Sustainable Urban Development and Nature-Based Solutions: An Assessment of the Developments along Norai River Banks in Dhaka

Corresponding and First Author

Imon Chowdhooree, PhD

Executive Director, Cell for Adaptation, Resilience, Security, and Humanitarian Assistance (CARSHA)

and

Assistant Director, Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management Department of Disaster Management, School of Architecture and Design

Brac University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

chowdhooree@gmail.com

Co-Authors

Associate Professor

MdRashedBhuyan

PhD

1,2✉Emailchowdhooree@gmail.comEmailrashed.bhuyan@bracu.ac.bd

TasfinAziz

Senior Lecturer

1Management Department of Disaster Management, School of Architecture and DesignBrac UniversityDhakaBangladesh

2Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and DesignBrac UniversityDhakaBangladesh

Md Rashed Bhuyan, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Design

Brac University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

rashed.bhuyan@bracu.ac.bd

Tasfin Aziz

Senior Lecturer

Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Design

Brac University, Dhaka

Abstract

To reduce vulnerabilities brought on by either natural hazards or human-induced activities, nature-based solutions (NbS)—as options for restoring, protecting, sustaining, and raising natural systems—have gained attention. The restoration and maintenance of urban water bodies is one kind of NbS that offers sustainable urban development of areas around water bodies with various benefits of economic growth, social cohesion, and environmental restoration for making the cities more livable. However, proper assessment of the effectiveness of waterfront development projects as NbSs and tools for accomplishing sustainable development goals and fostering urban resilience is necessary.

This research investigates the case of waterfront development project of the Norai River and its peripheral areas in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, as an NbS for reducing urban vulnerabilities and meeting sustainable development goals. The study utilized data collection methods such as observation, mapping, interviews, and surveys, along with a sustainable development scoring framework, to determine that the environmental performance was moderate due to a reduction in waterlogging risk. However, the river's inability to create social spaces, spark social activities, and generate economic activities remains unexplored for enhancing the livability of the area. This research contributes to a user-centric understanding of waterbodies' importance in cities, enabling future NbS practitioners to make informed decisions for sustainable urban waterfront development.

Key Words

Nature-based solutions (NbS)

Sustainable Development

Water-front Development

Dhaka

Urban Waterbody

Livability

Introduction

The dynamic landscapes of urban areas are composed of natural and man-made elements. Yet the condition of natural elements often gets deteriorated due to the negative impacts of climate change, undesirable socioeconomic activities, and fast urbanization (Ahmed et al., 2019; Guha-Sapir et al., 2012). Urban vulnerabilities exacerbate due to poor planning practices (Bosher & Dainty 2011), limited resources (Hoyois & Sapir, 2012), and unregulated urbanization following migration. Human behaviors (Chowdhooree et al., 2024) and the narrow vision of inhabitants and urban development authorities (Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023) also contribute to urban vulnerabilities. In several cases, the presence of natural elements and systems, most importantly the “free service of nature”, are not valued (Mukherjee et al., 2022). But restoration and preservation of natural elements and systems can reduce environmental deterioration (Escobedo et al., 2019; Hsieh et al., 2016; Kabisch et al., 2016; Mariani et al., 2016; Armson et al., 2012) and mitigate risks and vulnerabilities in the city (Mukherjee et al., 2022; Zaman & Chowdhooree, 2022; Mayr et al., 2017). Conscious practices of restoring or preserving natural resources and natural systems in urban areas, often termed as nature-based solutions (NbS), promote sustainable development, enhancing environmental, social, and economic benefits to the urban residents (Calfapietra & Cherubini, 2018) and make the urban areas livable for them, as the livability quality depends on the condition of built infrastructures and natural resources on which lives and livelihoods depend (Ruth & Franklih, 2014; Ruth & Coelho, 2007).

In highly dense urban areas, water bodies, water systems and water-sheds often suffer from various anthropogenic pressures like rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, industrialization, environmental pollution, and population growth (Shukla et al., 2013; Wen et al., 2006). Reviving or restoring urban water bodies and their banks as blue-green network with multi-functional zones have gained attention in recent years (Zaman et al., 2024; Zaman & Chowdhooree, 2022; Mahua et al., 2022). A growing number of cities have been following NbS, often as water-front development projects (Wang & Lu, 2001), focusing on blue-green networks for improving degraded urban environments and enjoying the benefits in both physical and functional ways (Zaman et al., 2024; Djuki ́c et al., 2020). Practices with particular focus on NbS contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals by reducing urban risks, developing environmental awareness, preserving the natural eco-system, (Mukherjee et al., 2022; Zaman & Chowdhooree, 2022; Troy et al., 2007), and facilitating adaptive uses of waterfronts for socialization and commercialization (Zaman et al., 2024; Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023; Al-Shams et al., 2013; Gaffen, 2004). However, proper assessment of the effectiveness of waterfront development projects as NbS is necessary for accomplishing sustainable development goals and fostering urban resilience and livability.

