With ever increasing population, the urban areas of Nepal are becoming the unhealthiest places to live in. Health statistics show an alarming rise in mental problems, depression, hypertension, and heart and respiratory problems in urban people of all ages. Open green space is a key contributor to quality of urban life, which is otherwise highly stressed. Such open spaces or parks are needed to ensure that cities remain economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable. Public parks with grass fields, shrubs, flowers and trees not only add to the aesthetics of a city, but also provide a social meeting place, relaxation spot, dating spot, and venue for games and exercise. The young can jog, the elderly can do yoga, the retired can sit with their colleagues and improve community harmony, and lovebirds can pass time in each other’s company. Such parks help maintain the balance of oxygen in air and balance the ecosystem.
Nepal’s 2011 census report shows that 4.5 million people are living in 58 municipalities, which is 17 percent of the total population. A sharp increase in urban population was seen in a more recent census, indicating that unmanaged population is creeping into urban areas without proper plans for drinking water, drainages, roads and greenery in the cities. Most of the existing municipalities have been classified urban merely due to their population size, though they lack the basic requirements for a city. Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), being the most planned, cultured, historic city of Nepal, and the richest in resources due to its status as the capital city, should have been an exemplary city for emerging cities—but in fact it is the most haphazard city.
Park at bay in Singapore. (Photo: Vikash Satyal)
There are virtually no public parks in KMC. Early in the morning we can see Tudikhel bustling with joggers and yoga practitioners. For most citizens of KMC, it is the only open space where they can breathe. However, it is not a park. Ratnapark was smashed a few years ago. The three remaining public gardens: Balaju Park, Tribhuvan Park and Sankha Park, serve their purpose, but their size and location makes them less significant.
Open public parks accentuate every city of the world. Our neighboring countries India and China are developing not only in socio-economic standards, but also in urban greenery. Bangalore and Shanghai are emerging green cities. In India, in the last decade, awareness for the need of green cities has established ‘Park & Garden Society’ which is assimilated in urban planning so that greenery is maintained in all new urban planning. Currently about 297 sq km of Delhi is green, and it is estimated that in Delhi, 22 sq m green space is available to each individual on average. When I visited Delhi a few years ago, I was surprised to find a park every five minutes. Some of these parks were small, the size of Ratnapark, and some like Swarna Jayanti Park were about five times the size of Tudikhel. Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, was modernized after independence. Now 57 percent of its area is covered in greenery. Similarly, Bangalore, the city of gardens, has more than 700 parks.
The little patch of land called Singapore has no water resource of its own, and buys water from Malaysia. It recycles and conserves almost all rainfall and water reserves. It is said that it does not waste even a single drop of water. It was Lee Kuan Yew who in 1968 initiated the vision of Singapore as a garden city, that now, through “Gardens by the Bay” project, has made the city the greenest of the world. It has achieved this by improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emission, preserving biodiversity, and increasing greenery at every possible place: on roads, terraces, roofs, and bay areas.
KMC is spread over 50 sq km. According to official sources, one million people lived here in 2011. However, unofficial sources have estimated that more than the same number of additional people always resides in the city as temporary dwellers. The city lacks many prerequisite for healthy living such as adequate drinking water, clean roads, and pollution-free environment. In addition, it has nearly exhausted all its natural resources. It has lost open spaces, green areas and natural water in rivers and ponds.
This is the result of our greed and selfishness, of thinking only about our family and not about the larger community. KMC has less than 2 sq km of public green space, including Shankha Park, Balaju Park, and Ratna Park. What is more frustrating is that there is no initiative for green space in our ongoing urban development plans. Even the concept of ‘two trees per house’ seems to be just one slogan among many, never implemented. We have recently seen many roads widen in KMC, but there are no plans to make them green and healthy. To resolve the continuously worsening problems of air, water and garbage in KMC, what we need right away is an integrated urban development approach with environmental protection as an inseparable constituent, with special focus on public parks. To clean our body and mind, we need one public park in each tole.
The author is professor of Statistics at Tribhuvan University
vrsatyal@gmail.com
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