Urbanization has had a significant impact on Bangladesh and will continue to do so in the coming decades, leading to a shortage of housing in urban area and consequent emergence and expansion of the ‘urban poor’. Among all the ‘urban poor’, children are more vulnerable. At an age when family support, education and other resources are needed, they often lack the most basic living conditions and sometimes even struggle to survive. Therefore, this project aims to explore the potential of housing design on alleviating the issue of urban poor children in Sylhet, Bangladesh.

The research focuses on the principles and features of an ideal child-centric community and children-friendly spaces, and the affordable housing practices in south Asia. In response to the research, the target area for the design project is in Sylhet city, on the south bank of the Surma River, next to the city icon Keane bridge. By adopting a mix-income model in residential building (lower floors for low-income group, upper floors for middle-income group), the design provides housing units and common spaces catering to different income groups as well as incorporating shared areas for activities, to balance the respect for lifestyles and social mix. Additionally, the project introduces diverse indoor and outdoor activity spaces for children at different scales, satisfying the needs of children of different ages, genders and economic backgrounds. Moreover, to adapt to the climate, the project adopts three main environmental strategies, namely green infrastructure, water conservation and climate resilience (particularly in terms of ventilation and solar protection).

Ultimately, the project aims to establish a model of an equitable, vibrant, environmentally adaptive and child-centric community that can be applied to other areas with similar issues of urban poor children.

This thesis addresses the challenges of poverty and environmental sustainability in Tanguar Haor, Bangladesh, by developing an innovative amphibious rural design. The project integrates critical elements of vernacularity, modularity, resilience, and self-reliance to enhance the livability of this flood-prone region.

Tanguar Haor, characterized by its unique wetland ecosystem, faces significant issues related to seasonal flooding, which aggravates poverty and interferes with sustainable development. The proposed design uses local building traditions to ensure cultural relevance and acceptance. It employs modular construction techniques to facilitate easy assembly, maintenance, and scalability, making it adaptable to the dynamic environmental conditions of the haor.

A key design principle is resilience, which aims to withstand and quickly recover from flooding events. Amphibious structures ensure that buildings can float during high water levels and return to their original positions as waters recede, minimizing damage and displacement. The design also places a strong emphasis on community self-reliance, incorporating features such as rainwater harvesting and local material usage. These elements not only enhance community autonomy but also reduce dependency on external resources.

Through a holistic approach that integrates traditional knowledge with innovative design principles, this thesis illustrates how an amphibious rural design can offer a sustainable and practical solution to improve the living conditions in Tanguar Haor, addressing both poverty and environmental challenges. The findings highlight the importance of this interdisciplinary approach, which has the potential to create resilient and self-sufficient communities in vulnerable regions, ensuring long-term success.

Bangladesh, characterized by its flat landscape and the dynamic Ganges Delta, faces severe climate change impacts, including devastating floods that threaten livelihoods and biodiversity. Urban expansion, particularly in cities like Sylhet, exacerbates environmental degradation, leading to the loss of green spaces, water basins, and biodiversity. This project focuses on the town of Bolawara, examining the conflicts between rural ecosystems and urban growth. The research aims to develop architectural and agricultural strategies that promote the coexistence of humans and nature during the rural-to-urban transition, addressing climate resilience, biodiversity preservation, and sustainable development.

The proposed architectural project presents an approach to urban housing, focusing on adaptability, sustainability, and community integration. The design emphasizes a strong core structure with a flexible, modular exterior, enabling incremental expansion to accommodate diverse income levels and evolving family needs. A standardized system ensures uniformity, efficient space use, and compatibility across housing types, promoting a cohesive community environment. The project integrates income-generating spaces within housing units, supporting economic stability. Additionally, shared community areas and sustainable practices, such as vertical farming and comprehensive waste management, foster social interaction, environmental stewardship, and self-sufficiency. The plan ultimately aims to create a culturally rich, self-sustaining community where architecture bridges people and nature, enhancing both individual and collective well-being.

