The SARS-CoV-2 virus has brought unprecedented change to the world. Distancing measures make people find an alternative way to interact with others and fulfill their duty. It is acknowledged that the epidemic has dramatically impacted people's work schedules, which in turn has changed how they travel. Till now very few studies were conducted on this new phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to ascertain how COVID-19 has affected the work schedules and travel habits of office workers in Bangladesh and show the comparative scenario before and during the pandemic. The study is based on primary data. Respondents are surveyed through Google Forms. With the response of 342 respondents, primary data were processed and analyzed. Descriptive analyses were conducted to carry out the output. Inferential analysis was applied somewhere to scrutinize the result. The study reveals that there are significant changes in work patterns and travel patterns of office workers in Bangladesh due to COVID-19. People have shifted from offline to online activities. Travel time and trip frequency per week have been reduced greatly. The usage of the bus has reduced rapidly. Instead, people have started to walk or use a rickshaw, and bicycles. In many cases, offices have provided vehicles. The degree of these changes varies among different socioeconomic groups of people. This study is a useful resource for new policy-making insights and could inspire subsequent research.

A growing body of research has addressed the multimodality of public transport, but relatively few studies have investigated the first-and-last-mile travel behavior—especially in the context of developing countries. In this study, we surveyed public transport commuters who live in Dhaka’s suburban areas and regularly commute to the main city. We find that the majority of the respondents use non-motorized modes of transportation (NMTs); however, the shares of motorized forms of transportation (MTs) such as human-haulers and buses are higher for egress compared to access. The choice of modes, both for the access and egress stages, are examined using multinomial logit (MNL) and nested logit (NL) models. The results show that rail travelers are more likely to choose MTs for egress compared to bus travelers. This is mainly because of longer distances between rail stations and trip destinations at the activity end. Among other factors, travelers’ income, and gender, as well as mode-specific attributes such as waiting time, travel time, travel cost, degree of seating comfort, and availability of the modes are found significant. Female commuters are more likely to choose rickshaw over other modes, while lower-income commuters show a higher tendency to choose paratransit and bus transportation when other variables are controlled. Finally, the paper discusses the implications of the findings for the improvement of first-and-last-mile connectivity of Dhaka’s public transportation system.

Local government bodies and other concerned agencies in developing countries spend a considerable amount of money on rural road development. However, in the absence of any robust and systematic methodology, road development largely relies on ad-hoc decisions and subjective judgement of public officials. Such a decision-making process often leads to inefficient resource allocation bypassing equity and long-term societal benefits. Although there are some established methodologies for road network planning, complexities exist in applying those methods. First, most of the established methods are not suitable for rural road development, particularly regarding the volume and nature of traffic on them. Second, some methods are highly complex and lack practical applicability. Third, road development planning should not be top-down alone but ensure the participation of local stakeholders. Given these limitations, this study proposes a methodology—Rural Road Planning and Prioritisation Model (RPPM). It consists of two major components (i) developing a core network in participation with local stakeholders and (ii) prioritisation of roads based on Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA). The proposed method is piloted in one district, and a web-based software is also developed for practical implementation by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Bangladesh. The paper also discusses the results of the pilot study.

Metropolitan regions are increasingly facing the challenges of a growing number of intercity commuting trips. Yet existing literature on this topic, particularly in the context of developing countries, is limited. This study focuses on the travel behavior of intercity commuters in the Dhaka Metropolitan Region. A binomial logit model is used to examine the mode choice between bus and rail, based on survey data collected from daily commuters who travel to Dhaka City from its nearby urban centers. The results show that commuters' sociodemographic characteristics (such as income and professional status, whether a student or not), mode attributes (such as travel time, travel cost, and additional transfer), and level of importance that is attached to transit service quality (such as comfort, seat availability, and reliability) significantly influence the mode choice decision of commuters. In addition, the model examines the predicted mode share for improved transit scenarios. Finally, this study highlights the implications of these findings for Dhaka's transportation policy.

The demand for electricity is increasing fast in Bangladesh to sustain rapid economic growth. The largest share of electricity in Bangladesh is produced by fossil fuel powered electricity generation plants. Though solar energy has high potential in Bangladesh due to favorable geographical location, very little initiative has been taken to develop the solar energy sector. At present, the Bangladesh government’s approval criteria for site selection of solar energy parks does not have any scientific basis. Consequently, the present study was undertaken to develop the site selection criteria for solar parks in Bangladesh. Delphi method with AHP was used to determine the criteria and its weightage for site selection of solar energy park. Two rounds of questionnaire for the Delphi method were conducted: in the first, the criteria list was formulated, and in the second, the weightage of the criteria was finalized. The finalized criteria were: land cover (i.e., vegetation, water bodies, build up area, bare land), land slope, surface solar irradiance, land surface temperature, and location of power sub-stations. Among these, land cover and location of power sub-stations were found to have the highest significance for determining suitable locations for solar energy parks in regard to Bangladesh.

