Harare — Every city needs parks and recreational grounds, both large and small, and Harare is no exception.

The town planning rules require developers, both public and private, to reserve a modest amount of the land for educational reserves and for public open space, a sensible requirement.

For much of Harare, the big public spaces are the valleys of the streams and rivers that cut through the city, and this is fair enough. The land cannot be built on without expensive drainage, and, in any case, the streams would probably silt up if houses were built too close.

Yet such land is quite suitable for parks, sports fields and the like. In fact, most golf courses in the city are built on such land and so have automatic water hazards.

But in addition to these big parks, there is need for small neighbourhood parks, where children can play safely and adults can just sit in a garden. Many suburbs, when they are built, might not need these parks since gardens are large enough.

So in time they will be needed. The master plan for Harare makes it clear that higher densities are the way to go, rather than see the city spreading out forever.

Residents usually object to these small open spaces in the early years, or even decades, of a suburb. They are not frequently used, tend to be an eyesore and no one really wants them.

We saw this in the central core of the city in its early years. Africa Unity Square was the subject of much criticism, but within a few decades became a critical lung for the central business district.

Greenwood Park in the eastern Avenues was condemned frequently by the senior civil servants and big businessmen who built their houses in the area. But when those houses were demolished and became high-rise flats, the park was absolutely vital. There simply is no other place to walk on grass or play rough children's games.

Any attempt to sell off these two parks, or the larger Harare Gardens serving the western Avenues, would now cause an uproar, and rightly so. But they are only still there because early councils stuck to their guns and insisted that they remain.

It will be the same in other suburbs as time advances. Already people are sorry that too little of very dense Avondale was set aside for recreation, although the Florence Chisholm Park is popular, as was the now disused swimming pool area, and there are plans to reclaim the upper Avondale Stream Valley north of the shopping centre as a park when funds are available.

But in many suburbs, these small parks are being sold off to well-connected people for a song so that they can build houses, regardless of the future needs of the city or the suburb.

We believe that the requirement for public open space was put in the town planning laws for a good reason, and that this reason has yet to be shown to be wrong.

Present residents might not want them, but what about those in 50 years' time? Planning ideas develop over the decades, but some concepts are pretty basic and one of these is the need for some open space in the vast rows of houses that make up a city.

Admittedly, the objections to these parks could be largely nullified if the council could just cut the grass and plant a few trees, which will be desired anyway when the park is required and will, right now, make these parks an attraction rather than an eyesore. The cost will be trivial.

We must avoid short-term gains, and dubious gains at that, at the price of long-term requirements. Harare should be stopped from over-enthusiastic infill schemes and be forced to ensure the well-being of future generations.