Ruo Lin: Such a problem can be overcome by drawing up a proper design using skilled architects and engineers before implementing the development work. So there should be skilled professionals working on the design and implementation.
Urbanisation is challenging everywhere. Proper maintenance is one of the key challenges for a city.
Traffic gridlock is Dhaka’s bane. How did Shanghai solve its urban transportation problems? What lessons can Dhaka draw from that experience?Zhu Ruo Lin: I have to say the transformation of Shanghai was not so easy. We are continuously fixing the city for the last 20 years with a strong political commitment.
Highrise buildings, commercial networks, connectivity and transportation systems are developed now.
But Pudong, Shanghai is still facing challenges to maintain the quality of a livable city, especially in providing education, health, sports, entertainment and amusement facilities to keep pace with rising demand.
However, our planners and architects designed the city facilitating all necessary services. For example, highrise commercial buildings, schools, playgrounds and hospitals are all situated not inside the residential area but nearby in the city. Where should a fire station or a university be set up? All of that is in the city plan even though social demands are always changing.
China is now on a zero tolerance path with traffic and waste management systems. No one can violate the traffic rules and nobody is allowed to contaminate the environment. The regulatory bodies are strictly implementing the law. The lesson should be followed in every city that wants to become livable.
It’s not easy to get a car licence plate in Shanghai. The owner of the car must be show a driving licence along with other documents and follow many other rules to get the number plate.
We already built extensive Mass Rapid Transit and Bus Rapid Transit networks to develop mass transportation.
Even, sharing a bicycle is also popular in Shanghai. If someone wants to move from one place to another, he or she can hire a cycle and after reaching the destination, the bicycle can be handed over at that place.
How important is coordination between government agencies that provide various services? Is it better to have a centralised city authority or to have various specialised agencies?Zhu Ruo Lin: In China, such a development committee has two parts. One part makes plans working as planning committee and the second is the executive committee which is in charge of implementation and maintenance.
There are always challenges but they can be overcome by ensuring integrated performance between the agencies.
How should Dhaka manage rural to urban migration?Migration of people is one of the key challenges for every city. So, when a city will be designed, the migrant issue will be considered by the planners. A proper design will always attempt to ensure facilities for a spike in population.
However, in Dhaka, the migration of people from rural to urban areas is happening in an unplanned way. Dhaka can discourage rural people from moving to the city by charging higher fees for substitute services and ensuring they get cheaper services back home.
If urban migration is increasing rapidly, the government can increase the living cost gradually to discourage rural people from migrating in large numbers.
As a planner, I would like to say that although we often want to restrict the entry of rural people into the city, you should not ignore the issue of human rights.