​​​​​​​On Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh (Part 11)

On Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh (Part 11)

Md. Amzad Hossain

Perth, Western Australia

Email: A.Hossain@curtin.edu.au

‘God made the country, and man made the town’ (Berleant, 2005); and “Our own survival is tied to the survival of the natural environment (Dalai Lama ).”[i]

 ‘A ‘sustainable city’ is what enables all its citizens to meet their own needs and to enhance their well-being without damaging the natural world or endangering the living condition of other people, now or in the future.’

www.infed.org/community/sustainable_communities_and_neighbourhoods.htm

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

"Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable."

Prelude

Sustainable Development Goal 11 asserts to “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”; and the UN target for 2030 is to ensure access to safe and affordable housing. This assertion applies to both existing and future cities in Bangladesh; and to ensure access to safe and affordable housing is globally desirable. Except the mega city of Dhaka, most cities of Bangladesh are reasonably inclusive, resilient and affordable in the country’s livability context. However, the feasibility of making the existing cities in Bangladesh safe and sustainable within the norms of SDG 11 appears bleak due to a lack of post-development maintenance or renovation of buildings, roads and railways, and water bodies etc. that can synergistically makes human settlements safe and sustainable. 

Thus, the notion ‘Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable’ is largely impractical for achieving SDG 11 in Bangladesh, especially for the existing ones.  On the other hand, the infrastructures including housing for future cities can be sustainably developed in congruent with Goal 11 including its target areas. Hence, we need to rephrase the notion “Make cities …” as “Build new cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. In order to reduce migration from rural to cities the new urbanization needs to be inclusive, safe and resilient, in one hand; and ensuring social, economic and environmental sustainability scenarios, on the other. This new approaches to urbanization can be termed as “R”urbanization i.e. development with city attributes - when the development takes place in the rural area. In the case of new development with a view to create a large city-like business district or municipality, it can be termed as Eco-urbanization i.e. urban development with rural face and rural linkage 

            This discourse outlines “R”urbanization and Eco-urbanization to maximize livability inclusive, yet with minimum footprint - use of finite, depleting and scarce resources such as land, forestry, water, fisheries, minerals etc. - in order to promote sustainable consumption culture abiding by the wisdom: cut your coat according to your cloth. Our wise ancestors always preached to consume less, waste not, and save for future.

What is “R”urbanization?

            “R”urbanization  (Rurbanization) is a significant innovation to save our much loved and much ignored landscape. It is a pragmatic terminology which simply refers to the improvement of rural livability synergized with city texture and rural face. A rural face consists of multiple facets and dimensions. It has tangible and intangible attributes that unanimously formulate the fabric of the rural face. It is the rural scenery and rural architecture that build the imagery of rural environment (Hu & Tao, 2013). However, the character of a rural face has deep rooted intangible attributes in its folklore which are narrated through its cultural values, customs, norms, and rituals. The rural lifestyle revolves around self – sustenance principles and so, the livelihoods are also eccentric to basic human necessities (Bantjes, 2011). A ‘livelihood’ can be defined as ‘comprising the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living’ (Chambers and Conway, 1988).

Rurbanization is a promising corridor to ensure a good life for all humans now and in the future. The concept of Rurbanization, among other architectural paradigm, includes sustainability features that can result in spiritually contenting “R”urban construct with socially and ecologically balanced livability. Rurbanization can be the strategy of development of human settlement  involving the creation of a network of sustainability ecosystems (i.e., economy, habitat, mobility, urban agriculture and cultural heritage) in order to ‘produce what we consume and consume what we produce’.[ii] Rurbanization interprets the chain of production - consumption broadly, well beyond the material aspect, including the cultural, cognitive and affective dimensions. It not only deals with the outer face of livability but also the deeper questions, the trending values of folkloric wisdom and city culture, synergizing into “sustainable livability” (Jan, 1978;  Brown et al., 2005).

What is the major problem with human settlements in Bangladesh?

            The residential and other infrastructural needs for increasing population and the government’s political drives for baselessly ridiculous  economic growth are resulting in shrinking the top quality land stock of Bangladesh. According to Mohammad Al-Masum Molla “1% arable land is lost each year. Over the course of 24 years before 2000, Bangladesh was losing arable land at an annual rate of 13,413 hectares; but since 2000, the rate has jumped to 68,690 hectares per year, according to SRDI”.[iii]

            Secondly, because of the lack of sustainability policy planning, the livability gaps in terms of education, health and job facilities between rural and urban settlements are widening. Migration of richer as well as poorer and under-privileged people from villages to cities are becoming rampant which is consequently turning the rural area with depleting socio-economic sustainability and making city to be sprawling and unlivable.

