Ayasha Siddiqua
PhD Candidate, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, BangladeshDhaka, a low-laying city in the world’s most extensive delta system, is rapidly grabbing its mandatory natural landscape into the built-up area. This deltaic city’s water resources once played an essential role in structuring settlement patterns and keeping the overall hydrological, ecological, and environmental equilibrium. Eastern Fringe, the crucial natural, spontaneous territory of the Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA) to prevent the city’s flooding problems and environmental degradation, is rapidly converting from traditional homestead to urbanised land. The city’s present development activities for this part and the entire city do not respect this profound geo-morphological nature of the territory or consider the traditional land-water relationship with the settlement.
This paper will analyse the land-use conversion in the study area, focusing on the land-water interface to identify the naturally landscaped change for the built-up area. The article will first elaborate on the study area’s enriched land-water system and its local integration in the land-water interface. It will also explain the importance of natural land-water resources for the city’s hydro-ecological. Finally, through ArcGIS and Google Earth Image analysis, it will discover the rapid loss of natural land-water resources, its process of conversion and associated environmental degradation due to land-cover alteration in the focus area. This paper will give importance to reinstalling the traditional land-water relationship in rapidly growing urban areas to check environmental degradation.
The Eastern periphery of Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA) is covering an area of 42 km2 and located on the eastern part of the city bounded by Progoti Sharoni in the west, Balu River in the east, Tongi Khal on the north, north-east and Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) Road down at south (Figure 1). DMA’s eastern periphery is geographically low in topography (2m-5m Public Works Datum-PWD) (DAP, 2010) and gradually slopes towards the Balu river. This part is nested with massive water bodies and natural landscapes. These hydrological infrastructures and land-water resources work as detention, retention, and natural drainage systems for the city during monsoon. Before 1970, this eastern periphery was mostly characterised by low laying areas and few village-like homesteads (Jahan et al., 2013). Most parts were flooded during the monsoon, and the rest of the year was used for agriculture purposes. But after 1980, the area started to become urbanised, and in the 1990s to 2000s, it accelerates(Dewan & Yamaguchi, 2008). The southern and middle part of the eastern periphery has already been occupied by urbanisation, and natural setting have converted into bare land by extensive landfilling. The upper northern region is also facing modern urbanisation by restoring the natural land-water resources and traditional rural homestead. Though the southern and western part of the eastern periphery is gradually becoming urbanised by unplanned development, the east part still has conventional settlements with the natural landscape. From the development pattern of the eastern periphery in Figure 1, it has been observed that the upper portion still has a traditional homestead integrating the natural landscape within it. Therefore, the north upper part of the eastern periphery has chosen as a study area to investigate the natural land-water conversion into urban development. After a general description of this area’s land-water resources’ characteristics, this paper will analyse the natural water bodies and landscape conversion into built-up areas by unplanned development and its impact on the built environment.
Figure 1. Location of eastern periphery and study area in DMA
2.1 Study area and natural water resources
The primary segment of the study area was nested with massive natural water bodies in the recent past. In the west part, the built-up area has developed through the conversion or filling up of natural water bodies, evident from the enormous dotted ponds within the settlement (Figure 2-right). But in the eastern periphery, middle and south-eastern part still there have huge natural water bodies. There are around 8 sqkm2 of water bodies present in the study area, which is about 20% (18.67%) of the total study area. The water bodies consist of beel, canal, ditch, irrigational canal, lake, marshland, pond, and river (Figure 2-left). These water bodies are also seasonally enlarged and reduced with their volume and activities. Drying the rainy season, approximately 60% of the area goes underwater. Among the water bodies, a large portion is occupied by marshland which converts into agricultural land in the dry season and wet months used for aquaculture and vest water bodies storing surface runoff. While the same water bodies act as productive landscapes during the dry months, they have been transformed into massive water retention areas during the rainy season. Together with other water bodies, the interconnected canals are gradually sloped towards the Balu River in the east and Tongi Khal on the north and effectively drains the entire area naturally. As a whole, these natural water bodies act for hydro-ecological, environmental balance for the traditional settlement that exists there.
