Human Settlements
Origins of the OPP Sanitation Programme
Sometime in 1973, I received a phone call from a person who called himself the ‘Chor (robber) man’ of the federal government’s Appropriate Technology Development Cell (ATDC). He wanted to see me immediately. I told...
Residential Segregation In Mithi and Karachi
Abstract This paper responds to the article by Gayatri Singh, Trina Vithayathil and Kanhu Charan Pradhan on residential segregation by caste in urban India, in this issue of Environment and Urbanization. It compares caste-based residential...
Icon Remembered
DR Akhtar Hameed Khan, the iconic South Asian social scientist, died in the US on Oct 8, 1999. His body was brought to Karachi and buried in the compound of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP),...
Houses Or Housing?
The seriousness of the housing issue in Pakistan can be judged from the fact that conservative estimates put the housing backlog at 9 million units which is increasing at 300,000 units annually because of unmet...
Responding To The Transport Crisis In Karachi
Transport-related problems in Karachi have increased considerably in recent decades. Traffic congestion contributes to increased air and noise pollution, leading to health problems, high accident rates, and environmental degradation. It has also meant declining living...
Exploring Karachi Transport
The exponential increase in Karachi’s population, the change in its demographic indicators, the spatial spread of housing and the geographical concentration of livelihoods opportunities mean increasing transport pressures. This paper is a series of case...
KCR Concerns
THE Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is arguably the most important project in the pipeline since it connects the four areas where over 45 per cent of Karachi’s jobs are located with important low- and middle-income...
Ugly Karachi
KARACHI is becoming an increasingly anarchic, ugly and divided city — but is loved and glorified by its comparatively well-to-do citizens, public intellectuals and those in search of an identity. Loving Karachi is understandable but...
Eclipse of Feudalism
WITHIN Pakistani intellectuals and academia, it is agreed that Pakistani society has changed. However, there is little articulation of the fundamental nature and processes of change and how public policy should address it. The most...
Road map needed
RESEARCH by the Urban Resource Centre Karachi has established that in the absence of a reasonable transport system a large percentage of women do not work, children often do not get to school, time and...
State of Transport
THE Sindh government’s Karachi Mass Transit Plan 2030 contains six bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors. At a well-attended public meeting arranged by the Sindh Environment Protection Agency, the Mass Transit Master Plan and the Environment...
Urban Land Reform
OVER the last two years, there have been numerous seminars, workshops and happenings around Karachi issues. The dominant theme has been one of nostalgia. Senior citizens have spoken about a once liberal city of bars,...
