Accommodating Street Enterprises in the Urban Built Environment of Bangladesh: The Case of Khulna City

This dissertation, "Accommodating Street Enterprises in the Urban Built Environment of Bangladesh: the Case of Khulna City" by Bushra, Shamsad, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of Thesis Entitled Accommodating Street Enterprises in the Urban Built Environment of Bangladesh: The Case of Khulna City Submitted by Bushra Shamsad For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in April 2007 The role of the urban informal sector is widely acknowledged in the development process of developing countries. As the urban informal sector, consisting of very small-scale economic activities, accounts for a substantial, and increasing share, of urban employment in most developing countries and as a large majority of the urban poor depend on such activities for their livelihood, any credible strategy to reduce urban poverty in these countries must pay due attention to this sector. Based on the optimism about the potential of the sector, there is a general belief that assisting the informal sector by providing credit, technical assistance, skill development, and the supply of raw materials and tools is well enough. Only little research has acknowledged assisting the sector by providing physical accommodation as a part of stimulating income-earning opportunities. The present research argues that accommodating the informal sector in the urban built environment not only boosts informal economy and social status of the entrepreneurs but also enables better environmental management. Therefore, this research attempts to substantiate this view and thereby justify why the informal sector should be given physical accommodation and how best the problem can be dealt with in the urban built environment. The main objective of this research has been to assess empirically this viewpoint on the basis of a case study of street enterprises (as a vehicle) in Khulna, Bangladesh. A questionnaire survey of street enterprises in Khulna, conducted in 2004, provides a iiimajor data base. The survey generated a wide variety of data on the composition, the physical and economic characteristics, the location patterns of the enterprises, their specific accommodation needs, and data on the personal characteristics, migration status and economic background of the entrepreneurs'. These data encompassed 324 sampled entrepreneurs who are involved in the enterprises. Analysis of these data provides the following general conclusions. Street trading in Khulna is neither obsolescent nor a survival strategy for the city's recent poor migrants. It is a fairly stable and permanent earning source of poor city dwellers. Due to a lack of physical accommodation (i.e. an authorized permanent business premise) at a suitable location, street enterprises frequently face eviction and harassments by the authorities. The lack of a fixed business premise (foothold) inhibits entrepreneurs' ability to receive credit, thereby restricting capital accumulation and growth. A comparison between a 'pre-accommodation' and 'post-accommodation' period (based on the research samples) reveals that during a 'post-accommodation' period street enterprises have experienced upward mobility in terms of certain economic and social indicators after becoming established at a given business premise. The difference between the periods is particularly significant with respect to the increase in net income, revenue, capital accumulation and savings. This finding substantiates the central argument of the research that