2.2. Study area and natural land resources
Figure 2. Various water bodies and agricultural field in between the settlement of the study area
Source: (RAJUK, 2018)
In parallel with the natural water bodies, this area also consists of substantial natural landscapes, particularly the agricultural land (Figure 2-right). The local settlements in the peripheral zone are surrounded by various local vegetation. The vegetation and agricultural practices exist in the southern, eastern, and a few northern parts of the study area where the natural water bodies are still present. There are various local fruit trees, medicinal trees, herbal plants, cultivated trees, herbaceous crops, shrub, orchard, and other seasonal vegetable production, although the farming practice dominates the landscape pattern. The agricultural land consists of 9.58 km2 of land, around 23% (22.8%) of the study area. Expanding agricultural land during the dry season along with other indigenous vegetation and plants, covers a large portion of the study area. Besides food production for the local inhabitants, the natural landscape also contributes to the essential environmental, ecological, a hydrological safeguard for the built-up areas.
2.3 Study area and traditional settlement
From a geomorphological perspective, the case study area is an example of Pleistocene Madhupur Clay suitable for the built-up area and lots of low alluvial planes (wetlands) landscape which are the result of the overflow of the Balu River. The study area was finger-like rural settlements spreading the entire site (Figure 3-left). In the map produced by CEGIS (Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services) from satellite image (Figure 3-left), it is clear that traditional settlement was covering more than 50% of the study area even till 2010. Though it is disappearing rapidly, there is still conventional settlement in the middle, south-eastern, eastern, and north-eastern periphery. The settlements in these areas are still integrated with the existing natural land and water resources in their way. The surrounded agricultural land and water bodies are utilised for their production and water management purpose. The settlement follows the geological landform Madhupur Terrace (high to the middle) for building their houses while naturally depressed land like a valley, marshland, low flood plain, high flood plain for seasonal production and keeping the natural water bodies like river, khal, valley, channels undisturbed (Figure 3-right). But the present trend of development does not follow the geological settings of the territory nor their integration intelligence with the natural land, water resources. While the entire city is struggling to maintain its hydrological, ecological, and environmental quality, these traditional settlements hold their sustainable and resilient living environment in their own way.
Figure 3. Traditional settlement in the Eastern Fringe Area in 2010 (Source: CEGIS, 2018) (Left) and Settlement pattern in the Eastern Fringe Area in 2016 (Source: RAJUK, 2018) (Right)
Due to the development pressure, the natural setting of the study area is a vast process of conversion into urban built-up areas. From the above discussion, it is clear that the study area was out of urban penetration even in the early 2000s. It was less engineered and developed in terms of infrastructure, utilities, and services. This area was characterised by a rural homestead with abundant natural land-water resources. The local people with their low population density is living in the study are integrating natural resources through indigenous practices. But in recent time, these natural settings are gradually converting into urban built-up areas by erasing traditional land-water relationships. To identify the process of conversion, this part analysis the study area for the last two decades focusing on its traditional settlement, natural water bodies and landscape resources.
3.1 Conversion of traditional settlement into urban built-up areas
The eastern periphery has come under the attraction for urban expansion after 1980, and in the 1990s and 2000s, it accelerates (Dewan & Yamaguchi, 2008). The maps collected from CEGIS (2018) show that the study area was much covered by rural-like homestead till 2010 (Figure 4-a., b., c.). The settlement types were two in classes- rural settlement and built-up non-linear. The homestead took place in the higher flood-free land keeping the agricultural field in nearby low-lying areas. The rural settlement embraces the natural farmland and water bodies within their setting, whereas the built-up non-linear focuses on constructed land development. Until 2010, the traditional landscape dominated the study area and was well integrated with the surrounding of the agricultural land, watercourses. But after that period, the situation started to change through the conversion of natural agricultural land and watercourses (Figure 4-d.). The analysis of land-use changes from 2000-2015 shows that the proposal and construction of 300 feet Dhaka-Purbachal Highway in the south edge accelerates the conversion process within the southern portion of the study area after 2010. It can be seen in Figure 5 that in 2015 the built-up area increased to 60% by reducing rural settlement to 9% from 22% and converting agricultural land into 23% from 37% in 2000. This land-use change from a traditional natural setting to the urban built-up area moves quickly in recent times.
Figure 4. Conversion of the rural settlement of study area from 2000 to 2015
(Source: (CEGIS, 2018)
Figure 5. The gradual decrease of rural settlement and croplands in the study area.
