Exploring Urban Poverty in Bangladesh: Dynamics, Coping Strategies and Beyond

Yıl 2023, Cilt: 2 Sayı: 1, 91 - 114, 05.02.2023

Manzuma Ahsan

Öz

Poverty assumes an urban character as the world becomes increasingly urban. To some, this is viewed as a positive force within the realm of socio-economic development, whereas to some others, this is considered as bearer of new poverty problems. These problems are critical to those who encounter them every moment of their lives – the urban poor. This is also true for a fast-growing metropolitan city like Dhaka in Bangladesh. Despite the remarkable achievements in terms of GDP growth, human development, and environmental awareness, Bangladesh still encounters a major challenge especially on the issue of poverty in urban areas. This paper has made an effort in exploring the dynamics of urban poverty in contemporary Bangladesh by focusing on its capital city. While exploring the urban poor, the incident of Pandemic situation due to novel coronavirus (known as covid-19) has been taken into consideration as it has made an 'uncertainty' since the last two years. With three phases of lockdown in Bangladesh, the urban poor had to bear the toll in many ways. By employing a mix-method, including a purposive sampling through field level observation, the present study has found out that the urban poor of Dhaka city have been facing many odds in terms of not only income-consumption poverty; but there have also been the dynamics of impoverishment through unemployment, lack of social networks, stigmatization, eviction, and social crimes etc. All these have made them develop their coping strategies in many ways starting from lending money to changing the occupations (even women being in ‘prostitution’). These have been further validated with some case studies and few in-depth and key-personnel interviews. To mitigate these problems, there should be policies and guidelines based on three essential policy strands of economic, health, and administration criteria from the government and the stakeholders.

Anahtar Kelimeler

urban poverty, urban poor, coping strategy, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Exploring Urban Poverty in Bangladesh: Dynamics, Coping Strategies and Beyond

Öz

Yoksulluk, dünya giderek kentsel hale geldikçe kentsel bir karakter kazanıyor. Bazıları için bu, sosyo-ekonomik kalkınma alanında olumlu bir güç olarak görülürken, diğerleri için bu, yeni yoksulluk sorunlarının taşıyıcısı olarak görülüyor. Bu sorunlar, yaşamlarının her anında karşılaşan kent yoksulları için kritik öneme sahiptir. Bu aynı zamanda Bangladeş'teki Dakka gibi hızla büyüyen bir metropol için de geçerlidir. GSYİH büyümesi, insani gelişme ve çevre bilinci açısından kayda değer başarılara rağmen, Bangladeş hala özellikle kentsel alanlarda yoksulluk konusunda büyük bir zorlukla karşı karşıya. Bu makale, başkentine odaklanarak çağdaş Bangladeş'teki kentsel yoksulluğun dinamiklerini keşfetmeye çaba göstermiştir. Kent yoksulları araştırılırken, yeni koronavirüs (covid-19 olarak da bilinir) nedeniyle ortaya çıkan Pandemi durumu olayı, son iki yıldır 'belirsizlik' yaptığı için dikkate alındı. Bangladeş'te üç aşamalı tecrit ile şehirli yoksullar birçok yönden zarara katlanmak zorunda kaldı. Bu çalışma, saha düzeyinde gözlem yoluyla amaçlı bir örneklemeyi içeren bir karma yöntem kullanarak, Dakka şehrinin kentsel yoksullarının yalnızca gelir-tüketim yoksulluğu açısından değil; ama aynı zamanda işsizlik, sosyal ağların yokluğu, damgalanma, tahliye, sosyal suçlar vb. yoluyla yoksullaşma dinamikleri de olmuştur. Bütün bunlar, borç para vermekten meslek değiştirmeye kadar (kadınlar bile kadın olmak üzere) birçok yönden başa çıkma stratejilerini geliştirmelerini sağlamıştır. "fuhuş" içinde). Bunlar, bazı vaka çalışmaları ve birkaç derinlemesine ve kilit personel görüşmesi ile daha da doğrulanmıştır. Bu sorunları azaltmak için, hükümet ve paydaşlardan ekonomik, sağlık ve yönetim kriterlerinden oluşan üç temel politika koluna dayanan politikalar ve kılavuzlar olmalıdır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

kentsel yoksulluk, kentsel yoksullar, başa çıkma stratejisi, Dakka, Bangladeş

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