Revisiting Park Facility Provisions and Standards for Urban Areas in Bangladesh

Abstract

Park facilities are one of the basic urban amenities for any livable and sustainable city.
Therefore planning standards for park facilities should be formulated for sustainable 
planning for cities in Bangladesh. Park facilities are varied types name metropolitan park, 
district park, local park or neighborhood park. However, appropriate knowledge of 
planning standards for park facilities followed in different cities and countries in the 
world is greatly important for developing planning standards for park facilities to make 
cities and communities livable and sustainable. In addition, this paper focuses on park 
facility provisions followed in various plans and projects for different types of urban areas
in Bangladesh. This paper finds that part facilities are inadequate in both types of urban 
areas – City Corporations and Paurashavas in Bangladesh. For metro cities in Bangladesh, 
generally park facility is available for every 2 lakh population. Some park facilities are 
available in A Category Paurashavas however park facilities are generally very minimum 
or absent in B and C category Paurashavas in Bangladesh. Our cities does not 
appropriately consider categorization of parks in city planning practices to evenly 
distribute neighborhood park, community park and city park in the urban fabrics. In the 
city planning practices in different sustainable cities across the world, park facilities are 
available within walking distances or 400 m to 500 m radius; whereas urban people in 
Bangladesh – both for City Corporation and Paurashava – rarely can avail park facility 
within their walking distance. This paper is based on secondary sources and desk research 
on the planning standards for park facilities. Based on the findings of this study, this 
paper suggests planning standards for various types of park facilities for urban areas in 
Bangladesh. This paper asserts that park facilities should be created at city and
neighborhood levels according to the planning standards through proper physical 
planning.