A Seminar titled ‘The New Megacity: For Whom?’ was held at the Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) on Monday at the university campus in Bashundhara R/A, Dhaka. The event was organized by the Global Studies and Governance (GSG) Program of the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (SLASS) at IUB.
Professor Milan Pagon, vice chancellor (acting), IUB inaugurated the seminar which took place in the morning. Dr Imtiaz A Hussain, dean (acting), SLASS, welcomed the guests to the events.
Renowned persons participated in three different sessions under the topic (i) Dhaka Mega City Challenges (ii) Water Related Challenges to Urban Areas in the Global and US Perspectives (iii) Urban Challenges and New Solutions.
Dr Adrian Parr, dean, College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs UNESCO Chair of Water and Human Settlements and Professor, Department of Public Affairs and Planning University of Texas at Arlington; Dr Jeroen Warner, associate professor, Sociology of Development and Change Group Wageningen University, Netherlands; Nick Z Fang, University of Texas, Arlington; Brad Bell University of Texas, Arlington; Karabi C Bezboruah, University of Texas, Arlington; Jeroen Warner, Wageningen University; Richard Meissner, CSIR Pretoria; Md Nadiruzzaman, Hamburg University; Professor Dr Hamidul Huq, dean, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, UIU; Golam Moula Bhuiyan, independent researcher were the speakers of the panel.
Discussant emphasized on balanced and sustainable development plan for Dhaka. Water resource management and governance are one of the major challenges for a megacity like capital Dhaka with a huge population, they added. Experts discussed that migrants came for unplanned tenure and started living in the city, and the city has been coping up with the effects of many dwellers in a small space.
Along with external resource persons, Hossain Ahmed Taufiq and Marufa Akter from Global Studies and Governance Programme, IUB; Jessica Tartila Suma from Department of Media and Communication, IUB were also present in the events, present papers and took part in various discussion.
