Dhaka, May 15 -- year-old Araf, a student from Mohammadpur, stood before a local community meeting and spoke the truth many adults had ignored for too long.

"We have no place to run, to play, or even to breathe freely. All we see are buildings and cars. We need parks, we need space," he said years back.

His words echoed across social media, capturing the hearts of thousands.

Parents, teachers and urban planners joined the chorus, lamenting the vanishing open spaces in a city of more than 20 million souls, where concrete triumphs over greenery.

Urban experts remind us that the World Health Organization recommends at least 9 square meters of green space per person.

Dhaka can offer barely a third of that. The city's children grow up in ...