Relating urban grid and pedestrian movement through spatial analysis : using ‘Old Dhaka’, Bangladesh as a case study

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationships between the pedestrian movement pattern and the urban grid dynamics of Dhaka-one of the largest megacities of the world containing over 16 million people. In recent years, Dhaka city faces rapid and haphazard urbanization without proper planning process ignoring the inherent urban characteristics. Now it has become a congested city with numerous urban problems including severe traffic congestion. The older part of the city known as ‗Old Dhaka‘ grows spontaneously over more than 400 years and still retains an organic urban pattern with mixture of varied land-uses. Though enhancing pedestrian movement in urban areas is a prime issue for a resilient urban development, pedestrian facilities are observed to be overlooked in different streets of Dhaka. In resent researches of ‗Space Syntax' it is evident that the urban grid itself is the most influential shaper of urban movement patterns. This paper focuses on 'Old Dhaka‘ to reveal the correlation between urban grid configuration and pedestrian movement pattern. The study method is as follows: first, the present condition of the land was investigated: second, a spatial network was created using space syntax and pedestrian volume examined: and third, the correlation between pedestrian volume and spatial network data was analysed through regression analysis. Though according to Space Syntax Local and Global integration values has been proved to be the decisive factor accordingly for pedestrian movements and vehicular movements, however the result of this research indicates a strong correlation of pedestrian volume with global integration rather than local integration values in the context of Old Dhaka‘.