Evidence-based and evaluative case studies of NbS in urban waterfront development initiatives in Bangladeshi cities are very few. In riverine Bangladesh, waterfront developments in formal sectors occur, in most cases, through large scale eviction of dwellers with no relocation plans. Users’ perception during waterfront (re)development activities is thus a highly neglected issue. Bhuyan and colleagues (2022) explored the socio-spatial dialectics of urban waterbodies and everyday life in Barisal, Bangladesh and highlighted two major gaps of water sensitive urbanism in practice – inadequate community participation and a lack of consideration for traditional activities and lifestyles in waterfront development plans and projects. After studying the current condition of a canal in Mongla, a coastal town in Bangladesh, Chowdhooree and colleagues (2024) found that the adjacent areas of the canal became vulnerable to waterlogging and drainage congestion due to infrastructural development, waterbody encroachment, and climate change impacts. In this instance, it has been recommended to restore the tidal canal as an NbS for coping with the present and upcoming impacts of climate change. Concerns have been raised about how global south cities can guarantee livability and build resilience, as outlined in the sustainable development target (Chowdhooree et al., 2024).

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is surrounded by three major rivers: the river Buriganga at South-West, the river Turag at the West, and the river Balu at the East. According to the Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) there are more than 50 canals and small rivers which can be easily traced within the city (Ishtiaque et al.,2014). Due to poor drainage system and an underutilization of existing river and canal networks, waterlogging is frequent in the city (Alam et al., 2023; Subrina & Chowdhury, 2018). Proper management of these water bodies through restoring, conserving and upgrading natural ecosystems could play a major role for developing urban resilience through mitigating multiple urban vulnerabilities (Mukherjee et al., 2022) and meeting the goals of sustainable development (Zanan et al., 2024; Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023; Arfanuzzaman & Dahiya, 2019). With this perspective, this research examines the case of Norai River, a branch of Balu River, and its peripheral areas in Dhaka. The study, that involve a studio-based urban design exercise, explores the status of the water-front development in terms of NbS for reducing urban vulnerabilities by meeting sustainable development goals.

NbS and Sustainable Urban Development

Natural elements and natural systems are often deprioritized in urban areas due to the pressure of unregulated development, population influx and economic demands. As the “free service of nature”, natural eco-systems can be restored, conserved, and upgraded to ensure the effective management of natural elements and systems (Mukherjee et al., 2022). Along with measuring the economic efficiency and social welfare, considerations are put on conserving natural elements and systems for enhancing the livability of a particular city (Holden & Scerri, 2013). The urban water bodies along with its system is a such kind of natural element and system that faces threats due to anthropogenic causes and chances in climatic variables, like temperature, precipitation rate and extreme weather events (Chowdhooree et al., 2024). Sustainable development allows to have environmental pollution or degradation to an acceptable limit while exploring the economic opportunities and achieving social benefits (Permana et al., 2017). The core idea of NbS matches with the sustainable development goals (Chowdhooree et al., 2024; Eggermont et al., 2015; Balian et al., 2014) and it can be achieved by ‘re-naturing cities’ with connected networks of blue infrastructures (any form of water bodies) and green infrastructure (any form of vegetation areas). This integrated network, often known as BGI (Blue-green-infrastructure) network focuses on reviving natural systems for future development (Zaman et al., 2024; Mayr et al., 2017). It has become a global trend of modern urban development that allows to implement projects with water fronts for reviving, restoring, or upgrading BGI networks with multifunctional areas, targeting to have environmental, social, and economic benefits (Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023; Djuki ́c et al., 2020; Wang & Lu, 2001). The waterfront is not necessarily only the front areas of a water body or water edges, it is a zone of interaction between urban development and the water (Wrenn, 1983) and these types of water-centric developments are often recognized in different terms, like, riverside, river front, city port, harbor front, water edge riverfront, etc. (Hussein, 2006; Hoyle, 2002). Any water-front development project as a means of ‘re-naturing cities’ and NbS needs to be evaluated to understand its success in terms achieving sustainable development goals and this study evaluates a case of Dhaka city for that purpose.

Research Methodology

The study is conducted as part of a studio-based urban design exercise for the fourth years’ students of Bachelor of Architecture degree of an architectural school in Bangladesh. The design research approach of the exercise included five stages:

Empathy (i.e., conceiving the urban (re)design problem from the point of view of the residents and users of urban spaces)

ii.

Problem identification or definition (i.e., identification strength, weakness, threats of the area and opportunities for waterfront redevelopment)

iii.

Ideation (i.e., exploration of ideas focusing on nature-based and sustainable design solutions)

iv.

Prototyping (modeling and visualization of proposed waterfront redevelopment), and

Evaluation (assessment of ideas and redesign proposals)

During the first 3 stages, the detailed analysis of urban site and its surrounding landscape followed the concept of methodological pluralism (Chowdhooree et al., 2024; Chowdhooree, 2019; Hirschheim, 1985; Patton, 1980). Students enjoyed the freedom of choosing appropriate data collection tools for addressing research objective (Cooper, 1997) without guaranteeing certainty and universal generalization (Patton, 1980). Students were advised to employ multiple research tools including literature review, user survey, semi-structured interviews, systematic observation and mapping, and image comparison. However, for the purpose of maintaining the quality of collected data for this study, a questionnaire, previously developed by the studio instructors (Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023) was provided to the students. Students received a 4-hours training on how to collect data using the questionnaire.

