Revisiting the Islamabad Masterplan
Islamabad is meant to be a model capital city that sets the benchmark for urban development and a high standard of living in Pakistan. Unfortunately, for the past decades, the city has failed to keep up with the demands of its citizens and has relapsed to haphazard construction, dysfunctional services and broken promises of development. The first masterplan was designed in 1960 by the Greek architectural firm Doxiadis in a bid to move the capital from Karachi. Initially, the capital was meant to house only 600,000 residents. The firm suggested a revisit to the plan every two decades, but the CDA managed only in 1978 to revisit the plan and decide on the zoning regulations in the capital territory. Currently, the city houses upwards of 2 million residents and suffers from a lack of direction and vision from the administrative authorities. This bureaucratic laggard lead to a breakdown of provision of basic facilities which can be seen in housing societies that have no gas infrastructure and an unchecked increase of building violations. In light of this, the CDA recently announced a revisit of the masterplan with an experienced and dedicated staff at the helm. It is hoped that with their expertise and background, the masterplan can enable the city to address its needs as local government officials add that the updated masterplan will be designed keeping in mind the UN Sustainable Development Goals and will serve the city till the year 2040.
Pakistan has over the years adapted the 20th century American model of city-building and designed its cities to favour the automobile over the pedestrians. Notable examples include Los Angeles and the Fort Worth/Dallas metropolitan area where urban sprawl spans tens of kilometres in each direction. Vast road developments and expansions such as the Kashmir Highway and the Malir Expressway in Karachi are evidence of the infatuation developers have towards vehicular transport. However, even American cities are learning from their age-old practises and enabling the pedestrians to take over. Just last month the city of Seattle demolished the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a 65-year old elevated freeway across the waterfront of the city which had troubled residents for decades. With the colossal structure gone, residents can now comfortably walk to the waterfront and enjoy clear unobstructed views of the city’s bay area. Similarly, the Islamabad masterplan should actively seek not to glorify large road construction projects that can harm the surrounding environment and walkability that deter economic activity.
While public transport is a relatively affordable means of transport in a city, unreliable timings, uncomfortable seating and unbearable heat during the summer causes many citizens to purchase their own vehicles, be it cars or motorbikes. As the infrastructure has been built to cater to private car ownership, more and more citizens are emboldened to purchase vehicles that only adds to the air pollution and demands of fuel which are increasingly unsustainable. Hence, there is a need for a significant overhaul in the transport policy that enables city-dwellers, especially women to utilize the public transport with dignity, respect and comfort and create disincentives for using cars.
By following the simple mantra ‘Users and their needs should be at the heart of the planning process’, Lyon, a French city, championed designing its transportation and walking infrastructure keeping in mind all of its users. Even PM Khan has expressed interest in making our city more accessible for disabled users. Keeping accessibility as one of the foundations for the masterplan, a revamp of the primary transportation hubs and central business districts should be undertaken to ensure their equitable use. Pedestrianizing most parts of Blue Area has also been discussed in the urban planning community and has received positive response from stakeholders.
Zone V in Islamabad was built primarily as a residence area in the corner of the capital territory near Rawat. It is now home to a large and growing number of middle-class families that commute to Islamabad for work. As of now, citizens in Zone V do not have access to a single public library. Moreover, Zone V is lacking any significant green spaces and has unfortunately been severely neglected from any form of development or enforcement as there is virtually no presence of the CDA or MCI within this zone. There should be consistent efforts to ensure that the residents of this area are be provided with a sizeable park alongside sufficient green areas and libraries. Libraries could serve as youth centres and provide information and services on employment opportunities and leisure activities to the younger population. Lack of enforcement led to the construction of numerous illegal plazas across the GT Road which were only recently sealed by the authorities. A dedicated presence needs to be established for conformity and regulations lest further encroachments occur.
On a final note, in the book ‘Understanding Karachi’ by the renowned architect Arif Hasan, it is argued that one of the reasons the Karachi masterplan failed was due to its non-legally binding status. Politicians and real estate developers would collude together and practise china-cutting and when confronted, would point out that the masterplan simply isn’t legally binding and only serves as an ‘advisory’ document. Hence, to counter such practises in the future, the Islamabad masterplan should have significant legal backing in order to resist illicit land-grabbing.
Suffice to say, there are high hopes for a resilient masterplan that can accommodate the growing needs of the city for the next 20 years. The masterplan revisit shows a renewed interest in urban planning and involving stakeholders in the discussion by inviting them for dialogue and contributions.
