Improvement of Urban Governance and Infrastructure Project

The Adaptation Need

Rapid urbanization has been a significant driver for Bangladesh’s transition to a middle-income country, with urban areas contributing to 75% of the country’s GDP. However, urban growth has outpaced the availability of urban land, infrastructure, and services. Secondary cities often lack institutional capacity and access to resources which constrains their ability to provide climate resilient urban services to their rapidly increasing urban populations. Enhancing climate resilience of urban areas in Bangladesh will require strengthening the capacity of urban institutions on climate resilient urban development.

GCA’s Added Value

GCA’s collaboration with ADB, AFD, and LGED under IUGIP-IV shows how strategically aligned technical assistance, anchored to disbursement-linked indicators, can drive systemic change for climate resilience. Through this collaboration, GCA has co-developed a suite of activities and outputs that are actively shaping how LGED and municipalities plan, design, and implement climate-resilient infrastructure. GCA has (i) mainstreamed climate resilience into the master plans of 50 pourashavas, through strategic inputs into the Terms of Reference developed by LGED for the procurement of planning firms; (ii) developed the Handbook on Climate Risk-Informed Master Plans, a guide that provides practical, step-by-step tools for embedding climate risk into spatial planning, which is now under consideration for adoption as a regulatory reform instrument by ADB; (iii) promoted scale up of nature-based solutions (NbS) for municipalities through the NbS Compendium for Urban Resilience in Bangladesh, developed jointly with IUCN Bangladesh; and (iv) built national capacity through the Urban Climate Resilience Masterclass, developed jointly with International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), as well as trainings on climate risk-informed master planning and NbS.