Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah

Co.Creation.Architects; Khondaker Hasibul Kabir; Suhailey Farzana

Recent urban expansion in Bangladesh has seen its originally river-facing cities become road- and land-focused, their watercourses reduced to backyards and dumping grounds. One such is Jhenaidah, where architects Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana grew up. Keen to enhance the quality of life here, they moved back from Dhaka in 2015 and instigated a participatory initiative to enable low-income communities to build their own houses, followed by an extensive series of “Co-Creation Workshops” engaging citizens to rethink the city’s public spaces. Putting the resulting visualisations into action has produced the Urban River Spaces, which so far comprise two ghats (steps leading to waterside platforms) plus adjacent walkways and access pathways – reconnecting the city to the river. All visible surfaces are in local brick.

Aerial view of the large public ghat along the Nabaganga river in the city of Jhenaidah. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Asif Salman

By far the larger of the ghats, the 115-metre-long “public ghat” has two plateaus linked by various stairways and a ramp for the disabled, the lower plateau remaining at least 3.7 metres above the water. People of all ages and backgrounds, including some from nearby towns and villages, regularly come here to walk, sit, meet, or engage in sport, cultural or recreational activities. The upper retaining wall serves on the lower plateau as a vertical surface for public exhibitions, and on the upper one joins with a parapet that meanders around the pre-existing trees – some over a century old – to create semi-enclosed, shaded areas where people can sit facing each other. This ghat can also serve as a two-level auditorium for theatrical performances given on a floating deck or on the opposite riverbank.

Plan of the public ghat. © Co.Creation.Architects

The elongated structure restores the connection between the city of Jhenaidah and the river and is used by its inhabitants as a path as well as a public space. The ramp provides access for people with disabilities. © Aga Khan Trust for Culture/Asif Salman

The smaller “community ghat” is directly connected to the water’s edge via a few steps. Intended for and used extensively by one of the city’s largest low-income communities, where the majority are Hindu, it caters specifically to their needs in terms of bathing, washing and practising religious rituals, with a changing room and benches provided.

View of the community ghat from the other side of the river.

Mobilised by the community’s enthusiasm, Jhenaidah Municipality employed local craftspeople to execute the project, the architects providing pro-bono consultancy services. The mayor reports that representatives of over 50 municipalities have visited to learn from these community engagement programmes.

"To further contextualise Jhenaidah’s Urban River Spaces project, it is essential to perceive it in the light of three aspects. The first aspect is the interface between the Bangladeshi built environment and riverbanks, especially in urban areas. Historically, with a “water-centric mindset”, Bangla cities were developed facing rivers. However, recently, with the so-called “road-centric development” and the “dry-land-centric mindset”, the rivers and other water bodies have become backyards and often dumping grounds. This phenomenon has been causing ecological imbalance and socio-cultural and other problems where people have been losing the water bodies as vibrant urban spaces. In other words, most Bangla cities, including Jhenaidah, lost the art and long tradition of living with rivers.

The second aspect is the urban governance structure of the country’s secondary cities. This existing structure consists of three primary levels: municipal corporations, municipal councils for towns and wards for villages. These bodies are elected by popular vote, and the term of office is five years. The central ministries and national-level agencies are primarily responsible for providing service to the lower levels, either in urban or rural areas. Among other issues, and like many developing counties, urban governance in Bangladesh suffers from centralisation and limited community engagement in urban planning and management.

The third aspect is the role that the two co-founders of Co.Creation.Architects (the designers of this project) are playing on the level of Jhenaidah city. Both were involved in instigating a unique community-led housing process in some of the city’s low-income communities and formulating a Citywide Community Network. They also initiated a series of “Co-Creation Workshops”, engaging local citizens to rethink their city. Jhenaidah’s Urban River Spaces cannot be seen in isolation from this city-wide mobilisation effort."1