Rethinking urban transformation for environmental sustainability: evidence from Dhaka, a densely developed megacity

Purpose This paper aims to evaluate three urban spatial transformation strategies – urban intensification, urban extensification and decentralised peripheral densification – that best support environmental sustainability in hyper-dense cities in the Global South, using Dhaka as a case study. Dhaka is experiencing rapid urban growth due to both the peripheral areas’ expansion and the centre cities’ intensification. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a mixed-methods approach combining data collected from site visits in four sample areas in Dhaka, available literature, and semi-structured interviews with 12 key informants (selected by purposive sampling). The research findings were generated using multi-criteria analysis (MCA) across seven environmental criteria and thematic analysis. Findings The research finds that decentralised intensification of peripheral suburbs offers the highest MCA score (0.43). The results suggest that in hyper-dense cities like Dhaka, compact city models (scored 0.18) may exacerbate environmental degradation. Findings claim that urban policy shift toward decentralised infrastructure-led suburban development is more environmentally sustainable than core-area intensification in high-density cities in the Global South. Originality/value To the best of the authors knowledge, this research is original in exploring the potential urban growth management policies considering environmental sustainability in extremely densely developed cities in the Global South. The originality of the study lies in applying MCA, grounded in compact and polycentric city theories, and in critically assessing Dhaka’s urban transformation by linking the theoretical framework with policy evaluation.