            Thirdly, the recent city lifestyles are becoming so hectic that they are lacking the spiritual serenity, connection with nature and cultural heritage which have been part of the rural face since antiquity. The cultural, spiritual and social needs of a community are entwined with the growth of a healthy society and are, therefore, directly related to socio-economic prosperity. The quality of urbanism vis-à-vis liveability of an urban settlement is not just tangible characteristics of its comfortable and fast paced lifestyle; It rather transcends into the intangible attributes as well which are represented in unwritten folkloric traditions and are trickled down from one generation to another only by word of mouth (Jan, 1978). Rural lifestyle immensely relies on these traditions which contribute to the local aesthetics, rituals, poetry, superstitions and livelihoods; unlike in cities where education, connectivity and technology dominates and cultural traditions are usually considered less important. Brown et al (2005) also highlight these intangible social and spiritual aspects of human settlement and state that the abstruse identity of human in cities shall be an emphatic spiritual crisis of the future cities, as consumerism, lack of community building, individualism and insensitivity towards nature are making our cities a concrete jungle which lacks human spirit. Revival of the human and nature factor is the key to build identity in our cities (ibid, 2005).

Why Rurbanization would be pro-sustainability in Bangladesh?

Rurbanization can meet sustainability requirements. “Bangladesh needs to build an urban space that is capable of innovating, is better connected and more livable in order to make cites competitive. Bangladesh’s urban space is falling behind in all three of these drivers of competitiveness (Hussain 2013). The book Urbanization and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies for a Sustainable Urban Development in Bangladesh (Rana 2010) states that like any other developing countries, urbanization in Bangladesh is a growing phenomenon which is steady in nature but fretfully affects urban sustainability in the wake of lacking good governance. This rapid growth of cities not just affects economically and socially but also environmentally. Thus, many of the problems concerning sustainability and liveability will remain unresolved if the current process of urbanization continues to occur and thereby create a void in the linkage between cities and villages.

            Rurbanization for rural Bangladesh is only a simple thought, a vision, a quest for a sustainable future, which can possibly be reached by following the above directives.  Its purpose is to make the rural people sustain in their own homes and create overall livability for the urban-rural community altogether. In many countries where the concept is said to have failed, Bangladesh may have better chances of being successful since the majority is still rooted to the villages. However, it is yet to be introduced and practiced in this country and hence the outcomes will need to be observed for years.  For a country like Bangladesh that is already on the brink of devastation, it is worth a try. 

What is the significance of Rurbanization?

Rurbanization is a quest to direct human activities towards a harmonious concept of “livability” within the holistic paradigms retaining sustainability. It recognizes that perpetuation of sustainable livability in cities is increasingly deteriorating requiring sustainable solutions which can be achieved through the concept of Rurbanization. This concept significantly contributes to address the global problem of sustainability with a new generation rural livability design(ing) that depicts sustainable features of urban living emphasizing on rural socio-ecological entity.

Secondly, Rurbanization signifies rural living circumstances that have intangible bounties by creating relationship of man with nature (socio-ecological) and man with man (socio-cultural)  resulting in socially interactive and ecologically compatible livability.

How rural to urban migration due to a lack of Rurbanization is reflected in literature?         

For decades, migration has followed the constant pattern- rural to urban. It has long been an integral livelihood scheme for the people of Bangladesh. Even today, the poor people pursue migration as a livelihood strategy in Bangladesh (Siddiqui, 2003). “The basic perception of “progress being synonymous with the city” causes people to migrate to the metropolis, much as moths towards a candle flame. To pursue the analogy, hopeful emigrants might often find their wings clipped, if not singed, by being caught in the vicious trap of inadequate shelter, encroachments, prohibitive land prices and inflation” (Laul, 2004). In Bangladesh the first phase of urbanization commenced in 1947. During 1951-1961 there was a 45.11% increase, more than twice of that in the previous decade (Hossain, 2008). The legacy of progress in Bangladesh has led to the development of a few cities, particularly Dhaka. But owing to lack of planning and mismanagement in several sectors, the city is failing to keep up with the growing urban pressures. “Urban bias is held responsible for rural-urban migration. Because of the overwhelming concentration of wealth, assets, purchasing capacity, economic activities and variety of services in the urban centres in general and the largest metropolis in particular, continuous migration flow takes place beginning from those who can survive in these centres even without any formal sector jobs” (Ahsanullah, 2004). The paper by UNDP Bangladesh (Marshall and Rahman, 2011) identifies internal migration as both the savior and villain of the developmental story, a driver of economic expansion and modernization, while also the cause of severe urban deprivation and a destroyer of traditional rural life.

