Members’ Publication

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has now been turned into the 26th mega city and 10th most populous city of the world. As the population of Dhaka City is growing very fast, the sustainable transport policy for Dhaka should strive to retain and expand the modal share of walking trips, which may share the majority of all trips made. But unfortunately, pedestrian facilities may be the most neglected and unattended ones in transport planning of Dhaka city. This papers aims to find out the basic problems faced by the pedestrians while crossing the road of Dhaka City. The paper also illustrates the underlying factors which are considered most by the pedestrians while crossing a road. The preference of the pedestrians in choosing different types of crossings (at grade, underpass, and overpass) and the underlying reasons behind their preferences are also identified in this paper. This paper also assesses the relative significance of different problems faced in different types of pedestrian road crossing systems in Dhaka city. Finally it presents specific recommendations to promote the efficient pedestrian circulation system of Dhaka city.

Chittagong is the second largest city & major Port city of Bangladesh. Due to its port and other facilities the people of rural areas are always agglomerated in the city for employment opportunities and thus the city population is increasing at a growth rate of 1.57% (BBS, 2006). Rural to urban migration comprises a major proportion of the urban workforce, but most of the migrants cannot afford to buy land in safer areas, find few or no alternate formal settlements, and no government programs to provide shelter to the poor segment of urban population. Concentration of these people and activities on safe sites is not a source of vulnerability. But, the unequal distribution of resources, the marginalization of segments of the population and informal activities, and their exclusion from planned and serviced areas, is what forces people on unsafe sites; and then vulnerability is a consequence. In this research an effort has been made to assess in what extent the people of the study area are vulnerable. For these two types of measurement is required. One is measuring vulnerability from physical aspects and the other is from socio-economic aspects. It is necessary to see that if there is unequal distribution of resources or if the people are excluded from planned and serviced areas which are responsible for their insecure income and throw them in the landslide vulnerability. This research also tries to incorporate the organizational assistance, policy measures and landslide management plan if available in our country in the context of urban development and draw some rules and regulations for the relocations of the slum dwellers for the better housing process. But from the review of the existing planning interventions it is clear that there is a wide variety between actual necessity of society and regulation prescribed to control landslide. So from this standpoint an appreciable strategy is necessary to revive the reduction of landslide vulnerability and develop a sustainable and integrated urban livelihood approach that would integrate measures for reducing poverty by reducing risks from disasters.

This paper describes the informal practices in water supply and waste collection in an inner-city squatter and in a growing peripheral settlement of Dhaka. It explains the relationships and negotiations that the service providers undertake as part of their business. While the absence of state recognition and legitimacy is at the core of the development of these informal practices in the squatter case study, it is primarily monetary benefit for the administrative staff that promotes the informalization of the public utility in the other, non-squatter settlement. In both cases, close relationships with political leaders and supporters of the ruling political party were found useful to access public resources and were therefore carefully maintained, however this was in return for the creation of a new social relationship and regulatory order that now guide public resources distribution in the city.

The term Urban Poor refers to those who cannot afford the basic need required for sustaining urban living. In Bangladesh out of a total population of 120 million the urban poor population is now about 22.9 million constituting about 20 percent. The annual growth is about 2.6 percent, which is one of the highest in Asia. And the number of slums has significantly increased over the last three decades. Khulna is the third largest metropolitan and industrial city of Bangladesh. Rapid urbanization from heavy influx of migrants has exerted severe pressure on housing and public services in the city with which the expansion of infrastructure and basic urban services could not cope. This situation coupled with the destitute economic condition of slum people where service inadequacies have been compounded and multiplied on a massive scale. The study has tried to assess the accessibility of urban poor to the public services. This book, therefore, will be helpful for researcher working in the field like urban planning, urban poverty, urban housing, urbanization, infrastructural services, municipal service management, facility management, living environment, slums and squatter development etc.