This iteration will also feature special guest speaker Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed, Associate Professor of Construction Management/Disaster Resilience at the University of Newcastle, Australia. His presentation will be derived from a pilot project implemented by Habitat for Humanity, where the presenter was a technical advisor. The project was concerned with slum upgrading, targeted for an urban informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where the residents comprised an ethnic Bihari community. The project faced a number of challenges in terms of local expectations, capacity building, and working in a megacity like Dhaka. Key lessons were learnt including the time required for adequate community consultation and participation, and unpredictability of political circumstances, in addition to a set of other lessons that can inform future such projects.
