Editorial

At Jamini, we are dedicated to the aesthetics of the new, to art that transforms reality, and to highlighting the arts as envoys that inform us of unique ways of conceptualizing the quotidian. Based as we are in Dhaka, the endlessly sprawling, increasingly unsightly megalopolis, we decided to invite the Dhaka-born, Hawaii-based visionary architect Kazi Khaleed Ashraf to assemble on our behalf a collection comprising texts, photographs, and illustrations that would enable our readers to imagine how we can draw on the best and latest ideas about redoing cities beautifully.

Committed as he is to making cities anew—elegantly as well as thoughtfully—Ashraf has brought together for our readers surely what Dhaka and our other major cities need desperately: not only visions of renewal but also examples of transformation of metropolises all over the world, best practices in urban planning and design that we can think about and take delight in.

Khaleed Ashraf and the distinguished contributors—architects, urban planners, and intellectuals attracted to the poetics of the city—whom he has assembled in this issue are well aware of the challenges posed by urbanization that appear to be going out of control in so many parts of the world; but they are also enthralled by the hum of cities. If they are aware that cities have so often in history proven to be ephemeral, they are also inspired by the thought that not a few cities have demonstrated over the centuries the capacity to transform themselves and even inspire us by their monumentality.

The features that Ashraf has brought together in this issue of Jamini are based on the premise that cities need not be seen as ugly, irredeemable cul-de-sacs of history; they can be shaped and redone by men and women dedicated to the aesthetics of the new and the knowledge of successful urban experiments in city renewal drawn from all across the world. These people are well aware that problematic parts of cities have to be remade for everyday living, but while they may be dreamers of sorts, they are also devoted to the art of the possible and to molding cities through the ideals of urbanism.

The international team of contributors Ashraf has invited to enrich these pages can help us re-imagine Dhaka based on examples of rebuilding projects carried out in New York City, Philadelphia, Havana, Kolkata, and Bangkok, as well as eco-cities being built in China. Ashraf informs us of projects that show us “how to engage with the existential quotient of a city” and has as his ultimate end to present through this issue “a subtle manifesto for imagining” and remaking Dhaka.

We at Jamini would like to thank Khaleed and the distinguished contributors he has gathered under one cover for not only providing us with excellent examples of urban renewal and urbanism at its best, but also for providing us with a feast for our eyes with photographs and illustrations. What this issue provides readers is nothing short of a poetics of the city, of model cities for tomorrow, and yes, even the vision of a livable as well as a liveable Dhaka in the not too distant future.

At Jamini, we are dedicated to the aesthetics of the new, to art that transforms reality, and to highlighting the arts as envoys that inform us of unique ways of conceptualizing the quotidian. Based as we are in Dhaka, the endlessly sprawling, increasingly unsightly megalopolis, we decided to invite the Dhaka-born, Hawaii-based visionary architect Kazi…