Urban redevelopment is a critical process that needs to apporach issues from different angles with the intention to arrive at one single point: sustainability. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, with a density of 28,000 people/km2, is currently having a tough time to give its people access to urban facilities. Old Dhaka, the 400-year-old part of the city, has very distinctive characteristics: historical buildings, wholesale trade, a dense urban pattern, narrow roads, low standard of urban utilities. This study attempted to describe persisting problems and expectations of the local people in this area, to be considered during redevelopment. This study followed the method of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). First, the existing development pattern and business zones were determined based on a historical timeline, a transact walk, a social and resource map, and a mobility map. The pair-wise ranking method was used in several focus group discussions to prioritize the problems. After prioritizing, a cause-effect diagram was created for the top problems. Then, after a rigorous SWOT analysis, several strategies were formulated from the point of view of historical conservation, development pattern, and the existing chemical industry. The importance of this study is that it is a real-time study and that it has some general implications for similar future cases, such as prioritizing the most persistent problems, thinking with empathy while dealing with old, traditional areas and to ensure local safety, livability and business performance simultaneously in the case of commercial areas. The results of this study are useful for local policy makers as they provide a valuable blend of technical analysis and local people's feedback.

Ethical and professional dimensions of planning practice deal with the art and science of urban planning, in its many aspects. Ethics in planning are the values, standards, and philosophies that planners live by. Ethical planning helps planners establish codes of professional behaviors, and collectively ethics which translated into institutional, government policies and programs. In Dhaka, planning practitioners struggle with three priorities, i.e. environmental protection, economic development and social equity in the context of a fast paced urbanization and limited resources. In this chapter, we explore how the ethical issues of planning were perceived by the professionals, academics, civil society, media, government and politicians during the preparation, monitoring and implementation of Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of Dhaka Metropolitan Area.

Loss and damage in an area after an earthquake is increased due to complex nature of awareness, knowledge and perception influencing vulnerability of exposed communities. In this regard, the objectives of this research are firstly to understand the existing condition and distinction among people’s earthquake awareness, knowledge and their actualized perception in relation to their personal contexts and social capital and secondly to explore how such distinction influences earthquake vulnerability of the community. Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to earthquake, where Mymensingh municipality is located in high earthquake hazard prone zone. In this regard, Ward no. 14 of Mymensingh municipality has been considered as the study area. For the purpose of this research, questionnaire survey of 700 sample households in the study area was carried out. The study reveals that in spite of lower participation in earthquake-related program, most residents are aware of earthquake vulnerability of the area. But such awareness encompasses very limited knowledge. In spite of such lack of knowledge, most of the residents have better perception and are willing to work as a volunteer. In contrary, people, especially the owners, are in denial of their own vulnerability. The awareness, knowledge and perception is higher among educated people and people having social interaction. The findings of this study should be considered to design awareness raising and capacity building programs to ensure their success with participation of local people and thereby implement community-based disaster management in the study area. This study has opportunity to be replicated in other areas of Bangladesh as well as other countries with necessary modifications considering respective contexts and other hazards.

It is nearly 450 years old forest, forest of buildings reaching for the sun like the mangroves of south western coastal area. Although its urban infrastructure is the most developed in the country, Dhaka suffers fromurban problems such as pollution, congestion, and lack of adequate services due to the rising population. The civilized tenants now find it challenging to adopt with most of the parts of the city emerged in a quite natural way. Ward-45 of Dhaka Metropolitan city is a point charge taken into account for the predominating facts which now affects largely on living standards. Though it has become hard to cope up the growth of city with its limited resources, people aspires for the package of standard living with some relocations and renovations. This study has been conducted based on mainly primary data. This study will express the surveyed data on the socio-economic profile of the population in Ward-45, perceptions and visions of residents regarding amenities,infrastructure, and redevelopment and of the upcoming future. Land use plan of a particular area is not only a design of an area, but also a comprehensive development approach. This approach integrates the development with environmental and transport planning, economic and culture development as well as community development. Development pattern of an area can promote sustainability through efficient use of urban space and resources for the improvement of living standard and infrastructure. To ensure a sound life in a sound area these problems should be solved with proper planning and maintenance.

The process of urbanization in most of the developing countries of Asia has witnessed two parallel tracks—planned and ad hoc. Spatial planning has been exercised in existing and evolving cities with an aim to create cities that offer healthy living conditions and nurture growth and prosperity. However, in parallel to planned development, cities are also experiencing ad-hoc growth to accommodate housing and other land uses. Most Asian cities face the challenges of high population density, vulnerability to disaster, and lack of good governance. Like many other Asian cities, Dhaka is exposed to frequent hydrometrological disasters. Thus, it is important to evaluate the present development pathways of Dhaka from a disaster resiliency perspective. This chapter describes examples from recent floods which have had an effect on Dhaka and build a case for integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) considerations from the very beginning of city development. This chapter also analyzes the integration of flood resiliency in the development plans and the status of implementation of flood management policies in Dhaka.

