Engaging Communities in City Planning

Community participation is considered as the prerequisite of sustainable urban development. It ranges from just informing people about the plan to make plan or development projects by the people. However, public participation in local government led program is still limited in Bangladesh. Considering the importance of community participation, this paper aims to explore public participation in spatial planning practice in Khulna city including organizational arrangement and activities on the citizen's response regarding local practices. This study suggests that existing legislative arrangements is not supportive for participatory urban development at all and very little provision is provided in bylaws. Most of the respondent of the field survey suggested the fact that political problem and lack of effective communication mechanism are mainly responsible for unsuccessful implementation of the Master Plans of Khulna city. This book will help related authorities to understand the citizen's expectations in designing strategies for performing better role in city development in Bangladesh.