Sustainable Quality of Life of Urban Slum Dwellers in Bangladesh: Evidence from Dhaka City
Keywords:
Quality of Life, Slum Dweller, Sustainability, BangladeshAbstract
Bangladesh has a track record of reducing poverty by half in last two decades. With an impressive economic growth the country is rapidly urbanizing and the in-migration to urban areas gives rise to a large number of slums and squatter settlements, and poverty rates in these settlements are three times the urban average throughout Bangladesh (World Bank, 2019). This growing numbers of slum dwellings, worsening the social standard and environment quality and putting pressure on urban services and infrastructure. In line with the SDG-11 for a sustainable urban development, this study examines the sustainable quality of life of the slum dwellers in Bangladesh. The empirical study used both qualitative and quantitative data collected from randomly selected 387 slum households from three large slums in capital city Dhaka. Based on Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi multidimensional approach, eight profiles have been developed incorporating both subjective and objective indicators of sustainable quality of life. The results reveal that the livelihood that slum dwellers are leading, are impeding to sustainable development in urban areas. Their crowded and unhealthy housing profile, unnourished and poor health profile and venerable security profile, especially unsafe social and environmental conditions, indicates diversity of sustainable quality of life in the slums. Therefore, to achieve the sustainable development of cities and communities, the findings suggest that policy makers should address the sufferings of the growing informal settlements that left excluded from economic and social benefits of urbanization.
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