I got back from an eleven day trip journey to Bangladesh and India on Monday night. It was an intense experience for me and my first real trip out of the country. I’m not sure what many people think of when they here the term “Third World” but it should almost certainly be the city of Dhaka. The city has a population density second only to Beijing and an unofficial population of 20 million (which puts the number of slum dwells at nearly 8 million). It is, as a city, as different from Philadelphia as is possible. The most prominent thing that transfers between the two different urbanisms is the lack of accountability inherent in any large semipermanent gathering of people.
Given that, the city of Dhaka is in a sense not a city but more of a conjunction of many massive, overflowingly large, sub-villages. The transition between rural farmland and the highest density urbanism in the world is in effect almost nonexistent. Where people gather, be it the large cities of the country/region, or in the rural villages, the density of life is great; there is no in-between, no sub-urban condition. I suppose though, that at the edge between city and farm exists the brick kilns, hundreds of them throughout the country. Each of which produce upwards of 10,000 bricks per day (see photo above). The so called global recession has seemingly been restricted from spreading into the more “third world” countries; the construction industry in Dhaka is booming, and not to accommodate the brick industry.
Thousands of people move to the city every day. Thousands. The local government (the country’s government is decentralized for better or worse) handles only 20% of city services, while in most countries local governments handle 80%. Since 80% of Dhaka’s services are handled by separate, non-communicating groups much of the city’s growth goes unchecked and unplanned for. Zoning laws, if they do in fact exist, cease to be usefully entirely as developers, who are largely not local by the way, plan haphazardly for the growth. Millions of dollars are made from the citizens by such outside corporations and NGO’s every year, very little of which gets put back into the city. Why you might ask? The general strategy of capitalism there is perhaps more tribal than it is in the west; most money that is made is hoarded by the rich and powerful, leaving many of the city’s residents to poverty.
Many of the country’s rural residents seem happy, despite their apparent impoverished conditions. It is all they know, and they know how to appreciate what they have. Citizens in the city, however, seem to realize what they do not have, and their general attitude reflects this. It was my experience in being there that the only smiles I did see from Dhaka’s residents were at my female colleagues. Aside from that I saw happiness only from children, who often play in garbage and highly contaminated water. I got the feeling that soon though, their attitudes would come to reflect those of their elders.
In addition to these problems the country is in the ongoing process of what some might call a “brain drain.” That is, what few citizens that manage to obtain a higher education do so with only the goal of leaving for greener grass (and cleaner water). Very few of them remain behind to fight what seems to be an unwinnable war against Dhaka’s every growing problems.
I made the trip with the hopes of answering some of my questions concerning my research (I’ve been studying the city’s sanitation systems looking for ways to improve it for almost 3 months now) but I only found and ever deepening ocean of questions. The residents exist in such a system, a network, yet they do not seek to change it. Only to continue an existence where the only goal is to stave off starvation and disease. They see each other as problems rather than the network itself, and they are proud people. What can anyone from the outside really do to improve such a place?
