The website features his research papers, maps, photographs and other literature.
The architect and planner’s research papers, maps, photographs and other literature related to his work is available to visitors of the website - free of cost.
“The response has been good - the website gets 3,800 hits every day,” smiled Hasan, in his office at his residence, full of hundreds of papers and books. “I felt the need for a website to provide information to all those interested in my work. Before the site was launched, I would get two to three letters everyday from masters and PhD students, and developmental agencies, asking me about my work.”
Half of Hasan’s literature, including audio and video interviews, has yet to be uploaded.
Speaking about his comprehensive studies available online, Hasan says that his recent works show the changing nature of society - the ‘Karachi Density Study’, authored by Hasan and two teachers of the NED University, looks at settlements in Karachi, their densifications and recuperations. After studying these areas, Hasan has reworked these settlements on paper.
For the study, Hasan and his researchers studied four settlements - Nawa Lane in Lyari, Paposh Nagar, Khuda ki Basti, and an apartment block at Fahad Square - where large scale densifications have taken place or are in the process.
Speaking about Nawa Lane in Lyari, Hasan said that in the 1970s, there were 460 persons per hectare living in the area. The number has now risen to 4,000 persons per hectare. The reason for such high densification is that the Baloch want to live together, and don’t want to leave the area. Paposh Nagar, dominated by the Urdu-speaking people, has 1,500 persons per hectare living with a lot of mobility and transfer of property.
At Fahad Square, Hasan explains that there are five to six individuals living in two-bedroom apartments. Whereas in another apartment block, Labour Square, eight to ten people live in a single-bedroom apartment.
“In Khuda ki Basti, which I had planned, people are not living according to its design - children play on the streets instead of the playgrounds, no one wants commercial areas and people have instead opened shops in their houses.”
The website arifhasan.org, which took a year to launch as Hasan’s extensive work was being collected, also features an intriguing research on preserving the culture and archaeological treasure of Nagarpakar. “Due to the new roads which have been made, there has been an increase in the number of tourists in the area.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2013.
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