Members’ Publication

Background - Unequal housing access resulted in more than 150 million homeless people worldwide, with millions more expected to be added every year due to the ongoing climate-related crises. Homeless population has a counterproductive effect on the social, psychological integration efforts by the community and exposure to other severe health-related issues. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have long been applied in urban planning and policy, housing and homelessness, and health-related research. Methods - We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to systematically review 24 articles collected from multiple databases (n = 10) that focused on health-related issues among homeless people and used geospatial analysis techniques in their research. Results - Our findings indicated a geographic clustering of case study locations– 26 out of the 31 case study sites are from the USA and Canada. Studies used spatial analysis techniques to identify hotspots, clusters and patterns of patient location and population distribution. Studies also reported relationships among the location of homeless shelters and substance use, discarded needles, different infectious and non-infectious disease clusters. Conclusion - Most studies were restricted in analyzing and visualizing the patterns and disease clusters; however, geospatial analyses techniques are useful and offer diverse techniques for a more sophisticated understanding of the spatial characteristics of the health issues among homeless people. Better integration of GIS in health research among the homeless would help formulate sensible policies to counter health inequities among this vulnerable population group.

Central Business Districts (CBDs) are impeccable areas of traffic attractions exacerbated by the increase of rapid population density, enormous urbanization, and increasing economic and commercial activities. Traffic congestion in the CBD areas is a perpetual problem for sustainable urban development. This study detailed the traffic congestion states and the factors influencing traffic congestion in the CBD areas of Khulna City. In this regard, spot speed, journey speed, running speed, and volume of all types of vehicles in the four CBD areas during peak and off-peak hours on both weekends and weekdays have been measured through manual counting and video recording methods. The traffic congestion state in the study area has been assessed through Level of Service, Speed Performance Index, Road Segment Congestion Index. The outcome of these indices revealed the worst congestion state in all CBD areas with breakdown flow. The Active Road Performance Index explained that inadequate parking facilities, illegal road occupancy by roadside vendors, and on-street parking decreased the road efficiency by 32 to 82% in different areas. The regular road users believed that congestion occurs mostly between 6.00 PM and 9.00 PM. This study found that rapid increase in vehicle population, poor public transport, pedestrians’ behavior, illegal road occupancy, and fragile enforcement of laws are leading the traffic condition of Khulna towards an unsustainable future. The outcome of this study will provide useful information for urban planners, policymakers, and practitioners to devise appropriate strategies for reducing congestion that would help to ensure a sustainable urban transport system.

Public space is usually pursued as open-air living room and reflection of dignity of the community. It is the platform upon which the drama of convivial life discloses. This research has explored the competency of redeveloped Public Spaces in Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). A project, entitled ‘Jol Sabuje Dhaka’ has been recently inaugurated where several parks and playgrounds have been redeveloped. So, this research has focused on the changes in condition of those redeveloped public spaces. The study has concerned to assess the affects in visiting pattern and accessibility of redeveloped public spaces by the people of the community of DSCC after redevelopment. It’s highly surprising that the result showed that public involvement has been increased, but not ensured the engagement of all social categories. Also, the main territorial playfields have been restricted for certain period of time within a day that restricts the accessibility. The study indicates that the enhancement of the public engagement in the parks and playgrounds of DSCC would increase through the provision of facilities and the access of public to these facilities. In fact, the functionality of public spaces mostly depends on the accessibility and community involvements.

The indigenous or local knowledge acquired over the time by the community/individuals in this particular ecosystem plays an important role in detection and catching of any specific fish abundance in any specific part of rivers and estuaries around the world. The Hilsa supports an estimated 0.45 million full-time and 2.5 million part-time fishers. The project, ‘Investing in Hilsa fishery as an Economic Infrastructure for Bangladesh’ encompassed activities designed to address key areas of work such as improved science based fisheries management decision making, strengthened fisheries adaptive co-management, and enhanced socio-ecological resilience of target communities. Remotely sensed imageries data of both active and passive were used in this study to monitor the Hilsa habitat in the south-central to southwest coastal area of Bangladesh. A radar system operates in a specific wavelength or frequency and records the signal response from the ground or target at single specific wavelength.

Rohingyas are the most persecuted minority in the world. They have been facing systematic discrimination and serious human rights violations since the 1970s when they stopped being recognized as citizens by the Burmese government. Acts committed against this predominantly Muslim minority in the Rakhine State can be classified as ethnic cleansing with the intent of genocide. Myanmar is also facing a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) due to violations of the Convention Against Genocide (1948). This paper employs the framework of everyday resistance to highlight Rohingyas’ acts and practices to resist genocidal acts in Myanmar. We analyzed 62, 56, and 145 micronarratives of forcibly displaced adult Rohingyas currently living in India, Malaysia, and Bangladesh, collected between March 2019 and April 2020. We conclude that the Rohingyas adopted various everyday resistance practices involving non-compliance, such as refusing to follow orders, giving money or going to forced labour; and avoiding staying at home and secrecy, including praying, using mobile phones, moving to other areas, studying, and marrying secretly. In addition, everyday resistance strategies connected to gender-focused protection against sexual violence were linked to staying at home, hiding girls and maintaining women pregnant. Finally, Rohingyas adopted resistance strategies to survive the 2017 attacks, including fleeing to Bangladesh in groups and supporting each other. This discussion dialogues with previous work on genocide studies that highlight the agency and resistance of Holocaust and other genocide survivors. It contributes to understanding the everyday resistance of a stateless minority, recognizing its agency against its genocidal state.

In recent years, Bangladesh has started moving its transportation vision towards achieving sustainability goals such as increasing bicycle infrastructure, sidewalks, reducing air pollution, etc. To contribute to the ongoing discussion, we explored factors that influence the use of bicycles for different trip purposes in Rajshahi, a medium-sized city in Bangladesh. A face-to-face household survey was conducted to collect individuals’ socio-demographic characteristics, their travel patterns for different trip purposes, and perceptions of the built environment. We developed four Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) models to understand the influence of latent perceptions on bicycling for commuting and non-commuting (i.e., grocery shopping, going for tea, and recreational) trips. The analysis indicates that women are more likely to choose a bike for commuting trips but are less likely to use bikes for recreational trips. The results also show that the choice of commuting by bicycle is positively associated with commuting distance and negatively associated with residential land use. Walkability perception has a significant positive association with the choice of bikes for commuting and non-commuting trips. Road safety perception for active travel is positively associated with bike choice for recreational trips, and crime perception of the neighborhood is negatively associated with bike choice for grocery trips. The results from this study will be helpful for policymakers to understand and improve the built environment to attract individuals towards bike use.