Building pocket parks in Southeast Asia

The big cities of Southeast Asia have a woefully inadequate amount of green space. Some big parks exist, but they are either old (such as Lumphini in Bangkok) or built on reclaimed land (such as East Coast Park in Singapore or Gurney Bay in Penang).

Sometimes, cities get lucky when land in a central area becomes available, such as Benjakitti Park in Bangkok. Penang might have a similar opportunity to turn an old racecourse into a park. Overall, though, these are rare scenarios.

Some cities have grand plans to build new parks, but it’s a difficult process to acquire land in established urban areas (and give up the income from the sale or rent of the land).

While cities are planning to build bigger parks, they should also be adding more pocket parks.

What is a pocket park?

A pocket park is a small public green space in an urban environment. There is no exact definition of how small a pocket park is, but Wikipedia defines pocket parks as “one to three municipal lots and is smaller than 0.5 hectares (1 acre) in size.”

1 acre is equal to 0.4 hectares, so I will use that as the maximum. A hectare is an area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, so 0.4 hectares is a square with 40-metre sides.

Where to build pocket parks

Pocket parks are a good way of turning unproductive land into a green space.

A good example of pocket parks is on road intersections with unused space.

This pocket park in Quy Nhon has filled a triangular space at an intersection. According to this map area calculator, this park is 0.01 ha. This is as pocket as it gets. Note that there are park benches here, making it a public park. A green space in the middle of a freeway interchange that can’t be accessed doesn’t count as a pocket park.

I saw this triangular block of land in Buan Ma Thuot that has been put to good use as a park.

Vietnam is the land of skinny buildings, so this plot wouldn’t have been a challenge for builders. I’m glad they kept this flatiron-shaped block as a public park

It was when I was in Buon Ma Thuot that I started thinking about pocket parks, so I took notice of other examples. Che Lan Vien Park is between two suburban streets, and the park acts as a shortcut between the streets for pedestrians and cyclists. This park is approximately 0.13 ha, which is positively pocket-sized, yet it feels so luxurious with the combination of tree coverage and walking space.

Another way to reclaim road space is by the road diet technique. City planners should look at road usage and see where roads and parking spaces can be turned into mini-parks.

Abandoned properties or empty land with odd-shaped boundaries are also good candidates for pocket parks.

The Wat Hua Lamphong Rukkhaniwet Park in Bangkok was built on abandoned land that was donated to the city. The park is so small that it is barely visible on satellite view. The park is just 1048 m2 (0.1048 ha), but the extra greenery on the ground level makes a difference.

Create pocket parks while planning for bigger parks

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the least green cities in Southeast Asia. The old area of District 1 has big parks and tree-lined streets, but go beyond the inner city area, and the city becomes a sea of concrete. This is visible when looking at the satellite view of HCMC.

The city has a plan to have at least one square metre of green space per capita by 2030. This doesn’t sound like much until you realise that the city has a population of over 10 million people. This plan has been slow going, and the city is unlikely to reach this target.

Building bigger parks is a necessary step in making the city more liveable, but there should also be a continual effort to add as many pocket parks as possible. When there are more trees, other urban planning options become apparent. Perhaps a future tree-lined street with a pleasant pocket park will become a good street to partially pedestrianise. This new area could then become a street filled with cafes.

It would be unlikely for Ho Chi Minh City to ever build a new park greater than 10 hectares (like Tao Dan Park) in an old district.

In addition to trying to achieve this unlikely goal, they should also work towards building 100 pocket parks that are .10 hectares in size. The parks may not be as grand as the 10-hectare Tao Dan Park, but having little dots of green sprinkled all over the city will make the city a better place.