1.1 User survey and semi-structured interviews

Users’ survey and the semi-structured interviews employed a sustainable development scoring framework developed earlier by Chowdhooree and Aziz (2023) (Table 1). It can be considered a good option to assess comparable situations from similar context. Based on a set a relevant research works (Sochacka et al., 2024; Mukherjee et al., 2022; Zaman & Chowdhooree, 2022; Wong, 2015; Al-Shams et al., 2013; Yassin et al., 2012; Koomen et al., 2012; Kazmierczak & Carter, 2010; Varna, 2009; Bertsch, 2008; Mell, 2008; Pickett & Cadenasso, 2008; Ercan, 2007; Troy et al., 2007; Bruttomesso, 2006; Pataki et al., 2006; Benedict & McMahon, 2006; Madanipour, 2005; Groffman et al., 2003; Nowak et al., 2002; Burgers, 2000; Grimm et al., 2000), this framework proposed a way to measure the degree of success of each feature and created a list of attributes that can be recognized as targeted advantages (i.e., environmental advantages, social advantages, and economic advantages) of any urban waterfront development project.

To secure the environmental advantages it is expected that the historic nature of water-bodies and adjacent green areas will be restored through regenerating or maintaining the connected network of blue and green elements. The water body will be a source of potable surface water that can be used for daily activities by the local people. It will contribute to manage the storm-water and waste-water that generate in the vicinity. The water body will store the storm water so that the water can be used later for various purposes. For this purpose, there can be an integrated

Table 1
List of features of 3 categories of sustainable development advantages (Chowdhooree& Aziz, 2023)
Category	Features	Likert Scale
Environmental Advantages	Supply of potable water	1	2	3	4	5
	Integrated urban water management (collecting water from adjacent individual buildings, plots and bigger area)	1	2	3	4	5
	Storm-water management	1	2	3	4	5
	Storing storm-water for various uses	1	2	3	4	5
	Waste-water Management	1	2	3	4	5
	Regulating stream system for preventing rain-fall induced water-logging	1	2	3	4	5
	Supporting habitat for wildlife and native plants	1	2	3	4	5
	Introducing new or altered vegetation to enhance the quality of ecological services	1	2	3	4	5
	Improving micro-climate with vegetation	1	2	3	4	5
	Increasing permeable surfaces	1	2	3	4	5
	Controlling water and other types of pollution	1	2	3	4	5
	Reviving the historic nature of the water body	1	2	3	4	5
	Developing a connected blue-green network	1	2	3	4	5
Social Advantages	Allowing public access to the waterfront area	1	2	3	4	5
	Allowing visual permeability	1	2	3	4	5
	Ensuring participation of different stakeholders (governmental organizations, community-based organizations, local residents, activists’ groups, private developers etc.) in the development and management process	1	2	3	4	5
	Letting the public to understand the goals of development project and its different phases and the kinds of advantages they will experience	1	2	3	4	5
	Allowing space for street activities (like street vending), socialization (like shopping, relaxing, interacting with friends and colleagues), and active and passive recreation (like outside dining, strolling, cycling, swimming, and fishing, etc.)	1	2	3	4	5
	Developing public spaces as an image of the city	1	2	3	4	5
	Increasing the transportation opportunities	1	2	3	4	5
	Creating pedestrian-friendly environment by establishing pedestrian malls, various access, shaded walkways, bridges, connecting key functions, etc.	1	2	3	4	5
Economic Advantages	Having diversified mixed-use development with different functions, like, shopping, outdoor eating, recreational facilities, touristic facilities, etc.	1	2	3	4	5
	Allowing public-private partnerships for developing the site	1	2	3	4	5
	Preventing losses in company resulting from urban hazards such as flooding	1	2	3	4	5
	Allowing to make profits by using it as a naval transportation route	1	2	3	4	5

system from collecting rainwater from individual buildings to the precinct. The properly maintained water channel may play a role to keep the adjacent areas free from rain-fall induced water-logging. The whole blue-green network can be maintained as habitats for native plants and wild-lives. New or altered vegetation, as well as permeable surfaces will contribute to improve the micro-climatic conditions and ecological services. The level of water pollution and other types of pollutions (i.e., noise pollution, air pollution) will also be controlled.

Desired level of social advantages can be acquired by developing the area as a public space that will be easily accessible by public and visually permeable to all. It will create an image of the livable city. All relevant stakeholders (governmental organizations, community-based organizations, local residents, activists’ groups, private developers etc.) will have active participation in developing, maintaining and managing the area. The community should be aware of the goals of development project or its different phases, and the kinds of advantages that they will experience. The area may accommodate diversified scopes for street activities (such as street vending), active and passive recreation and socialization (such as shopping, enjoying views, socializing with friends, and meeting with colleagues etc.) The area will enhance the opportunities of public transportation as well as facilities for pedestrians.

For securing the economic advantages it is expected that the area would provide dynamic and varied mixed-use development to ensure vibrancy and variety with various functions, like, shopping, outdoor dining, recreational facilities, tourism attractions etc. The scopes of public-private partnerships for developing the site will allow the private entities to develop public as well as private lands. The business operations will be able to avoid to face losses due to urban risks like waterlogging. The means of naval transportations also can be turned into a profitable ventures.

In this way, the framework identifies 13 features as environmental advantages, 8 features as social advantages, and 5 features as economic advantages (Table 1). The framework suggest to put a quantitative value on a Likert type scale of 5 scores based on the qualitative opinions of research participates. A performance with 5 bands Likert scale score of 5 is considered highly successful, with 1 representing the least successful performance. The survey responses followed by simple descriptive statistics on MS Excel. Each category’s average score facilitates cross-category comparison and assessment of each category’s level of success.

