Abstract

 Dhaka is the most densely populated and rapidly growing city in the  third world countries. With its growth, Dhaka has been a showcase for  almost every urban problem imaginable.  The quantitative and  qualitative inadequacies of existing urban infrastructures and the inefficient urban and environment management systems that generally exist in this country are leading to severe environmental pollution and a degradation of standard of livings, health and well being. The
 transportation congestion has changed so dramatically in type and magnitude that it is now viewed as the number one source of urban environment problems.  This has created a need for a significant expansion of the city's structure from monocentric to the polycentric.  However, the city's current planning is dedicated
 primarily to coping with pressure of population and infrastructural needs.  Sustainable urban development for the long term seems unattainable to the policy makers.  This paper seeks a path to a desirable expansion of the city's spatial structure, which sustains this city for the long run.  The purpose of the paper is to
 understand the concept of sustainable urban development and to formulate a spatial structure for turning into a sustainable city.  It is found that the current urban structure is highly centralized with a majority of jobs located in the central city, whereas the population has been started decentralizing over the time.  With this process, more and more traffic flows have been increased towards central city and transferred from public transport to the private car.  This paper suggests that for achieving a sustainable urban structure in Dhaka City, a continual employment and Households decentralization process is essential.

Keywords:  Urbanization, Sustainable urban development, Spatial structure of city, Monocentric, and Polycentric.