Abstract:
This paper investigates the transformation process of a peri-urban slum –
‘Ershadnagar Resettlement Camp’ where forty two years ago; the inner
city’s evicted homeless population was relocated without any proper
proposition. It discusses how the slum has gained the attributes of a ‘place’
through the transformation and adaptation process of ‘place making’ where
both the informal struggles of people and formal organizational initiatives
are equally valid. This approach tends to highlight facts regarding the sociocultural
complexity of slums rather that statistical data. Dhaka- the capital
of Bangladesh and most densely populated city of the world is facing an
extreme pressure to accommodate its ever increasing number of slum
dwellers. The study area is located at Tongi, a peri-urban location at the
north of Dhaka. This almost 100 acre camp was a government initiative to
house the evicted illegal slum dwellers as a part of ‘Dhaka Clean’ project in
1974. Since then, with discrete help from government and non government
organizations, the camp dwellers have gradually developed themselves into
a community. From field survey, interviews of inhabitants and development
workers and discretely available secondary data the place making process
have been analyzed at both community and household level. While
catalyzing factors in the process of ‘place making’ is observed, the lack of
tenure has been identified as a negative catalyst.
Citation:
Islam, T., & Adnan, E.R. (2016). Slum as ‘place’: transformation, adaptation and place-making of domestic and community living of Ershadnagar resettlement. In J.Wijesundara, & R.Dayaratne (E.ds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Cities, People and Places ICCPP 2016. (pp. 321-336) Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa