Date of Award

Spring 5-30-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)

Department

Landscape Architecture

First Advisor

Elizabeth Dean Hermann

Second Advisor

Claire Fellman

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the urban interface between the more formal developed parts of the city and the less-formal and more economically-vulnerable urban neighborhoods.

It seeks to reframe this interface as an ‘ecotone’ versus a hard boundary. By reframing this area along ecological lines, this interface is positioned as a place with a great diversity of ‘species’ and fertile conditions and collisions, which allow it to act as a generator of new opportunities benefitting both of the communities (biomes) which transition into it.

This ecotone is seen as being further fed by the presence of urban ecology and open space. Together, in their dynamic state of interactions, these three conditions or communities are understood as a new starting point – a catalyst – for the city of the future, one where each community has a place but where vitality, sustainability, and opportunity lie in the zone of overlap and integration.

The purpose of this thesis is to make the public aware that each community, even the informal one, has its uniqueness and is valuable to be defended and to find a manageable balance on shared resources among all these communities. At the same time, benefits could be received by all relevant communities in contemporary and future urbanization.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.