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: [email protected]
(The publisher will insert here: received, accepted)
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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
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.