The Marginalized
The nalas of Karachi have lost their water carrying capacity because of markets, administrative and related buildings and car parks of the Sindh Government, road infrastructure, and elite colonies, and katchi abadis have been built...
Why Karachi Floods
Governments are quick to blame devastating floods on climate change. But many of the reasons for these floods are to do with what governments have not done. Here, Arif Hasan reviews the many reasons why...
How Urban Is Pakistan
Before 1981, urban meant settlements of 5,000 and above which had urban characteristics related to density and occupation. 1981 and after, the definition was changed to those settlements which had an urban governance structure. As...
The Density Debate
AMONG professionals, a debate on post-corona-related planning, especially on density issues, has begun. They are out to create a new and more humane world. I would like to vulgarise this debate by injecting an element...
Post-Covid planning
Before the coronavirus arrived, the directions for the development of Karachi had already been set in keeping with neoliberal thinking. The city was going to be ‘gentrified’, which meant taking away space from the poor...
Union Councils
According to activists who have participated in coronavirus-related relief measures, a number of learnings have surfaced from their work and from that of the NGOs they have been associated with and from government efforts. One,...
Karachi Master Plan 2020
With its 15 million population and an urban sprawl of 1300 sq km, the city of Karachi is the 7 th largest city in the world. Karachi is recognized and valued for its enormous diversity...
Greater Karachi Plan 1952
This book is actually a reproduction of the original report published in 1951. [Click here to download the complete book in PDF]
The Future of Karachi’s CBD
Karachi’s Central Business District (CBD) is normally considered to lie between Lea Market to the north, Maulvi Tamizzuddin Road to the south and between the Quaid’s Mazar to the east and Merewether Tower to the...
Social Realities
DUE to the implementation of the Oct 22, 2019, Sindh High Court judgement ordering the removal of all ‘encroachments’ on public space, major changes in human relations have taken place in my neighbourhood in Karachi....
Socially Responsive Architecture – Should Be Responsive To What?
Click here to download the complete presentation given at IAP Lahore
One Year Later
IN its original form, Karachi’s Empress Market had 280 shops and stalls inside the building. In 1954, the KMC increased this number to 405 and built an additional 1,390 shops and cabins on its periphery....
