The tale of our cities

Elite housing societies in our cities are like islands where residents enjoy all the luxuries of the world

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”

The famous opening line from Charles Dickens’ masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities, compares the different worlds of the elite and the common man existing side by side just before the French Revolution. More recently, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have illustrated the situation in two cities located along the USA-Mexico border in their book, Why Nations Fail, to describe the contrasts in the quality of lives of the inhabitants. This can be depicted by the following extract from the book: “North of the fence lies the American city of Nogales, Arizona; south of it lies the Mexican city of Nogales, Sonora. On the American side, average income and life expectancy are higher, crime and corruption are lower, health and roads are better, and elections are more democratic.”

The cities in Pakistan present similar striking contrasts. Within each city, there exist vast disparities in the quality of life and circumstances of people. In any large metropolis, one can see cities within the city, some with little resemblance to each other. Over time, the gap between the quality of life of inhabitants has increased, which has had implications on social harmony, economic activity, and law and order. However, the tale of our cities remains untold.

A rapid increase in elite housing societies in almost every major city can be seen. These localities exist like islands where residents enjoy various amenities and luxuries. They have state-of-the-art water and sanitation facilities, access to quality education and healthcare, private security, membership of elite clubs and strong social networks. Many of these people have high stakes or involvement in politics and other forums of public decision-making. They exist in a parallel universe comparable with some of the best lifestyles in high-income countries.

There is a grim side of our cities as well, which can be seen in the form of slums, disorganised housing societies and underdeveloped areas. The unavailability of the most basic of amenities of life, including clean water and sanitation, education, public transport and decent housing leads to a vicious cycle of disease, unemployment, low income levels, poverty and conflict. There is limited social interaction between the haves and the have-nots living in the same city as most networks and opportunities for social interaction are designed to be exclusive. The voice of the downtrodden and their participation in the political process remains negligible. Eventually, the youth from such marginalised communities becomes vulnerable to be used as either tools or victims of the many forms of crimes and conflicts that are prevalent in society.

Pakistan is one of the most rapidly urbanising countries in the world and this trend is expected to continue and grow in the future as well. This brings with it a range of opportunities and challenges. It is obvious that urbanisation is unstoppable and to some extent, it is one of the ways to pull a significant section of our population out of poverty. The dynamics of cities and the overall state of life in a rapidly urbanising Pakistan are rarely discussed and researched. We do not come across in-depth analyses of various issues related to urbanisation in the country. The exceptions have been the few conferences held to initiate dialogue on cities in the last few years. The first was held by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics in 2006, followed by one held by the Wilson Center in 2013 in Karachi. The International Conference on Framework for Economic Growth (2010) led by Nadeem ul Haque tried to generate support for the reorientation of cities, but could not build a coalition to follow up on the agenda. Vision 2025 recognises urbanisation as one of the main challenges facing the country, but actions to implement the plan it prescribes is still awaited. Similarly, Pakistan is one of the first few countries to adopt Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which include “Inclusive Cities” as the eleventh SDG, but the real test will be the effective execution of the plans.

Our cities have become car-friendly, and investment priorities have been inclined towards constructing more road infrastructure. We are building sprawling cities dotted by elite and disorganised housing societies and in the bargain have lost land that could have been used for agriculture and industry. Then there are the problems of law and order and unaffordable housing. Cities look towards provincial governments for development plans on account of their minimal contribution in revenue generation. The power and resources that were transferred from the federal government to the provinces in 2008 have been concentrated within a few provincial departments instead of there being an onward transfer of responsibilities and resources to the local governments. There are various indigenous civil society-led model projects, which have been successfully implemented in Pakistan despite all the hurdles. Some of these include Changa Panai, Khuda ki Basti and the Orangi Town project. However, the scale of their implementation has been limited and has not been institutionalised into mainstream policies. Urban dimensions of poverty, inequality, density, zoning, water and sanitation, transportation, job creation and affordable housing need to be debated at various public and private forums and within society at large. In order to reflect the real size of the urban population, the upcoming census should take into account those people who commute daily from rural areas into cities as well as residents of densely populated suburbs and towns. The current forms of colonial and troubleshooting approaches towards city management are not only proving to be devastating for our cities, they are also unsustainable. The time to debate, plan and act is now.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th,  2015.

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