According to the World Bank (ed., Bangladesh 2020) Bangladesh needs to build an urban space that is capable of innovating, is better connected and more livable. According to 2015 Survey by The Telegraph: Dhaka is ranked as the most unlivable city in the world. If the emphasis and basis of design is “people” then sustainability does not need to be sacrificed at any cost.  The journal by Marinova and Hossain (2014), redefines “livability” and how to sustain communities in cities abiding by 4 principles, which are i) self-reliant living ii) sustainability self-education iii) self-governance and iv) community self-organization.

What is Eco-urbanization?

Eco-urbanization is urbanization with rural face. The discourse does not romanticise rural life as an ideal settlement and urban life as a challenged notion rather argues that both settlements have set of different priorities which have moulded their environment. Eco-urbanization is to integrate sustainable aspects of rural and urban faces in order to achieve a balanced settlement. Since urbanism is preferable for human settlement thus in order to attain sustainability in our livability we should learn to inculcate the ecological and social attributes of the rural face and improve the economic and ecological interface of our future cities.

Eco-urbanization has much more inclusive integration of religion, folk culture, norms, community ties, heritage and connection with nature. Ecological and social dominance in the lives of rural inhabitants is an emphatic distinction from urban lifestyle which is governed by economic and political influences. However, it should not be forgotten that our current cities are reliant on the rural hinterland in manifold ways, in terms of food supply, labour, minerals, power sources etc. (Woods, 2010). On the contrary, rural areas can survive in isolation with limited connection with the outer world because of their vital trait of self-reliance.

What is the significance of Eco-urbanization?

The Eco-urbanization underpins the dire need to bridge the gap that exists in current urbanization practices. This liaison shall bring to the fore new horizons of sustainable city development which are deeply rooted in the cultural values and are extracted from the past experiences. Thus, entwining the past and present approaches with rural imagery could be a more sustainable way forward to develop self-reliant cities since the rural has been a parent form of human settlements.

Eco-urbanization unfolds the reality that the cities are dependent on the rural area to meet their daily needs of food, raw material, human capital and other resources (Morris, 2008). Without Eco-urbanization the future projections reveal that in near future the urban areas will create an ecological imbalance, resulting in collapse of the modernist urban notion. The concept of Eco-urbanization can play its part to highlight the unsustainable nature of our present urban lifestyle and urges urban planners and theoreticians to prioritise sustainability over consumerism and short-term development benefits. Thus, the concept of Eco-urbanization aims at providing an ideology that leads to sustainable mindset that is near to the soil, nature and heritage. As heritage conservation is given least importance in our modern urban setting, this negligence is leading to extinction of valuable pro-sustainability wisdom of our rurality, history and folklore. The Eco-urbanization approach could lead to a different way of thinking about resolving urban issues through making urban settlement more self-reliant and self-sufficient.

How Eco-urbanization is emphasized in literature?

Urban planners and designers have always been pondering upon the notion of the ideal human settlement not only because of their desires to explore new domains of urbanism but also due to the fears and uncertainties of drastically changing future (Wood & Andraos, 2011). The future holds consequences of the past events and therefore, the analysis of the historical urban theoretical body is essential in order to move forward into the future as it will provide a historical context for the research.

Many urban theoreticians like Ebenezer Howard (1898) have proposed earlier a distinct but relevant relationship of the rural with urban form, as he states that the “town and country must be married, and out of this joyous union will spring a new hope, a new life, a new civilisation’(pg. 10). Howard’s Garden Towns were based on poly – centric urban form comprising of new towns with emphasis on ecology. Similarly, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broad Acres concept coined in 1932 also aimed at giving the urban form a rural cover by means of decentralised urban planning. The concept was based on individualism but incorporated rural characteristics (Fishman, 1982). Moreover, Le Corbusier (1922) also made an attempt to revitalize the cityscape by decongestion with the increasing densities and creating open spaces for the quality public realm by increasing ecological value. 