In this case, adult users (who often use the space) from the adjacent buildings within approximately 200 meters or less from the river-edge were randomly approached and requested to participate in data collection. The students of the design studio were divided into 8 groups of 5 members. Each group approached at least 20 people and, in this way, more than 160 people participated in the survey. Three city authority representatives took part in the survey and semi-structured interviews in addition to the local research participants. They expressed their opinions about the development of water-front area. As suggested by Chowdhooree and Aziz (2023), the local research participants and officials of the city authority acted as "insiders," while the researchers—including the authors of this paper and the studio students—played the roles of "outsiders." (Zaman et al., 2024; Chowdhooree & Das, 2021; Smith, 1999;). Insiders’ interpretations are identified as emic analysis that informs users’ perspectives (Pavlides & Hesser, 1989). On the other hand, outsiders’ interpretation is identified as etic analysis that allows to get neutral views (Smith, 1999). The integration of emic and etic analysis facilitates to comprehend users' familiar experiences with outsider's neutral views, which is frequently disregarded by insiders (Zaman et al., 2024; Chowdhooree & Aziz, 2023). The current study aims to record both etic and emic analysis for assessing the performance of the selected water-front development project. The semi-structured interviews, followed by survey questionnaire assisted in obtaining quantitative values based on qualitative comments. The triangulated comprehension of etic and emic analysis was ultimately represented in the Likert chart’s average values.

1.2 Study Area

The study area spreads along the two sides of approximately 2 kilometer stretch of the narrow river channel called Norai River, at the eastern side of Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue in the Dhaka City (Fig. 1). The river is connected to a lake on its west side. The lake is called Hatirjhil which is a site for another water-front development project. On the east side after flowing more than 6 kilometer it meets with a bigger river which is called Balu River. The Balu River is a major river channel that defines the eastern edge of Dhaka city. Administratively, the area is situated within Wards 21 and 22 in Dhaka North City Corporation and within Ward 3 in Dhaka South City Corporation. These wards are located within two thanas or Police Station’s jurisdiction areas: Badda and Rampura. The Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue which is a major artery road for the city runs as bridge over the connection point of the Norai River and Hatirjhil Lake. The bridge is also known as Hatirjhil-Rampura Bridge.

Figure 1 The map showing the location of Norai River with other important locations or features

Two major planned residential areas have been developed on two sides of the Norai River: One is Banoshree Residential Area on its south side and another one is Aftabnagar Residential Area on its north side. Some parts of Aftabnagar area are also known as Jahurul Islam City. Mainly because of these two development projects the river has been shrinking over the years. Currently it is on average 25 meter wide and including the green strips on both sides it is almost 50 meter wide. It is known as several other local names, such as Rampura Khal, Aftabnagar Khal, or Begunbari Khal (‘Khal’ in Bangla refers to a canal). Various names indicate unclear formal registration and boundary demarcation of the river and its banks. Formally, in the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Master Plan Report of May, 2016, the Norai River is mentioned as Begunbari Khal, although other names appear in other government documents.

Contextual Analysis of the Study Area

Contextual analysis of the study area has been conducted through a review of literature, physical and photographic survey, direct observations, and instantaneous user interviews.

1.3 Chronological History of Urban Development

Over the last three to four decades, Dhaka underwent rapid urbanization, the rivers as well as other water-bodies (i.e. canals, lakes, ponds, and marshy lands) faced encroachment and filling due to formal and informal construction activities and land reclamation projects for residential, commercial, and transport-related development (Hossain 2017). Efforts are now being made to revive and restore river and canal networks to improve sewerage systems, mitigate waterlogging problem, control environmental pollution, and conserve historical significance of water bodies while addressing modern urban needs (Dhaka Tribune 2024; Nodi 2023).

1.4 Changes in blue green network

Figure 2 Satellite images showing the historical evolution of built forms and urban fabric of the study site. Source: Google LLC (2024). Build date: Friday, January 12, 2024 8:46:29 AM UTC

Currently, the Norai river is an important water channel in Dhaka that drains out the discharge from Rampura pump station (capacity: 25m³/second) and runoff generated from Rampura and Aftabnagar area towards the Balu River (Hossain 2017; Ishtiaque et al. 2014). Although boat transportation reduced due to the pressures of urbanization and shrinkages of effective width over the past decades, the river is still used for the transportation of construction materials, sands, and vegetables using small boats. Historical analysis of the Norai River and its banks suggest a rapid reduction of wetlands and waterbodies over the past 2 decades (Fig. 2). Figure 2a shows that a large part of the existing residential developments in Aftabnagar and Rampura area was low lying flood plains in the 1980s. Land filling of the riversides for private residential developments started at the end of 1990s and the practice is rapidly spreading towards the eastern fringe of Dhaka city (Fig. 2c). And soon within 20 years highly dense residential settlements emerged. In the 2000s, private developers, often with approval from the city authority, filled up low-lying flood prone areas, provided roads and plots, and subsequently highly-dense multistoried residential and commercial buildings mushroomed (Fig. 2d, 2e).

The reduction of wetlands and waterbodies is primarily credited to the unregulated urbanization and private residential and commercial developments in flood plains along the two sides of the river. In the DWASA Drainage and Sewerage Masterplan 2016 (Page 138), Badda and Rampura thana is labeled as Low Land that typically inundates with water (1.8-3.6m depth) during rainy seasons.

