The “wild city” is not forever. I still haven’t write enough about interesting of this city, it is time to wrap up the blog on “Dhaka, a city of wild”.
“Wild city” has full of people.
Dhaka is overflowing with myriad people. Although the economy in Bangladesh is rapidly growing and its income inequality is increasing, the both people of rich and of not are living together in the center of the city, the both are doing various jobs. Like in Japan and the United States, modernization causes the expansion and sprawl of the city, empties out the city center or prioritizes rich while excludes not rich and then loses the vitality of city. In other words, the “wild city” must keep allowing diverse people.
Dhaka Gulshan Circle 2. Photo in May 2019
“Wild city” repairs old things and uses them up.
There are many worn-out buses running on the main road in Dhaka. Most are used ones imported from abroad. The various buses for example of double-decker type probably imported from Britain or Hong Kong and the standard type are imported from Japan and other countries are reused and painted in bright colors. The door is removed so that passengers can jump in while driving.
Rickshaws are made by assembling various parts on the body of bicycles and motorcycles.
The used cars, mainly from Japan originally of gasoline-powered, were boldly converted into a liquefied natural gas engine.
These second-hand cultures of people remind us “Bricolage” described in “La Pensee Sauvage” by Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Arterial Road in Dhaka, Showcase of various used Buses. Photo in March 2019
“Wild City” maintains the Culture of Hand-made Design.
At the construction site in Dhaka, concrete was casted out by hand and bricks were piled up one-by-one to build a wall.
The sewing industry has been prevailing in Bangladesh for a long time. Many international companies of apparel and fashion are expanding their factories to Bangladesh in search for cheap and high-quality labor of “human-wave tactics”. Each hand-made work has its own personality and humanity. Our world is surrounded by an inorganic design created by computers and machines. The “wild city” teach us the nobility of making things by our own hands.
The purse bought for local currency at an airport souvenir shop. Although a lot of same fish design were displayed at the shop, because all are handmade, every purse is not exactly same. Each has a unique personality and a sense of crude but charm or cute.
“Wild city” is a Utopia of Water and Green.
Bangladesh is rich in water and greenery with long rain season and the entire country, including Dhaka, locates in the delta zone. Dhaka spreads out the patches of lakes or ponds probably formed by damming tributaries. Furthermore, the ample water resources nourish full of green in the city. The abundance of water and greens cool down the temperature of the burning town of Dhaka and prevent urban warming. Luxury houses are lined around the lake something like an oasis. The problem is about hygiene. The domestic wastewater is drained off, the trash is floating and, as a result, the water smells badly. The lake turns to mosquito farm. Some local residents are WILDLY fishing in such the lake to eat the fish. If the water is purified and circulated and its land is maintained as park, Dhaka will revitalize as cleaner city of water and green.
Dhaka Gulshan Lake, Luxury houses and hotels are lined around the lake. Photo in May 2019
“Wild city” enjoys Freedom.
The first freedom is about movement. In Dhaka, rickshaws, cars, and motorcycles can freely move around the city and freely park at the destinations. Although there is the chaos due to no traffic lights and heavy traffic, but the freedom of movement is the first requirement for vibrant city.
The second freedom is about dwelling. On the rooftop of the hotel where I stayed, employees built shelters by themselves to live. This is the ultimate proximity to work and residence.
The third freedom is about the mind. In “wild city” humans are not tamed. Demonstration happens weekly. Bangladesh does not seem to be a class society like India, and both men and women of various backgrounds work freely in the same workplace. In this aspect, Bangladesh can be said as a democratic society. Although most of the people in Bangladesh are Muslims, therefore they live according to its strict doctrines, they wildly enjoys their freedom. On the other hand, the people who are “tamed” to live “well-behaved” and controlled by “self-responsibility” and “compliance” might enjoy lesser freedom than people who lives in “wild city”.
Free markets are open all over the city. Photo in March 2019
“Wild city” is not forever.
The lively sceneries in Dhaka showing in the blog are ephemeral phenomenon. As other cities experienced, the more modernized, industrialized, globalized and capitalized the city is, the weaker the power of “wild city” is, although there is a difference of its degree. The city of beautiful and human has life and the life is limited. We were completely “tamed” and lost the “wild mind”. Rather than nostalgically adoring to the powerful life of “wild city”, can we awaken the “new wild mind” and find out the way to “vividly” live, work, study and play in our current city again?
Goats will be halal processed as meat. The “Wild City” has various episodes about life and death. Photo in October 2019
Hiroyuki Niino
