Graveyards and Urbanization: The Case of Dhaka City

Abstract

A burial ground or graveyard is an integral part of any city. According to Max Weber, the city in the Occident was a unitary urban community, and that a common burial ground was one of the prerequisites for it. In the Orient, such an urban community never existed since the prerequisites for this type of community were not present there. Lewis Mumford states that many urban centers in the world have developed around cemeteries and many have met their final ends in them. Cemeteries thus both enhance and hinder urbanization process of a place. In this study, I have analyzed the role and importance of cemeteries in the social formation and urban development of Dhaka City, while analyzing the applicability of Weber's concepts of a 'common burial ground' and a 'unitary urban community,' and Mumford's propositions about the relationship between cemeteries and the city's origins, development and decay in the case of this city using historical data. Policy implications are also suggested.