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Climate resilience varies significantly based on gender and on location in different physical and social spaces. A qualitative study exploring conditions of the urban poor in Khulna, Bangladesh demonstrates how the appropriation of private, parochial and public spaces by residents of informal settlements influences their capacity to cope with climate risks. Because of the spatial implications of the predominant patriarchal system, women remain vulnerable in private spaces. The parochial spaces they use for productive work also leave them exposed and sensitive to climate hazards. On the other hand, men, who make greater use of public spaces, still have negligible capacity to take any anticipatory and reactive actions in response to risks there. This paper, which provides a comparison to earlier research in Dhaka, argues that gendered constraints in both inhabiting and shaping spaces is an underlying cause of differential climate resilience; alternatively, planning climate-resilient spaces can be seen as a fundamental change contributing to transformative adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most individuals living in low-income households in cities like Dhaka, Bangladesh, reside in informal, high-density settlements that experience exacerbated vulnerabilities from climate change. When determining development approaches that take into account future needs for adaptation, community residents and the professionals and policymakers who support these communities must consider the existing challenges associated with living in poverty, the rapidly increasing rate of urbanization, and future climate risks. The key objectives of this paper are to expand the understanding of the co-evolution of these “wicked problems” and the need for developing alternative strategies for adaptation. The paper explores the organic creativity of residents living in informal settlements as they draw upon locally available resources to create situation specific, pragmatic solutions to locally defined challenges. We term this practice “fluid engagement,” a design approach that aspires to be flexible, situated, pragmatic and participative, and demonstrates a willingness to be open to heterogeneous combinations of purpose and programs. Critically, “fluidity” suggests a participative approach to design that takes into account the “voices” beyond the policy and professional nexus to the participation of the community. This paper aims to connect emerging literature concerning the urban practices of low-income households in cities of the South with a detailed case-study analysis of the spatial practices at the micro-level in an informal settlement in Dhaka. The paper contributes to a new agenda of architectural and urban-development research that engages with issues of poverty and climate change as a process of co-evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]