Humboldt scientist Rahman

Focus on housing needs

Visiting Humboldt scientist Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman

Stuttgart showed the way forward in 1927 when the city created the “Weißenhof” estate in the framework of an international building exhibition in order to give a contemporary answer to the housing question in the industrial age.  The question “How to live?“ which was raised back then still continues to occupy architects and urban planners worldwide today – this also applies to the Bengali Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman from the Khulna University in Bangladesh.

The Georg-Forster scholarship holder from the Humboldt Foundation is himself an urban researcher and since April a visiting professor for two years at the Urban Development Institute at the University of Stuttgart. He works there at the Chair for International Urban Development for Professor Astrid Ley in close cooperation with the scientist on his project “Housing supply for urban dwellers living in poverty in the context of neo-liberal government leadership in Bangladesh“.

He calls himself a “hard-working child of good fortune” because he has received several scholarships in order to be able to pursue his studies with the focus on 'poverty-oriented housing supply and governance' in a targeted way.    

Streamlined studies with scholarships 
After completing his bachelor's degree at Khulna University in Bangladesh, he received a scholarship for his master's degree at the renowned Development Planning Unit (dpu) at University College in London. “The DPU is ideal if you want to become a professional urban planner who concerns himself with the aspects of social justice and urban development”, explained Mr Rahman. This was followed by a smooth transition to the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, where he completed his PhD on the topic of “Accommodating the urban poor in Bangladesh – a study on living conditions, politics and organisations“ in 2012.

After this he returned to his university in Khulna, Bangladesh. “I lectured and took part in several research projects. Predominantly this concerned questions of housing and governance.“ He won several awards for his research and publication work – for example in 2016 from Transparency International Bangladesh with a Research Fellowship for Young Professionals.

Humboldt scientist Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman with Professor Astrid Ley of the host Institute of Urban Planning and Design.
Humboldt scientist Md. Ashiq Ur Rahman with Professor Astrid Ley of the host Institute of Urban Planning and Design.

Networks as a basic prerequisite for science and housing provision 
The Humboldt scholarship allows Mr Rahman to dedicate himself again more to his scientific main topic of social housing conditions and living space in cities for population strata living in poverty. Beforehand he had become aware of Astrid Ley through successful networking. Ley’s research focuses on dynamic processes of urbanisation and on constellations in which the state sees itself overburdened with the housing situation. Together with two colleagues she researched the significance of global networking for the housing development of the poor in cities in the framework of a DFG project (book title: ‘From Local Action to Global Networks: Housing the Urban Poor‘).

She supported Mr Rahman’s application for the Georg-Forster scholarship, directed specially at scientists from developing countries within the Humboldt Foundation. Together both professors are working from Stuttgart for two years in the research field ‘Poverty-oriented urban development and housing provision‘.

Supporting the UN Agenda 2030 on sustainable housing policy
Professor Rahman chose to visit a university chair whose research is outstanding in terms of sustainability and for the global development targets of the United Nations, hence he decided to visit the University of Stuttgart's Institute of Urban Planning and Design. In countries such as Bangladesh it is about the conflict with highly dynamic urbanisation processes. “We wish to contribute with our research work to the discussion of how the UN targets can be implemented in the field of housing“, said the 33-year old scientist and emphasised: The framework is there. Now it is all about how Bangladesh deals with these targets. Many local players simply have no idea as to how they should begin to deal with these guidelines.”    

Living is more than just housing construction 
“Realizing goals does not take place on a sheet of white paper“, warns Professor Rahman. Some urban planners take this erroneous view. It is also completely wrong to assume that for a country like Bangladesh with its huge housing problems the solution lies in simply building houses. “It is not about mass production. Poverty increases or decreases depending on how housing construction is realized.“ There is often the search, for example, for cheap land on the periphery of the big cities; however this prevents the people from accessing the labor market. In contrast, if we were to closely look into how those affected organize themselves, we would have a higher chance of finding out about their needs. “The concept living space therefore has a far broader significance than simply building accommodation.“

Such questions need to be discussed in a constant exchange with other scientists and organizations in order raise awareness and public attention on how the guidelines of the UN can be implemented locally.   

Continuing the Stuttgart-Bangladesh science axis 
As an expert for housing questions for underprivileged population strata, Professor Rahman has found the ideal sparring partner in his host professor. Both of them agree: when he is back in Bangladesh, the cooperation between both universities will continue.

Astrid Ley

Prof.

Chair of International Urbanism

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