Discussed about the decrease of water bodies (blue spaces) and greeeneries of Rajshahi city corporation area. Green Infrastructure. Remedial measures

1. Diminishing of Blue and Green
Infrastructure of Rajshahi City
Corporation and Probable Remedy
Submitted by
Arzu Durjoy
Masters 1st Year
Tokushima University
Date 02 December 2022

2. A Brief Description of the City
1. Oldest Municipality of Bangladesh.
2. Fourth largest city of the country.
3. About 48 square kilometer.
4. At the bank of Padma river
(downstream portion of Ganges river).
5. Rajshahi City Corporation is situated
inside Rajshahi city.
6. First master plan of Rajshahi city was
prepared in 1968 and then 1984. But
both the master plans did not included
direction of blue and green
infrastructures.
7. Latest master plan prepared in 2003
which anticipated remaining of vast
agricultural land due to slow
urbanization.
Image source: Md. Mostafizur Rahman et al. 2022

3. Land Use Changes
1. Rapid urbanization is being observed
in last decade.
2. About 35.64 acres of open spaces lost
between 2008 to 2018. (Kafy et al.
2018)
3. About 14% of water bodies lost
between 1992 to 2017. (Kafy et al.
2019)
4. Agricultural land decreased to about
29% in 2016 from about 40% in 1996.
(Kafy et al.)
Land cover map of Rajshahi City Corporation in (a)
1989; (b) 1999; (c) 2009; and (d) 2019. Source Kafy et
al. 2021

4. Causes of Land Use Changes
1. Rapid increase of house rents. It is
profitable to build a house and rent it
as student hostel or family apartment.
2. Lands can be sold at high price if water
bodies are filled up.
3. Better financial return from residential
or commercial buildings than
agricultural activities.

5. Problems
1. To ensure quality of living in urban area
proper balance of Blue (water body),
Green and Gray (built) space is
necessary. (Gulshan Ara Parvin et al.
2022)
2. Green spaces, green infrastructure,
and blue spaces are essential for
biodiversity, ecological environment,
and socio-economic development(Cai
et al. 2021)
3. Blue-green infrastructures are heat
absorbers.
4. Land Surface Temperature (LST) is
increasing in the city.
5. If current trend continues then 70% of
the city area may face 39°C by 2029.
(Kafy et al. 2020). This means more
temperature rise 30 years after now.
6. Increasing water logging problem in
monsoon season.
Simulated LST map in a)2029 and b)2039.
Source A A Kafy et al. 2020

6. What is Necessary now
1. There is a regulation banning filling of
water bodies within the city
corporation area, which should be
strictly maintained.
2. Should revise or introduce new Master
plan.
3. Like in Japan, zoning system can be
introduced, which may keep
agricultural and open lands.
Image source: Wikimedia commons

7. Getting Benefits from Open Spaces
1. If people become financially benefitted
from keeping blue and green spaces only
then it is possible to maintain the spaces.
Otherwise rules and regulations may be
ineffective.
2. Blue and Green bonds can be
introduced. By these bonds owners of
lands may receive monthly payments
from the government for keeping their
land open. In other words, government
rents lands from owners by paying money
for keeping it open.
3. The money for the bonds may be
collected from the citizens of the area as
Green tax.
4. The open lands may be managed by
different local committees consisting
interested people for gardening, fish
farming etc.
Image source: themobilecentury.com

8. References
1. Geospatial modelling of changes in land use/land cover dynamics using Multi-layer
Perceptron Markov chain model in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh. A A Kafy et al.
2. Geospatial approach for developing an integrated water resource management
plan in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. A A Kafy et al.
3. Japanese Concept of Urban Promotion Control Area (UCA) to Save Agricultural Land
in Bangladesh. Sharif Mohammad Tariquzzaman
4. Disaster Risks and Resilience of Urban Bangladesh: Role of Blue-Green
Infrastructure. Gulshan Ara Parvin et al.
5. Identifying Most Influential Land Use Parameters Contributing Reduction of Surface
Water Bodies in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh: A Remote Sensing Approach. A A Kafy et
al.