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Floods have become a frequent phenomenon, wreaking havoc on the environment and infrastructure in Bangladesh. Complete flood prevention might be challenging, given the impending climate change and weather variability. On the other hand, Flood susceptibility mapping can aid in flood mitigation and prevention. Floods can occur for various reasons and depend on geographic parameters. The primary goal of this study is to combine Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to map flood susceptibility in the northern region of Bangladesh with precise flood susceptible zones in the districts of the north and divide the area into several classes based on the severity of the flood. While mapping flood-sensitive zones in the region, ten different influencing parameters are considered. This study has adopted the most pertinent and frequently used flood conditioning factors from numerous recent studies, such as elevation, slope, topographic wetness, precipitation, drainage density, distances from roads and rivers, vegetation, land use and land cover, and soil type. The study area is approximately 31,484 〖km〗^2 including 15 districts of the country’s northern region. The study finds that approximately 10% of the area (3067.86 〖km〗^2) is very highly susceptible, 8% is highly susceptible, 13% area has moderate susceptibility, and the rest, 69%, has been found to have low and very low susceptibility. The most vulnerable districts are Kurigram, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Panchagarh, Jamalpur, Nilphamari, and Sherpur. Also, the study shows the Upazila level of high flood susceptibility for the 15 districts. The flood susceptibility zonation mapping for this study effectively indicates the accuracy of 86.59 percent to places where floods have occurred in the past in the various flood-prone zones. The flood susceptibility map produced in this study is a valuable resource for flood prevention and mitigation for the stakeholders.

A global degradation of air quality has become a prominent issue in the present time since it has a significant impact on climate change and public health due to increased morbidity and mortality. Air Quality Index (AQI) is an index for describing the air quality which is comprised of five major air pollutants – ground-level ozone, particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulfur dioxide (SO2), and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2). In this study, we have observed a comparative condition of air quality with the trend of LULC for 2019 and 2021, in the Narayanganj City Corporation, which is renowned as the Dundee of Bangladesh. Every year our country earns an indicative percentage of revenue from these sectors. Along with population growth, rapid industrialization is a rudimentary reason behind the deterioration of the environmental condition of this city. The primary objective of this study is to examine the impact of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) on the air quality index to identify how industrial and human activities influence air quality. The assessment has been conducted from 2019 to 2021 using Google Earth Engine (GEE) as well as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized build-up index (NDBI) are estimated using Landsat 8 images. Spatial Statistics and regression analysis were performed to examine the impact of LULC on the air quality in the Narayanganj City Corporation Area. It has been vindicated that with the reduction of the vegetation area, the build-up area has increased within these two years. During this duration, the concentrations of NO2, and SO2 have increased and the concentration of CO, PM, and O3 have hardly changed. The negative correlation between the vegetation index and air particles and the positive correlation between the build-up index and air particles exhibit the low rate of vegetation coverage and high rate of buildup index debilitated the environment as well as public health. Urban development is also an essential part of global development which cannot be disaccorded. Hence this study bears a significant impact on acknowledging the scenario and pursuing policy recommendations.

