UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress

UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress 1

P- 0841

The Aura of Sylhet City

Ahmed Tazrin*1, Rakib Hassan Mohmmad2 and Rochana Afreen Ahmed3

*1Research Associate, Bengal Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh

2,3Research Associate, Bengal Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

The city of Sylhet is known for its distinctive natural features. Geographically it is located in the northeastern

part of Bangladesh and it is dominated by Surma-Kushiyara flood plain. The urban center is located on the

northern bank of Surma River. Although the administrative boundary defines the city’s territory on both northern

and southern banks of Surma. In this paper the term “Aura” is used to put an emphasis on livability of a city. In

this paper, a city is considered as living organism that inherits certain uniqueness creating an aura. It changes

frequently through the process the city goes through. It emits positive aura when equilibrium between natural

and built environment is achieved successfully. The opposite happens if that equilibrium fails. As an example,

the city of Sylhet is chosen to elaborate on this term and explain the importance of rightful urban design in

discussion.

The research is a combination of systematic and extensive literature review, geographic analysis and

exemplary urban design practice. The result obtained through geographic analysis indicates to deterioration

of Sylhet’s known aura due to decreasing percentage of vegetation and water body. It is feared that Sylhet will

be losing its aura in near future if the current trend of urbanization and rigorous infrastructure development is

practiced. Sylhet can adopt alternative development scheme to protect its aura. It is still possible to reverse,

rehabilitate and revitalize the destructive process of rigorous urbanization. It can be achieved through

responsive urban design.

Keywords: Aura, Livability, Sylhet City, Urbanization, Environment, Responsive Urban Design

1. Introduction

Sylhet, a city praised for its natural beauty is being domesticated rapidly to serve its growing inhabitants as

well as the entire region it is located in. Figure 1 indicates the city’s location within Bangladesh. The city is

enriched with natural assets. The combination of hillocks and vast waterbodies gives it a poetic touch. The

aura of Sylhet is the combination of all the natural and built environment that makes it an attractive livable city.

In this paper the term “Aura” is used to put an emphasis on urban quality. The city of Sylhet is chosen as an

example to elaborate on this term and explain the importance of rightful urban design in discussion. The study

was initiated with exploring the context of soul and identifying the elements that create Sylhet’s aura. It then

brings these elements in discussion for designing livable sustainable city which is the core objective of this

research. Most of the previous studies have only addressed Sylhet’s physical being but very few or almost

*Contact Author: Tazrin Ahmed, Research Associate, Bengal Institute

Tel: +88 0174 5768963

e-mail: greenarch08@gmail.com

(The publisher will insert here: received, accepted)

2 UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress

none had attempted to explore its soul. This paper thus strives to address Sylhet’s soul as the “aura” of the

city. Our intention of using this term is to bring the distinctive but overlooked yet necessary features of Sylhet

to foreground. To be more specific on such features, this paper primarily discusses Sylhet’s natural features.

Then expands to illustrating negative impacts of urbanization, example of alternative design schemes to

minimize adverse impact of urbanization and concludes on the note to promote research activity on such

issues.

Fig.1. Location of Sylhet City (Author, 2017)

2. Methodology

The research is a combination of systematic and extensive literature review, geographic analysis and

exemplary urban design practice. Initial phase of the research includes understanding of soul in context of a

city and its aura. Summary of the literature review contributed in making an inventory of elements that create

Sylhet City’s aura. Results collected through geographic analysis has been used in detecting the city’s

changing aura. Based on these results an example of alternative urban design scheme has been proposed to

protect the city from losing its aura that attracts its settlers and makes it distinctive.

3. Aura of a City

The term Aura, an abstract noun, has been used by multi-disciplines to define distinctive characteristic of

someone or something. The most relevant meaning of this term is found in Collins Dictionary. According to the

dictionary “Aura” in American English means a particular atmosphere or quality that seems to arise from and

surround a person or thing.

According to eminent Christian theologian and philosopher St. Augustine, “Every city is a living body” (City

of God, 426 AD) and in relevance of this city is continuously altering its shape and environment with time and

demand of its settlers since its formation for centuries. Every city has its own charm, an inherent quality that

creates a distinctive identity, the aura. The aura changes frequently through the process the city goes through.

