Spatial Structure of Retail Development in Planned Residential Area of Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Evolutionary process of Urban Dhaka suggests that the contemporary urban morphology cannot be fully understood without some reference to its past. It is also constrained and directed by some socio-economic and political process with time. Physical development of Dhaka is therefore a planning dilemma. It has a history of about 400 years, where trade and commerce flourished to support the life system of the city and its inhabitants. Dhaka's retail shopping settings changed gradually throughout this period. A planned settlement has been selected here as a representative case to observe the characteristics of spatial structure of retail development. A field data study was carried out to investigate how socioeconomic pressures and changing city spatial configuration influenced the spatial structure of retail expansion in planned residential settlement. As a result, it aids in determining the effects of socioeconomic and geographical elements on the changing retail environment and the spatial outcome of the process. According to the findings, the spatial characteristics of accessible location are the primary considerations in modifying and developing urban retail land uses. This study also contributes to an understanding of how a symbiotic relationship between "place specific" socioeconomic issues and the "modernization effect" in a changing retail environment played an important role in the growth of urban retail environments and should be considered for socio-spatial sustainability.