Access to ecosystem services: Riverside informal settlement dwellers' perception in Rajshahi City, Bangladesh

This study focuses on the most river-dependent community in a riverbank city, riverside informal settlement dwellers, who need access to ecosystem services to earn livelihoods. Most urban planning strategies do not consider their use and expectations of open and green spaces, and socio-ecological research on this aspect is limited. Thus, in this research, based on face-to-face in-depth interviews with 79 riverside informal settlement dwellers from three informal settlements in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, we qualitatively reflect on their perceptions of the importance of the ecosystem services provided by the river landscape for their everyday lives and livelihoods. The research findings indicate that informal settlementdwellers value rivers for enabling their life by providing food, water, cool breeze, shades from trees, recreation, social connection, mental satisfaction, and aesthetics. Besides, they also acknowledged the economic benefits of the river landscape. In several cases, urban development has led to gentrification by limiting informal settlement dwellers access to riverside open and green spaces. Riverside informal settlement dwellers remain largely excluded in urban ecological planning, even though they are among the groups most impacted by the scarcity of open and green spaces at the riverside. The findings of this study will help urban planners, socio-ecological researchers, and landscape designers to focus on urban river management strategies from the perspective of its bank informal settlement dwellers for inclusive and sustainable urban development.