Analysis of health and safety aspects of living environment in Dhaka city

Abstract

Dhaka CIty has been expenencmg a tremendollS growth in population and physical expansIon. The rapid gro\\1h of population has ,trained the environment in many ways, Manifestation of such environmenlal detenoratlOn is visible in terms of incidence of fire, traffic accidents and cnme, strained urban utilities etc. It is essential 10 m,estigate the distribution of living environmental quahty comprehensl,ely and systematically in order to find om the most reasonable priorities ofurban redevelopment In thlS exploratory type of research, a compreheJls1Vemdicator of the living environment has been established that takes into account the vanous components that constitute the environment. In Uus study the comprehensive indicator is evaluated by only lwo evaluation standards-health and safety. These st"ndards are evaluated by evalualion ilems such as fire, trallic accident, crimes, urban \ltilities, health hw.ard, hO'p,tal, parks and open spaces, sl~ nOIse etc which are [urthdr described by components and input mdicators Analytical Hierarchy Proces.<:(AHP) has been applied to identify the priority given by residents to tho,e Items and components. Among the se,en items viz. fire, traffic accident, crime, urban utllit\es, health ha.-.ard,health care facilities and parks and open spaces, the most Lmportant Item to be came out urban uhlitles, Parks und open space are considered the second most unportant Jlem affecting the environmental quality, Fire is the least important item that affects the safety standard of living environment qUail!)'according to the respondems The Multicriteria Methodology has been used to derive the comprehensive indicator of the quality of urban living envirorunent based on the indicators of health and safety standard, The welghted factor method provides a procedure where each indicator IS assigned a score, which is multip~ed by the welght of that laelOr. The results of the multiplication are added and then a comprehensive score is determined, The comprehensive indicator IScategori«ed mto three calegories belter, moderate und worse. C,llzens of Dhaka e,t;" are more awaw of the nature and extent of the problem that they are confronled WIth, and their input would gn'e a solid liase for an indicator for evaluating the livivg environment of the city. To address the particular envirorunental problems of an area, the opiruon of residents of the area must be incorporated into the plannmg process. WIthout participation of the residents of the area no planning ""ill be appropriate [or improvmg the hvmg eJ1V\ronmen