It emits positive aura when equilibrium between natural and built environment is achieved successfully. The

opposite happens if that equilibrium fails. Natural processes such as air, land, water and life shape cities and

create aura. While physio-geographic attributes of a city defines its growth, behavior and evolution.

In 1953, well known Indonesia born sociologist Justus Maria van der Kroef had used the term Aura to

describe the expected modernity of post war Jakarta city (Kusno, 2000). In recent times, prominent urban

planner and Chairman of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of

Design, Alex Krieger has used Aura to define the importance of urban waterfront. In his words “it is along its

UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress 3

waterfront [that] the aura of a city resides and persists” (Marshall, 2001).

4. Sylhet’s Aura

Aura of the city of Sylhet depicted in its name. Originated from Sanskrit word “Shrihatta” / “Shrihasta”. “Shri-”

depicts beauty/aesthetics/astonishing beauty/happiness and “-Hasta” means enriching touch of nature (i.e.

river, canal, forest, trees etc.). The city has always owned the title of being “Green City”. Dominated by Surma-

Kushiyara flood plain and hilly soils formed in Pleistocene era, the city is rich in natural beauty. The combination

of higher grounds known locally has Tillas (hillocks) and vast waterbodies naturally created due to

physiographical depressions known as Haors gives it a poetic touch. Another significant natural feature of the

city is the network of natural canals, locally known as Chhara.

The urban center is located on the northern bank of Surma River (Fig. 2). The total area of the Sylhet City

Corporation (SCC) is about 26.60 Sq.KM. The population of the mentioned area is about 485,138 and has a

density of 2,747/Sq. Km. (BBS, 2011). Although the city territory has been expanding since past two decades

to accommodate its growing population.

Fig.2. Urban Sylhet (Bengal Institute, 2017)

It is the aura created by the water and greenery that has attracted human to arrive and settle. Hence the

urban area started growing on the bank of Surma River. The city, for a long time was connected with rest of

the country through waterways. Recently the development authority have chosen fringe areas on the northern

part of the river that consist of hillocks for future expansion. Based on the current land use pattern the following

profile has been created to illustrate Sylhet’s environment.

4 UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress

Fig.3. Sylhet’s Profile (Bengal Institute, 2017)

In figure 4, the elements of positive aura of Sylhet is shown. A healthy combination of the five elements

shown in this illustration makes Sylhet a habitable city that attracts thousands of tourists, investors and local

inhabitants to visit and settle. It also has potentials to grow. Rapid rigorous development may cause imbalance

among the elements those create positive aura.

Fig.4. Impacts of Positive Aura (Bengal Institute, 2017)

5. Deteriorated Aura

Figure 5 is a summary of results obtained through analyzing remote sensing data of about four decades of

Sylhet’s urban growth. The images are classified in five basic land cover categories: agricultural land, built-up

area, hilly vegetation, other vegetation and waterbody. Since 1972 till 2015, built-up area has increased

dramatically by 54%. The result obtained through this analysis indicates to deterioration of Sylhet’s known aura

due to decreasing percentage of vegetation and water body.

UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress 5

Fig.5. Land Cover Change (Bengal Institute, 2016)

Sylhet will be losing its aura in near future if the current trend of urbanization and rigorous infrastructure

development is practiced. According to SCC’s development plan until 2030 the city area will be expanding 85

square kilometers. This is to accommodate a projected population of 2,874,053 (UDD, 2010). Insensitive and

unplanned expansion of such scale may lead to devastative consequences.

Fig.6. Impacts of Negative Aura (Bengal Institute, 2016)

The illustration in figure 6 shows the elements that will be creating negative aura for the city. If the urban

area expands without considering its natural resources it will be suffering from undesired pollution in air, water

and soil. This will be causing inconvenience to livelihood of the inhabitants and thus deteriorating the quality

of life in the city. The consequences are evident from recent news reports. A recent article in local newspaper

mentioned that the city has lost 50% of its green coverage in past 21 years (Roy, 2017). According to a statistics

published by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyer’s Association, 70% of 300 hillocks within the city and adjacent

area have been destroyed in past two decades. Some local literature have mentioned waterbodies and canals

have been filled up since 80’s in order to develop infrastructure system. Impact of rapid urbanization

groundwater quality and water level have been observed as well. It is estimated that by 2030 groundwater

level of the city might be 20 meter (GoB, 2014).