Rapid urbanization in Sylhet, a growing second-tier city in Bangladesh, has led to significant environmental and social challenges. With a population of nearly 3 million and an area of 26.50 square kilometers, Sylhet faces increased building density, improper waste management, and inadequate public spaces. The city’s urban ponds, traditionally serving as vital communal spaces, are now threatened by rapid urban expansion. Known as the sacred capital of Bangladesh, Sylhet's urban landscape is also influenced by its major religious groups, Muslims and Hindus, whose religious spaces shape the city's fabric. This research investigates how these urban ponds can be leveraged to create inclusive urban environments, addressing both social cohesion and environmental sustainability.

One of Bangladesh's sustainable development goals is to ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services for all by 2030, including upgrading slums. Given the presence of an informal settlement in the design assignment, various strategies, like slum clearance, slum upgrading and slum redevelopment, have been researched to involve the current urban poor dwellers, aiming to develop a project where different income groups can coexist.

This thesis explores how lessons from Sylhet's urban ponds can address housing inadequacies and reduce segregation in the city. It investigates the social dynamics around urban ponds and their environmental benefits. Socially, it analyzes how the current uses of these ponds affect community interactions among diverse demographic groups. Environmentally, it evaluates the role of ponds in mitigating climate change effects and their significance for urban resilience.

The design task aims to create an inclusive living environment in a densely populated area, using urban ponds as focal points to foster harmony among diverse cultural and income groups. Ultimately, this research contributes to urban planning by providing insights into the use of urban ponds to enhance social inclusion and environmental sustainability, offering a blueprint for future urban development in Sylhet and other cities in the Global South facing similar challenges.

In recent decades, Bangladesh has been facing a rapid spread of urbanization with significant growth of its population. This phenomenon has impacted the housing situation in metropolitan regions, leading to a surge in informal housing, overcrowding, and the establishment and expansion of slums. A tangible indicator of this urban development is the escalating waste issue, far from going unnoticed given the amount dumped on riverbanks and wasteland. Solid waste has become one of the most prominent environmental problem in developing countries.The waste production increases significantly in line with the growth in consumption. Consequently, regions with higher population density generate larger volumes of garbage, necessitating appropriate infrastructure for its management. Sylhet City, in the north-eastern part of Bangladesh, is grappling with these challenges due to uncontrolled and unplanned rapid urbanization. The municipality faces difficulties in collecting and disposing of increasing amounts of waste. Difficulties have been linked to various factors, including inadequate funding, a poor community involvement, and a lack of implementation of laws. The repercussions extend to social, economic, health, and environmental dimensions, with a particularly elevated vulnerability in informal settlements.This is exemplified in the slum build on the southwest banks of the Surma River, next to the Keane Bridge in Sylhet, reflecting a broader issue faced by Bangladesh and South Asia. This project aims to gain deeper understanding of the needs of riverine communities to explore how design and infrastructure interventions can enhance living conditions on riverbanks. By integrating recycled waste as building components and focusing on circular design principles, the project seeks to propose sustainable solutions for urban development and waste management.

This graduation project explores how design can improve the quality of life for women living in informal settlements in and around their homes in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Titled "A Safe Return," the project focuses on designing new housing for residents of the Sweepers Colony, an informal settlement in Sylhet, while also providing housing solutions for middle and high-income groups. The core aim is to enhance the lives of women through improved living conditions by ensuring safety through "eyes on the street" in public spaces, maintaining privacy within homes, and creating areas where children can play freely. It also seeks to establish spaces for communal gatherings from urban to unit scale, fostering connections with the neighboring Hindu community, and providing opportunities for self-development among women. Furthermore, the design incorporates private sanitation and washing facilities and introduces greenery to enhance the living environment. A significant aspect of the project is addressing the challenges posed by climate change, which plays a crucial role in designing the new neighborhood. The strategy spans multiple scales, from urban public spaces to urban clusters, and from clusters to individual units. "A Safe Return" aims to offer women a secure transition from their current living conditions in the informal settlement to their new homes, ensuring a significant improvement in their quality of life.

In (South) Asian countries such as Bangladesh, spaces that ac¬centuate transition have been playing a far more crucial role in architecture than in most other cultures (Singh, 2015). This inter¬mediate or third space, holds a transitional quality and is therefore in architecture called the transition space. It’s defined by the rela¬tionship of the extreme zones it’s connecting, like private versus public or internal versus external zones. Since these in-between spaces are so frequently passed through, humans are often not even conscious of the themes it has been signifying for centu¬ries: welcomeness, auspiciousness and prominence.

