Pergamon HABITAT INTL. Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 377-388, 1996 Copyright 6) 1996 Elsevier Science Lid Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0197-3975D6 $15.00 + 0.00 S0197-3975(96)00016-1 Sustainability Issues in Urban Housing in a Low-income Country: Bangladesh NAZRUL ISLAM University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh ABSTRACT Bangladesh, a low-income country, experiences an unsatisfactory situation in urban housing. Improvement in the situation is constrained by a number of factors, such as rapid population growth, an inequitable social structure, poor economy and persisting poverty, an ineffective public policy and a hostile natural environment. In sustainabil- ity terms, rapid urbanisation and large-scale demands for housing in urban areas may pose some problems for ecological sustainability. There are also conflicting and competi- tive issues in technological and economic sustainability versus cultural and social sus- tainability. The provision of easy access to housing finance, in the model of Grameen Bank's housing credit, access to land, realistic building standards and access to afford- able building materials along with community involvement are some of the options towards achieving a sustainable housing policy in Bangladesh. At the same time strong political commitment and a stable political environment are recognised as precondi- tions to sustainable urban housing. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd INTRODUCTION As in most other developing countries, the Government of Bangladesh recognises hous- ing as a basic human need and the provision of housing as one of its fundamental responsibilities. ~ Yet, housing remains a serious problem and it is becoming more critical with every passing day. The housing situation is unsatisfactory in both rural and urban areas. In the urban areas the housing situation is more deplorable as it is characterised by a higher degree of inequality, with a very small minority of better off people enjoying fairly comfortable to luxury housing, while the vast majority of the low-income groups and the poor are forced to live in substandard to extremely hazard- ous accommodation. The present paper attempts to discuss the issues of sustainability in urban housing in Bangladesh, a low-income country. The concept of sustainability, as enunciated by the World Commission on Environment and Development, is now well accepted; it is conceived as development "which meets the need of the ,present without compromis- ing the ability of future generations to meet their needs .2 Sustainability in housing may be understood in terms of ecological sustainability, economic sustainability, technologi- cal sustainability, cultural sustainability and social sustainability. However, before go- ing on to discuss such sustainability issues in urban housing in Bangladesh, it is necessary Correspondence to: Nazrul Islam, Department of Geography, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh. 377