There isnt a single mayor outside of Pakistan who, when asked what his city's priorities are, won't answer: "the environment and transportation". Other issues are also a priority, like affordable housing, sanitation, employment opportunities, healthcare facilities and educational institutions. But the most fundamental concerns remain the environment and transport.
The concern for a clean and healthy environment encompasses issues such as clean drinking water - without which a city would become uninhabitable. It also recognises that urban areas are concentrations of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Across the world, urban planners are now mainstreaming climate change and energy concerns into the shape their cities will take.
Transportation and mobility are also recognised as fundamental for a city's economy. An urban economy depends on whether or not its citizens are mobile and have access to their city. Without mobility and without access, it is now understood, cities would atrophy; their citizens unable to find work or get to it.
Providing adequate housing underlines the issue of urban growth and the exclusion of the poor and working classes from the city. High property prices and rents in the city force the people who work there to move to peripheral areas. These peri-urban areas are characterised by their lack of urban facilities. Cities are increasingly becoming places where the rich live in well-secured enclaves and where the large majority of have-nots are excluded. Such exclusion works against the potential of a city and it is now recognised that urban planning must intervene to provide urban citizens with high quality and well-located housing and accommodation.
Most of the developments in urban planning around the world are apparently lost in Pakistan. Already the most urbanised country in South Asia, it is expected that more than half our population will live in urban areas by 2030. This means, in short, a doubling of city sizes. Cities like Lahore and Karachi may expect to see increases of population to 20 million or an unimaginable and ungovernable 30 million. Pakistan's secondary and tertiary cities are also expected to grow in size and, in all, this urban expansion will put (and is already putting) huge stress on available housing, sanitation infrastructure, existing employment opportunities, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, recreation spaces and transport facilities.
In Lahore, the present government has now exercised its control over urban management for the last four years. It's flagship projects, like the introduction of metered parking and the construction of a park and ride facility, have failed to live up to expectations. Its repeated claims of bringing hundreds of buses onto the city's streets remain, to date, hollow. The only project that has met with reasonable success is the Canal Road widening, and that too because of civil society and Supreme Court activism and intervention. Its current projects, like the construction of a BRT (bus rapid transit) network, are under a cloud of uncertainty. And while billions of Rupees of road infrastructure has been spent for Lahore's Ferozepur Road alone, the provinces other cities have received little or no attention. The condition in urban infrastructure is in shambles.
By way of comparison, Enrique Penalosa, the mayor of Bogota, introduced the Transmillenia BRT bus system, hundreds of kilometres of cycle lanes and thirteen public libraries in his three-year tenure.
The urbanisation of the Pakistani population means deep changes in Pakistani society. Both require the government to re-think its strategy of managing urban areas. It will no longer do to have centralised control over urban areas. Local government will have to be re-thought in light of the urbanization challenges people face. After all, the first duty of government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. In such a re-think, it would arrogant of government to exclude the people and stakeholders from consultations. The city of Lahore has proved to have a strong and vibrant civil society. Maybe it is time for the Government of Punjab to lend them its ears.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2012.
COMMENTS (8)
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We already have so many problems. Rural areas need to be developed to stop urbanization.
very informative article. Our leaders, especially from the Sindh must think about the changing pattern of the society. In recent times we have noticed that in urban areas the rate of criminal activities is increasing at very fast track. They must take concrete steps to curb this menace
there is no chance lahore and karachi are going to grow to 20 million or 30 millions. I have been reading same articles stating the scary growth for other large cities from last 10 years and nothing like that happened. After reaching size of 10-15 million city growth stops and some other cities start growing faster.
At least we can take comfort in the fact that the people will not vote the same inept and incompetent opposition (PML-N, the custodians of Lahore) into power for the 3rd time,. oh wait....
I fail to understand the point of this article. The writer takes us on a whirlwind tour of his worldview and launches into a brief on Mayor Penalosa before dishing out more of this useless rhetoric. And how dare he mention the canal widening as a success...isn't it his own group that he is now glorifying as civil society--the same elitist camp who have homes along the canal. People like this activist-writer only spell trouble. Next time Mr.Alam--have a point!
Having a elected, accountable, and transparent local government system is the most pivotol prerequisite for basic urban management.
Success of governance is inversely proportional to it's distance from the people it serves. Devolution of power and resources right down to grassroot level is the answer to our current corrupt and incompetent governance.
Mr. Alam, I share your frustrations. The Lahore that I have seen and the Lahore what it is today (and you describe it quite well) are two different scenarios. It is very sad indeed and makes me to think of the plight of rural Pakistan where bulk of its population still lives. Keep up the good job.