The governance of urban greenspace in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

The governance of urban greenspace is critical for sustainable development since it is the space where policies and programmes, the roles and responsibilities of different actors, approaches, resource implications, and partnerships unfold. While there exists a substantial amount of study on urban greenspace, there is a noticeable dearth of studies focusing on the governance aspect of urban greenspace in the Global South. Given the importance of urban greenspace and the presence of governance challenges in the Global South, research on the governance of urban public greenspace is critical. With a specific emphasis on Dhaka city, Bangladesh, a rapidly expanding Asian metropolis, this PhD research aims to explore how and in what ways the governance of urban public greenspace supports and promotes sustainable development. Given the various types of urban greenspace, the study focuses on public parks and playgrounds. Using a qualitative case study research approach, the study investigates the institutional arrangements, including the role of different actors, the decision-making process, politics, and informalities in the development process of public greenspace, and critically engages with - whose interests are sustained in the development process, and outlines the challenges and opportunities to support sustainable development. The data collection process involves 21 key informant interviews and examines five cases of public parks and playgrounds. Additionally, relevant secondary sources, such as newspaper articles, reports, and official documents, are utilized to validate and support the interview data. The collected data is analyzed thematically using a combination of inductive and deductive approaches to identify emerging themes. Key findings from the research are that multiple government or public authorities are responsible for provisioning and managing public greenspace in Dhaka city. The involvement of NGOs is limited to policy advocacy, campaigns, and protests. A limited number of community-based organisations are primarily engaged in the management of public parks, and their involvement is contingent upon specific contextual factors such as the socioeconomic status of the community, and the location of the park. Public participation is principally confined to the city corporation’s election, while public consultation is tokenistic.The public greenspace development decisions are fragmented due to the involvement of multiple actors and the lack of coordination among the actors. The decision-making process for greenspace development exhibits a reactive approach. The dominant power of the mayor, the financial capacity of the institution, the national interests, or the influence of the central government all affect the development decision. Furthermore, the clientelist political culture, bureaucratic authority and local elites influence the decision. As a result, public greenspace development decisions lead to the emergence of elite capture, privatisation, expulsion, social segregation, and the rise of grey structures over greenspace, all of which pose significant challenges to sustainable development. This research contributes to addressing the significant knowledge and policy gaps around the governance of urban public greenspace, and the challenges and opportunities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of the Global South. The thesis offers a new integrated framework to inform urban greenspace governance and policy practices, with particular reference to the sustainable development of cities in the Global South.