Members’ Publication

This paper presents the local practices of land allocation and water supply in a bosti (informal settlement) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It explains the contestation and negotiation in the process of regulation that defines inhabitants’ access to urban provision in bosti settlements. A critical analysis of the local practices reveals an informal sphere of regulations that considers a careful calculation of inhabitants’ individual locations in the prevailing power relations matrix and thus continuously (re)defines their differential access to urban utilities. This paper identifies the informal regulatory sphere as a “closed system” due to the fact that the powerful and relatively well-off dominate in the contestation and negotiation process, thus actively benefiting from it, and there is little scope for others to enter into the process. The very dependency of the inhabitants on these powerful and well-connected inhabitants also limits any possibility of countering this closed regulatory system.

My sincere gratitude goes to the inhabitants of Korail Bosti and Uttor Badda for taking their valuable time to support me in my empirical investigation. It is primarily owing to their kind support this research has achieved such depth and details. Special thanks to the families who arranged everything for my residency in the settlements and to the ‘friend informants’ who accepted me as vai (borther) or bondhu (friend) and became part of our regular adda, I am sure, leaving their other work. My gratitude also goes to the members of Bou Bazaar Committee/Somiti and the local political party offices who shared even very sensitive issues with me and allowed me to observe their activities including salish (community based informal dispute mitigation) meetings. My time with them will remain a life-long memory for me. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity and for your hospitality that I cannot describe in words. Access to information from Bangladeshi government offices is not an easy task. I thank the DWASA officials who made the documents available to me, allowed me to observe official activities at a DWASA zone office and accompanied me several times to the construction sites. I also thank the local government representatives (Ward Commissioners, UP Chairman and members) who made themselves available for several discussions. My special gratitude goes to the staff of Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (NGO) and another NGO for making their official documents available to me, inviting me to their meetings with the community, DWASA and other NGOs and for giving their time for discussion, even outside official hours.

Coastal communities in Chile are at risk to tsunami like other coastal communities around the world. As r esilience is understood as the opposite of vulnerability, it is important to increase community resilience to reduce vulnerability. The Dichato community is one of the most affected communities by the 27 February 2010 earthquake and following tsunami in ce ntral Chile and the recovery process is slower there than expected. This paper aims to examine planning capacity and social capacity to evaluate community resilience to tsunami. Qualitative data are collected through interview. Community leaders, high of ficials (e.g: regional chief of planning ministry, regional urban manager) at local and regional level and also nongovernmental organizations (Hogar de cristo, Red Cross) are interviewed. The collected data is evaluated under a framework which combines eig ht important resilience elements. These elements are governance, society and economy, resource management, land use and structural design, risk knowledge, warning and evacuation, emergency response and disaster recovery. Tsunami hazard risks are not well addressed and considered in plans and programs for coastal community like Dichato. Land use and structural design are carefully considered after the tsunami in last year. Pre - established mechanisms for disaster recovery are not appropriate. Community engag ement in planning and implementation procedure of these plans and programs are limited. There are very limited training program for livelihood diversification. Training and mock - drill programs for tsunami response are very limited in the community level . R isk knowledge is not shared properly with the community to reduce the risks. Findings of this paper will open a new horizon that can help to find the strength and weakness of disaster preparedness in community level. Resilience of coastal community to ts unami can be achieved through enhancing planning and social capacity.