Assessment of sanitation service quality in urban slums of Khulna city based on SERVQUAL and AHP model: A case study of railway slum, Khulna, Bangladesh

Sanitation facilities are one of the major aspects of an urban area which has paramount importance on the quality of life and environment. The city of Khulna, 3rd largest city of Bangladesh, contains 8.14% slum of total area where poor sanitation facilities exist. Different Government and NGOs provide sanitary latrines in the slums of Khulna city under different sanitation project which hardly meets the demands and expectations of slum people. The present study attempts to assess the urban sanitation service quality of Railway slum of Khulna city based on Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) where the gap between perception and expectation of the inhabitant of railway slum are evaluated. A combined methodology of SERVQUAL model and Analytical Hierarchy Process is applied in this study for evaluating the gap in term of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy to assess sanitation services in railway slum of Khulna city. The result of CSI indicates that the sanitation service meets moderate satisfaction (58.5%) level of public expectation in railway slum of Khulna city. This combined methodology provides a perspicuous idea of sanitation service quality in a simpler way without any quantitative data requirement which will be helpful in appropriate municipal service planning and management. Keywords: Sanitation service quality, Customer Satisfaction Index, SERVQUAL model, Analytical Hierarchy Process, Railway sum, Khulna cit

Multi-dimensional earthquake vulnerability assessment of residential neighborhoods of Mymensingh City, Bangladesh: A spatial multi-criteria analysis based approach

The assessment of the vulnerability of a city to different natural hazards is the prerequisite to achieving sustainable urban resilience. The city of Mymensingh is located in the most earthquake vulnerable zone of Bangladesh and surrounded by multiple fault lines including the Madhupur Blind Fault, Dauki Fault, and Sylhet-Assam Fault lines. The city also achieved the title of the 8th divisional city in 2015, thereby opening the door to unrestrained future development. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to assess the earthquake vulnerabilities of Mymensingh city and this research is envisioned to evaluate this vulnerability by combining 23 parameters derived from four major dimensions-geological, socio-economic, structural and systematic dimensions. The MCDM techniques of Analytical Hierarchy Process and Weighted Linear Combination coupled with GIS-based spatial analysis were applied in this study to assess the residential neighborhood-level earthquake vulnerability. The findings show that out of the 241 residential neighborhoods of Mymensingh city, 51 are observed to be highly vulnerable, while 123 are exposed to medium vulnerability and 67 to low vulnerability. According to the analysis, the topmost factors that make Mymensingh City highly earthquake-vulnerable are the soil type, proximity to the fire station, elderly population levels, Peak Ground Acceleration, child population levels and distance to healthcare facilities. The simplistic, efficient, and reasonably accurate methodology and findings of this research are expected to be helpful for policymakers in low-income countries to prioritize special consideration areas, resource targeting, and deciding on appropriate planning and development control interventions for disaster management

GIS in COVID-19 research

Geographic information science (GIS) had established itself as a distinct domain and incredibly useful whenever the research is related to geography, space, and other spatio-temporal dimensions. However, the scientific landscape on the integration of GIS in the COVID related studies is largely unknown. In this systematic review, we assessed the current evidence on the implementation of GIS and other geospatial tools and technologies in COVID-19 pandemic

Changing institutional landscape and transportation development in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Cities in the global south, constrained by limited resources, face challenges in delivering efficient transportation infrastructure and services to support their rapidly growing urban populations. Dhaka, serves as an example, as it grapples with the increasing demand driven by population growth, exacerbated by factors like land and resource scarcity, as well as intricate geopolitical dynamics. Despite the construction of a metro rail and other similar mass transit options, Dhaka continues to face difficulties in meeting the increasing transportation demand, posing a persistent challenge. Multiple institutions, including a coordination authority, are working to provide improved transportation services by implementing diverse strategic approaches focusing on infrastructure development, and formulating policies aimed at facilitating better mobility and accessibility. Over the past fifty years, the institutional arrangement and roles within the transportation system have changed. This study examines the institutional arrangements and how they have evolved, along with reviewing transportation development policies during this period. The findings indicate the involvement of multiple organizations in the city's transportation system performing distinct activities–– administrative, coordinating, legislative, regulatory, construction and management, and law enforcement. These authorities often encounter challenges fulfilling their responsibilities stemming from differences in vision, organizational structure, jurisdiction and most notably, lack of coordinatoon, resulting in ineffective infrastructure development and duplicated activities. To improve the transportation system, this study recommends better equipping the existing coordinating authority and expanding its jurisdiction to include other institutions. This approach aims to enhance coordination and address the challenges faced by Dhaka's transportation system, ultimately facilitating improved mobility and accessibility for the city's growing population