Flood resilient community design for char island dwellers of Assam

Abstract

Global climate change, which includes rising sea levels, combined with high tides, storms and flooding, put coastal and island communities increasingly at risk. One such island communities, that are living in flood prone area, are the Char dwellers of Assam. Char are ‘almond’ shaped riverine alluvial formations. The flood-prone island is home to 10% of the state population majorly occupied by Bengali-Muslim people during the colonial period when peasants from East Bengal migrated and settled in Assam in the name of revenue generation during British rule. The land is highly fertile, agriculture being the prime source of livelihood with few communities also practising pisciculture, animal husbandry, pottery-making etc. The surveys on socio-economic aspects, by Directorate of Char development, show that the population is below the poverty line, has a lack of infrastructures such as health and education, which results in a lack of awareness of various health issues and dealing with flood and erosion. The intent of the project is to develop resilient settlement model for the communities with the purpose of uplifting the socio-economic conditions for the disaster-prone river island dwellers that could exhibit a self-reliant community in the times of crisis. The thesis explores design possibilities for creating a resilient built environment, expanding into ecological, social, and socio-ecological (adaptation) aspects of resilience, and addressing the site-specific issues of the project in the process. It considered the culture and existing housing typology of community living in the area and integrating resilience aspect of design into the new proposed settlement.