Another analysis is done over the land use data generated for DAP, 2010; and RAJUK, 2018 also shown the rapid increase of built-up areas in the study area through destructing the traditional natural setting (Figure 6). Graph generated in Figure 9 shows that for the last ten years (from 2006 to 2016), the built-up areas increased by 7% by reducing agricultural land by 13% from 2006. Though the water bodies show their increase by this time, it can be explained its conversion from agricultural land because of landfilling activities for built-up areas. The soil dragging actions are seen from fieldwork which creates stagnant water bodies within the farming land.
Figure 6. Land use of Study Area in 2006 and 2016 (DAP, 2010; RAJUK, 2018)
Figure 7. Landuse conversion of the study area from 2006-2016
3.2 Conversion of the land-water interface of the traditional settlement
From the above discussion, map observation and data analysis revealed that the built-up areas are generating through the transformation of water bodies and natural agricultural land. Therefore, the land-water interface requires detailed observation to understand the process of conversion from the natural landscape to built-up areas. For a thorough investigation about the process of conversion, two samples (each-1.5 km X 3.5km) have been chosen (Figure 8). Both the samples were in such a position of the study area where the land-use changes area was clear. Formerly, it has been pointed out that the conversion process is going on among the major roads. Therefore, one of the samples has chosen close to Airport Road and another from an adjacent area of three hundred (300) feet Dhaka-Purbachal Highway. Both the samples are analysed in four land use categories- built-up area, water bodies (seasonal and permanent), agricultural land (land-water interface) and landfill area (bare soil). Depending on the seasonal variation and image quality on Google Earth’ post-monsoon and ‘winter’ period have chosen to identify the land water interface and landfill activities. The samples have been analysed for the images selected for the year 2003, 2008, 2012, and 2018.
Years of Conversion Investigation :
• 2003 (01/17/2003 & 11/13/2004)
• 2008 (11/06/2008 & 2/04/2009
• 2012(11/01/2011 & 28/08/2012)
• 2018 (10/31/2017 & 21/01/2018)
Figure 8. Sample location and year of analysis to observe the process of conversion
The digitised maps and ArcGIS produced maps are shown in Figure 9 and Figure 11 for sample 1 and sample 2, respectively. The chronological maps revealed how the rapid increase of built-up areas is happening by decreasing natural land and water resources. The interface of land and water bodies are randomly modified to build up sites by landfilling. The total 5.25 km2 area of Sample 1 consisted of 54 % built-up area and 43% natural land, water bodies in 2003. But by 20 years, the built-up areas increased to 85% of the entire regions by reducing agricultural land and water bodies by 3% (Figure 10).
In sample 2, these land-use conversions are more destructive, which are evident in Figure 11. 13% built-up areas of sample 2 in 2003 have increased to 50% of the total area in 2018, while a high proportion of agricultural land and water bodies (75% of sample area) of 2003 has shrunk to 23% by 2018 (Figure 10). The landfill activities are more clearly noticeable in sample 2. High increased rate and presence of bare soil indicates what has already happened and the upcoming built-up area. Agricultural land in the land-water interface is more vibrant to convert into the bare ground and built-up areas.
The sample analysis (Figure 9 to 11) has revealed that, for both cases, the built-up area has increased whether direct landfill of water bodies and agricultural land or conversion of farmland and water bodies into bare soil or prepared bare ground into development.
Figure 9. The land-water conversion process and land use proportion in Sample_2 during 2003, 2008, 2012, 2018
Figure 10. The proportion of land-use conversion in Sample 1 and Sample 2
Figure 11. The land-water conversion process and land use proportion in Sample_2 during 2003, 2008, 2012, 2018
From the above discussion, it is understandable that a tremendous land-use conversion process is going on all around the city, and this is much extensive in the peripheral natural landscape. Based on land use conversion analysis for both study area and samples, site visits and literature study on a related issue, the process of land-use conversion has discussed below:
4.1 Compartmentalisation of water bodies
The compartmentalisation of water bodies is a tricky way of grabbing the water bolides, low lands, and agricultural fields for urban land. The large, unlawful and powerful private land development companies are compartmentalising the continuous water bodies with various ways like sand-filling, road construction, enclosed water bodies for fish cultivation, etc. These practices make the water body’s water stagnant, dry up in the summer season, and gradually disappear. As the regular water flow is disturbed, water polluted due to the absence of seasonal water flow and fluctuations, the land-water interface becomes infertile. The local people gradually abandoned the wetland for agriculture, aquaculture and other local use and finally converting into built-up areas by landfilling.
