It is incredibly unfortunate that, despite showing clear signs of the urban heat island effect, Dhaka is seeing fewer and fewer dedicated spaces for greenery. The case of close to a hundred trees being felled in Jahangirnagar University to make way for new buildings, is yet another example of our continued war against greenery.
The increasing proliferation of concrete structures at the cost of green spaces has been proven to go against the health and well-being of citizens -- more buildings mean more heat being trapped from the sun’s rays and with fewer trees to go around it also means less dissipation of heat through active transpiration.
This is basic biology that one would expect our municipal officials to have a good grasp of, but as we have seen earlier this year with an entire strip in Dhaka South’s Satmasjid Road being completely picked clean of trees in the name of “beautification” it appears otherwise.
Green spaces have been an urgent necessity for our cities, especially the capital, for quite some time, especially given the severity of the effects triggered by the climate crisis. But they also serve more immediate purposes such as regulating the quality of air -- Dhaka consistently tops the chart when it comes to cities with the worst air quality in the world, and yet, despite a proven line of causation having been established between greenery and air quality, the administration simply refuses to relent in cutting down trees.
It is high time that the government began acting on what our cities and their citizens actually need, and took conscious measures to create sufficient green spaces.
Urbanization and development do not have to come at the cost of trees and nature as some of the world’s most developed cities continue to prove. Concrete and nature can co-exist in peace.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
