1 Increasing rural livability: coping with climate and flooding Zebun Nasreen Ahmed Professor Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka Abstract Bangladesh is a country beset by climate-driven natural disasters. One such disaster is the regular flooding that seizes the nation, destroying not only food and livestock, but also the habitation of much of the population. The main victims of these more or less annual events are the economically disadvantaged people, living both in rural as well as urban areas. Whereas the urban low-income populace, living in close proximity to the socially affluent, have much of their problems taken care of, almost as a by product of services offered to the rich, the same cannot be said of the rural poor. Conditions in rural areas become unliveable during the rainy season. Architects at present, as problem solvers, concentrate almost wholly on serving urban dwellers. However, their expertise can go a long way in alleviating the misery of villagers, within their economic means, from such vagaries of climate. This paper focuses on problems that beset village settlements during the rains and resulting floods, and on points for Architects to ponder in the endeavor towards mitigating the brunt of this disaster and in increasing overall livability of rural settlements. Along with making roads incommunicable, not only is the homestead inundated by the floods, ie by water from below, but being made of relatively permeable materials, the homestead itself becomes threatened by the inclement weather, ie by water from above. The paper examines existing village housing from this perspective and suggests affordable solutions, with notes of caution regarding sustainability issues, which is extremely sensitive, especially in environments that are relatively pristine and untouched. Sustainability aspects of rural lifestyles are therefore discussed in the paper, and it is seen that villagers by virtue of their ability to exist on very little, have a lot to contribute towards sustainable solutions. The objective of the discussions is to instill awareness among Architects, of issues that are of prime importance in rural settlements and of the need to exercise caution when intervening in the rural environment. Keywords: floods, rural settlements, building materials, sustainability Introduction Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries of the world, with a high rate of population growth, contained within very limited geographic bounds. The average density of population is 1900 persons/square mile, with a higher concentration of 2800 persons/square mile around the Dhaka region (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2005). Much of the wealth in the country is concentrated in the hands of a few urbanites, making wide disparities in the distribution of wealth in the country. Most of the rural populace depend on agricultural earnings, which is meager and varies with climate, and they constitute a major portion of the economically disadvantaged population of Bangladesh. Statistics for the Dhaka region show that while 41.8% of the rural population live below the poverty line, urban poverty of the same degree is felt by only 10.8% of the urban population (BBS; 2001; p603). While many of the rural poor are forced to migrate to urban areas in search of a living, conditions in villages see little development, due to lack of initiative and financial ability.