11 minute read
Gramer Haor –helping a village to grow sustainably
Group photo following the community workshop in January 2022 © Naimul Islam
Two years ago, Landscape showcased the collaboration between Birmingham City University and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. The Prince’s Foundation which supported the project and the academics involved provide an update.
Background
The Gramer Haor Co.Lab was initiated during the summer of 2019 to explore ways to support sustainable growth of the village of Kazir Gaon in Bangladesh. Kazir Gaon was experiencing rapid growth and expansion, which was occurring in haphazard, unsustainable ways. To tackle these issues, an international partnership was formed between Eccles Ng, Course Director for BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture and BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture with Urban Design at Birmingham City University (BCU), Kawshik Saha, Associate Professor, Department of Architecture at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), and Abubokkar Siddiki, a British Bangladeshi architect. The support of The Prince’s Foundation and use of its Rapid Planning Toolkit (RPT) were integral to the Co.Lab studio. The RPT is a four-step process designed to guide a multidisciplinary approach in the inclusive planning and design of rapidly growing cities and towns.
The Co.Lab continues to be an important opportunity to apply the RPT in Bangladesh and for students and stakeholders to learn through their involvement in a live project.
Signing charter at community workshop January 2022
© Kawshik Saha
Project evolution
Given the nature of the location and culture, the RPT activities were adapted to suit Kazir Gaon’s village setting. This bottom-up approach and engagement with villagers and local stakeholders helped build trust with the panchayat (village council) and villagers, which ensured their permission to pursue the project in their village. The initial intention was for the students to work together in Kazir Gaon to develop a collaborative plan for sustainable growth.
Season One – January 2021
With the BCU team not able to travel because of the pandemic, the first cohort of Gramer Haor Co.Lab from SUST made visits to Kazir Gaon, toured the village and met with villagers in small groups to gather information and data. The first cohort worked on the masterplan of the village, including the bazaar, Bhumin (social housing area) and the old village. Their brief was to look at how the village can grow sustainably. The vision emerged through conversations with students, villagers, and local government with the intention to become a pilot project for other rural villages.
Season Two – January 2022
The next workshop was carried out with the villagers and various stakeholders in the old primary school. The event was organised by SUST staff and students, with virtual participation by staff and students from BCU. The workshop was supported with remote participation from The Prince’s Foundation and funded by the Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP).
In line with the RPT methodology and objectives, the workshop developed a vision or ‘charter’ for the village, created a rapid growth plan, while also identifying key areas for development required over the next 20 years. Around 60 villagers attended, of whom 18 were women, and included a special guest, Shelim Choudhary, Chairman of Uppozila Sub-District. The charter was then signed by the villagers. Various mini-workshops followed, which were carried out by SUST students and staff, in which villagers expressed their wish for a community hub or mixed-use development that would incorporate: a health centre; educational and training facilities for men, women and children; a library with access to computers and IT services; landscape/ accessible public realm.
Following the success of the process, the local government informally agreed to allocate approximately 2.5 acres of land to develop a community hub, which would provide facilities for Kazir Gaon residents.
Kazir bazaar at night
© Abu Siddiki
Season Three – January 2023 (current)
Following the previous years’ work, the Co.Lab was delighted to receive the West Midlands National Park International Project Award 2022. The current students are curating an exhibition to showcase previous students’ work and the value and outcomes of effective community engagement in the village. Exhibitions are taking place at the Building Centre in London and at SUST campus in Sylhet, Bangladesh.
In addition to promoting the students’ work, the RPT and the international partnership between the two universities, it is hoped that the exhibitions will help to unlock funding for implementation, including demarcation and protection of development sites, access and blue and green environmental corridors through tree planting as has been successfully adopted in other applications of the RPT, building a health centre and improving basic infrastructure.
The exhibitions will sit within the broader context of the climate emergency, highlighted by recent catastrophic flooding in the region, as well as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation across the Commonwealth.
Learning for all
The experience of the Co.Lab continues to offer rich learning for everyone involved:
‘It has planted a seed in the minds of the villagers of Kazir Gaon, of the importance of the environment we live in and the role we as individuals have in shaping it. This is the first time many villagers feel like they have a voice, especially many women. During the community engagement in January 2022 at Kazir Gaon village, we asked a lady for her opinions on how to improve her village. She said it was the first time anyone asked her this. I feel we have empowered some of the villagers to speak their mind.’
Abubokkar Siddiki
Community Engagement Workshop January 2022
© Saita Cha
‘Learning through a real case scenario really helps students to close the gap between practice and theory. Gramer Haor Co.Lab responds to the UK Professional Standards Framework 2023 as it contributes to the wide variety of local and global contexts in which higher education operates, and the diverse practices and roles that contribute to high-quality learning. The mode of teaching encourages a wide range of transferable skills for both students and staff, as well as understanding the SDGs through the international interdisciplinary project.’