1.5 Current Condition of the Study Area

1.5.1 Socioeconomic Context: Demographic Profile

Table 2 shows demographic profile of Badda and Rampura thana. The administrative boundary of Badda thana was extended from like other parts in Dhaka, these two thanas went through rapid urbanization in the past decade and are currently characterized with high density. More than 5 million people live within 39.4 sq km area of these two thanas. Rampura is relatively high-density compared to Badda thana. Population density of Badda and Rampura thanas are 10,195 and 41,769 respectively (BBS, 2023).

Table 2
Household number, population, area, and household size (General in Badda and Rampura thanas. Data source: BBS (2023).
Thana	Census year	Household	Population			Area	Household (hh) size
		Number	Total	Male	Female	Sq km	Persons/hh
Badda	2022	103,427	375,598	208,233	167,365	36.84	3.64
	2011
Rampura	2022	41,330	160,812	86,412	74,400	2.80	3.85
	2011

1.5.2 Major Urban Developments: Land Uses and Infrastructures

The area is mostly characerised with residential developmemts. Residential districts in the study area are known as Banoshree and Jahurul Islam City (residential developments by real estate land developers). Commercial land uses are allowed along major roads such as the Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue, Banoshree Main Road, and Jahurul Islam Avenue (Jahurul Islam City). Even the lower floors of residential buildings have been started to use for commercial purposes. Running shops, cafes etc. at the ground floor became very common practices.

The headquarter of national television channel of Bangladesh (BTV) is at the south-western side of the Norai River, adjacent to the Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue. It was constructed in 1975 on a land of more than 12 acres, encroaching the natural wetland. Real estate land developers started filling up low lying wetlands surrounding the BTV building in the late1990s to develop a residential area called Banoshree with sites (plots to sell) and services scheme, along the southern bank of Norai River. Services include road network, water, sewage, and electricity supply system constructed by the developer. In similar fashion, the same real estate developer started developing Aftabnagar (Jahurul Islam City) in the early 2010s along the northern bank of Norai River. Real estate land developers usually built residential districts in Dhaka with little to no green spaces, parks, and play spaces as suggested in the Dhaka City Structure Plan 2016–2035. Currently, Banoshree and Aftabnagar areas are densely populated with extreme density of 6 to 14 storied buildings. In the latest Detailed Area Plan (2022–2035) by Rajdhani Unnayan Karipakkha (RAJUK), the study site is demarcated as mixed use (primarily residential). Several metro train stations are proposed to be constructed along the Norai River and through Aftabnagar by next decade.

Among other important structures, the academic building of a private university (East West University) is built on land of more than 2 acres. More than 2 acres of land on the north-western part along the river belongs to Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority (DWASA). They have a small water-pump station there. Though most of this land is open and full of green vegetation, public entry is completely restricted inside the green open area. A sewerage lifting plant is in operation on the west side of the Rampura-Hatirjhil Bridge for keeping the water of Hatirjhil Lake clean. There is a dam with sluice gate on the east side of the bridge and on the river channel to control the water level of Hatirjhil Lake (Fig. 3).

Figure 3 The dam on the east side of Hatirjhil-Rampura bridge at the western end of the Norai River (Field study 2024)

1.5.3

Road Networks, Accessibility, and Permeability

Both Banoshree and Jahurul Islam City have been developed following a rigid grid-iron pattern. The Banoshree main road runs along the southern edge of the river (Fig. 4). It is a six-lane road with a median at the center. The construction of an elevated expressway over this road started in 2023. All the secondary roads from the Banoshree neighborhood meet the major road and as a major collector road, it transfers all the vehicles to the Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue. The eastern part of this major road accommodates the entry ramp of the U-loop over the Bir Uttam Rafiqul Fig. 4 The pedestrian walkway along the southern edge of the Norai River and Banoshree main road (Field study 2024)

Islam Avenue. There is a continuous pedestrian walkway along the green strip of the river. Walkway also has a RCC built railing along the river side (Fig. 4). On the northern side of the river, 7 secondary roads from the Jahurul Islam City residential area terminate to the river. At one point the local people have built a bamboo-made temporary pedestrian bridge over the river for connecting two areas (Fig. 5). Other than this bamboo-made temporary bridge there is no pedestrian or vehicular bridge on the 7-kilometer length of Norai River.

From the Banoshree side, because of the major public road, the river or the river-side green is visually permeable. But anyone needs to cross the major 6 lane road to access the river-side walkway. But most of the areas of the other side (Jahurul Islam City) of the river is blocked with residential plots. The residential buildings are facing their backs towards the river. The visual permeability is restricted either by multi-storied residential buildings or solid boundary walls (Fig. 6). The river is physically accessible and visually permeable only from the end of 7 secondary roads within the residential neighborhood.

