Navigating Korail: An Informal Settlement in Dhaka

The context for this studio is the Korail, an informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh which has around 300,000 people living in approximately 100 acres. Congested houses with informal utility connections, narrow pathways and cramped living conditions for mostly migrants from the rural areas, often victims of climate change. ‘Surrounded and separated by a lake from the high-income residential areas, Korail developed and is developing through a complex dynamics of population, migration, urban growth and regeneration, economies, politics, employments, etc. In spite of its problems, the community in Korail thrives and is bustling with social and economic activity.

For students, Korail presents a multifaceted canvas of learning and application, starting from the houses to the overall settlement pattern. On another scale, there are issues of sanitation, water supply, waste management, open spaces, education, fires, floods, transportation, etc. Students will be required to identify an issue(s) that interests them and work toward a design solution for the same. With support from the instructor, students will develop design solutions to the problem/s in the site that they have chosen to address. The objective will be to develop a scheme that will make life better for the inhabitants of the settlement. Through steps that include, analysis of the context in totality, focusing on an issue(s), look at it from a design problem angle, identify the best path to go about addressing the problem, sequence the development through a set of progressive steps to arrive at workable scheme. There will be a number of virtual consultations with people on site, the inhabitants, architects and planners who work there and resource persons at GSD. The final presentation will need to be a comprehensive scheme that explains, analyses and is able to justify its application for improvement and upliftment for the inhabitants of Korail.