Scotland  

What does a liveable city mean to you? In this seminar, Dr Hanna Ruszczyk (Institute of Hazard Risk and Resilience, Department of Geography, Durham University, UK) and Dr Istiakh Ahmed (International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University, Bangladesh) will present research findings from an interdisciplinary  project exploring ‘liveability’ in Mongla and Noapara in south-western Bangladesh.

Further event details and registration may be found here.

Speakers will showcase findings from storytelling workshops, photo essays, theatre performances, household surveys, interviews and more.

Abstract: Increasingly, small to medium-sized, regional cities (with less than 500,000 residents) of the global South are sites where rapid migration, climate change, insufficient infrastructure, and hazards are coming together to create a problematic reality not only for residents but also for government and policymakers. The ‘Liveable Regional Cities in Bangladesh’ project, funded by the Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods at the University of Glasgow, is an interdisciplinary exploration of two regional coastal cities – Mongla and Noapara – in south-western Bangladesh from the perspectives of residents, officials and stakeholders. The project utilised interdisciplinary methods including storytelling workshops, surveys, photo essays, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in order to understand residents’ interpretations of ‘liveability’. The project team conducted:

• 100 household surveys in each city with middle-class residents and with low income residents living in informal settlements
• More than 40 semi-structured interviews with individual residents and local and national government officials and stakeholders.
• Participatory theatre workshops with a small group of residents in each city, culminating in short street theatre performances, which were also documented in a video.

The study explored how residents in each cities perceive their neighbourhood and what are their priorities in making their city liveable. The concept of liveability and its components of livelihoods and food security, utilities and transport, health and natural environment, education, housing, central and local government, safety and security and lastly social and leisure provide rich and complex insights into the daily life of cities and what is needed to create liveable, regional cities.