1.5.4 River-Edge and Green Open Space

The southern edge of the river is defined mainly with a continuous pedestrian walkway with railings at the river side. There are two bus-stoppage sheds on the pedestrian walk way. There are some informal fruit shops and tea-stalls at the corner of Bir Uttam Rafiqul Islam Avenue. After those shops there is a secondary transfer station (STS) of solid waste. The pedestrian walkway discontinues in front of the STS. There is another garbage dumping station at the 700 meters on the river side (Fig. 7). There are three to four temporary and informal food stalls next to the STS. These are illegally built on the green area with bamboos and plastic sheets. These offer some light food items and drinks and people who usually are engaged in various activities in the STS, are the main customers of those food stalls. There are some trees on the sloped edges of the river. Recently, as a part of urban social afforestation project of the Dhaka Central Forest Division of the Department of Forest and Environment of the Government of Bangladesh more than 5000 trees have been planted on the both edges of the river. But the green areas are neither accessible nor designed to provide any options of recreation, socialization, or commercialization. Even the consideration for creating a habitat for local plants and wild lives was also absent. More than 2 acres of green area of DWASA at the north-western corner is also not open to the public. The green area can only be seen from the southern bank of the river. Although there are few water bodies here and there, reminiscent of historical wetlands, no presence of green parks, open spaces, and playgrounds is noticeable in the land use map of the area. The river channel with green strips on both sides is the only designated open space for the whole area. Research participants expressed their general understanding that the planted trees play some roles in improving ecological services and micro-climatic condition of the area. Birds like crows and animals like street dogs and cats are very common around the shaded and open garbage dumping stations. Though the water is polluted and floated garbage can be seen all over the Fig. 5 bamboo-made temporary pedestrian over the Norai River (Field study 2024)

river, still it has some fishes and some other types of birds are also seen in the area. Local people believe that the presence of water-body and green strips still contribute to improve the micro-climate. On hot summer days, those who frequently stroll beside the river report that it is still cooler there than it is in other nearby locations. The scope of allowing permeable surfaces is not fully utilized since river borders are paved in a number of locations to maintain the slopes.

1.5.5 Pollutions

The water of Norai river get polluted in many ways. A sewerage lifting plant is in operation on the west side of the Rampura-Hatirjhil Bridge for keeping the water of Hatirjhil Lake clean and it discharges polluted water to the Norai river. Wastewater connects to sewerage system in multiple locations before emptying into the river. In this sense, sewerage, and waste water from nearby buildings both contaminate the river water. The spilled over waste from solid waste dumping stations also pollutes the water and adjacent green areas. The pedestrian walkway remains blocked with sags of solid waste and garbage carrying vehicles near the dumping stations, and the area remains full of strong malodors. Strong malodor can be felt at multiple points of the river because of the treatment plant, water dam, STS, and garbage dumping spots. Authority representatives affirmed that they have no plan to treat the water and use it for piped water supply in the near future. Even the local people also never think to use the water for any purpose.

Figure 6 Residential buildings are facing their backs towards the river (Field study 2024)

1.5.6

Usage of the Space

The narrow steams with planted vegetation has become a landscape feature that acts as at-source detention and retention of storm water and functions as a storm water drainage system. The locals have found it to be efficient in mitigating water-logging problems usually caused by rains.

Fig. 7

Garbage dumping spot along the river (Field study 2024)

Some people can be seen around the garbage dumping areas; either they are working or taking rest seating on the railing or taking some light refreshments from the nearby temporary and informal food stalls. They are mostly the employees who are engaged in garbage carrying and sorting in the STS. As they always work with garbage, they became habituated with malodor. Other than these people, people rarely become interested in visiting the river-side area as the area lacks multiple access and social, commercial, and community functions (like markets, shops, food courts, café, restaurants, etc.). Both the locals and the research team have noticed that very few people (who are not engaged in any activity related to garbage carrying and sorting) use the space, and those who do, only use it for three types of activities: reaching destinations, waiting for buses and other vehicles, and jogging (morning/ evening walk). At the Banoshree side some people use the footpath or pedestrian walk, but most of the people prefer to use the footpaths of other side of the main road. The experience of walking on the river-side footpath is not much pleasant. Along the riverside, there is no activity or shade for the sidewalk, and at the garbage dumping stations and stops, there is still trash and solid waste scattered everywhere. There are times when a strong malodor is also detectable, discouraging individuals from even walking that side. In the early morning, a few people are seen using the river-side footpaths to walk or jog for physical exercise; nevertheless, consistently more joggers can be found on the other side of the main road.

The involvement of various stakeholders, including local people, private developers, community groups, environmental organizations, and civil society, was absent in the decision-making and management of river and river front areas. Both the locals and the greater metropolitan populace were unaware of the authorities' plans for the area's development. Though people still appreciate the river and river-side green area as a beautiful element of their neighborhood, they are grossly unaware of the benefits that this area may provide to make the area more livable. However, the majority of research participants think that the river can serve as a naval transit route that links the Balu River in the east and the Hitirjheel Lake in the west. Because introducing naval transportation requires significant infrastructural renovation (such as shifting the sewerage lifting plant, removing the dam with a sluice gate, and installing dams in other locations). However, there are no immediate plans to implement it.

Sustainable Development Scores

Both research participants and research team members participated in scoring the Likert type scales (Table 1). Each response received the same weight. The ultimate value of each feature was given by the cumulated average number of each response. The outcomes are shown in Table 3. Every score was codded with color (1 being red, 2 being orange, 3 being yellow, 4 been yellow green, and 5 being green) after each individual score was converted to a whole number. Here, 5 denotes the most successful performance and 1 denotes the least successful performance. The average scores of all features denoted the score of individual category.

