Project name: Emergence: Computational Growth of Urban Organism

Student’s Name: Shohanur Rahman Pranto

Project Year: 2024

Supervisors: Dr. Md Ashikur Rahman Joarder, Patrick D’Rozario

Head of The Department: Dr. S M Najmul Imam

University: Bangladesh University of Science & Technology

Shohanur Rahman Pranto

Introduction

Over the past 30 years, Dhaka's rapid expansion has severely impacted its ecology, environment and livability. Addressing these challenges requires a novel approach to urban planning that considers Dhaka's unique landform and ecology. I employed computational simulation methods to mimic natural systems, optimizing various urban layers such as landform, connectivity, and zoning.

Urban Organism

Cities and organisms share many similarities in terms of circulation, resource cycles, information networks, and the positioning of their components. While organisms have evolved to develop highly efficient and intelligent designs, cities have grown through the collective intelligence of people. By mimicking organic systems in the planning process, we can find more effective solutions through computational methods.

Landform System

Dhaka has a unique landscape. The Madhupur Tract in greater Dhaka is surrounded by rivers that flood every year, bringing fresh water inland. Over thousands of years, these floods have shaped the land into amoeboid patterns. The highlands are bordered by lower-lying areas that are used for agriculture during the dry season. Water has seeped into every nook and cranny of the land, creating a distinctive geography. This pattern is seen in many other natural systems and mathematically defined as Differential growth.

Relating the natural geography with the differential growth, we can use this model to design landform that will maintain the flow of water during flooding season. This pattern also maximizes the lenght of edge ecology.

Connectivity System

This basic connectivity problem is not new in nature. almost every organism deals with the transportation problem in some way. Slime molds can optimize connectivity among the food sources. Ants can collectively create more efficient routes. Swarm intelligence where the knowledge of multiple individuals collectively creates an emergent pattern is seen in nature in abundance.

However, by mimicking the collective intelligence found in nature, we can explore multiple approaches to develop a road network that aligns with the unique characteristics of the terrain. On our site, we can create analogs of these systems. By defining the metro stations as sources and the higher land as food, we can simulate collective intelligence to guide the design process.

Zoning System

Using walkability metrics, we can determine the optimal walking distances between different zones and calculate the demand for amenities based on the surrounding context. This natural growth process is driven by the relationship between demand and development. As a zone grows, it generates demand for additional amenities, creating a continuous cycle that shapes the settlement.

In step one, the presence of residential units creates a demand for schools and shops nearby. In step two, new commercial and educational facilities emerge to meet this demand. However, this growth generates additional demand, which is addressed in step three, continuing the cycle.

Neighbourhoods

This is a kind of swarm intelligent or cellular automata, where each agent reacts with its neighbours. The cycle of growth and demand is a dynamical system. After the system reaches an equilibrium, a solution is found.

Landscape and Walkability

The ecosystem of the edge plays a vital role in these landscapes. Along the long edge, vegetable gardens, wild plants, and ponds create a rich and diverse environment. The roads are designed to encourage walking and cycling, with public trails running along the edge to enhance accessibility and connection to nature.

মাস্টারপ্ল্যান

ছেদচিত্র

The extensive network of water channels allows for connectivity across the region, as all water bodies are interlinked. This makes water-based transportation a viable option, a method that was historically prevalent in Dhaka.

This project explores how computational modeling can mimic organic systems to design more efficient and sustainable urban environments. By simulating natural processes like resource cycles and growth patterns, we can optimize city planning for better connectivity, walkability, and ecosystem integration. The use of water-based transportation and edge ecosystems, inspired by Dhaka’s unique landscape, demonstrates how cities can grow intelligently, much like organisms, through a dynamic, demand-driven approach.