The present discourse sets its parameters within the sustainable development concept which is based on contextualization, localization and participation (Local Agenda 21, UN-Habitat website). This paradigm shift reveals a new perspective for the urban designers and planners. The notion of sustainable development emanated when the threats of global warming and ecological awareness were highlighted at a global level by the Brundtland Commission appointed by United Nation in 1984 – 87 and was a milestone in creating the relationship of development with the environment. It stipulated that sustainable development “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (WCED, 1987, pg. 45). The sustainability approach is the way forward for salvation of urban environment. Presently, enough resources and concern are not invested into making cities sustainable however, the research emphasizes that the urban design for future shall be incomplete without addressing the sustainability issues. Rethinking urban liveability and prioritizing sustainability is the key to meet challenges of the future.

How Rurbanization and Eco-urbanization can be implemented through the SDGs Model Projects?

The SDGs Model Projects are carefully selected topography specific development sites where multiple SDGs can be addressed including Goal 11. In other words, the sites show how to achieve SDGs by observation, training, action research and replication.  The projects are implemented through high level field research for higher degrees on local and global knowledge and practices, training, and acquiring comprehensive guidelines from the elders as well as from the research outcomes. The Ward Sustainable Development Groups in cooperation with the assigned researchers and relevant Govt. officials.

The major characteristics of  SDGs Model Projects are as follows:

•Road or river connection to the site

•Landscapes for various seasonal crops

•Degrading soil quality

•Dying or drying water bodies in the project area

• Diminishing occupational diversity

•Degrading social norms and values

•Increasing economic disparity

• Threatened bio-diversity

•Tourism potential

Who will be the co-actors/implementers

•Action researchers

•Ward or Mahalla SDG group

•Concerned government officials

•Private investors

•NGOs

Bangladesh government, especially the Governance Innovation Unit (GIU)  trains up eligible government officers who can undertake higher degrees by action research from a university. They can conduct action research on Goal 11 including its target areas as follows:

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

11.1 by 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services, and upgrade slums

11.2 by 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons

11.3 by 2030 enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacities for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries

11.4 strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage

11.5 by 2030 significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of affected people and decrease by y% the economic losses relative to GDP caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with the focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations

11.6 by 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality, municipal and other waste management

11.7 by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, particularly for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities

11.a support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning

11.b by 2020, increase by x% the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, develop and implement in line with the forthcoming Hyogo Framework holistic disaster risk management at all levels

11.c support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, for sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials

Concluding Remarks

It is not only imperative for Bangladesh to achieve SDG11 but also urgent to resist the depletion of about 1% of prime agricultural land being occupied per annum for residential and commercial purposes. The two  pathways – Rurbanization and Eco-urbanization - for achieving the Goal 11 could be more sustainable against the current land use footprint and building plans. This innovative idea is highly likely to lay impact on future settlements with basic services; demographic sustainability; protection of the world’s cultural and natural heritage; and managing healthy environmental footprint.

The concept of implementing SDGs Model Project approach is the way forward for salvation of urban environment. Presently, enough resources and concern are not invested into making cities sustainable. However, this discourse realises that the urban culture of future shall remain incomplete without addressing the sustainability issues. Rethinking urban liveability and prioritizing sustainability are the keys to meeting challenges of the future in terms of social sustainability which deals in the cultural and political realm; ecological sustainability which is related to nature and climate change; and economic sustainability which is depends on balancing the  consumption with sustainable productivity capacity of Bangladesh – as per the proverbial wisdom, ‘cut your coat according to your cloth’. 

(To be continued)

REFERENCES

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Rana, M (2010). Urbanization and Sustainability: Challenges and Strategies for Sustainable Urban Development in Bangladesh. Springer Netherlands. Vol. 13: pp. 237-256

Siddiqui, T. (2009). Migration as a Livelihood Strategy of the Poor: the Bangladesh Case. Dhaka University, Bangladesh

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Woods, Michael. 2010. Rural: Rural. Florence, Italy. Taylor and Francis.

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End Notes