By 1965 Rahman was senior enough in service to begin representing the CPWD in important inter-departmental committees concerned with wider planning, urban design, and landscaping issues in the capital. He found himself caught up in several controversies, but in the process received an invaluable education in how politicians, bureaucrats and technical specialists thought about 'urban aesthetics'.
Malay Chatterjee, "Habib Rahman and his times", Architecture + Design, Mar-Apr 1996; pp. 22