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest growing megacities in the world. With the rapid growth of population and high urbanization rate, Dhaka is bound to expand the borders to accommodate the growing need of space. But this expansion is already taking its toll in the form of environmental degradation and social injustice hampering the geographical sustainability in the process. This study proposes a controlled and well-planned development in the eastern fringe of Dhaka City (comprising of Badda, Satarkul and Vatara) to meet up the challenge of future accommodation requirements. The area being geographically vulnerable with lots of agricultural lands, water bodies and retention ponds, the prime concern is to ensure the geographic sustainability of the area and use all the natural features as a vital tool in the process of development. As a planning technique, Land Readjustment Scheme is applied in this regard. This report contains all the measures and proposals regarding the natural features of the study area as well as the whole process of the development scheme including a financial proposal to recover the cost of the development to make this plan financially viable. Finally, the outcome of the study shows that it can be well implemented as all the objectives are fulfilled to the fullest.

Municipalities in Bangladesh are always facing a shortage of funds. The process of financing urban local governments is always being reformed; nevertheless, a large share of their revenue is generated by taxation (Taleb 2004). And though the structure of local tax systems varies greatly from country to country, local government generally relies on property taxes (Bird and Slack 2004). In most developing and transition countries, the property tax is often poorly administered (Bahl and Martinez-Vazquez 2008). As a result, the tax is generally very unpopular because the tax base is often determined in ways that are not transparent to or understandable by the general public, thereby undermining the legitimacy and fairness of the tax (Bahl and Martinez-Vazquez 2008). Property taxes also are unpopular because of the "inherent arbitrariness in the process of assigning values to individual properties" (Bird 2006). Property taxes, one of the main sources of internal revenue of the urban local bodies of Bangladesh, were imposed under the Pourashava Ordinance of 1977 (Ahmed 1986). Because the property tax is based on the annual valuation of lands and buildings, the entire process of determining the property tax is dependent solely on assessment of lands and buildings in Bangladesh. At present, the annual rental value (ARV) method is used for assessing property tax in Bangladesh. Under this system, the collection rate is about 55 percent. There are complaints about the assessment/ reassessment of the existing tax base (World Bank 1997). Also, the potential of this source is seriously undermined by the weaknesses in both the assessment and collection processes (Taleb 2004). An often-cited reason for poor collection is that the existing system lacked transparency and objectivity. (Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation 2003). Because of the subjectivity and corruption in the existing assessment system, international financial agencies (e.g., the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and such other organizations) are now showing less interest in investing in Bangladesh municipalities (LGED 1999).

Dhaka city is the home of more than five million and is one of the most densely populated cities of the world. Dhaka City Corporation is responsible for providing various services to its citizen with its limited resources. 'Citizen Report Card' is one of the new methods to measure the performance of civic services provided by urban government. This study used this method to measure the performance of waste management, mosquito control and certification service offered by Dhaka City Corporation in some selected wards of Dhaka City. The performance of each of these services is ranked using The Urban Governance Indicator value. The study concluded that citizen of Dhaka ranked the waste management and certification service as fair while mosquito control service was identified as poor. The paper ended with a discussion on possible improvement of quality of services.

There are very few successful e-government projects in developing countries. Most e-government projects within developing countries employ high-technology intervention whereas citizens are not ready for this. There are successful projects which took a low end route. This paper examines one such project to find out the reasons behind its success. The research concludes that stakeholders' participation is the driving factor for success. The major issue is not IT, but an understanding between the citizen population and their complimentary governmental entity, which acts as the critical factor for triumph in e-government.

E-government changed the way government thinks and functions. All over the world, government tried to get the benefits of e-government. Some of the efforts were successful and some failed. The paper made a comparative study between policy and practice of e-government in Bangladesh and India. The paper identified the causes of success in India and failure in Bangladesh. At the end, suggestion has been provided, so that Bangladesh could learn from the experience of India.

The 1998 flood in Bangladesh was an unprecedented event of its kind in terms ofduration, inundation of areas and damages. In Dhaka City alone, more than 70%of the city area was inundated and about 60% city population was underinundation for about 10 weeks – the longest time in memory. The cityexperienced colossal loses in housing, infrastructure, industry, commerce andeducation sectors. The total damage was estimated at Taka 2.0 billion or US$41.0 million. The experience of the 1998 flood suggests that the city has to besaved from recurrent floods by adopting both structural and non-structuralmeasures for flood mitigation. Since structural measures are very expensive andtime-consuming, non-structural measures such as flood damage zoning may provide a basis for planning disaster mitigation in the city. Considering this, the present study has attempted to delineate the 1998 flood affected city wards intothree flood damage zones based on composite damage value derived from fivesectors of the city. These flood damage zones are: low, moderate and high. The planning implications of this zoning exercise are – direct development at safer places of the city, and formulation of land use policies and planning standards toguide development in low and moderate flood damage zones so that the citysuffers minimum damages from future floods.