Department of Urban and Regional Planning
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)

Farzana Faiza Farha

Lecturer
Specialization

Transportation Policy and Planning

Academic Biography

I am working as a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, BUET. I earned my Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (BURP) degree from BUET and am pursuing my Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) in the same department. My research interest is mainly in the field of transportation policy and planning. Some of my research focuses on travel behavior, transit-oriented development, livelihood resilience and coping strategies, political economy, and urban green space.



Educational Information
  • Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Continuing
  • Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (BURP), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 2022

Consultancies
  • Research Assistant, “Political Economy of Urban Green Spaces of Dhaka City,” funded by the Compass Program under the US Forest Service International Programs. 2022

Research Interests
  • Travel Behavior
  • Green Space and Green City Planning
  • Transit-Oriented Development
  • Livelihood Resilience and Coping Strategies
  • Political Economy

All Publications
Farzana Faiza Farha, Farabi Sarker Shanto, Fyrooz Anika Khan, Maria Mehrin, Asif Khan, Nawshin Tabassum, Paromita Nakshi
Exploring the changes in travel behavior between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Dhaka
Elsevier, Transport Policy, 2024
Publication Type: Journal Article
, Publication Link
The COVID-19 outbreak created immense disruptions in our daily lives. Travel is one of the major areas severely impacted by the pandemic. Bangladesh experienced two waves of COVID-19 between March 2020 and July 2021. Although several studies focused on significant changes in the travel behavior of urban road users before and during the pandemic, hardly any research examined the differences between the two waves. Hence, it was important to study the differences in travel behavior between the two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how the effects of travel restrictions, health concerns, and the severity of the pandemic on people's travel decisions change over time. This study intends to investigate the changes in travel behavior between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Dhaka and the factors that influence these changes. Data were collected through online questionnaire surveys using the Google form. Voluntary response and convenience sampling techniques were used to collect responses from 447 people in Dhaka. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were conducted to analyze the data. In addition, two multinomial logistic models were developed to identify the factors behind the changes in travel behavior. This study reveals that work and shopping trips increased, whereas work-from-home and online shopping somewhat decreased during the second pandemic wave compared to the first pandemic wave. Most non-car owners who reduced their use of public transportation during the first pandemic increased their use during the second wave. There was no significant increase in the use of active transport modes for work and shopping trips in Dhaka. The perceived risk of COVID-19 infection was relatively lower during the second wave, influencing the respondents to travel more frequently for work and shopping purposes. Ensuring more adaptive public transportation, flexibility to work from home, and creating supportive infrastructures for active transport modes might help to provide a safe, affordable, and efficient transportation system for all during the future waves of the pandemic and other unprecedented events.
Farzana Faiza Farha, RJ Biva, M Mehrin, MA Ali, Md. Musleh Uddin Hasan, Nawshin Tabassum, Paromita Shome
Livelihood Resilience and Coping Strategies of Selected Rural Households in Bangladesh During the Covid-19 pandemic
-, 13th World Congress of the RSAI, Virtual Conference, Moroccan Section of the Regional Science Association International, 2021
Publication Type: Conference Paper
, Publication Link