Urban poverty and adaptations of the poor to urban life in Dhaka City, Bangladesh Md. Shahadat Hossain BSS (Hons.), MSS A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2006 DEDICATION To the poor people living in Dhaka slums who have honoured this study through their participation ABSTRACT This thesis explores urban poverty and the adaptations of the urban poor in the slums of the megacity of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It seeks to make a contribution to understanding and analysis of the phenomenon of rapid mass urbanisation in the Third World and its social consequences, the formation of huge urban slums and new forms of urban poverty. Its focus is the analysis of poverty which has been overwhelmingly dominated by economic approaches to the neglect of the social questions arising from poverty. This thesis approaches these social questions through an ‘urban livelihood framework’, arguing that this provides a more comprehensive framework to conceptualise poverty through its inclusion of both material and non-material dimensions. The study is based on primary data collected from slums in Dhaka City. Five hundred poor households were surveyed using a structured questionnaire to investigate the economic activities, expenditure and consumption, access to housing and land, family and social networking and cultural and political integration. The survey data was supplemented by qualitative data collected through fifteen in-depth interviews with poor households. The thesis found that poverty in the slums of Dhaka City was most strongly influenced by recent migration from rural areas, household organisation, participation in the ‘informal’ sector of the economy and access to housing and land. Almost half of the poor households in the study locations were identified as ‘hardcore poor’, that is having insufficient income for their physical needs. The remainder were found to be ‘absolute poor’, those who experienced poverty and vulnerability but varied in their levels of income and consumption. This level of poverty was also characterised by their social, cultural and political marginalisation. In summary, the urban poor remain very much dependent on their household and social networking, the main social capital they use to adapt to life in Dhaka City. Overall, the urban poor in this study experience the highest level of poverty and vulnerability in their everyday life. The thesis argues that the experience of poverty in the megacity of Dhaka for these households follows the pattern of urbanisation without development, the very opposite to their expectations and aspirations. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without enormous forms of support from individuals and institutions. It is a great pleasure for me to thank them. To begin with, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance and support of my supervisor Professor Michael Humphrey, who was a source of ideas, consistent criticism, and provider of suggestions. In fact, no words seem to express my enormous debt of gratitude for his reading, comments, discussions and brainstorming sessions in the last four years - despite having been involved in various assignments of his own, including the role of head of school. A great thanks is due to this well regarded professor for his unfailing commitment to this work. I am also most grateful to my co-supervisor Dr. Diana Olsberg, as well as Frances Lovejoy for their guidance and personal interest. I wish to thank my field supervisor Professor Mahbub Uddin Ahmed for his close supervision of the fieldwork in Dhaka City that took ten months. Thanks are due to Professor Sardar Aminul Islam and Professor Ishrat Shamim for their valuable suggestions and support during this fieldwork as well. I would like to express my gratitude to the University of New South Wales for offering me a University International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (UIPRS) to pursue this study. In addition, this university provided me postgraduate funding for field research and conference presentations, which have definitely enriched this thesis. Without financial support from this university the study would have been more difficult. I am grateful to the University of Dhaka, for granting me a study leave to undertake this research. I want to express my deepest gratitude to the urban poor living in Dhaka City’s slums, those who welcomed me and cooperated by agreeing to be interviewed. Although they are preoccupied with supporting their livelihoods through hard work, they nonetheless arranged time for interviews. They provided data on poverty, vulnerability and risks in everyday life, which are the basis of this thesis. The fact is, this research would have been impossible without active participation of these poor urban