Parks take their name from the verb ‘to impark’, which means to surround with a hedge, fence or wall. Parks and playgrounds are a necessity for the younger generation as places to play and for elders to relax in. Good landscape planning plays a vital role in saving the environment. A good environment like good health is easy to recognise but hard to define. Health is not valued till sickness comes. To conserve and improve our health, doctors must understand the working of the body. Similarly, in order to conserve and improve our environment, planners must understand the geographical equivalents of anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. Doctors find it easier to investigate surface anatomy than the interior. Planners find it easier to investigate the physical environment than its working. But one cannot treat the inside of the body by treating the skin, and one cannot improve the environment by dealing only with the visible. Knowledge, ideas, beliefs and skills are required to implement the diagnosis of problems.
Great civilisations allocate open space to public and nonproductive uses. Historically, this has included gardens, temple compounds, ceremonial grounds, outdoor markets, social places, gymnasia for exercise and recreation, burial grounds, hunting and wildlife reserve. All this land is now classified by planners as “open green spaces”, because the land is accessible and un-built. There must be landscapes where we can walk in safety, pick fruits, cycle, work, sleep, swim, listen to the birds, bask in the sun, run through the trees and laze besides cool waters
Urbanization happens. Old settlements expand and new settlements are founded. It can be a consequence of increased wealth, population growth or preference for smaller households. People choose to live in proximity to urban areas for social and economic reasons, but they complain about environmental conditions: the city is a concrete jungle, it is ugly, it is unsafe, the air is polluted, there is insufficient contact with nature etc., and this becomes all the more magnified with blighted green spaces.
Parks play a vital role in improving the urban environment. They protect both urban life and nature simultaneously and the urbanite by virtue of being a taxpayer is justified in his demand for open green breathing spaces, and has all the rights to a quality of life commensurate with his status as a law abiding citizen.
Allotment of parks and playgrounds should therefore, not only be made to fulfill an official formality but in order to be of utilitarian value should also be well maintained, failing which they can have serious negative repercussions.
There are a number of studies in different disciplines pertaining to different regions and aspects related to parks and playgrounds. Open-air recreation and access to outdoor spaces is an important part of many people’s daily lives, and research has shown that outdoor activity provides scope for relaxation, refreshment, escape from the everyday and chance to form social relationships.
The benefits of viewing green-spaces goes beyond aesthetic enjoyment to enhanced emotional well-being, reduced stress and in certain situations, improved health Recreational benefits far out weigh the cost of access provision. The attributes that people valued most were ‘peace and quiet’, ‘fresh air’ and the ‘landscape’. In the development of urban forestry, parks are classified in terms of land-use as G&P (gardens and parks) in Chinese cities. Parks are one of the major places of urban forestry. Trees are the most conspicuous and long living natural features of cities. They provide visible and tangible means, by which citizens interact with nature, and they provide habitat and food to sustain wildlife in the urban environment as is the case with zoological gardens.
To facilitate such functions, landscape professionals employ trees to decorate the urban landscape, separate or define spaces, ameliorate settlements’ microclimate, and abate air pollution. Children’s playgrounds provide an enjoyable environment in which motor and social skills can be developed.
Urban green spaces have important amenity values that include provision of leisure opportunities and aesthetics enjoyment. However, most of these values lack a market price. Consequently, they are usually ignored or underestimated by urban planning policymakers, with the result that remnant urban green spaces are being gradually encroached upon by urban sprawl. As a result, quantitative information regarding the implicit, non-market price benefits from urban green space is urgently required.
This study covered areas comprising the Karachi Development Authority Scheme No 2 of Taimuria, North Nazimabad, lay out plan area of Nazimabad and North Karachi Township, parts of which combine together to form the present town of North Nazimabad.
North Nazimabad is a small densely populated town in the northern part of Karachi. The town is bordered by New Karachi Town to the north across the Shahrah-e-Zahid Hussain, Gulberg Town to the east across the Gujjar nullah, Liaquatabad Town to the south and SITE Town to the west. The population of North Nazimabad Town was estimated to be about 500,000 in the 1998 census
Scheme No 2 of Taimuria was prepared by the KDA during the tenure of Karachi Improvement Trust and passed by the Government of Pakistan in 1953. This was planned as a beautiful and extensively well planned open area with very low density population. The width of the road ranged from 50 feet to 320 feet. This scheme was planned in 21 blocks with all types of facilities in each one of them.
A detailed survey of Parks and Playgrounds of North Nazimabad Town and an in-depth study of Satellite Imagery was the basis of this study for outdoor recreational facilities available in this area. Population data was extracted from the District Census Report 1998 and layout area of parks and playgrounds measured through the layout map planned in 1953 while current area measured with the help of GIS forms the database. An extensive survey of parks and playgrounds in the 10 UCs in the town was conducted several times on different days of the week at varying daytime and evening hours. According to the layout plan, the total area of parks and playgrounds was 961,238.4 sq wards. While the present area under this land use is 915,086.82 sq yards i.e. there has been a decrease of 46,151.54 sq yards.
According to the KDA information based on the layout map, the total number of parks in North Nazimabad is 67 and playgrounds only four.