6 UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress

6. Schematics of Restoring Positive Aura

Growth of progressing city is accepted but not with a cost that threatens its future. Sylhet can adopt

alternative development scheme to protect its aura. It is still possible to reverse, rehabilitate and revitalize the

destructive process of rigorous urbanization. It can be achieved through responsive urban design. Such an

attempt have been taken by Bengal Institute early this year by organizing an open exhibition titled “Next Sylhet”

in the city. The event exhibited prospective images of what Sylhet can be and how certain changes can be

made (Fig.7).

Fig.7. Design Elements to Restore Positive Aura (Author, 2017)

Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscape and Settlements is an institute that provides multidisciplinary

platform for research, design and academic activities. The Institute is led by Professor Kazi Khaleed Ashraf,

who believes “Urban design is not an act of beautification; it is precise projection for deploying the right

resources and orchestrating the most effective coalition for better future.” (Ashraf, 2012). The design elements

illustrated in the diagram above are the research product of the institute that focuses on improving the civic

and public realm by acknowledging local context and embracing its own uniqueness or Sylhetness (Bengal

Institute, 2016). These design elements are based on some selected important places, nodes and avenues in

Sylhet. They are designed to be more effective and attractive through connecting them with walkable networks

thus promoting walkability. Also organizing the traffic pattern, giving some civic programs and creating public

plaza while respecting the unique environmental characters of Sylhet (Bengal Institute, 2017).

7. Conclusion

The illustration in figure 8 is used to draw conclusion to this research. It shows Sylhet’s journey over time

and questions its future. It was the pristine environment that had attracted the Austric Speech community in

the 5th century to settle in Sylhet. Since then evidences of urban growth and visiting foreign settlers in Sylhet

have been found the writings of historian Sujit Chowdhury (2006). Increased rate of urbanization has been

found to have impact on Sylhet’s natural richness. This research puts emphasis on this issue and tries to

propose alternative schemes to reduce the negative impact of urbanization.

UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress 7

Fig.8. Visualizing Sylhet’s Growth (Author, 2017)

Example set through restoring the aura of Sylhet may ignite new era of urbanization and urbanism that

enhances a city’s livability. Design and development schemes that recognize essential environmental elements

such as land type, network of water-bodies and vegetation pattern, and treat them as “Life Line” of the city.

This can be made possible if more researches and discussions on urban issues and cities and their livability

is organized. In depth research on cities considering them as living organisms should be conducted to

understand the urgency of stopping rigorous urbanization. Most importantly the products of such researches

should be made open and simple for the general public to understand and participate as cities do not belong

to any specific group of people but to all.

References

1) Ashraf, K.K. 2012) Designing Dhaka: A Manifesto For A Better City, LOKA Press.

2) Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, BBS, (2011). District Statistics 2011: Sylhet. Pp. 16. Website: http://www.bbs.gov.bd/

3) Bengal Institute (2016). Vas. Issue 02. Website: https://issuu.com/bengalinstitute/docs/vas02

4) Bengal Institute (2017) Next Sylhet (EBook to be published in August, 2017)

5) Bhattacharjee, N. (2010), Communities cultures and identities a sociological study of the Sylheti community in contemporary. India. Website:

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/18565

6) Definition of Aura: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/aura

7) Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, GoB (2014). Bangladesh Urban Resilience Project: Environmental Management

Framework. Pp. 48. Website: http://www.plancomm.gov.bd/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Bangladesh-Urban-Resilience-Project_EMF.pdf

8) Kusno, A. (2000) Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, urban space and political cultures in Indonesia. London: Routledge.

9) Marshall, R (2001) Waterfronts in Post-Industrial Cities. London and New York: Spon Press.

10) Roy, S. (2017) Around 50% green coverage of Sylhet have reduced in last 21 years (original article available in Bengali). Banikbarta. Website:

https://bonikbarta.net/bangla/news/2017-05-

19/117606/%E0%A7%A8%E0%A7%A7-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%9B%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6

%B2%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9F%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%97%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9B%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B2%E

0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%AE%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%9B%E0%A7%87-%E0%A7%AB%E0%A7%A6-%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6

%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B6--/

11) St. Augustine (426 AD), City of God.

12) Urban Development Directorate, UDD (2010). Master Plan for Sylhet Divisional Town (2010 – 2030), pp. 2, 64. Bangladesh.