The transition space is full of social and cultural meanings, shaping people’s environment and everyday behaviour. For instance, in rural parts of the predominantly Islamic country of Bangladesh, transition spaces like courtyards reinforce the seclusion and se¬gregation of women by influencing the female movement both in public and private spaces (Chowdhury, 1992). Men are able to move freely through the public streetscape, while women avoid open fields and roads. Instead they’re circulating via the more private courtyards (anginas) where most female activities take place, like cooking and interacting with other women. Another transition space that’s found in most of these dwellings, is the front porch (baithak) which is primarily used for receiving male guests. Women mostly don’t feel at home in this space although it is a prominent part of their homestead, and thus making an im¬pact on their habits. Like for females, transition spaces also nota¬bly influence the lifestyle of children and the elderly by offering a more private space for daily activities and social interactions.

Besides social and cultural importance, transition spaces are de¬signed to respond to climatic needs of the tropical monsoon cli¬mate (Singh, 2015). To illustrate, courtyards provide ventilation and therefore facades facing the street can contain fever ope¬nings, enabling more privacy and creating an open, yet private environment. Transition spaces like verandas offer a greater spa¬tial quality by providing protection from harsh sunlight and ra¬infall. In addition, the direct infiltration of heat and glare into the interior is being prevented by the extended roofs, keeping these indoor spaces cooler. Since the in-between space functions as a buffer zone for (severe) climate conditions, a more comfortable transition for the residents is created and the liveable quality of inside spaces is significantly improved.

Transition spaces are capable of either dividing or connecting spaces since they act as a link between public and private spa¬ces (Singh, 2015). For example, at one level it’s able to achieve privacy by not placing entrances in direct contact with exterior spaces. On the other level, interaction is being promoted when the space is enclosed through an in-between space like courty¬ards. In either way, transition spaces are inevitably at the heart of living in many (South) Asian cultures such as Bangladesh. Late Indian architect Charles Correa even believes that a transition space like an open to sky place can make a significant difference between a liveable habitat and claustrophobia in small (low in¬come) housing. Taking into account the importance of transition spaces in Bangladesh’ architecture is therefore crucial. People specific themes like gender, ethnicity, religion and income are all playing a key role in the creation of meaningful transition spaces which affect and operate on various scales: the scale of a dwel¬ling, community and city.

This thesis explores the pivotal role of women in the urban development of Sylhet, a city in the northeast of Bangladesh. It focuses on their participation in the planning and organizing a new urban project near a pond in an area characterized by diverse income levels and religious backgrounds. The central concept revolves around the formation of women-centric communities within this project. By empowering women to take the lead in establishing essential domestic functions and organizing their households, the study aims to highlight the potential for women to contribute significantly to creating cohesive and functional urban settlements. This approach addresses the immediate needs of providing shelter and essential amenities and fosters a sense of community and ownership among the inhabitants. The research underscores the importance of including women's perspectives in urban planning in Bangladesh to achieve sustainable and inclusive urban growth in Sylhet.

The Surma River in Bangladesh sustains the livelihoods of millions residing along its banks and serves as a vital resource for activities such as fishing and bathing. Since the water quality of the river is negatively impacted by multiple factors including waste disposal, these practices are not safe for people to continue.
Seeing as the Tanguar Haor sits in the floodplain of the Surma river and, the river is polluted with waste and plastic from cities and villages along the riverbanks, the trash that is discarded into the Surma can eventually end up in the Tanguar Haor and pollute the water and soil.
The Tanguar Haor is a wetland located in the Sunamganj district, west of Sylhet, and is very low lying land. Due to the low lying nature of the haor it is inundated for around 7 to 8 months a year. It is highly affected by rainfall and floods since it lies at the foot of the Meghalaya mountains. When heavy rains occur upstream or in the catchment areas of these rivers, the water flows downstream into the delta, causing rivers to overflow their banks.
The land’s lack of elevation makes it difficult for floodwaters to recede quickly, leading to prolonged inundation.

This graduation project tackles living in the ever changing wetlands of Bangladesh. A project about flood resilience and circularity and the intersectionality of several problems they face: lack of sanitation, waste and water pollution and frequent flooding.
The design proposal takes the strengths of the current settlement and way of living and turns them into a more liveable, circular and flood resilient village.

