In Mirsarai, GCA Is Enabling Vulnerable Communities to Redefine What It Means to Be a “Smart” City

Mirsarai, Bangladesh, 18 May 2025 — In the settlement of Abbas Ali Bhuiyan Hazir Bari, in Mirsarai, Bangladesh, Ali Murtoza depends on fishing from the local pond to support his family. But rising temperatures are taking a toll: fish are increasingly falling ill from heat stress, prompting greater use of pesticides. At the same time, local households are depending more and more on this same pond for cooking water. Some families use water from tubewells, which are often high in iron—affecting both the taste and appearance of food—and sometimes even contain dangerous levels of arsenic.

This is just one example of the overlapping climate-related vulnerabilities confronting residents in three municipalities – Mirsarai, Feni, and Laksam – where the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is supporting the development of People’s Adaptation Plans. These plans aim to guide climate-resilient investments under the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) Bangladesh Smart Cities Development Project. Pre-existing challenges, such as limited access to safe drinking water, are being made worse by climate impacts like extreme heat and unsustainable local responses to these changes.

Can the transformation of Mirsarai into a "smart" city also help residents of communities like Noor Ahmed Mistirir Bari build resilience to climate threats and reduce the risk of maladaptation?  

“Smart”, in the context of inclusive cities, is not defined solely by digital innovation. To be truly effective, smart city interventions must also include inclusive governance, informed decision-making, and transparent collaboration between communities, local governments, and NGOs. These efforts must protect natural resources and livelihoods, reduce the impacts of both slow-onset and extreme climate events, and provide access to financial tools that help communities avoid debt traps after disasters. 

In Mirsarai, residents from nine low-income communities are actively mapping their climate vulnerabilities. GCA has partnered with Save the Children and Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) to drive a bottom-up planning process. Fifty “co-researchers” or community mobilizers from within these LICs have been trained. The mobilizers have conducted in-depth profiling and geotagged enumeration of all 502 households across the nine settlements—capturing demographic, socioeconomic, and climate-related data. 

Simultaneously, researchers from Jahangirnagar University have created high-resolution satellite maps detailing current and projected climate hazards in these areas. These maps, together with community-collected data, are now guiding discussions to identify adaptation priorities. 

During a recent visit to Noor Ahmed Mistirir Bari and Abbas Ali Bhuiyan Hazir Bari, a GCA delegation led by Anju Sharma, GCA’s Global Lead on Locally Led Adaptation (LLA), heard directly from residents about the challenges they face: 

• Declining water availability and quality, resulting in gastrointestinal, skin, and reproductive health problems.

• Persistent flooding and waterlogging, especially during heavy rains, which contaminate water sources, damage homes, and restrict access to essential services like markets, schools, and healthcare.

• Unpredictable seasons, disrupting agriculture and fishery cycles and driving the use of more harmful fertilizers and pesticides.

• Extreme heat stress, affecting both livelihoods and health—particularly in homes made of tin sheets and for women cooking indoors.

• Storm-related damage, with rooftops frequently torn off by severe winds.

• Financial vulnerability, with many families trapped in cycles of high-interest microcredit loans.

In a meeting with GCA, Municipality Administrator Mr. Saiful Islam acknowledged these interconnected challenges and reaffirmed the local government’s commitment to addressing them. He pledged to collaborate with trained community mobilizers to implement locally appropriate, climate-resilient solutions.

Through this collaborative effort, GCA and its partners are helping to redefine a “smart” city as one that centers the voices of its most vulnerable, and builds resilience from the ground up.