JAKARTA: It was still 10am at Embung Jagakarsa open green space in Jagakarsa district, South Jakarta, but the temperature had already reached 30 degrees Celsius. The yellow-and-blue play structure stood tall in the middle of the playground under the sweltering sun, making the structure’s surface too hot to touch.
On the morning of Aug. 10, a little girl took off her shoes before entering the playground in the area, but put them on again less than a minute later while muttering, “Hot! Hot! Hot!” A mother half-shouted to her toddler who was riding a two-wheeled bicycle, reminding him to put on his hat as the sunlight was intense.
Many outdoor playgrounds in Jakarta, like Embung Jagakarsa, offer little to no shade, putting children at risk of losing their rights to play safely in outdoor spaces, as the climate crisis brings more hotter days to come.
According to the World Bank, Indonesia’s average temperature in the past 50 years has increased by 0.28 degrees per decade due to the climate crisis. The average high temperature in Jakarta felt throughout July, with daily highs averaging around 32 degrees, is three to five times more likely due to climate change, as suggested by Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index.
By 2050, the World Bank suggested that the city will be among regions projected to experience 300 hot days or more, or days when maximum temperature exceeds 30 degrees. Even for tropical countries like Indonesia, where the people are relatively used to hot weather, climate change could make hotter-than-normal temperature more frequent and dangerous.
“The combination of high temperature and humidity makes it harder for the body to dissipate heat and increases the risk of heat stress, especially when heat waves last longer or occur more frequently,” said Retno Wihanesta, urban resilience and knowledge management manager at WRI Indonesia.
For children and the elderly, the risks of extreme heat are even higher. Young children can lose body fluids quicker than adults, putting them at higher risk of dehydration, said Perry Sheffield, paediatrician and professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, the United States.
Unlike adults, kids also lack the self-awareness to stop and rest when their bodies start to feel hot, leaving them vulnerable to heatstroke and other heat-related disease, explained Sebastian Pfautsch, professor of urban management and planning at Western Sydney University.
For many children, the most direct way to avoid the heat is to play at a later time of the day. But afternoons may bring less relief from high temperatures due to the urban heat island effect, in which cities tend to get much warmer because their unshaded roads and buildings heat up during the day and radiate the heat into the surrounding air.
“That absorbed heat is going to be released at night as well, so when it should cool down as the sun goes away, all the heat's coming off of the concrete,” explained Jennifer Brady, senior data analyst and research manager at Climate Central.
Shades may prevent playground surfaces from storing heat that warms the air. But they are often the last thing looked at when building such a space, Pfautsch explained, as designers prioritise play equipment and surfacing.
“Flipping this model on how we build and design playgrounds, [their focus] should not be equipment first, but it should be shade first,” Pfautsch said.
One of the most fundamental thing to ask when talking about playgrounds is whether the existing spaces are comfortable enough for families to visit and stay in, according to Tim Gill, an independent scholar, writer and consultant on childhood.
“And obviously, that's where shade, shelter and heat levels come in,” Gill said.
While kids may prefer to run around Embung Jagakarsa to play, some parents cannot bear the heat from sitting without shade while watching their children.
“[My son] seems to still be energetic despite the heat, [but] it is I who often feel uncomfortable,” said Umroh, a mother who was accompanying her son Nabil, 3, to play at Embung Jagakarsa on Aug. 10.
“I prefer going to Sepat Park [in Pasar Minggu] because the playground equipment is new and it’s much more shaded,” she continued.
Aside from shade, types of material used in playgrounds also affect heat absorption in such spaces. Some materials, like plastic grass, can heat up to nearly 100 degrees, while metals like polished steel, which is often used for slides, may also cause second- and third-degree burns if children slide on them, according to Pfautsch.
The Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry has encouraged every mayor and regent to develop child-friendly playground and spaces to make cities more friendly to children.
“That’s also a fulfillment of the children’s right,” said Marini Widowati, lead auditor of the child-friendly playground expert team at the ministry.
She added that one of the 13 prerequisites of a child-friendly playground was comfort, in which playgrounds should have shade, be it man-made or natural, to protect children from direct sun exposure.
Retno of WRI Indonesia pushed the government to holistically integrate heat-related risks into spatial planning and urban development policies, including by developing a heat action plan.
“Ahmedabad in India, for instance, has implemented such a plan since 2013 to give warnings to those who are most at risk of heat-related health problems,” Retno said.
Experts agree that there will be some days when playing outside is out of the question, but that authorities can work to lengthen the duration of days where families can use parks.
“[The aim is] to make it so that there are more days where there's more shade and the temperature is a bit lower,” said Gill. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
