Climate change effects upon massive land and housing development: Case of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on urban flood from rapidly growing land and housing development projects in flood zones and water bodies in and around Dhaka. The paper further extends the analysis to generate an insight into Dhaka’s urban flood due to possible climate change effects on top of land and housing development projects effects.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed method was applied for this research comprising qualitative techniques for analyzing the date gathered from reviewing the policies including the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan reports, interviews, discussions and maps, whereas quantitative analysis was used to interpret the data gathered from the global positioning system (GPS) survey and questionnaire survey among the resident of the selected housing projects.

Findings

Findings show that a large number of the projects have encroached flood-flow zones and ditches and drainage channels through massive land filling, which resulted in quick changes of land use with wide range of impacts on environment and habitat quality. This study highlighted that the potential climate change impact involves increasing rainfall and subsequent increase flooding. Besides, vast area will be submerged under water and increased warming in the city from high speed built-up area by unauthorized land development.

Originality/value

The results of the research can be taken into consideration when making political decisions concerning adaptation to climate change.

Citation

Jahangir Alam, M. and Akter Mullick, R. (2014), "Climate change effects upon massive land and housing development: Case of Dhaka, Bangladesh", International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 315-331. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-11-2011-0039