Successive Increase of Urban Poverty

Poverty is an issue of global concern now a day and it has been a challenge for the Urban Planners working in different levels of government to provide basic services and amenities for them. The issue is more acute in the countries which are underdeveloped and whose resources are limited. Paradigm shift in municipal financing regarding service provision, i.e., privatization of various services, amenities and facilities made the situation worse. Moreover, there exists huge wave of rural-urban migration, most of whose are poor. On the other hand, to retain the urban environment and function well, urban economy needs every social strata engrossed into it. So, it is urban authorities' responsibility to accommodate them into their economy. This work was done that aimed at finding out the present growth rate of poverty at the municipal level, their existing situation and to find out the policy measures at the government level to accommodate the poor strata. Four urban centers of Bangladesh (three Municipalities and one City Corporation) were selected as study area for this study. Analyzing the situation, some policy measures have been suggested at the later part of the work.