Softening the Hard Edge

1.I am committed to solving the problem of river pollution by illegal stone-mining.

2.I am proposing to rethink the post-industrial riverbanks with tourism infrastructure.

3.My solution could positively change lives if it was scaled globally in the following ways-

-It could restore the natural cycle that was depleted by unauthorized and illegal stone-mining now being the reason of Acid Mine Drainage.

-It could empower local people and economy.

-It could generate additional revenues through "sustainable tourism" rather than "tourism of indulgence".

What is the scale of the problem in the communities you are working in, and globally?

Local and territorial

How many people are affected? 

1lakh-1Million

Which factors contributing to the problem relate to your solution? 

-Unauthorized and illegal stone-mining

-Power politics of Local Mafia's

-Lack of education and awareness of indigenous people.

What is it?

It is a tourism infrastructure proposal.

What does it do?

It heals the Riverbanks.

What processes and technology does it use?

It uses authentic documentation, local knowledge and mapping.

Whose lives you are working to directly and meaningfully improve. Who are they, and in what ways are they currently underserved?

-The solution serves each and every living organism that is related to the river, the amphibians, the fishes, the local villagers, the birds and the micro organisms as all of them are a part of a riparian eco-system but continuously being hampered by the polluting landscape created by illegal stone mining and acid mine drainage. 

What are you doing to understand their needs, and how are you engaging them as you develop the solution?

I am mapping the river and creating narratives to better understand the site and make them understand the consequence of their negligence towards the river.

I am engaging them through social networking platforms and creating documentation for the cross-pollination of their ideas so that a platform for proper intellectual analysis can be created that will go beyond local solution in a logical manner but not deprived of local well-being.

How will the solution address their needs?

The solution will address their needs as follows:-

-It will make the river edge greener.

-It will stop the cartel of mafia's who are occupying lands by illegal stone mining and setting stage for unplanned urbanization on rural lands and sowing the seed of spatial and environmental injustice.

-It will help them diversify their economy through tourism along with farming, rainwater harvesting, fishing and so on.

My project aligns with the challenge resilient eco-system as in my project I am not proposing a hypothetical scenario but using both local and cartographic knowledge to come up with the best solution that can better negotiate with the issue of Climate Change Adaptation, I have dug deeper in my research and proposed scenarios for the future rather than importing the past because, as an Architect, it is my job to deal with the future not the past so that my future generation can get this as their legacy.

My project is a pilot project as the inspiration behind this project comes from the land recycling idea of Mumbai's waterfront by Sir Charles Correa but will be tested on a rural land that has a transient landscape, lower density and a new hope of economic as well as natural recovery. It also has the chance of breaking the trend of unplanned urbanization and reclaiming rural lands so that the riverscape can be given back to the rural people who had been the custodians of the place again(rather than some migrant workers who have no idea and reverence for the river and are just the puppets of local mafia's and are continuously depleting mother earth's resources.)  Years back, Indian civilization began with the banks of the rivers, the Ganga, the Yamuna, the mountains of Bhola Nath, Kedarnath.... but all of them were put to an utilitarian use by the British, now they have left the land but their curse and destructive idea is being carried down generation after generation. It is our time to reverse the cycle and create the riverbanks the land of Spirit and Celebration again. This project can initiate this idea in Bangladesh.

My approach is innovative because "I have connected the dots looking backwards not forward". The green technology of Tourism Infrastructure project can be a tool for riverbank healing as well as generating new economy that has zero carbon footprint using components like rain-water, tourists, stones and river water which itself has a self-cleaning ability if it is allowed to. 

