Parks, trees and open spaces are fundamental needs of humans who live in the concrete jungle otherwise known as the city. Those places are the refuge of young and old alike from the hustle and bustle of city life. They provide city dwellers with aesthetic relief, stimulate their health, bring tourists, add to their enjoyment, sustain their moral values and help broaden the physical and psychological development of the younger generation. Parks are oases of nature amid the big city’s desert landscape of concrete, bricks and metal.
As it is, Dhaka City has an inadequate number of parks. A few big ones are managed by the PWD. Smaller ones are managed by the City Corporation. Without exception, the City Corporation managed parks have become unusable by citizens. All these small parks are either used as garbage dumps, public toilets, bus terminals, illegal markets or dens for drug dealers, drug users and pick-pockets. In some cases, they are even being used as grazing lands for goats and cows.
The mayor has to take immediate steps:

• To clean up and renovate all existing parks and ensure safety within the parks so that children, adolescents, young families and older people can enjoy the parks, as they are meant to be enjoyed.
• Parks must be considered as a basic and essential city service that must be delivered most effectively and in a satisfactory manner to citizens.