Micro climatic house design: a way to adapt to climate change? The case of Ghar Kumarpur village in Bangladesh

Doubt on global warming is over in the presence of firm scientific evidence supporting this phenomenon. There is not enough room to indefinitely explore the discourses on climate change; rather it is the time to act together in local and global scale for the common future of this planet. This, then, raises the question of what actions should be taken by the communities within their respective nation states and larger multi-national and global associations. Especially, in the case of developing countries, which are worst affected being in the forefront of global climate change, actions at the community level becomes paramount. One of the poorest nations-Bangladesh is worst hit by the recurrent floods and cyclones that are caused by increased global warming. The recent cyclone Sidr, which caused around 3,000 deaths and several million dollars of property loss, is an example of the devastating consequences of climatic change. Coastal areas of this country are in danger and highly vulnerable to cyclones and floods. This paper is based on the study carried out on the south-western coastal areas adjacent to the Sundarbans and such adjacency makes them unique in relation to dependency on resources. Prime focus of this paper is on the micro-climatic design of houses in response to frequent cyclone and the ways they should be designed in a more sustainable way, with available resources affordable to the community habitants. In the end, this paper raises some general questions about urban design and climate change. Keywords: global warming, climate change, micro-climatic design, urban design