Identification of Housing Crisis in a Confined Settlement: A study of Mohammadpur Geneva Camp

Abstract

Urdu speaking people living in Geneva camp of Dhaka have become a marginally displaced community since 1971. Geneva camp is overcrowded as they have no chance of living outside of the camps because of their statelessness. The camp is a densely-populated settlement and have its own natural physical growth in terms of social and economic transformation day by day. This brings a lot of physical, socio-cultural and economic problems. Geneva camp is a compact and confined living place for its inhabitants. For many of them it is also income generating place and thus source of their livelihood. It is important to identify the problems of this settlement to take further necessary actions to mitigate those. This study illustrates the housing problems in different domains in the Geneva camp with their attributes. Lack of spaces and other facilities in a low-income settlement have their impact on the way of overall livelihood of the inhabitants. The physical characteristics and other major factors that affect the physical environment of settlement are discussed in this paper.