Understanding informal functional mix: morphogenic mapping of Old Dhaka

Functional mix has long been a key urban design and planning principle geared towards walkability and urban vitality. Yet in many informalized cities of the global South, an intensified mix is seen as a problem. This study of Old Dhaka maps and analyses functional mix as it has changed over the past 30 years in relation to morphologies of access networks, entry interfaces, and densities. We analyse the evolution of urbanism, where a complex mix emerges both horizontally and vertically, where retail functions extend many storeys above the street and the concept of singular land use is largely irrelevant. We show how increases in functional mix are meshed with increases in density, mediated by plot size, street networks, and a loose governance framework. This is an extreme case that reveals how functional mix intensifies under informal conditions and in concert with a broader morphogenesis.