A new book on Karachi, ‘Instant City’ has been written by the host of National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep, to provide “a deeply reported portrait of ... a city that illuminates the perils and possibilities of rapidly growing metropolises all around the world”.
As the synopsis by Penguin Press says, in recent decades, the world has seen an unprecedented shift of people from the countryside into cities. “As Steve Inskeep so aptly puts it, we are now living in the age of the ‘instant city,’ when new megacities can emerge practically overnight, creating a host of unique pressures surrounding land use, energy, housing, and the environment.”
In his first book, the co-host of Morning Edition explores how this epic migration has transformed one of the world’s most intriguing instant cities: Karachi, Pakistan.
Karachi has exploded from a colonial port town of 350,000 in 1941 to a sprawling metropolis of at least 13 million today.
As the booming commercial centre of Pakistan, Karachi is perhaps the largest city whose stability is a vital security concern of the United States, and “yet it is a place that Americans have frequently misunderstood”.
As Inskeep underscores, one of the great ironies of Karachi’s history is that the decision to divide Pakistan and India along religious lines in 1947 only unleashed deeper divisions within the city - over religious sect, ethnic group, and political party. In ‘Instant City’, Inskeep investigates the 2009 bombing of a Shia religious procession that killed dozens of people and led to further acts of terrorism, including widespread arson at a popular market.
As he discovers, “the bombing is in many ways a microcosm of the numerous conflicts that divide Karachi, because people wondered if the perpetrators were motivated by religious fervor, political revenge, or simply a desire to make way for new real estate in the heart of the city”.
Despite the violence that frequently consumes Karachi, Inskeep finds remarkable signs of the city’s tolerance, vitality, and thriving civil society - from a world-renowned ambulance service to a socially innovative project that helps residents of the vast squatter neighborhoods find their own solutions to sanitation, health care, and education.
Inskeep has drawn on interviews with a broad cross section of Karachi residents, from ER doctors to architects to shopkeepers. The book is 288 pages long, available in hardcover, is priced at $32 and for now, appears to only be available online.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
When ever I am in Karachi I always recall (27 Dec/12 May) violence and the fear when I was running here and there for my life, constant fear of repeated mugging at gun point and uncontrollable disregard of traffic violation ..... its hurts how once called city of light has so much darkness inside.
Reading such articles/books with a warm coffee/tea in hand does make you feel good but ask how reality taking bite of life from poor people who lost their loved one without a cause.
I wonder if Karachi is really lost ....
Isn't the population 18-20 million?