WATER HUB : A Growth-Centric Approach from Gender Prospect For Community Resiliency

Project Description

The coastal region of Bangladesh, marked by its intricate network of rivers and deltas, has been historically vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, resulting in the emergence of gender inequity. The rise in sea levels and intrusion of salinity have created a scarcity of drinking water, posing a daily challenge for women in this region. As part of traditional gender roles, they have to walk long distances to buy water for their family. Consequently, the water collection point has evolved into a significant communal space for women within this context.

In this disaster-prone context, the rural growth center serves as the nucleus of socio-economic activities and a hub for disseminating disaster warning information, functioning as a resilient focal point for the local community. The daily journey to collect water, coupled with household responsibilities and traditional conservative social norms diverts women’s time away from income-generating activities, and education excluding women from engaging with the growth center. The gap with the growth center makes the women most vulnerable to climate change.

This project aims at a growth-centric approach from the gender prospect catalyzing water for the empowerment of the community. WATER_HUB an interscale socio-economic center and climate-responsive module for women has been proposed to bridge the gap between rural women entrepreneurs and the growth center for community empowerment and resiliency.

WATER-HUB in Community:  

Waterhub is a concept of a more interscale economic center in the water collection point to bridge the gap between women entrepreneurs and the rural growth center for empowerment.

In the context of climate vulnerability in Bangladesh, Rural Bazar plays a pivotal role as a hub for social, economic, and disaster-related information, particularly regarding impending cyclones. Due to limited female participation, women often lack awareness of market dynamics and receive delayed disaster alerts. The Water Hub serves as an intermediary module, bridging the gap between rural women entrepreneurs and growth centers. During regular times, it provides community training, facilitates production and sales activities, and ensures access to clean drinking water. In times of disaster, it transforms into an asset hub, responding proactively before, during, and after disasters to enhance community resilience.

Resilient Prototype:  

Normal Time:  

A socio-economic center for women where they will get training, produce and sell their production via local “foria” system and return home with pure drinking water for their family

Disaster Time:  

It will work as an asset hub where the community safely keep their belonging and take shelter. After disaster the community might use this hub as the center of medication and rehabilitation to recover from the shock.

Design Strategy :  

Women-friendly architecture:  

A layer of space to ensure privacy for women  through creating an introvert space at the roadside to sell the product and an introvert space inward where women will socialize and do productive work or carry water

Climate resilient architecture :  

The module is composed of two part a core structure that act as a service core and a safe failure zone that protect the core during disaster.

Functional activity:  

Along with serving the basic function water sanitation, this hub will be the center of training, production and selling points at the community level for women.

WATER-HUB in Growth Centre:

In the existing rural growth center, women have less participation as they spent maximum time in water collection and the market environment is not women-friendly. So the main aim to plug in a water hub in the growth center is to make a female social space in the growth center to bridge the gap between women entrepreneurs and the rural economy.

To plug in the water hub a new spatial plan has been proposed considering the climate vulnerabilities, economic and social culture. A layer of mangrove forestation, integrated road-water communication, and a layer of buffer space to ensure privacy has been adopted in the design. The basic function has been expanded in modularly with the programs of the training center module, service module, and community clinic module.

The water in the growth center will act as a connecting element to ensure women’s participation. It will contribute to a gender-responsive climate adaptation strategy which in the long run will foster community resiliency