Lively cities require ample community infrastructure

Virtual network to benefit from Pakistani experts across the world.

LAHORE:

“Lahore Lahore Hai may have been true for our elders but this cannot be said for today’s Lahore. Lahore of today is a suburbia,” said Dr Nadeemul Haq, the Planning Commission deputy chairman on Saturday.

He was speaking at the closing ceremony of the Pakistan Urban Forum. Referring to a list of recommendations earlier presented by Dr Murtaza Haider, he said it was missing the need to build community infrastructure such as playgrounds, schools, libraries, community halls, and cafes. These, he said, were essential to life in a city but policy makers frequently failed to pay the right amount of attention.

He criticised the approach adopted by development economists for a long time that only focused on urbanisation, industrialisation and increasing levels of national production and exports but forgot to take into account the kind of impact these figures have on people.

He said economic growth alone should not be the objective. There was a need to accept the values of modernity that came along. He said cities were not only engines of growth, but also places where entrepreneurship was encouraged and new ideas were generated.

Earlier, Nasir Javed, the Urban Unit director, announced the launch of a Pakistan-World Professional Support Network.

He said it was an initiative to connect with and benefit from the knowledge of professionals of Pakistani origin who were settled abroad. Through the network, he said, the government could seek their advice on important policy issues.

Noorul Hasan, a media professional, urged the organisers to also arrange a Pakistan Rural Forum.

He said the presence of only one tree and several skyscrapers and highways reflected that people’s way of living was no longer in harmony with nature.

Other speakers on the concluding day included David Leather from the United Kingdom, Kathy Juliet from the Asian Development Bank and Shahnaz Arshad from the World Bank besides experts from China, Cambodia and Malaysia.

Recommendations

Dr Murtaza Haider presented a list of recommendations that were put forth by speakers in several technical and guest lectures during the five-day event.

The list highlighted the need for a national urban policy and called for the establishment of urban commissions at national and provincial levels to work on it. It stated that the rate at which urban population in the country was growing required creation of intermediate cities to ease pressure on big cities like Karachi and Lahore.

Dr Haider said the lack of clear boundaries of urban areas was a big hurdle in efficient delivery of municipal services. “No one knows where Lahore ends,” he said. He said the ultimate aim should be for the state to perform a regulatory function. Service delivery, he said, should be left to the private sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2011.