A View of Architectural Education
Like many architects of my generation I started to question the conventional role of an architect working in a Third World city. I saw clearly that my work did not deal with any of the issues related to the crisis of the built environment in Karachi or in the other areas of Pakistan where I was working.
Contribution for ACHR Newsletter – Habitat Issue
Twenty years ago the Habitat Conference accepted that the major problem in Asian cities was shelter for the poor who constitute over sixty five per cent of the population in urban Third World Asia. It...
The Future of the Award
Since its first cycle, ending with the Award ceremony in Lahore in 1980, the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has travelled a long way. The distance it has covered is best illustrated by the difference...
Grand Seminar on Mega-Cities
My topic is an Asian overview of patterns of violence with special focus on Karachi. I am not a social scientist nor have I ever done any research on violence. However, I have in the...
Losing Their Census
In the absence of a fresh census, the projection of earlier trends into the nineties points towards a major shift in urban-rural demographic ratios, leading to significant political repercussions… Articles in the national press, letters...
A Case study of the Urban Basic Services Programme in Sukkur, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Executive Summary The large demand-supply gap in the housing sector in Pakistan has led the creation or unserviced or under-services squatter settlements or katchi abadis. It is estimated that over 40 percent of Pakistan’s urban...
What is Karachi Really Fighting For?
The fundamental cause of the alienation among Karachi’s lower middle and working class population does not lie simply in the ‘deprivation’ suffered by the mohajirs and the absence of an effective local government for the...
Report on a Visit to the Shahjalal Housing Trust Project, Sylhet, Bangladesh
1. Introduction The Shahjalal Housing Trust (SHT) has been trying to set up a rental housing scheme in Sylhet with the support of Homeless International (HI). In this connection, SHT and HI have been in...
The Architect and the Built Environment
During the last century, and especially in the last three decades, major changes have taken place in the form and function of the built environment in both the rural and urban areas of Pakistan. These...
Agreeing to Disagree
A meaningful dialogue between the people of Karachi and the ruling party is becoming increasingly difficult. Karachi’s population seems to have lost hope in the system as it stands and is now looking for alternative...
Is There a Way Out?
(Completely alienated from the country’s political process and saddled with a corrupt and ineffective administrative set-up the city of Karachi has become a hotbed of every variety of violence and crime. Is the city doomed...
Report for the ODA (UK) on Four Participatory Development Projects in Pakistan
The Urban Scene in Pakistan Pakistan’s urban population is 37.6 million out of a total population of 115.4 million. Which makes it 32.6 percent of the total population. It is growing at a rate of...