Floods are part of Sylhetis’ daily lives and profoundly influence their lifestyle and overall well-being. Within this context, it is noted in this study that one of the main problems people encounter in the Haors is that: Despite local adaptation strategies to cope with flash floods, the scarcity of space remains a limitation to cultivating crops essential for a balanced diet. This situation prompts the following question: How can we improve food security and dietary diversity while ensuring adequate housing conditions for the local population? To address this inquiry, extensive examination of case studies, scholarly research papers, and field observations has been conducted. Subsequently, an architectural design for a new settlement in the Haor region has been proposed. Prior to this, the agricultural practices and adaptive strategies employed to manage flood conditions are thoroughly analyzed.
In the subsequent section of this paper, careful considerations are made regarding the selection of suitable vegetables and fruits, as well as the size of food storage facilities to be integrated into the settlement design.
In conclusion, it is evident that given the constraints of population density and limited spatial resources within the new settlement, agricultural spaces can produce enough rice for seven days of flash floods, enough vegetables for 12 days in the year, and enough fruits for 20 weeks.

This graduation report presents the reserach and design for a rural settlement system in the Haor region of Bangladesh. This area exists of a unique ecosystem, that is vulnerable to frequent and long lasting flooding. The primary objective of this project is to create a safe and sustainable rural community that can provide residents with a rural place to stay. While also mitigating the effects of rapid urbanization. The rural community should gain economic opportunities for its residents, thereby preventing migration to urban slums and enhancing overall well-being.

The proposed settlement system consists of a network of
interconnected elevated islands that offer protection from floods while maintaining accessibility between them. Each island is
equipped with spaces that can be used for healthcare and education, ensuring these essential services can still be practiced even during future higher floods. The main island will have more services such as additional schools, healthcare facilities, markets and other public buildings. Secondary islands will focus more on residential areas, while special islands will be designated for markets and tourism. The design tries to improve resilience, for example by high building plinths and land reclamation for year-round agricultural activities.

Economic opportunities are enhanced through the creation of
attractive communal spaces that encourage small businesses such as shops and tea stalls. The implementation of pro-poor tourism further enhances income generation options in the form of jobs as well as allowing residents to collectively host tourists and share the generated income. The development of community-led housing cooperatives further promotes social cohesion and economic stability, enabling even the poorest residents to participate in the community and be benefitted from it.

The report begins with an introduction to the challenges of urbanization, particularly in Bangladesh, followed by a concise contextual analysis covering ethnographic, environmental, and climatic data. An examination of the regional context and existing settlements provides insights for the design, which is then detailed from a macro to micro scale. The design process is elaborated from the regional plan to the layout of the main island, the configuration of clusters, and finally the individual units and construction details.

The results of this project include a layout of the interconnected islands on a regional scale. Which is then followed by a detailed layout of the main island with strategic placement of public facilities and residential clusters around shared courtyards. Roads are designed in a DNA-like pattern to control traffic flow and create vibrant neighborhoods with distinct public functions at key intersections. The introduction of renewable materials, such as bamboo, for construction and the establishment of resilient agricultural practices further contributes to the sustainability of the settlement.

In conclusion, this proposed settlement system addresses the challenges faced by rural communities, specific to the Haor region of Bangladesh. By incorporating economic and social initiatives into the design, the project aims to create a livible and resilient place to stay that can be used as a model for other regions worldwide facing similiar challenges.

This project presents a solution where the Bede, a floating nomadic community in Bangladesh, can be preserved while simultaneously allowing space for the needs of the culture without having to hide their identity. It uses traditional and affordable techniques, preserving not only the Bede traditions, but also the traditional shipbuilding techniques of Bangladesh. In addition, the design improves the daily lives of this marginalised group.

The project focuses on the natural conditions, the industrial and housing situation in the haor region of Sylhet, Bangladesh. The aim is to create a new housing system suitable for rural areas, combining local industry and housing. This will increase employment opportunities, improve local living conditions and alleviate the problem of over-migration from rural to urban areas. At the same time, the new housing system is flexible, adjustable and adaptable, and is able to respond to seasonal variations in natural conditions and changes in local industries.