4.2 Sand filling of low land
Filling of wetland occurs when earthen or other miscellaneous materials are used to fill in the swamp and raise the site’s final elevation (M. N. Islam & Kitazawa, 2013; Nakashima & Khan, 1994).
This filling is often done to supply new areas for buildings, infrastructure alignment through sand filling, garbage disposal, and waste disposal. Land development companies fill the lowland agricultural land with sand carrying from other areas or river beds using country boats, engine boats, pipes, etc. (Figure 12). Therefore, wetlands and natural landscapes shrink day by day in Dhaka city.
Figure 12. Process of natural landscape and water bodies conversion
4.3 Encroachment
Lowland, wetlands encroachment is a widespread practice in Dhaka city. The first step of encroachment is to build structures, like the company office along the banks of wetlands and further penetrate the wetlands. So, rows of bamboo posts are positioned along the bank of water bodies and extending into the wetland’s main body. Shades and shops are temporarily built on these stilts to show ownership over the occupied land. The owners of these structures are then started to reclaim land by earth fills and dumping the rubbish. They cordoned the lowland, land-water interface and kept the filling activities out of sight from general people.
4.4 Pollution of surface water
Due to the industrial, urban and agrochemical pollutions, including pollution from settlement sources, make the water quality unable for agricultural and aquaculture. Polluted water hampered the soil quality, and stagnant water makes it further worsen. Gradually, the local inhabitants leave their livelihood dependency over natural land and water resources. In this way, the greedy developing companies buy or take the power of these lands and fill them for the built-up area for urban development.
4.5 Siltation due to stagnant water
Because of uncontentious water flow, the surface soil carried by the rainwater, solid garbage from nearby settlements keeps stagnant in the land-water interface. These gradually piled up and increased land elevation over time and made the land safe for development. Thus, the city loses its essential land and water resources.
4.6 Flood control projects
The flood control projects like embankment accelerate the land conversion process. The floodwater management projects assure the city people that the land is free from flooding. Additionally, because of the engineered separation of river water from the internal water bodies, these watercourses don’t fluctuate their water level with seasonal variation. The visual dried up land and thinking about the flood-free safe ground, the land-grabbing companies, and general people fill the mandatory natural landscape for built-up urban land.
The government has designed several action plans and proposals to deal with the flooding problem. As part of these protections, the flood protection measures are characterised with cordoned approaches having engineered tech-fix-solutions like embankments, pumping stations, straighten surface and underground drainage network (Halcrow, 2006, JICA, 1992). This flood protection method has expedited the development activities through unauthorised landfilling (Huq & Alam, 2003; Sayed & Haruyama, 2017). This landfilling blocked the natural drainage network, shrinkage of water retention area, and further worsening the flooding scenarios (Hye, 1998; A. K. M. S. Islam et al., 2008).
4.7 Development proposals
There are enormous development proposals for the entire Dhaka City, including the study area like DMDP (Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan) 1995, Dhaka Structure Plan (2016-2035), Strategic Transport Plan (2016-2035), Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS, 2010), so on. According to DAP 2010 (Detail Area Plan) of DMDP 1995, it has been estimated that by 2020, 32% of the total population of Dhaka city will be living in the eastern fringe area. Additionally, presented land use plan in the east peripheral area considering the flood control and drainage facilities in operation as proposed by (Halcrow, 2006). RAJUK has prepared the new structure plan for 2016 – 2035 to continue to develop Dhaka city and the surrounding area. As the study area faces rapid development, Dhaka Structural Plan- 2016-2035 by RAJUK (Rajdhani Unnayan Corporation-Capital Development Corporation) proposed this part as Growth Management Area (GMA), allowing development intensity as high as the inner city for future urban growth. Additionally, the study area was also identified with an insufficient road network. To develop connectivity for recently developed area, Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) has proposed a massive road network over the eastern peripheral low land. These road networks are more in gridiron pattern disregarding the geographical features (DTCB, 2010), and thus altering the natural landscape- hydrological settings of the area.
