If Dhaka city follows the vendor management system as Japan naming ‘Shotengai Street’, then it will be beneficiary for both pedestrians and hawkers. It is important to adopt a national policy in this regard. On 6^th March 2018, Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust organized a view exchange meeting on ‘Win-Win Situation for Pedestrian and Hawkers: Learning from Japan’ and discussants discussed as above.

Keynote speaker of the discussion meeting said that, Japan has introduced ‘Shotengai Street’ for pedestrians to create a safe and attractive walking environment. These streets restrict motor vehicles for a specific time in day and opens for pedestrians.  These streets are also safe for pedestrians during vehicle movement. There is strong coordination among community people, shop owners, city authority and police to run the system properly. Responsibility of maintenance of the system lies on the shop owners with support of city authority.

Discussants said that, in Dhaka city there are both pedestrians and hawkers. To introduce a system like Shotengai Street, it is important to adopt a specific policy. According to the policy it will be easier to create community-based hawker association and establish coordination among community people, shop owners, city authority and police.

The view exchange meeting was presided over Director of Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust Gaous Pearee and moderated by Program Manager Maruf Hossain. Discussants of the meeting were Regional Director of HealthBridge Canada Debra Efroymson, Chairman of Department of Environmental Science of Stamford University Dr Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumder, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Department of University of Asia Pacific Dr Sharmin Nasrin, former General Secretary of BAPA Mohidul Haq Khan and Convener of Bangladesh Hawker Sangram Parishad Abul Hossain. Other speakers were Aminur Rasul from Unnayan Dhara Trust, Lecturer of Urban and Regional Planning Department BUET Tasnim Firoz, Urban Planner Sadia Chowdhury and representatives from various hawker associations.