However, “Ground-Truthing” has revealed that there are only 56 parks left and 21 playgrounds. Now after various types of encroachments and alterations, 17 parks have been converted into playgrounds while six parks have been constructed on plots of land marked for public buildings, three on land for primary schools and one each on a residential land and a plot for a hospital. The number of playgrounds constructed on primary school plots is three; the number of parks converted into playgrounds is 13 and one playground has been constructed on land for a goth (village).
Although there is considerable encroachment of open green spaces on land meant for other purposes, yet its area has declined. It is most distressing to note that the shortfall of area from city’s average of parks and playgrounds in North Nazimabad Town Layout Status that was made in 1953 has now dramatically reduced due to encroachment of all types.
A comparison of the Layout and Present Status of parks and playgrounds of North Nazimabad Town shows that there is a great difference between what was planned and the existing condition. According to Layout Status, UCs Khando Goth, Farooq-e-Azam, Hyderi and Sakhi Hasan were planned with a view for maximum parks and playgrounds, but even then there was a short fall of these facilities. The UCs Shadman, Khando Goth and Hyderi have shown the maximum short fall in area of open green spaces.
The area of parks and playgrounds has increased in Mustafabad which has improved its rank from ninth to first, Sakhi Hasan fourth to second and Buffer Zone-I eighth to sixth. The greatest shortfall is in Shadman, which has deteriorated form fifth to tenth rank, while that of Khando Goth has deteriorated from first to fifth, Farooq-e-Azam from second to third, Hyderi third to fourth and Buffer Zone-II from sixth to eighth. Paposh Nagar has shown no change in its rank between layout and present status but there has been a decrease in the total area. The deterioration in terms of coverage per 1,000 people has occurred in Shadman, Khando Goth, Hyderi and Buffer Zone II. Some improvement of acreage in relation to population pressure has occurred mostly in Mustafabad, Sakhi Hassan and Buffer Zone I. No change in this regard has been recorded for Pahar Gunj and Hyderi, although in the aggregate decrease has been recorded.
In terms of service provided to the UCs according to their size, the highest density of well maintained parks and playgrounds is in Farooq-e-Azam followed by Hyderi and Paposh Nagar. The greatest shortfall of this facility in terms of density of the service to the area is in Pahar Gunj followed by Buffer Zone I and Mustafabad.
In terms of well-maintained parks and playgrounds, Hyderi is followed by Farooq-e-Azam and Paposh Nagar, while in terms of service provided to the population according to city standard i.e. four acres per 1,000 people.
Farooq-e-Azam leads followed by Hyderi and Khando Goth; Mustafabad and Shadman have no well-maintained parks and playgrounds.
The greatest shortfall of the facility to the population is in UCs Mustafabad and Shadman followed by Pahar Ganj and Sakhi Hassan while Farooq-e-Azam is providing the best recreational and environmental facility in terms of parks and playgrounds, as the pressure of population on the open green spaces is least as far as the town is concerned. On realising the necessity of parks and playgrounds, the defunct City District Government Karachi made additional allotments of land for more parks and playgrounds, but with the passage of time these allotments did not materialise.
The density of population of North Nazimabad for 1998 was 27,643.12 persons per sq. km. (0.03 persons per sq yards). The highest density of population is found in Paposh Nagar, Pahar Gunj, Buffer Zones-II and -I while the lowest is found in Khando Goth, Farooq-e-Azam and Hyderi. A comparison of densities of population with that of parks and playgrounds reveals that the best UCs as regards both factors taken comparatively are Mustafabad, Sakhi Hasan and Farooq-e-Azam. UCs showing worst comparative performance in this regard are Pahar Gunj, Shadman, Khando Goth and Paposh Nagar. Buffer Zone-I ranks fourth for both density of population and density percentage of parks and playgrounds. A comparison of density of parks and playgrounds between layout and present status shows that most remarkable improvement have taken place in UCs
Mustafabad, Sakhi Hasan and Buffer Zone-I, which have improved their ranks from ninth to first, fourth to second and sixth to fourth, respectively. On the whole, according to the layout status, the density of parks and playgrounds to area of UCs (in percentage) in North Nazimabad was 35.8 percent while that for the present status is 33.7 percent i.e. a decrease of 2.1 percent.
Even the most primitive tribes and cultures have felt the need for recreation. Now in the post-modern era with cities being converted into mega polis like Karachi, with its immense population pressure, excessive pressure on land use and resultant urban sprawl, the need and demand for open green spaces is becoming all the more acute.
Notwithstanding all these changes the jungle of concrete blighted by its slums and gobbling up of open green spaces is not only a cause of social ills, anomalies and banes but it can became a cancer not only for the local area or people but for the nation as a whole and generations to come. While a well-balanced urban land use with sufficient open green spaces would not only justify the rights of citizens as tax payers but also prevent brewing up of socio-cultural and political conspiracies as empty minds are devils’ workshops, while a physically, mentally, socially, culturally and economically vibrant youth can be the source of sustainable well being of a nation. The choice remains open whether we want to reap the multiple benefits of well maintained Open
Green Spaces as assets with nominal maintenance costs or be entrapped in the vicious, multi-fanged dilemma with far reaching negative impacts.
Extract from the research paper “Open green spaces – asset or liability – case study of North Nazimabad Town – Karachi” by Farkhunda Burke1, Muhammad Azam, Syed Nawaz ul Huda and Salma Hamza, published in the Karachi University Journal of Science