Climate Change and the Urban Poor: Support of the German Development Cooperation to a City in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the cities, as the main centres of growth, have to respond to both the challenges of climate change and urban poverty in the context of rapid urbanization. Metropolitan authorities however have only limited personnel, technical and financial capacity for this task. In Khulna, Bangladesh’s third largest city, the existing transportation infrastructure needs to be expanded to meet future needs and to feed into the concept of inclusive city growth. The city’s low-lying position along the Rupsha river means it has to deal with increasing incidences of flooding and waterlogging of whole city districts. Furthermore, the influx of poor from rural areas is leading to an increase in the size and number of slum settlements in the city. The German government has started to work with the city to address these issues, with the aim of sustainably improving the living conditions of the urban population via crucial infrastructure investments and municipal governance reform. In addition to providing technical assistance to the municipality, the German government is planning a major € 10.5 million investment in transport infrastructure through KfW Development Bank (German Financial Cooperation). This chapter illustrates how climate- and poverty-related aspects such as flood protection, road and pedestrian safety and slum access schemes can be integrated within an urban infrastructure development and management approach.