This graduation project explores how design can improve the quality of life for women living in informal settlements in and around their homes in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Titled "A Safe Return," the project focuses on designing new housing for residents of the Sweepers Colony, an informal settlement in Sylhet, while also providing housing solutions for middle and high-income groups. The core aim is to enhance the lives of women through improved living conditions by ensuring safety through "eyes on the street" in public spaces, maintaining privacy within homes, and creating areas where children can play freely. It also seeks to establish spaces for communal gatherings from urban to unit scale, fostering connections with the neighboring Hindu community, and providing opportunities for self-development among women. Furthermore, the design incorporates private sanitation and washing facilities and introduces greenery to enhance the living environment. A significant aspect of the project is addressing the challenges posed by climate change, which plays a crucial role in designing the new neighborhood. The strategy spans multiple scales, from urban public spaces to urban clusters, and from clusters to individual units. "A Safe Return" aims to offer women a secure transition from their current living conditions in the informal settlement to their new homes, ensuring a significant improvement in their quality of life.

Rapid urbanization in Sylhet, a growing second-tier city in Bangladesh, has led to significant environmental and social challenges. With a population of nearly 3 million and an area of 26.50 square kilometers, Sylhet faces increased building density, improper waste management, and inadequate public spaces. The city’s urban ponds, traditionally serving as vital communal spaces, are now threatened by rapid urban expansion. Known as the sacred capital of Bangladesh, Sylhet's urban landscape is also influenced by its major religious groups, Muslims and Hindus, whose religious spaces shape the city's fabric. This research investigates how these urban ponds can be leveraged to create inclusive urban environments, addressing both social cohesion and environmental sustainability.

One of Bangladesh's sustainable development goals is to ensure access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services for all by 2030, including upgrading slums. Given the presence of an informal settlement in the design assignment, various strategies, like slum clearance, slum upgrading and slum redevelopment, have been researched to involve the current urban poor dwellers, aiming to develop a project where different income groups can coexist.

This thesis explores how lessons from Sylhet's urban ponds can address housing inadequacies and reduce segregation in the city. It investigates the social dynamics around urban ponds and their environmental benefits. Socially, it analyzes how the current uses of these ponds affect community interactions among diverse demographic groups. Environmentally, it evaluates the role of ponds in mitigating climate change effects and their significance for urban resilience.

The design task aims to create an inclusive living environment in a densely populated area, using urban ponds as focal points to foster harmony among diverse cultural and income groups. Ultimately, this research contributes to urban planning by providing insights into the use of urban ponds to enhance social inclusion and environmental sustainability, offering a blueprint for future urban development in Sylhet and other cities in the Global South facing similar challenges.