Table 3
The color coded scores of each feature of each category with the average scores of all three categories of sustainable development advantages (Field Study 2024)
Category	Features
Environmental Advantages	Supply of potable water	1	2.69
	Integrated urban water management (collecting water from adjacent individual buildings, plots and bigger area)	1
	Storm-water management	4
	Storing storm-water for various uses	3
	Waste-water Management	2
	Regulating stream system for preventing rain-fall induced water-logging	5
	Supporting habitat for wildlife and native plants	3
	Introducing new or altered vegetation to enhance the quality of ecological services	3
	Improving micro-climate with vegetation	3
	Increasing permeable surfaces	2
	Controlling water and other types of pollution	2
	Reviving the historic nature of the water body	1
	Developing a connected blue-green network	5
Social Advantages	Allowing public access to the waterfront area	4	1.88
	Allowing visual permeability	4
	Ensuring participation of different stakeholders (governmental organizations, community-based organizations, local residents, activists’ groups, private developers etc.) in the development and management process	1
	Letting the public to understand the goals of development project and its different phases and the kinds of advantages they will experience	1
	Allowing space for street activities (like street vending), socialization (like shopping, relaxing, interacting with friends and colleagues), and active and passive recreation (like outside dining, strolling, cycling, swimming, and fishing, etc.)	1
	Developing public spaces as an image of the city	1
	Increasing the transportation opportunities	1
	Creating pedestrian-friendly environment by establishing pedestrian malls, various access, shaded walkways, bridges, connecting key functions, etc.	2
Economic Advantages	Having diversified mixed-use development with different functions, like, shopping, outdoor eating, recreational facilities, touristic facilities, etc.	1	2.00
	Allowing public-private partnerships for developing the site	1
	Preventing losses in company resulting from urban hazards such as flooding	5
	Allowing to make profits by using it as a naval transportation route	1

1.6 Environmental Advantage Scores

The scored analysis shows that the study area’s environmental performance is average (2.69 out of 5.00) mainly due to its ability to reduce rainfall-induced waterlogging risk and develop a connected blue green network. The success in these two sectors prove the positive performances for enhancing urban resilience through conserving the natural water-body. Additionally, managing stormwater, and improving micro-climate with vegetation, contribute to environmental benefits, enhancing urban resilience and promoting a healthy ecosystem. However, its subpar performance in a number of areas (such as re-establishing natural habitats, controlling pollution and combining area-wide water management) limits to enjoy other possible advantages from this natural water body. Not only this urban area but also the whole city misses the opportunities greatly from the lack of knowledge, particularly when it comes to creating an integrated urban water management system that collects water from nearby individual buildings, plots, and larger areas and maintains the river as a source of potable water.

1.7 Social Advantage Scores

It scored the lowest in five out of eight features. As a result, it got the lowest score of 1.88 out of 5.00, depicting the poorest performance of the area in case of enjoying the social advantages of a water-front development project. The reason behind this poor performance is that there is no consideration of increasing transportation opportunities, developing it as a public scape with street activities, scopes for socialization, and active and passive recreation. Moreover, there is no option or opportunities for engaging different stakeholders in the development and management process. Through allowing public access to the waterfront area and allowing visual permeability the project scored better in these two ways. But still more measures can be taken even in these areas to improve physical and visual permeability of the river.

1.8 Economic Advantage Scores

The low score of 2.00 out of 5.00 proves the fact the opportunities of achieving economic advantages are not fully explored. Regarding attaining financial gains, the project has demonstrated its ability to avert losses from urban hazards (such as waterlogging), since the river works to manage storm water naturally. It scored the highest in this area. But in the other three areas it scored the lowest. The reason behind this poor performance is that the customary methods of creating lively and varied mixed-use economic and social activities are conspicuously absent from the area, and the private plot owner's involvement in developing their site in light of the existence of a blue-green zone was also discovered to be lacking.

Discussion

Urban areas in the global south have been experiencing negative impacts of climate change, uncontrolled socioeconomic activities, and fast urbanization, all of which contribute to environmental deterioration and scoring low in the city livability index (EIU, 2024). Major socio-economic and environmental problems include influx of slum dwellers, uncontrolled migration, various types of environmental pollution, resource deterioration, and increased urban poverty (Arku & Marais, 2021). Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, with over 17.6 million population within its 1,528 square kilometer area, can be identified as one of the fastest-growing megacities. It is expected that the population will be to close on 26 million by 2035 (Ahmed et al., 2018). The city is facing a severe land shortage and a rapidly deteriorating urban environment as a result of its high population density and quick rate of migration (Arku & Marais, 2021). Among 173 cities, it has ranked the 168th position in the livability index, released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) in 2024 (EIU, 2024). Cities like Dhaka, are behaving merely as “sites of risk” (Myers 2016, p. 90) are often struggling with issues of sustainability (Arku & Marais, 2021).

In order to lessen vulnerabilities brought on by either natural hazards or human-induced activities and to enhance livability quality, nature-based solutions (NbS)—as options for restoring, protecting, sustaining, and raising natural systems—have been gaining attention. Protected, restored, or well-managed natural or semi-natural eco-systems are being considered as crucial for assisting people and economic sectors in managing and adapting to the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change (Mukherjee et al., 2022). Restoring wetlands and grasslands is being preferred globally as an NbS as those can play significant roles to adapt with changed climatic impacts because of their capacities for storing carbon (Burden et al., 2019; Ward et al., 2016). Conversion of lands into water bodies allows to gain multiple advantages that include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and reduction of flood risks (Peh et al., 2014). The restoration and maintenance of urban water bodies as a NbS also offers the opportunities of sustainable urban development of blue (water bodies) and green (vegetation areas) networks with various other benefits such as promoting economic growth, bolstering social cohesion, and restoring degraded ecosystems. A thorough evaluation of the waterfront development project's efficacy as an NbS and a means of achieving sustainable development goals for making the urban area livable is required. The current research attempted to evaluate the sustainable quality of a water-front development project as an NbS. The studied project in Dhaka can be identified as an example of NbS because of its features of connected blue and green network within a built urban fabric. It is an attempt for preserving and maintaining natural water body along with its natural system. It also meets the populist demand of conserving urban water bodies and developing adjacent areas. In this way it is a success of the authority that still the water channel can be traced and it is connected on its both sides with other water-bodies. The area has the potential to enjoy the advantages of sustainable development. But, the average sustainability score of (2.69 + 1.88 + 2.00)/3 = 2.19, according to the applied research framework shows the poor performance of the area for attaining the advantages of sustainable development with NbS. The main reason of this poor performance is the general incapacity to create social spaces, generate social activities, and create economic activities which are also important to make cities livable (Ruth & Franklih, 2014; Holden & Scerri, 2013). The contributions of the river in reducing the risks of rainfall-induced waterlogging and managing the storm water allow it to show a moderate level of performance in the environmental sector.

