Expert says no umbrella framework exists to address urban resilience. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD.
“Lahore is the closest Pakistani city to the model of a smart city. However, planners need to overcome the economic disparity visible in various parts of the city,” Farhan Anwar, an expert in strategic planning, said on Saturday.
He was speaking at a two-day workshop on Understanding Sustainable Cities by Friedrich Neumann Foundation at a local hotel.
He said core sustainability values of a smart city were related to environment, economy and equity.
He said giving people many choices for an urban lifestyle in sustainable, convenient and enjoyable place was the ‘new urbanism.’
He said currently, no umbrella framework or legislation existed either at national or city-level to address the issue of urban resilience.
“There are serious inadequacies in research and documentation, particularly mapping and profiling of vulnerable communities and assets,” he said. He said by 2050, only two cities in the current top-10 mega cities will be in high income countries. He said the future model cities would emerge from developing countries. “Karachi will be among the 10 biggest cities by 2015. Communities and institutions like emergency response agencies, healthcare, fire services and civil defense are severely ill trained, ill equipped and financially constrained to effectively meet challenges,” he maintained.
Khadeeja Khan moderated the workshop which will conclude on Sunday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2014.
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Apart from Islamabad, Lahore by far is better managed compared to other cities of Pakistan. Having said, its no way near to be called smart city, it still has two extremes of living standards. There are no strong transport links for urban traveling, non existent public toilets. Patchy street cleaning limited only to major roads and prominent housing societies. Its drainage system still fail the city in rainy season. Pollution levels are at hazardous level with no recycling awareness or facilities. There are no accessible buildings or pathways for wheel chair users. There are no cycle lanes to promote healthy commuting.
@Aamer Khwaja : Ovais merely pointed out a fact and the committee's lack of knowledge, and did not compare karachi to lahore. You need to read properly before posting.
@ovais: Largest by population, size & by largest in muslim ummah doesnt make it a good city. I travel to & fro between Lhr & Khi, I can tell you one thing, Ive seen Lahore overtake Karachi in the past 5-6 years, Lahore is too far ahead now in terms of development, infrastructure, cleanliness, etc etc.
@Humza: world city?? huh.... gimme a break.... just having some gardens and flyovers doesn't make a city world class..... lahore lack infrastructure..... apart from the metro bus that too which just covers a tiny fraction of lahore..... transportation is horrible.... power cuts in summers go upto 18-20 hours a day...... the airport cant handle many passengers and cargo....featured among most polluted cities of the world.... plz come out of dha ( home to army elites) and check all of lahore....... then there is massive gas loadshedding ......by what means world class city??? its not just katchi abadis ....there are like tonnes of challenges...
Karachi is the 3rd-largest city in the world by population within city limits, the 7th largest urban agglomeration in the world and the largest city in the Muslim world. These people dont even know facts and they talk about development
There are two distinct zones east of Ravi : 1. DHA 2. Rest of Lahore. Pity those denizens of zone 2 .....
@Amina: Despite the need for ongoing work, no one in Pakistan can deny that Lahore is moving towards being a real world class city. I visit my relatives in Lahore near Ichraa and I have seen the area improve considerably over the last decade.Yes the challenge of katchi abadis is there but this will improve along with the overall improvements in Lahore.
ET just ran an article which indicate Lahore is one of the most polluted cities on the planet - not sure how that equates to "smart city".
@Amina
While we are at it, why not declare 4/4 of Lahore outside Gulberg and perhaps DHA katchi abadis. Do you even know what a katchi abadi is?
Not true! I live in Gulberg, Lahore and it shard to breathe there due to constant burning of trash in the open. Also, 3/4 of Lahore is katchi abadis like harbanspura, mominpura etc. just see on google maps.