Despite numerous complex urban challenges, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is rapidly growing in terms of both population and extent. This profile captures that unplanned and spontaneous urbanization of Dhaka, which resulted in haphazard spatial expansion and transformation. Its unstable urban primacy is the result of high concentration of administrative activities, jobs and services in this city. Results of unsustainable growth are reflected in the socio-spatial divisions and high-density urban living. The current urban growth has created a strain on housing, urban services, health and education services and facilities, and they, in turn, are severely damaging the sustainability of the natural and built environment. The city requires policies for decentralisation of activities rather than pro-growth planning. An integrated national and local policy agenda and an active city government are crucial for tackling the multidimensional crisis of Dhaka.

Many governments in the global South are looking for new ways to safeguard the interests of the poor in urban areas and to tackle inequality. The neo-liberal development ideologies however adversely affected the interests of the urban poor. In cities of the fast urbanising South where the residents are predominately poor, it is of vital concern that planning plays an effective role to combat poverty. Within the context of a high concentration of the poor, this study investigates, through the case of Khulna city, the current planning challenges faced by Bangladeshi cities in engaging the poor to produce pro-poor urban plans. Findings reveal that participation of the poor is negligible in both problem identification and the decision making process which results in policies that fail to address the current poverty issues faced by the poor. In spite of firm central policy guidelines for participatory planning, the communication gap between the planning authority and the poor results in the dominance of a rational comprehensive 2 approach in practice. A lack of awareness and education among the poor, and the nonexistence of statutory laws regarding participation remain the main obstacles for propoor participation. Furthermore, a lack of a strong pro-active role for city authorities and urban planners in engaging the poor in decision-making hinders the path of propoor planning in Bangladesh.

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This paper explores the issues of poor children's criminality, violence and transgression in the context of slums in Bangladesh. It reworks theoretical understandings of the limits that are used to identify children and their transgressive acts in the law. The paper questions the use of the term 'delinquent' children, their position and 'diversion' from crime. It exposes the contested sense of margins that are part of geographies of criminality and childhood constructed in relation to existing orders, shared moralities and values in urban Bangladesh. Drawing on examples from research in slums and detention centres in Bangladesh, it highlights children's experiences of limits, their responses to prohibitions and moral imperatives, and the relationship between order and excess in terms of language and proximity to others. The paper recognises the limitations of the existing collective order and seeks out possibilities for community and justice at the limit of the law.

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