The current number of people I am serving- 90,000

The number I shall be serving in one year-93600

The number I shall be serving in five years- 1,10,000

full-time staff: 1

part-time staff: 1

contractors or other workers: 1

Background: Overall, our team has spent 25-27 years in a resilient context like Bangladesh and have seen how mismanagement and lack of competency as well as lack of quality education has led to the destruction of a delta which is not only a threat for localities and the humble indigenous farming culture of Bangladesh but also we have seen how the "so called Architects of Bengal" promises so much and delivers so less. The most saddening situation here is that each and every building intervention is devoid of Community participation and mostly are made up to get sponsorship nothing else. Instead of involving students from real Bengal context they hire students from some fancy institutions who hardly know anything about the true context of Bangladesh as in a studio project of 7-8weeks it is impossible to know about the "Volume Zero" of Bengal or Indian sub-continent. They only deliver drawings but in the grass-root level they hardly even know how to carry out rural/urban planning projects as the architectural education system of Bangladesh has not yet improved. Past few years of our lives have been extremely troublesome as we could not find a single teacher that could actually help us to envision future which includes the practical aspects and consequences of the projects that we are going to establish on the ground. We miss our guiding stars like Charles Correa, Peter Zumthor in our context who can actually change or at least adjust the troublesome scenarios that are appearing in the context of climate change of Bangladesh. Despite having the tag of "Bachelor of Architecture" and having the tag of "Bengal Architect" which is nothing but a sarcasm now I believe at least as a young learner I can do more if given the proper opportunity and the resources (Mainly a proper education on research and architecture). If this happens, I believe me and my team can implement the project from documentation phase to construction reality.

My approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team is a participatory approach although I need to learn the craft of project management and proper research drawings and communication skills as well as need to earn a honor that can make my voice heard as I am only an undergrad architecture student now.

I am applying as a part of the global movement of "Climate Injustice" and climate change denial and I do want my vision to be tested on the ground and become a grass-root level reality so that any act that denies the True Nature of the course and tries to alter it gets caught tackling the Challenge#4  Resilient eco-system.

As being a researcher, I have faced tremendous issues regarding capturing the debated illegal stone-mining site and faced threats as a women from local mafias although me and my partner somehow managed to escape that cataclysm. But with this mapping tool, I believe nobody will have to have a renowned "Political Background" or "Bengal Architect" Background to speak on behalf of Bangladesh at least in terms of Climate injustice.

Again, if scaled and developed properly, even at global scale, many illegal mining sites can unfold that are directly or indirectly contributing to the POLLUTION of riparian ecosystem, the RIVERS, the LIFE-GIVER of the mother-earth.

Any help provided from MIT will be great, I believe.

But I came across the research interest of Andres Sevtsuk Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge and extremely impressed by the tools and techniques he uses to document his research both in terms of drawing and technology and I believe I can learn a lot from him in developing this project from the beginning to the actual realization face.

If the GM Prize is open to solutions that help create smart, safe, and sustainable communities around the world, I believe my proposal is the One that can help the indigenous communities, the poor Farmers and fishermen to find their true place, the river and wetland that has been snatched away from them. I do not support "Refugee Inclusion" agenda where they are not needed to. I indeed, support the agenda of proper and authentic mapping of places and their true history and use of local as well as good training and institutional knowledge to come up with the best solution possible for the context, True to its order rather than using this debated context as a lab of lethal experimentation which the Colonial British did on the humble spiritual context of Indian sub-continent.

Me and my team-mate Nabila Rahman (MBA, Leading University) have an immense interest in documentary movie-making and if given proper training we can pursue our career in building awareness through movie-making or animations that can become a great resource for the future generation. Apart from that, as a professional Architect of the future, I can develop a critical perspective on amazing as well as saddening issues and how to represent them in a good as well as communicative manner to raise awareness just like the movie "The City on The Water" directed by Sir Charles Mark Correa which has been a huge inspiration for me.

Again, I am extremely interested in investigating new drawing techniques that MIT, Harvard uses to represent a project as well as they use it to create a tool for advocacy and grass-root reality. I feel I can satisfy my hunger for knowledge gain through this prize and emerge as a good learner which by default help me to become an Architect/Urbanist/Planner who takes the "local People" seriously rather than promoting some implanted agenda like refugee crisis and refugee inclusion devoid of any planning and forecasting technique on "Where to put Whom and Why". I also want to excel from dwelling scale to territorial scale architectural intervention and learn the true, authentic craft of architecture which is not devoid of social inclusion and Intellectual lenses as well as context responsive design methodologies.

My thesis project "Softening the Hard Edge" Revitalizing the abandoned land of Bholagonj Ropeway area with Tourism Infrastructure, Sylhet is mainly a greening technology for an exploited riverbank that works on the context of exclusion. The presentation I have provided can give an overview of the project and its potential, although it can go much beyond just drawings and generate an Atlas of the compilation of exploited river sites creating a landscape of inequality with the technological tool I have mentioned before, named to be AtMINE(as of now).I wish only to develop this project in the labs of MIT, Harvard and nowhere else as I found my calling here which works at the intersection of social, legal and technological science and produces quality branding of projects that works the right way at the right time.