Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

One of the fundamental prerequisites for a ‘right to the city’ is a level of knowledge about the processes, services and opportunities that can improve the life chances of the poor. A vital source of knowledge in any urban environment is local government, which provides access to essential services...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Walters, Peter, Khan, M. Adil, Ashan, Kamrul
Formato: Objeto de conferencia
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Arquitectura
Urbanismo
derecho a la ciudad
Pobreza
Bangladesh
Poblaciones Vulnerables
right to the city
slums
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/55801
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-55801
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Arquitectura
Urbanismo
derecho a la ciudad
Pobreza
Bangladesh
Poblaciones Vulnerables
right to the city
slums
spellingShingle Arquitectura
Urbanismo
derecho a la ciudad
Pobreza
Bangladesh
Poblaciones Vulnerables
right to the city
slums
Walters, Peter
Khan, M. Adil
Ashan, Kamrul
Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
topic_facet Arquitectura
Urbanismo
derecho a la ciudad
Pobreza
Bangladesh
Poblaciones Vulnerables
right to the city
slums
description One of the fundamental prerequisites for a ‘right to the city’ is a level of knowledge about the processes, services and opportunities that can improve the life chances of the poor. A vital source of knowledge in any urban environment is local government, which provides access to essential services including knowledge about education, health, sanitation and emergency services and security of tenure. This paper reports on a research project conducted in the city of Rajshahi in Bangladesh in 2013 designed to better understand how people living in poverty and absolute poverty accessed these necessary services. Three types of community were used in the case study: a poor slum with access to the donor sponsored Urban Program for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) scheme in operation, a poor slum with no such support and a more ‘middle class’ neighbourhood used for comparison. The study found that local political representatives on the city government tightly controlled access to knowledge and services in all cases. This was to the detriment of the poorest slum, which was exploited by its local elected representative. The UPPR slum had a greater access to information and thus voice due to organised local leadership, with a strong role from women. The middle class neighbourhood enjoyed a close and productive relationship with their local member due to high levels of cultural and symbolic capital. The paper concludes by observing that there are particular levels of community cohesion required before poverty alleviation can work. The best intentions of local authorities to improve services and transparency can be futile if political control is not relinquished at the grassroots level and/or the poor are not adequately mobilised and educated about their entitlements and rights.
format Objeto de conferencia
Objeto de conferencia
author Walters, Peter
Khan, M. Adil
Ashan, Kamrul
author_facet Walters, Peter
Khan, M. Adil
Ashan, Kamrul
author_sort Walters, Peter
title Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_short Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_full Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_fullStr Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed Access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in Rajshahi, Bangladesh
title_sort access to knowledge as prelude to a right to the city for the urban poor in rajshahi, bangladesh
publishDate 2014
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/55801
work_keys_str_mv AT walterspeter accesstoknowledgeaspreludetoarighttothecityfortheurbanpoorinrajshahibangladesh
AT khanmadil accesstoknowledgeaspreludetoarighttothecityfortheurbanpoorinrajshahibangladesh
AT ashankamrul accesstoknowledgeaspreludetoarighttothecityfortheurbanpoorinrajshahibangladesh
bdutipo_str Repositorios
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