With winter finally subsiding, it’s only a matter of time that summer will be upon us all. Given just how intense summers have been in Bangladesh in the past few years especially in our urban centers -- if the spate of heatwaves the country experienced last year is any indication, it is high time that we started taking measures to keep the temperature in check in our cities.
Those who live in cities are especially susceptible to heatwaves given the sheer population density and number of concrete structures which absorb heat, all of which contributes to the urban heat island effect. A study from around 2020 conducted by Australia’s Curtin University observed that the surface urban heat island in the urban core of the capital city was, on average, 3.4 degree Celsius higher than Bangladesh’s rural areas.
Just last year, Dhaka witnessed temperatures as high as 41.1 degree Celsius, the highest the city has ever witnessed in 58 years prior, and with next to no rain during that period the heatwave inevitably took a toll on the health and wellbeing of citizens.
One of the best ways to keep the mercury from rising any higher in our cities is by having dedicated spaces for trees and other forms of greenery. Which is why our city corporations’ recent war against trees has been a point of such concern -- the Dhaka South City Corporation itself cleared an entire strip of the city’s Dhanmondi area of trees last year in an ill-conceived bid to “beautify” the street.
Green spaces provide a welcome reprieve from the hard sun to pedestrians and other living creatures, but most importantly they regulate the temperature to tolerable levels. We need policy-level support that ensures a certain percentage of our cities is dedicated for green spaces, but we can also help this cause at an individual level by, for example, building rooftop gardens.
Our cities have always been in need of more trees, not fewer.
Sunday, July 19, 2026
