Dhaka needs more parks, playgrounds

Dhaka, a densely-populated city bursting at its seam, scores poorly on its stock of open spaces in comparison with other cities elsewhere. Once known for abundant parks, the capital city has now transformed into a concrete jungle. Now, with more than 10 million inhabitants, the capital city lacks adequate recreational spaces and parks. The condition of parks today is pitiable, to say the least. Park maintenance around the city is completely ignored in many neighbourhoods. This lack of recreational space means that people flock to the shopping malls and fast food restaurants, which can no way be called a healthy practice particularly for children. Today, young people stay indoors and spend their leisure watching phones or laptops. They do not have the opportunity to venture out and embrace the outdoors. Swimming or engaging in outdoor sports, except for a few, is quite impossible in this city.

Where will families go to spend time, then? Perhaps instead of creating towering apartment buildings, more development projects focusing on recreational spaces such as parks and playgrounds should be invested into. The alternative option is to take care of the existing spaces of the city where people can come to enjoy on holidays and in their spare time. This may even prove to be fruitful as an avenue to let go of the everyday frustrations such as dealing with traffic congestions. Allocating funds to these sites is the most important step while creating new places may be an option for the future.

Abu Elias Linkon,

Banasree, Dhaka,

lightening_sparkle@yahoo.com