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Built heritage is a unique resource, an irreplaceable expression of the richness and diversity of our past and of the generations who have gone before us. Old Dhaka has an outstanding built heritage that is of significance not only in the local, but also in a national and regional context. But senseless urbanization and ignorance of such an important issue in the existing detailed area plan is destroying the built heritages of Dhaka. As a result, many heritage buildings of Dhaka have been destroyed and the destruction is going on unabated. Therefore, there is a need to re-examine how such destruction can be prevented. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This research aims at the identification of heritages, their assessment and classification which is utterly significant for preserving the invaluable heritages. Heritages are classified according to their present condition which will show which type of heritage needs which type of attention.

The research indicates the way how a conservation planning for heritages can be done in a systematic and logical way. It reveals the present condition of the heritage buildings which will point out the way of preservation. There is no such document available which will tell general people about the most important or rare or significant heritages, the location of these heritages, or their background information. This research addresses these all issues.

To date, no conservation plans were implemented for Dhaka and there are no attempts to improve Old Dhaka through an urban design. The methodological approach in this research is new and effective for conserving heritages.

This chapter explored the community resilience among the river bank erosion affected people of the coastal area in Bangladesh. This chapter particularly looked at the affected people’s opinions and participation in the governmental organization (GO) and non-governmental organizations’ (NGO) relief and recovery process. This study employed a mixed-method approach, where a multimethod data collection procedure was used and data were from three Upazilas (sub-divisions) of the Bhola District in Bangladesh. Quantitative data were collected using a structured interview schedule from 371 household heads, while the qualitative data were generated from 30 relevant participants through in-depth case interviews, focus group discussions and key informants’ interviews. Results showed that a higher number of affected people did not get government relief and services though they were happy with the government’s permanent measures, that is, building embankment. The affected people gave a negative impression about the GO and NGOs’ initiatives in the recovery process such as awareness building, needs assessment and formation of community-based organizations. Most of the affected households did not participate in the decision-making process of the recovery and construction planning and programmes that were controlled by the local power politics. Findings would be an important guideline to the policy-makers, disaster managers and development practitioners.

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) aims to assist expectant mothers in low-income households. It might address the insufficient prenatal and postnatal healthcare services in rural areas of low-income nations, including Bangladesh. However, the effectiveness of such intervention is rarely investigated in rural Bangladesh. The study aims to explore the impact of CCT on certain health outcomes of expectant mothers in southwestern rural Bangladesh.

The study applied the quasi-experimental Propensity Score Matching method to assess the effectiveness of CCT in health outcomes of expectant mothers. The authors also deployed logistic regression to explore the predictors of three health issues – blood pressure, hemoglobin adequacy and morning sickness.

The Average Treatment Effect shows that the CCT program significantly improves maternal health by lowering the extent of blood pressure and morning sickness and enhancing the hemoglobin adequacy of the CCT recipient women compared to the non-recipient. The result reveals that CCT beneficiary status as well as the education and immunization are positively and significantly associated with normal blood pressure and hemoglobin adequacy. CCT is also a negative predictor of morning sickness. The study recommends to expand the coverage of the CCT program and also emphasize on the improvement of education, training and immunization for rural pregnant women.

To assist in scaling purchasing power and nutritious food for poor pregnant and lactating mothers in low-income households, “Nobojatra” project initiated the CCTs in the southwest region of Bangladesh. Yet, the impact of such cash transfers on their health outcomes is rarely explored in the context of Bangladesh. This study provides evidence regarding the effectiveness of cash transfers to pregnant women of low-income households in rural Bangladesh.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2022-0512