Eccles Ng
‘The Gramer Co.Lab is an excellent opportunity for SUST students to show their commitment to community and context. One of our key teaching philosophies is to enhance students’ capacity to plan and design in a critical ecological context. The village of Kazir Gaon turned into a living laboratory to study the complex relationship between ecology and society. On top of that, the cross-cultural learning experience of Co.Lab allowed students to confront their cultural and geographical boundaries.’
Kawshik Saha
‘I learned the realistic viewpoint for the future. I am becoming aware of self, opportunities, choices and consequences. I learnt three important things here: evaluation, involvement and implementation. I think these three things will help me for my career and also in my life.’
Sadia Afrin, SUST student
‘I underestimated how hard it is to manage people – you have to manage other people’s time, resources effectively, make sure people are still excited, boost morale and take responsibility for critical feedback. This could potentially feed into my future managerial skills.’
Harry Braid, BCU student
Next steps
Gramer Haor Co.Lab started a dialogue between local stakeholders from all walks of life who came together for the first time to discuss the future of their village. As a result of conversations around sustainable planning, architecture and landscape architecture, the people of Kazir Gaon have started to think about the basic infrastructure, education and healthcare required for the village to grow sustainably. While they may not have the resources to implement this, they are very supportive of the Gramer Haor project and feel more empowered to take responsibility for their village and implement the changes needed.
Observations on how the plan was achieved, and development land secured
At the inception of the project, the village panchayat had to be convinced to allow the university team to come into the village. While there was resistance at the first, once they understood that the project was a collaboration between SUST and BCU with the objective of supporting the village to grow sustainably, they agreed.
The initial site visit was conducted by the Season One cohort of students and staff from SUST. This was the first time that a group from any university had visited the village, and people were understandably curious about the reason for their visits. As the students toured the village and spoke with villagers and stakeholders, this heightened curiosity. Once the academic staff explained that it was an international collaboration between SUST and BCU, supported by The Prince’s Foundation, the villagers started to trust that it was a legitimate project.
There were informal conversations about land which could potentially be available for the benefit of the villagers. However, this did not fit with local government plans. When the villagers learnt of this, they convened the panchayat and persuaded the local government to change its plans and retain the land for community use.
This journey continues to empower the villagers to have a voice and take ownership of their environment. This facilitated the workshops which in turn shaped the ‘charter’ that local people and organisations signed up to.
Vendor Zaid selling fried eggs in Kazir Gaon
© Abu Siddiki
Observations from The Prince’s Foundation
The Prince’s Foundation focuses on building sustainable communities, livelihoods and capacity through collaborative, people-centred approaches. In line with this, the RPT is designed to help city mayors, professionals and civil society partners create simple, robust and easy-to-implement framework plans in response to rapid urban growth and the climate emergency.
The RPT was originally designed for urban areas under growth pressures, so the fact that it has been applied in Kazir Gaon village shows its adaptability to local circumstances. The Gramer Haor Co.Lab is an inspiring model of international, cross-cultural collaboration, which offers the opportunity for learning more than just technical skills for all participants. The experience in Kazir Gaon shows the potential of the RPT to facilitate wide-ranging transformation, while empowering local stakeholders to take responsibility for the future of their areas.
We are encouraged by the commitment of the Co.Lab partners to supporting the village of Kazir Gaon to identify a more sustainable development trajectory using the RPT, and we value the opportunity this has also provided to refine the RPT methodology as a result of the invaluable lessons that have emerged. Working closely with the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, the universities and other partners, we look forward to the replication and scaling of the Co.Lab model to other villages and urban centres in Bangladesh, and to supporting the delivery of more sustainable outcomes.
Observations from the Commonwealth Association of Planners
The Commonwealth Association of Planners exists to advance professional planning through advocacy, capacity building, promoting good practices and knowledge sharing in the development of sustainable human settlements. To this end, we support the RPT’s emphasis on the need for robust planning to mitigate the impacts of rapid urbanisation and the climate emergency, through building resilient and informed communities. It reinforces the role of planning in managing and directing growth in a sustainable way, through collaboration with other built environment professionals, city leaders and community stakeholders.
CAP continues to support the Gramer Haor Co.Lab in Kazir Gaon and we are pleased to have made critical connections between the Co.Lab team and the Bangladesh Institute of Planners, to facilitate support for a wider rollout of the RPT methodology on the ground.
An exhibition on the project is currently at the Building Centre, London until 1 July 2023.
https://www.buildingcentre.co.uk/whats_on/exhibitions/gramer-haorplanning-a-village-to-grow-sustainably
Abubokkar Siddiki is a British Bangladeshi architect and chair of the RIBA Southeast London Architects Group (RIBA SELAG) in the UK, visiting lecturer for MA International Planning and Sustainable Development and BA Designing Cities at University of Westminster, visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University and a Partner of Gramer Haor Co.Lab.
Eccles Ng CMLI is Course Director of the BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture and BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture with Urban Design courses at Birmingham City University, a supervisor of Pathway to Chartership, and a partner of Gramer Haor Co.Lab.
Victoria Hobday is a Senior Programme Manager (International) at The Prince’s Foundation in London, a Chartered Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a Professional Member of the Trinidad and Tobago Society of Planners.