communities. ii I would like to express my appreciation to my wife, Feroza Afsana and daughter, Oishey Hossain for their patience, generosity, and cooperation. It has been long time that either can remember a moment when I was not studying and/or thinking of this work. I am truly thankful to my wife for her endless support in managing the overall situation. Her mental support and encouragement contributed a lot in the completion of this thesis. I am really grateful to my parents for their sacrifices to provide me the opportunities for higher education. I am grateful to my younger sisters who are deprived from my affection, love and caring during my absence for this research. And I am also grateful to my colleagues and friends who have missed me in the past years. I especially want to thank my uncle, Dr. Jahangir Sardar for his encouragement to complete my higher studies. Last of all, thanks are due to Lester Adorjany for his time in proof- reading this work. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ______________________________________________________________________ Page Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iv List of tables ix List of graphs xii List of diagrams and maps xiv Abbreviations xv CHAPTER-1: INTRODUCTION: POVERTY AND ADAPTATIONS TO DHAKA CITY 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Background of the study 2 1.3 Focus of the study 5 1.4 Usefulness of the study 9 1.5 Limitations of the study 11 1.6 Overview of the thesis 12 CHAPTER-2: OVERVIEW OF DHAKA CITY: ITS NATURE, GROWTH AND POVERTY 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 A general profile of Dhaka City 16 2.3 National urban growth and Dhaka City’s predominance 23 2.3.1 Definition and components of urban growth 23 2.3.2 The trend of urbanisation and urban growth 25 2.3.3 The growth of Dhaka City 31 2.4 Urban poverty and Dhaka City’s predominance 35 2.4.1 The trend of urban poverty 35 2.4.2 Poverty and slums in Dhaka City 38 2.5 Chapter summary 42 iv CHAPTER-3: URBAN POVERTY AND URBAN ADAPTATIONS IN THE ‘SOUTH’: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE 3.1 Introduction 44 3.2 Urban transformation and urban poverty 45 3.3 The rural-urban interface and migration 50 3.4 Urban economy and household strategies 56 3.5 Housing and the urban poor 60 3.6 Urban social organisation and poverty 65 3.7 Behaviour and the subculture of the urban poor 72 3.8 Urban politics and the urban poor 75 3.9 Summary of literature 80 CHAPTER-4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS OF URBAN POVERTY AND URBAN LIVELIHOOD 4.1 Introduction 83 4.2 Subsistence, deprivation and entitlement frameworks 84 4.2.1 Theory of ‘subsistence’ 84 4.2.2 Theory of ‘relative deprivation’ 87 4.2.3 Theory of ‘entitlement and capability deprivation’ 90 4.3 Behavioural, cultural and structural frameworks 94 4.3.1 Socio-psychological theory of ‘marginality’ 94 4.3.2 Theory of ‘culture of poverty’ 97 4.3.3 Theory of ‘urban political economy’ 102 4.4 The ‘urban livelihood framework’: An integrative framework of urban poverty 106 4.5 Why the ‘urban livelihood framework’? 123 CHAPTER-5: METHODOLOGY 5.1 Introduction 126 5.2 The strategy of ‘theory to research’ 126 5.3 The analytical framework 128 5.3.1 Research questions 128 5.3.2 Hypotheses formulations 128 v 5.3.3 Measures of poverty and adaptation 130 5.3.4 Definitions of key terms 130 5.4 Selection of study areas and subjects 132 5.4.1 Study areas 132 5.4.2 Types of poor habitats 135 5.4.3 The subjects of the study 136 5.5 Data collection and data analysis 137 5.5.1 Sampling for household survey 137 5.5.2 Conducting the survey 138 5.5.3 Qualitative study 140 5.5.4 Study instruments 141 5.5.5 Techniques of data analysis 142 5.6 Ethical issues 143 5.7 Validity and reliability 144 CHAPTER-6: FINDINGS 6.1 Introduction 146 6.2 Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents 147 6.2.1 Neighbourhood and habitat types 147 6.2.2 Demographic characteristics 148 6.2.3 Migration patterns 150 6.2.4 Residential patterns 152 6.2.5 Household characteristics 153 6.3 Features of urban poverty and vulnerability 155 6.3.1 Employment patterns 155 6.3.2 Income patterns 160 6.3.3 Expenditure and consumption patterns 166 6.3.4 Household loans, savings and assets 176 6.3.5 Housing, infrastructure and social services 185 6.4 Forms of adaptations of the urban poor 196 6.4.1 Family and social networks 196 6.4.2 Behaviour, culture and values 210 6.4.3 Neighbourhood, grouping and politics 218 6.5 Summary of findings 228 vi CHAPTER-7: DISCUSSION 7.1 Introduction 231 7.2 The ‘urban livelihood framework’ 232 7.3 Understanding urban poverty and adaptations 233 7.3.1 Characteristics of the urban poor 233 7.3.2 ‘Informal’ employment and livelihood strategies 237 7.3.3 Poverty and vulnerability 241 7.3.4 Access and well-being 247