An especially egregious byproduct of our capital city’s urban planning is the high ambient temperatures that citizens have to deal with for the majority of the year. With Dhaka recording its highest temperature of the season at 39.2°C last Saturday -- a figure that, although alarming, is hardly surprising -- it is high time that we re-evaluated how the city’s urban development is carried out.
As Dhaka’s concrete sprawl continues to expand unchecked, the urban heat island effect is worsening, making the environment progressively more inhospitable for living creatures -- the unchecked spread of concrete structures, asphalt roads, and glass towers absorbs and retains heat, pushing temperatures in urban centers far beyond those in surrounding rural areas. Furthermore, poor ventilation, shrinking green spaces, and a lack of thoughtful city design exacerbate the problem, turning Dhaka into a veritable heat trap that compromises both public health and quality of life.
The rate and manner upon which we are urbanizing leaves very little scope for nature to co-exist with concrete and the consequences of this are dire. Heat stress is fast becoming a public health crisis that disproportionately affects the working class, who often have little respite from the scorching streets. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable, and the less said the better about stray animals who often perish due to the the rising temperatures.
Given Bangladesh’s inherent nature as a climate-vulnerable country, it is clear that the way we are urbanizing is simply wrong. To rectify it, the government needs to embed sustainability as a core component of our urbanization scheme, which can be achieved by restoring dedicated green spaces and indeed paving the way for more, encouraging more climate-conscious architecture, and increased public awareness campaigns and policies which prioritize quality of life over the profits of vested quarters.