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The haphazard conversion of Dhaka’s planned residential and industrial zones into commercial hubs has aggravated the city’s long-standing crises of congestion, utility services, pollution, and thus its liveability.

Urban planners and experts say that such unregulated changes — often made under political influence — are distorting the original vision of a planned capital and fuelling the urban disorder that now defines Dhaka.

Dhaka’s land use pattern, once guided under carefully drafted urban plans, has undergone sweeping and often arbitrary shifts over the past four decades.

Areas such as Wari, Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Gulshan, and Uttara were originally developed as residential neighborhoods, while Tejgaon, Tongi, and Shyampur were designed as dedicated industrial zones.

Over the time, however, these designations have been repeatedly altered, allowing commercial establishments to proliferate — frequently without adequate feasibility studies or environmental assessment.

Dhaka’s lone planned commercial district is Motijheel.

Officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha — the authority responsible for planning and regulating development over 1,528 square kilometers of Dhaka and parts of Gazipur and Narayanganj — said they have often amended land use policies to accommodate rising demand.

‘When these areas were developed, population density in them was much lower. Today, the demand for schools, hospitals, and markets has multiplied. The government had to adapt policies to meet these needs,’ said Rajuk chief urban planner Md Ashraful Islam.

However, urban planners argue that such changes have largely benefited real estate and business interests rather than residents, making Dhaka as one of the unliveable cities in the world.

They said that the mixed use of land could be allowed based on people’s basic needs in a regulated way — not on business scales.

‘The so-called mixed land use policy has turned into a tool for commercialisation,’ said Professor Adil Mohammad Khan, president of the Bangladesh Institute of Planners.

‘What was expected to make city life easier has instead ruined the residential nature of entire neighborhoods,’ he observed.

Once designed as a peaceful residential enclave with 882 plots in the 1950s, Dhanmondi now hosts a dense cluster of establishments like private universities, hospitals, boutiques, and restaurants.

Roads 2, 27, and Satmasjid Road — never meant for commercial use — have become major business corridors.

Initially, only single-family homes were allowed in the Dhanmondi Residential Area, but over the decades, building-height limits have been raised repeatedly, first to two-storey houses, then to six-storey, and now to high- rise apartments and commercial complexes.

Md Kamruzzaman, a Dhanmondi resident and a teacher at a private school, said that after the working hours when he returns home he felt like he was on duty due to noise and activities even at midnight.

The whole area, he observes, that has turned to commercial hub where dozens of universities, hospitals, banks, markets are located.

The trend now extends beyond Dhanmondi. Even industrial zones such as Tejgaon have been transformed.

Wari, one of Dhaka’s oldest residential areas since the British era, has also lost its character as shops, warehouses, and offices have taken over homes.

Originally developed in the 1950s on about 500 acres for factories, the Tejgaon Industrial Area was re-designated in 2014 as a ‘commercial and residential’ zone.

The implementation of the new zone began in 2020, and over 100 industrial plots have since been converted for commercial or housing use.

The rationale was to modernise the city’s economy, said a Rajuk official.

But in practice, it opened floodgates for unplanned conversion and speculation.

The conversion of Tejgaon, fear experts, is likely to impact nearby areas like Gulshan, Karwanbazar, Moghbazar and Niketon.

Experts warn that these changes are intensifying the pressure on already fragile urban infrastructure. Roads meant for light residential traffic now carry heavy commercial vehicles.

Open spaces are shrinking, housing affordability is plummeting, and utility services — water, gas, and electricity — are stretched to their limits. Noise and air pollution have worsened, while waste generation has skyrocketed.

‘Mixed land use can benefit a city only when properly regulated,’ viewed former BIP president Fazle Reza Sumon.

‘In Dhaka, it’s been implemented haphazardly and politically. Rajuk often changes zoning rules to serve influential quarters rather than the public interest,’ he added.

He noted that while introduction of mixed use allows residents to access daily services within walking distance, Dhaka’s version has tilted entirely towards commercial expansion, erasing the balance that urban planners intended.

‘Unregulated commercialisation has made many neighborhoods unlivable,’ Sumon added.

Even areas like Khilgaon, Rajarbagh, and Bashabo’s Wahab Colony — originally meant for working-class housing — were reclassified in 2021 as ‘residential-commercial’ zones.

Urban experts say that such frequent policy shifts not only create confusion but also undermine long-term planning.

Amid criticism, the government revised the new Detailed Area Plan better known as DAP in 2023 — barely a year after it was gazette — following pressure from real estate developers.

The revision allowed buildings two to four storeys taller than originally permitted and expanded the scope of commercial zoning.

‘These decisions were taken without assessing their cumulative impact. They created immediate financial gain for a few, but long-term chaos for millions.’ said Adil.

Dhaka’s population density has reached alarming levels — now standing at around 600 people per acre.

The United Nations recommends a maximum of 120 people per acre for a healthy urban environment.

By comparison, Tokyo, the world’s largest city with 33 million people, houses fewer than 90 people per acre, Singapore 80 people, New York 112 people, and Sydney 58 people.

This stark disparity highlights how overstretched Dhaka’s land and services have become, said Adil.

Adding to the problem, Rajuk is not the sole custodian of all planned zones.

The National Housing Authority oversees Mirpur, Mohammadpur, and Lalmatia, while the Public Works Department manages Dhanmondi and Tejgaon.

Such fragmented authority often leads to overlapping jurisdictions and inconsistent enforcement.

Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, and Uttara were developed under Rajuk’s direct supervision, but even there, policy loopholes have allowed excessive commercial growth, said planner Ashraful Islam.

‘We tried to rationalise the disputes by declaring certain roads as commercial, since people were already using them that way,’ he said.

Yet this ‘legalisation’ of violations has drawn strong criticism from urban experts.

‘When the government retroactively approves what was once illegal, it encourages more violations, said Sumon. ‘Dhaka is turning into a vertical slum in the name of development,’ he added.

Urban planners are urging the government to conduct a comprehensive study on the social and environmental impacts of land use conversion before allowing further changes.

They recommend restoring residential zoning in over-commercialised neighborhoods, imposing stricter construction caps, and ensuring equitable distribution of services.

‘Dhaka’s transformation has reached a critical point. If this pattern continues, the city will lose all its planned features within a decade. The challenge is not just about zoning — it’s about the survival of urban life itself,’ warned Adil.