With substantial development proposals, the prevailing conventional planning methods and development process has failed to preserve, protect, and integrate this essential hydrological landscape with the built environment. These development and investment are primarily followed the abstract, economic and technocratic arguments (Ashraf, 2017) rather than understanding the deep geo-morphological nature of the territory. Therefore, Dhaka’s current planning method corresponds to its urban challenges raises the fundamental question of its failure to conserve the water bodies and environmentally sensitive areas (Peeters & Shannon, 2011).
5.1 Loss of wetland and filling up the low laying area
Urbanisation has already speeded up in the western and central parts. Now, newer development is encroaching towards the eastern fringe area by filling up floodplains, lower lands, and retention areas. In this area, the loss of wetland wet through filling is at an alarming level, which is violating all rules and regulations. If such a trend continues, there will be no wetland in and around Dhaka City.
5.2 Interrupted drainage network to the peripheral rivers
Dhaka’s drainage system works with gravity drainage. The peripheral lowlands collect the rainwater through a connected natural and human-made drainage system and balance the hydrological condition. The city’s constructed drainage system can only serve 25% of the urban area, whereas the remaining area’s drained water flows overland to the adjacent depression areas, low lying wetland. Lowland and other watercourses are doing that function. So, reducing natural stormwater retention areas decreases the water carrying ability, thus increasing the flooding by increased water level. Filling up lowlands and canals disrupts the smooth drainage towards this lowland, and reduced lowland loses the storing power of water. Therefore, it causes waterlogging for this area and the entire city.
5.3 Flooding and waterlogging
Dhaka city is highly vulnerable to waterborne hazards such as flooding, waterlogging owing to its location, topography, climate, and proximity to rivers. The Balu River and its tributaries influence the hydrology of the study area. The low area of the study area remains underwater most of the time of the year, storing the surface running stormwater by natural drainage network and backflow from river water. But the rapid filling up of low-lying flood plains, rivers, canals, and other natural water bodies increases the vulnerability of flooding and waterlogging, which is traditionally used to drain or retain water during heavy rainfall and river flooding.
5.4 Pollution and depletion of ground and surface water
The leading causes of surface water pollutions are direct flow of wastewater, unsanitary sewage, solid waste and untreated sewage into water bodies from built-up areas. As a result, pollute water bodies affecting fish resources and crops of the agricultural area. The decrease of agriculture, vegetation from the land-water interface by land-use conversion also directs the water flow into water bodies without natural purification. These pollute the surface water as well as underground water through infiltration.
The wetland of this area was acting as a recharger of the aquifer of this locality. But filling up wetlands, ponds, canals, low laying areas for development reduces the groundwater recharge area. Soft surfaces of this area are converted into a solid surface to accommodate housing and other commercial development. Therefore, the place loses its permeable land to recharge the underground water table.
5.5 Loss of biodiversity
Rapid urbanization, which includes built-up areas of houses, highways, commercial spaces, and industrial development, is increasingly displacing natural land and water resources. Trees are reducing, waterbodies are filling up and polluted. The species like birds and fishes which are dependent on these natural environments are disappearing extremely fast. The loss of habitats is resulting in a significant biodiversity loss. Wastewater affects the aquatic ecosystem and makes waterbodies unproductive, and as a result, the aquatic plants, fishes and animals are dying or migrate to other places.
5.6 Destruction of aesthetically pleasant recreational sites
The vast low land, agricultural field, beel, jeel close to the city are functioning as pleasant recreational sites. The seasonal variation of extensive wetlands with changing landscapes makes these sites more attractive. But rapid loss and destruction of these natural landscapes deprived the citizen of well-visited recreational areas.
5.7 A threat to urban agriculture
Land and water interface are an excellent attraction for built-up urban conversion. Traditionally, this interface acts as agricultural production with variation following topographical depth and seasonal water level change. These agricultural produces 2-3 turn in output around the year. During the dry season, agricultural land is used for paddy and other vegetation, and in the wet months, these become fishing ground. But the fast reduction of agriculture for urban development causes a considerable threat to this land use and losing the livelihood of the inhabitants depending on it.
