Human capital in urban management
S. Tawsif; S.K. Paul; M.S. Khan
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Historical reports show that COVID-19 pandemic has been confirmed over 213 nations or territories which accelerates the livelihoods. It also hampers the livelihoods of urban peoples mainly poor slum dwellers in developing countries like Bangladesh. The purpose of this article ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Historical reports show that COVID-19 pandemic has been confirmed over 213 nations or territories which accelerates the livelihoods. It also hampers the livelihoods of urban peoples mainly poor slum dwellers in developing countries like Bangladesh. The purpose of this article is to assess the vulnerability of urban slum dwellers based on five livelihood capitals during COVID-19.METHODS: Rajshahi City Corporation area is purposively selected which is grouped into three zones (central, interim and peripheral) based on the distance from the central business district, Shaheb Bazar. The study is conducted with a semi-structured and self-developed questionnaire to fulfill its objective. The questionnaires are focused on predetermined 48 indicators of five livelihood capitals (human, social, physical, natural and financial). Total 361 slum households (9%) are selected from 4010 households at 95% significance level which are proportionately distributed in 12 slum areas and household heads are nominated through simple random samplings. Data are coded, edited and inserted carefully; standardized and livelihood capital index are calculated with SPSS and map is produced with ArcGIS 10.4.FINDINGS: Study reveals that about 47.8% (central), 57.5% (interim) and 45.1% (peripheral) slum dwellers are illiterate and live in a miserable condition. Human capital index is found higher in central slums (0.435) than peripheral (0.406) and interim (0.387). The social capital index is revealed as similar of human capital index. But physical capital index claims the trend as central (0.776)> interim (0.646)> peripheral (0.536). Again, financial capital index of the central slum dwellers is higher as they receive help during pandemic and get earning opportunity and these slum areas are located near the central business district. In addition, natural capital index is totally different and peripheral slum dwellers are in better position (0.635) than interim (0.549) and central (0.358) slums. Finally, the study concludes that mean livelihood capital index of central (0.4334) slum dwellers are better than interim (0.4216) and peripheral (0.4222) slums which assesses all the study slums as moderate.CONCLUSION: The study suggests that financial improvement is becoming an ultimate need for slum dwellers since the financial capital index reveals as poor among all the slum areas. Moreover, individual or community-based strategies, international collaborations, government and non-governmental organizations need to come forward to improve not only the financial capital but also other four capitals in all slum areas to build a sustainable livelihood as majority of them live below the standard livelihoods.
Urban and municipalities management
M.S Khan; I.J. Mousumi; M.H. Jaman; M.M. Billah
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Reducing the salinity intrusion from sea water, a closure dam has been constructed on Little Feni River at Musapur Union in 2016. The objective of this research was to assess the soil quality based on the variables, i.e., PH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Reducing the salinity intrusion from sea water, a closure dam has been constructed on Little Feni River at Musapur Union in 2016. The objective of this research was to assess the soil quality based on the variables, i.e., PH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, electrical conductivity, salinity and total dissolved solids, respectively.METHODS: A total of 21 soil samples were collected from 7 sampling stations with 10-15cm depth. The PH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, electrical conductivity, salinity and total dissolved solids were measured with pH meter, titration, Van Bemmelen factor, spectrophotometer, conductivity meter and salinity meter, respectively. Data were analyzed by statistical package for the social sciences, maps were produced by Arc GIS software and cluster analysis was done by Ward method, respectively.FINDINGS: The mean concentrations of PH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, electrical conductivity, salinity and total dissolved solids were 8.1±0.169, 0.506±0.278%, 0.873±0.465%, 0.044±0.023%, 21.599±8.312ppm, 0.462±0.47ppm, 2.024±526.76dS/m, 2.024±2.382ppt and 222.448±259.927ppm, respectively. The study result revealed that the ranges of these soil parameters were 7.19-8.5, 0.27-1.07%, 0.50-1.82%, 0.02-0.09%, 9.45-32.19ppm, 0.25-1.53ppm, 123.23-1625dS/m, 0.64-7.37ppt and 63.57-802.33ppm, respectively. Strong positive correlation observed between total organic matter and total organic carbon (r=0.999), total nitrogen and total organic matter (r=0.998), potassium and electrical conductivity (r=0.991), salinity and potassium (r=0.994), potassium and total dissolved solids (r=0.989). Likewise, phosphorous was positively correlated with potassium (r=0.444), electrical conductivity (r=0.476) and salinity (r=0.467) with significance level of p ≤ 0.05. The variance test elicited that F value of PH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, electrical conductivity, salinity and total dissolved solids were 25.505 (p<0.000), 18.011 (p<0.001), 14.013 (p<0.003), 23.478 (p<0.000), 29.393 (p<0.000), 17.924 (p<0.001), 9.502 (p<0.009) and 4.944 (p<0.046), respectively. The spatial distribution showed the reducing pattern of concentrations from outside to inside area of the closure dam. The cluster analysis showed the same sources of origin for pH, total organic carbon, total organic matter, total nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and salinity (NaCl) which might be the possible cause of anthropogenic activities, i.e., use of chemical pesticide/fertilizer for agricultural cultivable land.CONCLUSION: It is concluded that inside soil was more fertile rather than outside soil after the construction of closure dam. Lastly, the rate of crop production will be increased and soil should be more productive in the study area.
