A Built Environment Perspective on Adaptation in Urban Informal Settlements, Khulna, Bangladesh

Abstract

Urban informal settlements represent one of the most climate-vulnerable forms of human habitation, as recognized in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2014). This chapter examines the dynamics of climate change adaptation in informal settlements through a built environment lens, focusing on the Rupsha settlement in Khulna, Bangladesh. The built environment—comprising the physical spaces, structures, and spatial configurations shaped by human agency—serves as both a manifestation of vulnerability and a medium of adaptation. Informal settlements, often established on precarious land and lacking formal recognition, evolve through autonomous and reactive forms of adaptation driven by necessity and opportunity. Drawing upon Satterthwaite et al.’s (2009) “cycle of vulnerability,” the study interprets built environment adaptation as a continuous, opportunistic process involving individual and collective strategies that respond to both climatic and socio-economic stresses. The findings reveal that while adaptive practices emerge from the grassroots, they are also shaped by top-down interventions and broader urban processes, reflecting a complex interplay between informality and formal planning systems. By situating adaptation within the socio-spatial context of low-income urban settlements, this study underscores the need to reconceptualize adaptation as a dynamic, multi-scalar process embedded within the everyday lived realities and built forms of vulnerable communities.