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Social safety, security, and comfort of school-going children during their trip to school have become a subject of anxiety to the parents. It has become a crucial issue in recent times, specially in developing nations. Community-based transport can significantly address social security issues in travel at a reasonable cost and reduce the burden on private mode of transportation. In Dhaka city, school van service already exists to serve school-going children but the service has not been proven as an efficient and formal mode of transport to solve mobility problems. In this connection, this study seeks to identify the problems and prospects of the existing school van service and provide a unique, healthy, safe, and reliable transport mode for children. Applying different tools of the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method, the problems and solutions have been gleaned from the community. The findings of this study can be applied to a community-managed para-transit systems to improve utility and hence to be useful in resolving issues associated with local transportation. With widespread use, this service has the potential to reduce traffic congestion on major thoroughfares, especially during rush hour.

Purpose Social media creates a public sphere, which functions as the third wheel of governance. This study aims to examine the relationship between Facebook penetration and the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators. Design/methodology/approach First, a Pearson correlation was estimated between Facebook penetration and governance indicators. Second, ordinary least squares analysis was used to examine a variety of additional economic and population factors, including Facebook penetration. In both instances, the colinearity of the variables is examined. Findings The findings indicate that there is no conclusive correlation between Facebook penetration and governance; however, the opposite is true for developing, emerging and least developed countries, though the relationship is not uniform across regions. In addition, per capita gross domestic product and population dynamics, specifically the proportion of the population aged 15–64, have a significant impact on governance measures. The colinearity of the variables suggests that governance is a broad concept, and that the direct correlation between Facebook penetration and governance may be misleading. Research limitations/implications Future research should incorporate panel data from other social media platforms, such as Twitter and Reddit, to better understand temporal factors and the relationship between social media penetration and governance. Practical implications This paper opens up new avenue for investigation on the impact of social media on governance. Social implications This paper can contribute to the complexity of social media as means for voice and accountability. In addition, the paper mentions how social media can be used more neutrally to ensure exposure to diverse perspectives. Originality/value The growing importance of the internet and the popularity of social networking websites are generating a great deal of scholarly attention. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is almost no literature that links Facebook penetration and governance. This paper intends to fill this void.

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.