Land and property development process includes a series of multifaceted activities ranging from purchasing to converting it for development purposes and everything in between. The process itself encompasses multiple stakeholders, drivers, and contributions from diversified public and private actors and transaction cost arises out of their complex interaction. Transaction costs incurred during any kind of human interaction (i.e., transactions). Every actor involved in the process wishes to maximize his achievement under various constraints and hence institutional arrangement (i.e., set of humanly devised rules to administer the constraints) is necessary for efficient management of the development process. Therefore, to devise an optimum outcome out of economic and social transactions in the property development process, cooperative and competitive relationships between individuals should be understood from a broader sociopolitical and governance structure. In this research, it is critically argued that the land and property development process should implicate a multifaceted set of formal and informal rules or institutional arrangements to govern the intrinsic interaction, action and thereby reducing the related transaction cost. The central argument is further reproachfully evaluated and implicated in the urban development process through the myopic lens of the Transit-oriented development (TOD) pathway. A vigilant combination of descriptive and explanatory research approaches is adopted to analyze the connection between theory and practice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Though Public Spaces are the images of the social status of the community, but in case of Dhaka City (Bangladesh), there are intensely shortages of public open spaces. Recently, a number of parks and playgrounds in Dhaka South City Corporation area have been redeveloped under a government project. So, this research has highlighted on the state of usefulness of these redeveloped public spaces of Dhaka South City Corporation. METHODS: Amongst many types of public spaces, only parks and playgrounds had been counted for this research purpose. A mixed method approach had been opted, as it includes both qualitative and quantitative data for the assessments. Qualitative assessment with pictures of structures in public spaces had been conducted and maps of the area had been produced using ArcGIS 10.5 software. Also, statistical analysis like descriptive analysis, chi-square test, multiple regression model etc. had been conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Microsoft Excel software which covered quantitative assessment. FINDINGS: This study found that though the visitors had been increased after redevelopment, but the quality of infrastructures and accessibility were not up to the mark even after redevelopment. These public spaces were abandoned or vacant land formerly. But these places were refurnished with new structures. But there was cave-looked boundary in every public space and the area had been restricted and locked up by the authorities. Elderly people, less-educated people, high income group people, new inhabitants of that area visited most. And also, in every demographic group, visitors have been increased after redevelopments. The selected public spaces only serve 6.44% of the Dhaka South City Corporation area in terms of walking distance (400-meter). ‘Unclean toilet’ is the major problem and almost around 65% to 85% respondents had complaints on it in most of the public spaces. Besides, Women, new inhabitants of that area, visitors who faced problems in accessibility and who can’t feel safe and secure in the public spaces have less satisfaction with these public spaces. CONCLUSION: This research has addressed the efficiency of redeveloped public spaces in Dhaka South City Corporation area. A strong community involvement in public space is beneficial to improve wellbeing. So, it was an important affair to investigate the association between the public involvement in public space and the quality of public space. The research findings may help the urban planners and policymakers in development sectors of Bangladesh.

With the rapid growth of urbanization, the possibility of hazard has increased. Owing to high population concentrations and economic activities, the likelihood of hazards in urban areas is more nuanced than in rural areas. Vulnerability assessment of hazards has been a hot topic in the field of Engineering and Urban and Regional Planning. Due to the complicated hazard characteristics, not only engineering but planning approaches are required in order to effectively mitigate hazards.In recent years, the rapid growth of Dhaka cities has accelerated the pressure on existing buildings, and there is a need to establish adequate seismic safety screening methods for existing buildings specific to building typologies. Dhaka City is in danger of an earthquake and several incidents have occurred. In most situations, the lack of appropriate precautionary steps, administrative inefficiency, inadequate funds for equipment and lack of public knowledge make the situation worse. Ward 27, an old part of Dhaka City, was chosen for seismic vulnerability assessment in this survey. For seismic vulnerability assessment, a sample of 300 buildings was evaluated using Rapid visual screening (RVS) process by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The rapid visual screening process is the initial stage in the assessment of existing buildings. The survey focuses on earthquake issues such as building type, size and shape of the plot, specific distances from surrounding structures, road width and basic building information.The use of Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) in the field of research allows screened buildings to be divided into two categories: those that are expected to have sufficient seismic efficiency and those that could be seismically unsafe and that should be further studied.

River channel morphologies are defined by riverbank accretion and erosion and how they change landcover over time. This study has examined the change of natural landcover of Naria upazila by the River Padma through analyses of satellite images using ERDAS Imagine 2019 and ArcGIS 10.8 software. Landcover maps were generated to monitor morphological changes caused by Riverbank erosion. Imageries from 1979 to 2019 at tenyear intervals from Landsat's Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (for 2019), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (for 2009 and 1999), Thematic Mapper (for 1989) and Multispectral Scanner (for 1979) were used. After identification of shifting of river course using unsupervised and supervised image classifications, landcover maps at tenyear intervals were generated with eight land use classes viz., river, water channel, inland water, forest, vegetation, char land and settlements. During the period of 1979 to 1999, river channel area in Naria upazila increased from 29.42 km2 to 44.34 km2 and between 2009 and 2019, river area decreased from 37.51 to 30.4 km2. In the period of 1979 to 2019, river area decreased from 11% to 10% and settled areas increased from 6 to 7%. The most significant change was for forest cover, which went down from 33% to only 6%. The study highlights four-decades of the River Padma’s shifting trends and its effects on Naria upazila’s landcover by riverbank erosion for the first time. This research has the scope of incorporating into the long-term morphological changes in the river as supportive research for future initiatives to adapt plans and policies for the vulnerable communities’ life and livelihood.