Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, ranks among the world's most densely populated cities, with over 20 million residents and thousands more migrating each year in search of work, education, and better opportunities. This relentless inflow creates immense pressure on limited land, housing, transport, and basic infrastructure. The city struggles to manage rapid growth while ensuring environmental preservation, sustainable land use, and liveability for its citizens. Unplanned expansion has already worsened congestion, pollution, and waterlogging. Against this backdrop, the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) emerges as a crucial blueprint, offering guidelines to direct Dhaka's future growth toward more balanced, sustainable urban development.
The DAP 2008, introduced by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), emphasized vertical expansion, encouraging high-rise apartments and concentrated land use to maximize Dhaka's limited land resources. This model aligned with the city's extreme density and growing housing demand. In contrast, the proposed DAP 2023 seeks to reduce central congestion by promoting horizontal expansion and restricting high-rise development in many areas. Although framed as modern and environmentally friendly, this approach risks backfiring. Given Dhaka's limited land, continuous migration, and role as Bangladesh's main hub, restricting vertical growth could worsen overcrowding, inflate housing costs, and accelerate encroachment on wetlands and farmland.
Dhaka's central areas accommodate over 50,000 people per square kilometer, ranking it among the world's most overcrowded urban centers. Unlike nations with vast land reserves, Bangladesh lacks the capacity for unchecked horizontal expansion, particularly in its capital. With limited space and rising housing demand driven by migration and population growth, vertical development emerges as the most practical and sustainable path. High-rise housing can optimize scarce land, ease pressure on infrastructure, and preserve vital agricultural and ecological zones.
DAP 2008 encouraged vertical growth by allowing higher Floor Area Ratios (FARs) and greater building heights, enabling taller apartment complexes to accommodate more families within the same plot. This not only addressed housing shortages but also reduced encroachment on wetlands, agricultural fields, and water-bodies. Vertical housing preserved more land for green spaces, vital in a polluted and congested city.
DAP 2023, by contrast, reduces FARs and imposes stricter height restrictions. This forces developers to build smaller buildings housing fewer families, pushing people to the periphery or beyond. Though reducing density seems desirable, it is impractical given Dhaka's role as Bangladesh's administrative, commercial, and educational hub. Restricting vertical growth worsens overcrowding, fuels informal settlements, and consumes ecological land through horizontal sprawl.
The contrast between DAP 2008 and 2023 highlights two philosophies of planning. DAP 2008, recognizing density challenges, emphasized vertical expansion and efficient land use. DAP 2023, however, tightens codes and reduces FARs in neighborhoods like Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, and Uttara, aiming to curb density by discouraging vertical growth and redirecting people to satellite towns. While decentralization reflects global trends, it ignores Bangladesh's lack of infrastructure, jobs, and facilities in smaller cities. Moreover, capping heights to preserve "neighborhood character" limits housing supply, escalates land and rental prices, and ironically threatens wetlands and farmlands.
Globally, cities facing density pressures-Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and New York-embrace vertical development. Hong Kong houses millions in high-rises that integrate residential, commercial, and recreational spaces. Singapore accommodates its population with planned high-rise estates that incorporate greenery. Tokyo relies on vertical expansion in its central districts, while New York demonstrates how vertical density preserves green zones like Central Park. These examples prove vertical growth can coexist with environmental goals by freeing land for ecological use. If Dhaka follows DAP 2023's restrictions, it risks worsening its housing crisis and destroying its environment. DAP 2008's vertical model aligns with global best practices for high-density cities.
Economics further favor vertical development. Dhaka has seen skyrocketing land prices, alongside rising costs for cement, steel, and bricks. Vertical construction remains viable because developers achieve economies of scale while residents gain modern amenities. Distributing land costs across more apartments reduces per-unit housing prices. DAP 2008 recognized this, enabling a thriving real estate sector that housed millions and fueled economic growth. DAP 2023 threatens this by reducing FARs and capping heights, lowering the number of flats, making projects less profitable, and raising housing expenses. Developers may withdraw, further limiting supply and inflating prices.
Real estate is a major contributor to GDP and employment, linked with over 250 industries. By restricting vertical growth, DAP 2023 jeopardizes investment, risks stalled projects, and threatens jobs. Reduced housing supply will inflate property prices, deepening inequality and expanding slums, undermining planned development. By contrast, DAP 2008 sustained growth by keeping developers engaged and meeting demand.
While DAP 2023 claims to prioritize greenery, horizontal expansion will consume more land. Wetlands, agriculture, and floodplains will be sacrificed, undermining food security and ecological resilience. DAP 2008's taller buildings, by housing more families per plot, left land for gardens, parks, and plantations. Tall buildings can justify investments in public parks and greenery, as seen in Singapore and New York. DAP 2008 and the Building Construction Act also mandated open spaces with high-rise projects.
Restricting vertical housing will not stop migration; it will only worsen shortages. Horizontal expansion will erode farmland and waterbodies, undermining food security and heightening climate vulnerability. Moreover, Bangladesh is densely populated at every corner, not only at Dhaka. There is not much flat land left vacant at any place of the country where a megacity can be established newly. Additionally, we have invested heavily in Dhaka through large development projects like; Metro Rail, Elevated Expressway etc. considering it as the hub of our development and administrative operations. Hence, restricting population at Dhaka city is not a short term task and we need to plan to accommodate people of this city is the upcoming years also. Unlike DAP 2023, DAP 2008 sought to accommodate reality through vertical planning.
The real weakness of DAP 2008 lay not in its vision but in its poor implementation. Although it offered clear guidelines for vertical expansion, many developers ignored rules regarding FARs, open spaces, and safety standards. Authorities often turned a blind eye to violations, motivated by corruption or personal benefit, which encouraged widespread illegal construction, even on restricted or ecologically sensitive land. This uneven enforcement created deep inequality-those who bypassed the law gained, while honest citizens followed outdated codes. Now, with DAP 2023, many face unfair restrictions, such as being denied permission for taller buildings beside already-approved high-rises.
The government and RAJUK should reconsider DAP 2023's viability and retain DAP 2008's core philosophy. Rather than restricting vertical growth, they should embrace it while ensuring regulatory oversight for safety, earthquake resilience, and adequate infrastructure. Vertical housing must be paired with investments in transport, sewage, and energy to create livable neighborhoods. Authorities should also expand green zoning by preserving parks, promoting rooftop gardens, and mandating open space in high-rises. Unlike DAP 2023's restrictive model, DAP 2008 can be adapted to address environmental concerns without undermining housing supply. Meanwhile, Bangladesh must invest in secondary cities to gradually balance urbanization, but until then Dhaka's survival depends on vertical development.
Dhaka stands at a crossroads. As one of the world's most densely populated cities, it cannot afford horizontal sprawl that consumes scarce land and undermines affordability and sustainability. For a livable future, authorities must embrace vertical development, strengthen infrastructure, and create greener spaces. Dhaka's future cannot rest on horizontal expansion that eats into ecological foundations. It must rise vertically, like other global megacities, to secure sustainability for its millions of inhabitants.
The writer is Chief Editor at Mohammadi News Agency (MNA) and Editor at Kishore Bangla