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Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Due to an unfortunate tendency to prioritize the comfort and safety of cars over children, there is abundant car parking, especially in residential buildings, but an extremely inadequate supply of parks, playing fields, and other outdoor spaces for children to play and those of other ages to gather and socialize. Some existing playing fields are regularly used as car sales lots. Even where playing fields are used, there are virtually no girls present, meaning that girls have even less opportunity to play outdoors than boys.
Concerned about the inequity in children’s play opportunities, and the lack of such opportunities overall and especially for younger children, HealthBridge’s partner, Work for a Better Bangladesh (WBB) Trust, has initiated several carfree street events in Dhaka. Over its 25-year history, WBB Trust has organized bicycle trainings, parklets, mobile playgrounds, and carfree streets. WBB generally selects lightly-trafficked streets, often clogged with parked cars and motorbikes, and opens them for the community to play and socialize.

One such event regularly takes place in Shyamoli, Dhaka, a middle-income area. The event was inaugurated on January 22nd, 2022. To date, this event has been organized weekly for 30 weeks. Each week about 60 children come to join the event and enjoy themselves. In order to increase community involvement, and free up their own time to spread such events to new areas, WBB handed over organization of this event to a local NGO, Chayatol Bangladesh, which now regularly organizes it. WBB Trust monitors and provides technical support, if necessary.
Recently, WBB conducted an evaluation survey for this event. The results showed that the event gives children an opportunity to be physically active. On the day of the evaluation, the children at the event were active for about 1.30 – 2.00 hours on average and 100% of them believe that the event has given them the opportunity to be physically active. Many of the children take part in activities such as badminton, skipping, and running. Also, the children take part in events like crafting and painting which boosts their mental health and improves their social skills and creativity.

All the respondents said that they feel welcomed in the place and do not face any threats. The respondents also confirmed that they now have the opportunity to socialize with others in their neighborhood, building the kinds of community bonding that are so important for resilience. Overall, 77% of those surveyed agreed that such types of events are a wonderful idea.
Boosted by the success of the Shyamoli carfree event, WBB is reaching out to other organisations and communities to seek new venues for mobile playgrounds and carfree streets. The events complement WBB’s advocacy work to increase and improve public spaces such as parks and playing fields, to help ensure that now and in the future, children of all ages will have the opportunity to play, socialize, and mentally refresh themselves outdoors, in the company of others. Livable cities, after all, require strong, resilient communities where neighbours know, trust, and interact with each other. There is no reason why a densely populated megacity cannot create just such strong and vibrant neighbourhoods, and WBB is proud to showcase the possibility and its many successes in this important area.