- Title
- Traditional water knowledge for building flood resilience in urban areas: the case of Khulna, Bangladesh
- Creator
- Asad, Rumana
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The typical response to increased urban flooding in countries of the Global South in the recent past has been the development of hard engineering-based infrastructure mitigations, where the main strategy is to control nature, rather than considering human habitation as part of it. However, there is a shift now towards working with natural systems by integrating an approach known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) into contemporary planning processes. This body of knowledge makes an important contribution to developing flood adaptation and coping strategies, however, published research in this area is predominantly in the rural context and very little research has explored the potential of TEK in the urban context. This research has explored the interlinked relationships of three domains: urban planning, flood resilience, and TEK. These have similarities with landscape ecological urbanism, water-based urban design and planning, and socio-ecological resilience theories. Although these domains are discrete, they still share similarities in conceptualisation and the generation of ideas. Considering Traditional Water Knowledge (TWK) as an offshoot of TEK, this research uses a qualitative approach to study both local and professional knowledge, as well as to understand the challenges and opportunities of integrating TWK with urban design and planning practices to create connections between the fragmented domains of the literature. This research has been conducted in Khulna, a delta city located in the southwestern part of Bangladesh, of particular interest, are the two riverbank communities of Batiaghata and Labonchora. Both are facing the tremendous pressure of losing their traditional knowledge, as well as their water-based landscape features, due to unplanned urban growth. To conduct the study, different methods including interviews, photovoice workshops, and field observations were combined. In parallel, the collection of documentation on Khulna city from previous studies provided the necessary secondary information about the urban morphology of Khulna city. The results of the research suggest that the study areas in Khulna still contain significant water- related traditional knowledge, which has the potential to build flood resilience in urban areas. However, the urban governance system and urban design and planning practices are heavily dependent on large-scale hard engineering-based infrastructure, rather than exploring the identified traditional knowledge and developing strategies from it. Additionally, the research found that the failure to enforce existing planning regulations and the application of short-term strategies to obtain short-term benefits have together accelerated the degradation of water-related traditional landscape features, progressively destroying the traditional land-water relationship. This thesis, therefore, recommends a paradigm shift toward integrating TWK with contemporary urban planning processes, where adaptations would be perceived as an inherent strategy that is informed by interdisciplinary knowledge and institutional collaboration to enhance resilience sustainably. Based on the research findings and the researcher’s previous experiences as an urban planning professional, this thesis has proposed a TWK-based flood resilience framework that can help built-environment professionals in adopting flood adaptive strategies at several scales. Three core messages have emerged from this framework: 1) Ecological networking among various water-focused traditional landscape features is needed to ensure their proper uses for managing urban floods in an ecologically sensitive way. 2) Local identity can be achieved through innovative design solutions that are combined with effective community engagement and sustainable resource management. 3) The design and implementation of TWK into planning practices require reform of institutional arrangements, where local people can be core decision-makers and other professionals and policymakers will work as the facilitators and knowledge transformers.
- Subject
- traditional water knowledge; flood resilience; urban areas; Khulna, Bangladesh
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1513241
- Identifier
- uon:56701
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Rumana Asad
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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