Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his recent speeches, emphasised more than once on the importance of Master Plans for our ever-growing cities. He rightly pointed out that in the absence of any such plans, the cities are becoming not only uncontrollable but also failing to serve their purpose i.e. economic growth and uplifting of living standard of people. Most of the cities are struggling and lagging behind population with a greater degree of environmental degradation be it air pollution, wastewater or the huge heaps of solid waste. Answering the call from the PM, many cities and authorities in the country showed their intention either to update their master plans or get them made. The said plans must be developed using a holistic approach rather than limiting them to land-use plans with telling cities where to put roads, parks and bus terminals only.

It should not be forgotten that cities’ master plans are like cities, they are not static. They should be dynamic and flexible to accommodate the ever-changing urban life. World Bank emphasised rightly by stating that master plans must be prepared through extensive public consultations. It should not be a top to bottom approach alone. The purpose of making master plans is to have living dynamic cities, which answer the needs of existing and future generations with inhabitants’ friendly manner without compromising upon the environment and the city’s identity. It should be dynamic, providing enough room for city expansion in a sustainable manner and inclusive for all. The plan must provide economic, social and technological harmony for its citizens.

Cities’ master plans are like cities, they are not static

We must learn from experiments and experiences gained in other countries. Among many, the most striking master plan that singles out is that of the city of Munich, Germany. The city started its urbanisation almost a millennium ago and luckily, most of the approaches and interventions made are well documented and preserved today. Munich not only became an industrial centre but it also remained centre for art and secured the identity of its citizens through centuries along with wars, destruction and the industrial revolution. The city in its history used “outward expansion and inward improvement.”

At times when it needed to develop some mega new settlements, it looked to the periphery of the city, at other times the city used all the available space or that can be made available within city to improve. Conversion of Munich old airport as an exhibition centre is most successful of all. The city gave the concept of ‘compact-urban-green’. Buildings were planned in a way that used space sparingly by building them compactly and densely. Urban implied that all necessities like residence, worksites, shopping, recreation, health and educational facilities were made available. Green was ensured through leaving enough space and arrays as lungs of the neighbourhood. Today many cities use green area per capita as an indicator. Strikingly they did not destroy naturally existing forests or greenery like us to make parks.

Unfortunately, in most of the developing countries, including Pakistan, the local city planners and architects failed to grasp the concept of an integrated approach. They have been burdened with the complex task of providing livable urban areas to a large volume of population and they have failed mostly. The single most important reason has not been their incompetency but rather their lack of vision and willingness to accommodate other experts in their respective domains. Munich finalized its wastewater master plan in 1874 while the city’s master plan was formally endorsed in 1904. A city’s master plan is neither dealing with land use alone, nor it ignores other factors like provision of municipal services or traffic management. Looking again back at Munich, the city managers foresaw a huge influx of traffic in future long ago and planned accordingly especially to keep the old city safe from this.

City Planners in our country need to realize the importance of citizens participation. Citizens from the middle class and later all citizens remained the deciding force for Munich throughout its history. We are busy building structures or planning things, the citizens have placed low in their priorities. Therefore, a non-political citizens’ council (not city council) in each city must be established. Its approval should be made mandatory before projects beyond a certain degree of impact are planned or executed in that specific city. Secondly, the city planners should go for their well-known land-use plans after municipal services’ sectors have come up with their plans or it is done in close collaboration. A green park can be placed at an empty plot of land in the city but a wastewater treatment plant or a solid waste transfer and disposal facility can not be shifted to a place of choice. There are technical constraints, there are geographical constraints which dictate such decisions. Planners can decide to put an industrial zone to west or south of any city but the availability of raw material, on-ground situation and the ecological balance must be checked first in addition to land and HR availability. Similarly, connectivity, especially in future, is a key component. Traffic management plans should over rule the land use plans as the future is more and more related to transport and trade. A professional city planning expert would be the one not drawing a land-use plan of the choice considering all existing structures null rather getting most from the existing settlements and accommodating other sectors with much greater constraints. Underground planning is of equal importance as is above-ground in the cities of the future. The cities would need roads, parks, buildings but beneath them, they need water and sewerage network, cables for electricity, high-speed internet and connections, they need waste collection and transport infrastructure otherwise our well-developed cities are well known to compete with Venice after every heavy rainfall.

The writer is working as a senior specialist at the Urban Unit Lahore. He has studied and worked in the fields of Engineering, Public Health, Ecology, Disaster Management, Change Management and Energy Management. He is especially interested in the circular economy and climate change