Daily Times

Living in a big city is always enjoyable as people get a lot of facilities and services, especially when compared to the countryside. Thousands of people commute daily to find employment in the cities. Cities offer modern infrastructure on top of services like employment, medical facilities, better education, better transport, entertainment, sports clubs, quality food as well as safe and clean drinking water.

Many people from rural backgrounds dream to move from their villages to cities. No doubt, one would cherish to live in a big city.

But despite having all these facilities, metropolitan cities, especially those in developing countries, have made the lives of urban communities a nightmare. Instead of facilitating the lives of people, now metropolitan cities and megacities have proved to be a hub of diseases and problems. Many problems that exist in cities are the result of poor planning and ineffective urban management. That’s why these problems can be called planning or more specifically, urban planning problems. Cities are facing many planning-related challenges, which can be solved through flexible and problem-solving planning techniques.

The biggest challenge that cities now face is urbanisation. Before 1850, no city could be described as fundamentally urban but now, all industrial and less developed countries are urban. As time goes by, the cities are becoming increasingly urban as people living in the less developed societies move towards the urban living patterns, common in many advanced countries for some time. Today, 54 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050. Projections show that urbanisation, combined with the overall growth of the world’s population, could add another 2.5 billion people to urban populations by 2050, with close to 90 per cent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa (UN DESA’s population division).

It is recognised that over 71 per cent of the city’s growth takes place outside of the formal planning practices. In developing countries, over 30 per cent of the population is living in slums or Katchi Abadis, where public land (sometimes, private vacant land) is illegally occupied. In African countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, almost 89 per cent of new urban settlements are taking the form of urban slums as the population growth rate is the highest in the world in this part of the globe. These slums don’t have open and green spaces with no or very poor water, sanitation, drainage, sewerage, gas and electricity facilities; making them most vulnerable to climate changes or any crucial disastrous situation. This issue of unplanned urbanisation is also a major concern in the developed world. Urban areas generate almost 81 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide; making urban policies fail.

The total population of Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan, is 21,27,42,631 (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2017). According to the 1998 census, the population of Pakistan was 132,352,279 and the difference in population from 1998 to 2017 is 80,39,03,52; almost 61 per cent of 1998’s population. An increase in population has resulted in more urbanisation in the cities. Now, Pakistan has two megacities, Lahore and Karachi, with a population of more than 10 million.

Lahore offers numerous opportunities yet also hosts a lot of urban planning problems. With a population of 51,43,495 in 1998, the city now hosts more than 11.3 million people. Though urbanisation is not a problem, rapid urbanisation, which is usually not manageable, is a big problem.

Rapid urbanisation has resulted in haphazard development in the urban areas and on the periphery of the city, which has changed its landform. The uncontrolled urbanisation results in many problems in urban areas. It is challenging the urban managers and town planners to manage the urban population and decentralise the urban activities to make the urban centres free from over-congestion and encroachments, traffic jams and pollution. Haphazard development has resulted in urban sprawls, Katchi Abadis, slum and squatters in the Lahore City, which is a challenging job for the urban managers. This is largely because of less affordable housing provision by the government and law enforcement authorities like Lahore development authority (LDA).

Air pollution is damaging the lives and health of urban populations over the world and has turned out to be a serious urban planning problem due to the extinction of green belts. Air pollution accounts for over three million deaths around the globe. Lahore was once known as the city of gardens but now it is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The safe level set by the WHO for air pollution is 10 µg/m3 of PM 2.5 particles. Lahore has an annual average of 68 µg/m3. That is 6.8 times the WHO’s safe level.

Though urbanisation is not a problem, rapid urbanisation, which is usually not manageable, is a big problem

Meanwhile, Pakistan is ranked fourth among the most populated countries in the world (WHO). In Pakistan, there are nearly 59,241 deaths every year due to air pollution, out of which 13,683 are children (Breath Life campaign).

The availability of safe drinking water is an increasingly major concern for the interventional community, especially in the light of changing climate and depleting biodiversity. Access to safe drinking water for domestic use has become a major challenge for contemporary societies. Demand for clean and safe water has become more acute in the context of the growing global population, particularly in less developed countries. Hence, urbanisation has been phenomenal and puzzling with a rapid shift from 15 per cent in 1950 to about 41 per cent in 2007. It is estimated that by 2030, the continent may attain 54 per cent urban population.

It is estimated that close to 300 million people do not have access to drinking water. Research showed that water used in most households in developing countries is unsafe for consumption. It is also evident that every year, contaminated drinking water contributes to millions of deaths of the poorest people of the world from preventable diseases. In Pakistan, 44 per cent population doesn’t have access to clean drinking water and by 2020, Karachi would face a 600 MGD shortfall (Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources PCRWR).

Traffic load has now made the situation worse for the people to move freely in the urban centres; affecting the LOS (level of service) and road infrastructure. Traffic jams in the urban areas are causing serious health issues, including headaches, depression and mental disorders. Time delays, non-serious behaviour of public towards traffic rules, hurry to reach the destination and poor implementation of traffic rules by law enforcing agencies have all worsened the situation.

We don’t have a housing problem; we have a land speculation problem. Land speculation is a worldwide phenomenon and many developed countries have been suffering from this tumour for many years. Right now, Lahore is the hub of real estate in Pakistan. This phenomenon has led to serious affordable housing problems for the urban poor. There is already a backlog of more than eight million housing units, which is growing approximately by about 300,000 units every year. The international standard of per room density is 1.1 persons while in Pakistan, it is 3.5 persons. The provision of housing has remained a core task for the planning agencies in Lahore. Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has developed a lot of schemes in the Lahore city for the welfare of the inhabitants while Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency (PHATA) has also developed similar schemes in the Lahore city. Whereby, the city has also sprawled because of the economic forces.

The governmental and planning authorities should define the boundaries of Lahore.

It should develop satellite towns around Lahore, with all facilities to guide the plan development and sustainable growth like in London. Development control is the fundamental part of the city and, on a bigger scale, the country’s sustainable development. To make the Lahore city ideal, law enforcement agencies should ensure proper development control. Legislations have to be made by upper planning tier, including senators and politicians, along with city planners, environmentalists and other related professionals related to development control because development control helps make cities ideal; stops social change (stops migration when all facilities are present in local areas); stops diseases (through planned and sustainable development) and protects the environment. The government should encourage investment in undeveloped and underdeveloped areas, through public-private partnerships, by giving them tax relief. Water is a major concern throughout the world. The extraction of unplanned urbanisation should be banned, and the government should monitor the extraction of water and ensure the clean water supply in all areas. In the master plan, the LDA should identify areas for future growth where walkable housing schemes can be established. All areas should be linked with efficient integrated public transport. As all these problems are not linked with Lahore or Pakistan only but also identified and recognised at the international level, Pakistan should collaborate with all delegations and protocols made at the international level. It should learn from the experiences of developed countries, which overcame such planning problems.

The writer is a final year student of City and Regional Planning Department, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore