Documentary screening of Climate Migration and the Urban Environment: Dhaka’s Story of Development and Disaster

Nathanson Fellow Mara Mahmud’s documentay explores climate migration, urban development crises.  

To culminate the research for her master of environmental studies in York’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, York student Mara Mahmud along with photographer and videographer Emily Bruno embarked on 30 days of fieldwork in Dhaka, Bangladesh. There, they filmed and conducted interviews with academics and development practitioners focused on answering the following research question: what does Bangladesh have to teach about modelling effective adaptation strategies to respond to the climate-induced migration and rapid urban development in the Global South?  

The resulting investigative documentary explores the relationship between climate change and migration within urban development and planning practices in Bangladesh, a country experiencing severe consequences of anthropogenic climate change (climate change caused by human activity). The film tells stories about the complex field of resistance and resilience in Dhaka, and Bangladesh more generally, in response to the climate crisis.  

Through the examination of ongoing efforts to resolve the urban development crises in Dhaka, the film identifies innovative approaches to the environmental challenges brought on by the effects of climate change. Though this film uses Dhaka as a case study, opportunity exists for application in countries that will be facing similar crises in the near future.  

Join the community for an evening filled with curiosity, knowledge sharing and an inquiry into the capacity of human resilience in the wake of climatic disaster.