Questioning the Paradigms and Theories Underlying the New Urban Sector Policy of Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper was prompted by what we contend to be a high degree of questionability of the paradigms and theories that underlie many of the “recommendations” in the draft Urban Sector Policy 2011. The Policy appears to have embraced the neoliberal paradigm of urban planning and governance in its entirety. We discuss the suitability of many of the tools from the neoliberal package in the case of Bangladesh. The Policy also seems to aspire to be the de facto national spatial policy as it devotes significant amount of space to lay out objectives such as “regionally balanced urbanization” and “hierarchical” distribution of urban centres over the national territory. We point out that absence of “balance” and “hierarchy” is a manifestation of socio-economic processes rather than causes of underdevelopment. Furthermore, the recommended tools to achieve these objectives rely on questionable theories. Many of these tools envisage significant government intervention in the economy, both with spending and regulation. Thus the “regional” objectives represent a contradictory paradigm to the (neoliberal) one of municipal planning and governance. In the near future of neoliberal ascendancy, many of the tools toward “regional” objectives will likely not be feasible. We conclude with a brief examination of micro-regional planning as a replacement or complement of urban sector policy.

Journal of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, Vol. 5, Dec 2012, pp. 59-67