Enab Baladi – Mohammad Deeb Bazt
Public parks in Aleppo, northern Syria, are experiencing increased crowds as summer begins and during weekends, making these green spaces a primary choice for families seeking a cheap and safe outlet, especially with rising temperatures and prolonged electricity cuts.
Many residents attribute their preference for sitting in public parks instead of cafes and restaurants to the high prices, as most families can’t afford the costs of outings and entertainment. Thus, parks have emerged as a primary option for recreation and family gatherings, providing a space for people, particularly youth and children, to gather and socialize, in the absence of suitable entertainment alternatives.
Samira, 45, told Enab Baladi that she visits al-Sabil park almost daily with her three children, noting that the electricity outages and high temperatures at home make the park their only refuge to relax without additional costs.
Jaber, a young man working in delivery services, mentioned to Enab Baladi that the park is a place where he relaxes after long working hours, adding that the high prices of cafes make the park the best choice for meeting friends without incurring extra expenses.
Some parks witness visitors staying until late at night, amid the lack of entertainment alternatives at home and many residents suffering from poor electricity, water, and internet services.
Lack of lighting and restrooms
Despite the importance of these parks in alleviating social and economic pressure on residents, they face a clear lack of basic services and facilities, especially lighting, water, and restrooms, in addition to a shortage of cleaning staff.
This deficiency diminishes the residents’, particularly children and the elderly, ability to fully benefit from these spaces, making continued use of them as a safe and inexpensive breathing space difficult.
According to Enab Baladi’s monitoring of several neighborhoods, parks like al-Razi, Seif al-Dawla, and Bustan al-Qasr require complete rehabilitation regarding flooring, seating, and children’s games, as well as genuine tree-planting campaigns to restore their role as green spaces.
Moreover, waste is found in some corners by the end of each day, negatively impacting overall cleanliness and threatening the vegetation cover, in the absence of effective oversight and limited interaction from visitors with awareness campaigns.
In addition to a lack of lighting and inadequate cleaning services, many parks in Aleppo suffer from the dilapidation of children’s games, such as slides and swings, which show signs of breakage, rust, or complete damage in some cases.
These games, which are supposed to attract children, have become a potential source of danger due to neglect in maintenance or replacement.
Many children avoid using some games in the parks or play cautiously due to their poor condition and the absence of municipal supervision or warning signs, which undermines these spaces’ role as safe and suitable places for recreation.
Challenges facing the directorate
Most parks and facilities under the directorate, including public parks, medians, roundabouts, water basins, and forests, still need extensive rehabilitation due to the destruction they suffered in past years, as explained by Abdul-Razzaq al-Saleh al-Hajji, head of the Parks Directorate in Aleppo.
Al-Hajji mentioned to Enab Baladi that the public park and al-Sabil park in the city center are among the “better off” parks, yet are only rehabilitated at less than 50%, requiring further renovations, especially in water basins.
Regarding the main challenges, al-Hajji noted that the directorate suffers from a lack of manpower, poor machinery, and the unavailability of water tankers or supplementary machinery, indicating that most parks, including the public park and al-Sabil, need comprehensive renovation and rehabilitation.
Currently, there are 195 workers in the directorate, including administrators, guards, technicians, drivers, and cleaners, numbers that are insufficient to cover the city’s needs, especially with the absence of the necessary budgets for regular maintenance work.
He added that most maintenance operations are carried out through supporting organizations or volunteer campaigns.
Work plans
The head of the Parks Directorate indicated that the directorate has put together a comprehensive work plan that includes renovation, rehabilitation, watering, weeding, and pruning, in addition to cleaning campaigns, waste basket distribution, and planting about 50,000 saplings in parks and main thoroughfares.
He confirmed that tree-planting efforts have included several parks, including the public park, al-Sabil, al-Kitab, Seif al-Dawla, al-Hamdaniya, and some parks in the eastern sector, noting that there is a plan to fully rehabilitate parks in those areas in collaboration with the Aleppo City Council and supporting organizations.
Al-Hajji mentioned that the Parks Directorate conducts awareness campaigns for park visitors, coordinates with law enforcement to control violations, and welcomes civic initiatives that target public facilities, overseeing their implementation.
He called on city residents to preserve green facilities and avoid littering in undesignated areas or starting fires within parks, ensuring a clean, safe, and sustainable environment for all residents.
Volunteer campaigns
Aleppo has seen several initiatives in recent months to clean and beautify public parks, the most notable of which was the “We Returned, Oh Aleppo” campaign, which started in late December 2024, involving teams from the Syria Civil Defence along with several associations and volunteer groups.
The campaign aimed to clean roads and beautify medians and parks, especially in locations such as the public park, Governor’s Palace roundabout, and al-Sabil park, as part of efforts to restore vitality to neighborhoods affected by the war.
The campaign’s activities included transporting waste and rubble, caring for trees, planting new seedlings, and executing artistic murals on the walls of several facilities to restore aesthetic character and enhance the presence of green spaces in the city.
Despite the limited official resources at that time, the campaign aimed to improve service conditions within public parks and stimulated youth volunteer movements that participated in cleaning several public areas, amidst ongoing struggles with inadequate lighting, absence of regular cleaning services, and poor maintenance of basic facilities.
Aleppo public parks: Poor services awaiting rehabilitation Enab Baladi.
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