Layer 09 of 10 · The Ten Contextual Layers
How places are organised together — density, infrastructure and public space.
The urban layer concerns the collective organisation of settlement: density, infrastructure and public space (Reza 2025). It reads streets, waterfronts, transit and open space as the shared frame within which buildings acquire their meaning.
New Contextualist writing describes cities in which a highway cuts through what was once a neighbourhood and a once-lively waterfront is ‘reduced to sewage and concrete embankments’ (Reza and Nitu 2025). Its case studies respond at the scale of the city: the Kallyanpur Khal thesis framed a neglected canal as a civic spine, combining flood management with community access within a transit-oriented development (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Key research questions
Editorial summary Awaiting the founder’s approval Questions proposed by the editors
Editorial diagram Interpretation Relations proposed by the editors
Streets, courtyards and public spaces can gather people, or keep them apart. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Land markets and infrastructure investment drive density, sprawl and the loss of shared space.
Planning rules and infrastructure decisions give the city its form.
Urban fabrics are palimpsests: an old market can hold dense habitation, informal commerce and heritage structures at once. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Urbanisation transforms ecological systems: paved wetlands flood, heat islands intensify, canals are lost to encroachment. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Data analytics and scenario planning help anticipate how cities and their needs will change. Example drawn from Reza 2023c.
Location and connectivity shape networks of movement; a neglected canal can become a transit route. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Every building becomes part of an existing fabric; typology mediates between the building and the city. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Mohammad Habib Reza, Upama Das Nitu Context BD
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza The Business Standard
Md Samiur Rahman Bhuiyan Workshop ‘Exploring New Contextualism: An Approach to Architecture and Urban Design’
Mohammad Habib Reza Re-Imagining Bengal: Architecture, Built Environment and Cultural Heritage
I. Ahmed, Mohammad Habib Reza (eds) Copal Publishing Group
Mohammad Habib Reza Re-Imagining Bengal: Architecture, Built Environment and Cultural Heritage
Nandini Awal, Mohammad Habib Reza WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment
Conceptual proposalUndergraduate thesis
Kallyanpur canal, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2025
Frames a neglected urban canal as a civic spine, combining flood management, community access and boat transit within a transit-oriented development.
Conceptual proposalInternational competition entry
Gateway of India precinct, Mumbai, India · 2024
A competition entry reimagining the Gateway of India precinct as a civic sanctuary, anchored by a sunken memorial cube and two symbolic axes.
Conceptual proposalUndergraduate thesis
Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka, Bangladesh · 2022
Reimagines a large commercial complex as a civic hub, opening its spaces to pedestrian networks, green corridors and social programmes.
Ongoing researchResearch programme
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2024
The further development of the approach at BRAC University, with greater emphasis on sustainability frameworks, nature-inspired design and proactive resilience.
Ongoing researchTeaching and thesis supervision
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2023
The use of a ten-layer reading of context in design and thesis studios at BRAC University, from which most documented applications of the approach have emerged.
