The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has endorsed four books of World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organisation, to use as reference for creating safe and sustainable Dhaka.
DNCC Mayor Md Atiqul Islam endorsed the books following a capacity building workshop titled ‘Collaborative Design Learning Workshop’. The WRI under Bloomberg’s Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) arranged the workshop on July 9 for the engineers of DNCC. BIGRS initiative coordinator Md. Abdul Wadud delivered the welcome speech, while DNCC’s chief executive officer Md Selim Reza spoke at the workshop as the chief guest. DNCC’s chief engineer Brigadier General Muhammad Amirul Islam also spoke at the workshop and inaugurated the event.
From WRI, Farzana Islam Toma set up the context of Dhaka, Saurabh Jain gave lecture about Safe Urban Mobility & Role of Intersections, and Akanksha Aggarwal took the session on Intersection Design & Testing.
The engineers actively participated in the discussion, reimagining the ‘Abul Hotel Intersection of Malibagh in the capital’. The engineers shared their ideas with WRI team.
In the end, the participants received certificates from the BIGRS initiative coordinator Md. Abdul Wadud and Program officer of Public Health Program- Road Safety, Vital Strategies Suganthi Narayanasamy.
The team then met the DNCC Mayor at his office where the mayor talked about ensuring pedestrian safety in Dhaka city, reducing road crashes. The program ended with the endorsement of four books about sustainable and safe cities, creating bi-cycle lane, and bus priority corridors.
Both the partners are looking forward to bringing impactful changes in Dhaka North with safer streets design.
In 2021, the DNCC joined Bloomberg's Initiative for Global Road Safety as part of the city's commitment to improving safety, inclusivity, and accessibility on its streets. As a partner of this program, WRI is committed to supporting the city department by sharing knowledge and technical expertise.
Typically, streets are considered means of transport only and focus on accommodating the maximum high-speed cars, neglecting other users' needs, leading to road safety hazards. Intersections play a major role in road safety as it is the major conflicting location for users, especially pedestrians who are very high in number and most vulnerable, which leads to higher road crashes at intersections. Proper design of intersections is very necessary to enable an efficient and safer mobility system.
To build a better understanding of intersections, the WRI conducted the “Collaborative Design Learning Workshop”, which introduced participants to the context, importance of intersections, and the design process. It also discussed tools to test the design temporarily before a permanent execution. Along with lecture sessions, there were group activities with the participants to understand the process of observation, analysis, and design.