The studied case can be portrayed as an evidence of missing opportunities of attaining the sustainability goals with environmental, social, and economic advantages. The sustainability of the environment depends on proper considerations for the preservation and enhancement of ecology or biodiversity; the sustainability of the economy depends on the adoption of appropriate production, distribution, and consumption, and the sustainability of social advantages depends on the creation of places for social gathering, engagement, and activity. Integrated efforts at different levels that take into account social, environmental, and economic factors are required to achieve sustainability rather than isolating activities. The case of Norai river-front area has missed that opportunity in multiple ways. In the Global South, cities have strong needs of achieving sustainability but the capacity to innovate and experiment is often overlooked (Nagendra et al., 2018). In the studied case, authorities also did not follow any particular concept while creating its plan and proposal, even though there are a number of worldwide concepts and ideas that are now being used as cutting-edge trends in sustainable urban development and design (Zaman et al., 2024; Zaman & Chowdhooree, 2022; Djukićet al., 2020; Wang & Lu, 2001). This study identifies the current condition of an urban water-front development project where the limited vision of authority narrowed down the scopes of sustainable development that could incorporate the vicinity and various stakeholders in order to improve accessibility and visual permeability, develop or modify adjacent functions, target higher economic returns, and improve the local community's social life. Thus, this research highlights the importance to adopt and apply the concept of sustainability, to enjoy the potential benefits of urban development and NbS.

Conclusion

The terms “sustainability” and “livability” have gained popularity in the urban area development discourse despite having various definitions, connotations, and interpretations (Ruth & Franklih, 2014). The popular discourse highlights the importance of achieving social progress, environmental equilibrium and economic growth (Zhai & Chang, 2019; Gossling-Goidsmiths, 2018) as outcomes of sustainable development for making urban areas more livable. The current research also supports the idea and highlights the importance to evaluating urban area development projects as efforts for achieving three types of advantages from the one source: economic advantages, environmental advantages and social advantages. While the innovative use Fof blue-green infrastructure is one of the most promising ways to practice NbS for adapting to rapidly changing human and environmental circumstances by supporting economic growth, strengthening social cohesion, and restoring degraded ecosystems, it is clear that the Norai River front development project has failed to make a significant impact on the socioeconomic lives of city dwellers. This study emphasizes the need to recognize a waterbody’s potentials and not limit its ability to provide multiple contributions in order to ensure the long-term benefits of waterfront development. Additionally, it advances the understanding of the functions that the water-bodies can serve in cities from a user-centric perspective, empowering future practitioners of NbS to make well-considered decisions that will result in a variety of benefits from sustainable urban water-front development.

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Statements and Declarations

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank everyone who shared their thoughts and experiences during the research.

The authors express their gratitude to BRAC University's Department of Architecture for granting them permission to undertake research based on the fourth-year academic project's studio work. The Department of Disaster Management of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of the Government of Bangladesh is also acknowledged by the authors for giving a portion of the funding needed to carry out the research.

Author Contribution

The paper was conceptualized by the first author, Dr. Imon Chowdhooree. He, along with Mr. Tasfin Aziz, developed the methodology. Dr. Rashed Bhuyan monitored the data collection process. Both Dr. Chowdhooree and Dr. Bhuyan prepared the literature review sections. Mr. Aziz contributed to analyzing the data and preparing all maps, diagrams, and tables. Photographs are taken by Dr. Chowdhooree. The full draft was compiled by Dr. Chowdhooree, and two other co-authors reviewed the draft.

Funding:

The first author has received a partial research grant from the Department of Disaster Management of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of the Government of Bangladesh in the financial year of 2024–2025.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have been perceived to influence the work reported in this paper.

1.9

Ethics statement

The paper is written based on a part of a studio-based urban design exercise for the fourth years’ students of Bachelor of Architecture degree of the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The studio exercise received the ethical approval from the IRB of the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh for the summer 2024 Semester.

It required to follow the institutional ethical standards and the principles of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration. The authors confirms that this research involved voluntary human participation and did not include any clinical or experimental intervention.

Based on this approval verbal consent was collected from research participants. No identifiable personal information of participants is disclosed in the manuscript.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

1.10

Clinical trial number

Not applicable.

Consent statement

All participants were adult and informed verbal consent (Consent to Participate and Consent to Publish) was obtained from all participants, as approved by the IRB of the Department of Architecture of BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Yes

The governmental authority for regulating developments in the capital city Dhaka