This project, funded by SHLC’s Capacity Development Acceleration Fund, integrates the lived experiences and views of urban populations as sources of innovation into planning processes for sustainability and draws upon co-designed visual participatory and perspective-taking activities in Chattogram, a rapidly growing city in Bangladesh.
Background

The project investigates ways in which residents and city planners can work together towards inclusive governance and safe, sustainable cities. The researchers are focussing on maximising accessibility to innovative methods for engaging urban populations in deliberative processes toward inclusive governance, which will benefit practitioners, policymakers, and researchers (including early career researchers) involved in urban sustainability in Chattogram, Bangladesh.

Patenga Road, Chattogram, Bangladesh. Credit: Moheen Reeyad
Patenga Road, Chattogram, Bangladesh. Credit: Moheen Reeyad

The project has two main objectives:

  1. Maximise impact and uptake: Photo-elicitation visual methods have been used as a means to build empathy between migrant populations and urban planners in Chattogram in order to derive lessons for policy and practice in urban planning. This project aims to increase research uptake and embed findings into Chattogram Master Plan.

  2. Maximise accessibility of innovative methods: Empirical evidence suggested that participatory methods facilitate dialogue between urban residents and representatives of local planning and development authority. This project builds on this successful experience to provide training and evidence-based practice to Chattogram’s city planners by co-designing a “How-to” guide to conducting visual participatory methods and facilitate ‘on the ground’ implementation of this new knowledge.


Project Outputs


The project was led by Ricardo Safra de Campos from the University of Exeter, W. Neil Adger from the University of Exter, Tasneem Siddiqui from the University of Dhaka, Bhuian Monoar Kabir from the University of Chittagong, A G M Niaz Uddin from the University of Chittagong, Esraz-Ul-Zannat from Khulna University, Shahinul Islam Khan from Chattogram Development Authority, Abu Jahed Mohammad Nasir Uddin from Chattogram City Corporation, Rezaul Karim from Chattogram City Corporation, Abir Ul Zabbar from Khulna City Corporation.

This research project ‘Power of partnership: Voices of residents & city planners as sources of innovation for sustainable urban governance’ was funded by the Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC)’s Capacity Development Acceleration Fund. SHLC is funded via UK Research and Innovation as part of the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.