Climate change has exacerbated several environmental degradation processes such as riverbank erosion, water salinization, landslides, cyclones, and other natural disasters in Bangladesh. Those who face the deadliest impacts of this are the rural populations who often experience displacement from their homes deteriorating or their livelihoods (subsistence farming, fishing, etc.) being affected by aforementioned processes. This project will serve to understand the social phenomena of rural to urban migration that many are participating in as a result of climate change. Specifically, it will seek to understand how climate refugees migrating to the capital city, Dhaka, tend to funnel into illegal and informal settlements en masse. This project will seek to understand the circumstances pushing migrants to urban informality, the social relations they maintain within the city, and how urban resilience can be improved.

Mentors: Dr. Lauren Yapp, Sarder Shafiqul Alam
Community Partner: International Center for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)

Ayan is a junior concentrating in Urban Studies at Brown. He is from Brooklyn, New York, and is excited to participate in the Royce Fellowship program to support his interests in completing a senior thesis. As an Urban Studies concentrator, Ayan is interested in everything ranging from bottom-up perspectives of urban community development, urban agriculture and food security, sustainable design in the built environment, urban resilience and more. Much of these have been informed by the urban contexts in which he grew up. For his fellowship project, he will be researching rural-to-urban migration in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a result of climate-induced land degradation as well as the social relations that arise as climate refugees experience informality in the urban context.

During his free time, Ayan loves getting out in the outdoors, especially since he is a leader for the Brown Outing Club. He also loves learning languages, getting out in the Providence community, and doing digital art in his free time. On campus, he works at U-FLi Center and the TRUE program. He looks forward to participating in this year's Royce cohort experience.