Urban safety and poverty in Dhaka, Bangladesh: understanding the structural and institutional linkages

Abstract

Poverty and crime are significant problems in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Many of Dhaka's urban poor are forced to reside in informal settlements, which are typically characterised as ‘breeding grounds of evil’. Getting rid of informal settlements is widely seen as the best way of reducing crime. This paper argues this characterisation is misleading and that the processes that generate and perpetuate crime and safety issues in Dhaka are largely external to informal settlements. Drawing on interviews with residents of informal settlements as well as key stakeholders in government and non-government services, this paper suggests that crime and insecurity are perpetuated through a top-down process driven by the powerful through a chain of networks and institutional linkages that capitalise on the extreme vulnerability of the urban poor who live in informal settlements. The findings indicate that until attention is focused on the structural and institutional factors that support these networks, the opportunity for broader, sustainable social change in Dhaka is limited.

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