5.8 Disturbance to traditional settlement
With the pressure of modern urban land development, the traditional settlements are unable to keep pace with them. They are rapidly either converting into urban built-up areas or leaving the land. The village-like local landscape sets integrating natural land-water resources and converts them into plain urban land, keeping no space for water bodies and interface activities with the settlement. Destruction of traditional territory by unplanned development is threatening the effective local land development process, integrating natural resources and losing the locational identity in such peripheral areas.
In the present population pressure, urban growth and associated environmental degradation raise the emergence of proper utilisation of natural resources. David (1988) advocated that the sustainable development model requires sound land-water integration to make the best use of nature’s resources to meet human demands without destroying their sustaining base. It requires a better understanding of the territorial setting to incorporate the local knowledge into the development process. From the discussion of this part, it is clear that the overall development process ignores the essential presence of natural land-water resources in the built-up areas, which consequently generates substantial environmental degradation. The traditional settlement within the natural landscape ensures optimum utilisation of water bodies for various purposes by conventional practices and ensures overall hydro-ecological benefits. Therefore, it requires searching for local landscape character of land-water integration from the spontaneous traditional settlement. The integrated land-water relationship is crucial for the per cent development practices in providing solutions to water problems, landscape protection and environmental enhancement.
This paper has been presented at the Conference “AGORA CAUMME 2020 – Mediterranean: Between Expansion and Regeneration” and selected by the Conference Scientific Committee to be published in the SPACE International Journal of Space Studies in Architecture and Urban Design. Peer review under the responsibility of the scientific committee of AGORA CAUMME 2020.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Ayasha Siddiqua
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Senior Researcher
Julian Wild is a Senior Researcher at SPACE Studies and the Sculpture Program Leader at The Art Academy London. With over 30 years of experience in creating and exhibiting sculptures, Julian has worked with high-profile clients such as Cate Blanchett and the University of Oxford. A fellow and former vice president (2015-2019) of the Royal Society of Sculptors, his work has been featured at venues like Modern Art Oxford and Chatsworth House. At SPACE Studies, Julian leads research projects, mentors junior team members, and conducts workshops that blend art and urban studies. In his free time, he enjoys attending academic conferences and crafting new sculptures.
E-mail: julianwild@spacestudies.co.uk
Director of Publications & Senior Researcher
Elif Suyuk Makakli (Associative Professor) earned her PhD in Architecture from the Vienna University of Technology, where she studied the impact of technology on architecture under Prof. William Alsop. With extensive experience in architectural practice in Istanbul and Vienna, she is now an Associate Professor at FMV Isik University, focusing on design education and technology. At SPACE Studies, Elif serves as both the Head of Publications and Senior Researcher, guiding scholarly content and contributing to research initiatives. She is dedicated to mentoring and fostering design innovation.
E-mail: elifsmakakli@spacestudies.co.uk
Director of Research
Sanaz Shobeiri is an architect, urban designer, and landscape urbanist, currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Planning at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research focuses on age-gender inclusiveness and the interplay of architectural, historical, political, and sociocultural dimensions in urban spaces, exemplified by her project on city centres in Belfast and Tehran. Sanaz holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of Tehran and has a robust portfolio in sustainability and urban theory. As Head of Research at SPACE Studies, she leads innovative research initiatives, fostering collaboration and academic excellence. In her free time, Sanaz enjoys exploring urban landscapes and supporting community development.
E-mail: sanazshobeiri@spacestudies.co.uk
Creative Director
Selin Gulce Sozmen is the Creative Director at SPACE Studies, where she leads the artistic vision and design strategy for the organisation. With a background in graphic design and visual arts, Selin has been instrumental in creating visually captivating books, journals, and event posters. Her role extends to developing and coordinating workshops and creative projects, ensuring that all visual materials meet the highest standards of quality and innovation. Selin’s dedication to creativity and excellence drives the visual and creative direction of SPACE Studies, making her an essential part of the team.
E-mail: selinsozmen@spacestudies.co.uk
Founder & Executive Director
Pinar Engincan is the Founder and Executive Director of SPACE Studies, an innovative social enterprise focused on fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and education in architecture and urban design. With extensive experience as a lecturer and researcher, Pınar holds a PhD in Architecture and has led numerous academic initiatives. Her career includes curriculum development, international collaborations, and research on housing and urban policies. Passionate about bridging academia and community, she champions accessible education and consultancy services, empowering individuals to shape the built environment.
E-mail: pengincan@spacestudies.co.uk
