A city where children can’t play

For one person, a city should keep 9 square metres of open space. If this prescription of the World Health Organisation is taken into account, Dhaka city needs to have 180 sq-km of green space.

This may sound absurd for an unplanned city like our capital, but this is what is practised in an ideal city that cares for public health and environment. More than half of Vienna city is left open for its people to breathe fresh air, walk or sit. The most populous Austrian city has 700 playgrounds for its 2 million people, at least one near the home of anyone living anywhere in the city.

And in Dhaka's map, one has to struggle to spot an open space or a playground for roughly 20 million people living here. The city is expanding, new skyscrapers are being built and new residential areas are set up – and no new open space is left. Open spaces and playgrounds that dotted the city's old maps are disappearing.

Here residents have to agitate to protect a nearby open space where kids play and are taken into custody.

The scenes in Kalabagan, where children protested a police station being built where their playing field was located, has turned attention towards the lack of fields, parks and breathable space in Dhaka, often ranked as the most unlivable city in the world.

The lack of greenery has been a constant, underplayed, aspect of the thirst for development.

In the last 22 years, the number of open fields in Dhaka has come down from 150 to less than 24.

Of these fields, some are undergoing development works, while others remain locked even after development.

Alhan Arsal, a resident of Lalmatia, remembers the days he spent in a field located in Block-D of the area.

But that memory is fading. Since before Covid-19, the park went into development work as part of the mayor's plans to renovate parks and fields around the city.

Almost four years later, the park is still not open to the public. The construction is yet to end.

"I spend most of my time playing computer games or buying books. I barely read the books and get very little physical exercise as well. My friends and I only play games online now," he said.

According to a survey conducted by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) to prepare proposals for the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) 2016-35 for the Dhaka metropolitan area, about 40% of the total population of the Dhaka metropolitan area comprises children.

Infographic: TBS

There has been a proposed two-acre playground for every 12,500 people in the city. The two city mayors of Dhaka's north and south parts are also supposed to plan the city according to that proposal but instead of looking for new parks, the corporations have instead been focused on renovating old ones and ensuring access to others.

Even then politicians and influentials sitting on boards of sporting clubs lay sole claim and right of use to a number of parks in the city.

Experts say there is no alternative to increasing open space to provide relief to the people of the capital.

Children need playgrounds the most, while people of all ages need adequate space and greenery.

The two city corporations say they have completed 49 parks and playgrounds under two separate projects and opened them to the public. At the same time, they plan to build at least one playground in each ward and claim that they are building parks or playgrounds wherever there is space. 

Where do we breathe?

According to the global standard, one playground of one acre is required for every five thousand people in an area. In that case, about two-and-a-half crore people in Dhaka would need about five thousand fields.

According to a survey conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) in 2019, there are only 235 playgrounds in the two city corporations, of which 141 are institutional grounds. Only 42 playgrounds are open to the public, of which 16 are occupied. 

No playground is there just for girls.

There are 24 open fields in the capital where 20 belong to the city corporations. Some of these playgrounds have been renovated, but the access to those has been restricted still.

A survey by RAJUK found that 37 out of 129 wards of Dhaka's two city corporations have no playgrounds or parks.

Considering the area of ​​Dhaka, 1,876 acres should be allotted for the playground. But there are only 294 acres.

According to RAJUK, the per capita green space in 1995 was 0.5 sq m, which dropped to 0.052 sq m as recorded in the 2009 Detailed Area Planning (DAP) review.

Under a project taken by the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), work on 18 parks and fields has expired but the work has not been completed. Recently seven parks and playgrounds have been opened to the public.

In 2017, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) undertook projects to develop 31 parks and playgrounds in the capital. Under this project, 12 playgrounds were to be modernised. Although the project expired in June 2018, most of the playgrounds could not be vacated. Most of the fields that have been modernised remain locked.

Iqbal Habib, joint secretary of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), told TBS that the number of fields and parks in Dhaka is declining at an alarming rate every five years. On the one hand, the city corporations are not able to build fields in any new place, while existing fields are occupied. 

Before any development work in the capital, open and leisure space for people of all ages, including children, should be taken into consideration, he said.

DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said a few days ago that there is a plan to create playgrounds in each of the new wards added to the DNCC and land will be acquired for this purpose.

DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said an initiative has been taken to formulate a 30-year 'implementation plan' to ensure one playground in each ward in the south. In this case, if land acquisition is required, it will be done.

Experts say the city corporations should plan the playgrounds keeping in mind the population of the area in the design of the new area. In this case, if one playground is planned for each ward of the two city corporations of Dhaka in five years, then 129 new playgrounds will be available every year.

Former general secretary of the BIP Professor Adil Muhammad Khan told TBS that the number of fields in the capital has not increased in the last few years but has instead declined. The authorities are indifferent in this regard.

At the present stage of the population of Dhaka, it is almost impossible to fully secure the park-playground by following the criteria.

However, in some places it is possible to create some area-based playgrounds through redevelopment.

He further said that in the last 4/5 years some fields have been made privately, but people need to pay to access those. He said this was not a hallmark of a healthy city.