Transition from urban voids to urban realm: utilizing abandoned spaces beneath the flyovers in Dhaka city

Abstract

Even though flyovers are built to prevent congestion and be effective in reducing travel time, in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, they often contribute to create infrastructural urban voids as a result of inefficient decision making and planning of the administrators and planners. These voids can be seen as spaces which distort the urban tissues neither act as private or public spaces rather they have been considered as negative spaces. Due to rapid urbanization and frequent expansion, Dhaka is facing scarcity of open and green spaces. It is very difficult to spare enough lands for public spaces in a densely packed megacities like Dhaka as lands are very expensive. In this situation, reclaiming the leftover space under flyovers can create better urban opportunities and they can act as a place for urban gathering, pocket parks and plazas or only just places for public activities. The research aims to find the potential of leftover negative spaces beneath the flyovers that can be revitalized through urban scale intervention and also to find out a suitable solution considering both environmental responses and public experience. This research was principally based on observation and field survey. Books, journals, documents from websites etc. are the sources of secondary data. The paper will be focused on the concept of urban voids, identifying and analyzing the types of voids and understanding how these voids have great potentials for turning into urban realm. The outcome will be presented as a prospectus for dealing with such infrastructural urban voids and turning them into new opportunities.