Dhaka, Bangladesh

Dhaka is the most recent recruit to the league of megacities and one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Dhaka starts on the back foot in urban planning; no other city in the world faces greater locational challenges. For starters, the city sits on the world’s largest river delta, the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, effectively surrounding it by water. If water doesn’t pose enough risk, Dhaka sits close to three active seismic fault lines – the Madhupur, Dawki and Himalayan faults – for which a big tremor is overdue. Despite this, Dhaka is a city of hope for the rural poor, a chance to acquire prosperity, a place to seek better lives: whether in the city’s booming textile industry, as one of the 400,000 rickshaw drivers, or as peddler of goods, there are thousands of jobs to be found amid the grinding poverty. As Dhaka keeps growing, the challenges of urbanization and resilience will grow with it. Thus, these must remain at the forefront of the development agenda.