The Centre for Inclusive Architecture and Urbanism (Ci+AU) at BRAC University is a multidisciplinary research institute that offers research-based consultancy on spatial and environmental issues. We study the conditions, processes, and policies that affect the liveability, resilience, and sustainability of the built environment. The Centre's mission is to create a dynamic culture of spatial planning that is inclusive, empathetic, environmentally conscious, and humanistic.
By integrating rigorous research with applied knowledge, the Ci+AU seeks to engender a system of bottom-up thinking about building inclusive built environments that serve all people sustainably. The Centre’s collaborative and action-based research activities contribute to the development of new ideas, and offer innovative design solutions and policy guidance for both public and private sectors. It serves policy- and decision-makers, professional agencies and organizations, development agencies, stakeholders in the built environment, and academia, with a view to creating a platform for critical thinking around community-driven spatial practices in the Global South and beyond. Founded by Professor Adnan Zillur Morshed (BRAC University, Dhaka, and Catholic University of America, Washington, DC) in 2017, the Centre’s inaugural advisory board included late Sir Fazle Hasan Abed KCMG (Founder of BRAC), Professor Mark Jarzombek (MIT), Professor Haider A. Khan (University of Denver), Professor Howard Davis (University of Oregon), Professor Rahul Mehrotra (Harvard University), and Professor Syed Saad Andaleeb (Penn State University). A new advisory board will soon be announced.
The Centre is a multi-tiered collaborative for the study of the built environment by bringing together a multi-disciplinary group of educators, researchers, policymakers, urban administrators, students, and environmental practitioners. It will:
When Dhaka's urbanization accelerated during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, the city's high population density was seen as both a liability and a danger. Yet this population density could be transformed into a social, economic, and environmental asset. The question, however, is how to turn Dhaka's high population density into an opportunity for sustainable growth or "smart density"?
The Centre for Inclusive Architecture and Urbanism (Ci+AU) at BRAC University, in collaboration with UNDP Bangladesh, has embarked on a pilot initiative aimed at advancing Dhaka's journey towards becoming a livable and inclusive city.
BRAC's first-generation offices, established during the 1970s and 1980s, were often housed in rented accommodations or semi-permanent structures lacking sufficient space. These facilities posed challenges in efficiently managing various programs and serving beneficiaries, and lacked distinctive architectural features. In 2017, BRAC embarked on a transformative initiative to establish eight new-generation regional offices across different climatic zones in Bangladesh.