The Failure of the 1917 Geddes Master Plan and 1959 Minoprio, Spencely, Macfarlane Master Plans: Some Reflections

Abstract

Urban planning is inherently a political process addressing social justice and social coherence concerns. However, planners are fixated with the physical and superficial social aspects of planning, overlooking its deeper interrelationships. This paper discusses two master plans for the city of Dhaka. The first is the 1917 plan by Patrick Geddes, and the second is the 1959 Minoprio, Spencely and Mcfarlane Plan. Both plans were developed after a phase of social upheaval and unrest orchestrated to suppress the desires and wishes of the people of Dhaka. In both instances, the cross cultural planners lack cultural awareness, failing to perceive the then current issues fronting Dhaka. In essence, they work in isolation as planners. These initiatives can be argued as representing ‘planning for planning’s sake’. In this setting, this paper articulates that the failure of the two master plans were due to a lack of awareness of the social and political realities by these ‘foreign’ planners.