ASIA LINK – International Urban Design Joint Studio, Karachi, Pakistan

  Project funded under Asia Link Program (Belgium, India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka – European Architectural Council), Jointly conducted at Karachi, Pakistan  

Urban Transformation

Addressing Transformation to generate quality Residential Spaces in the old city of Karachi

The studio ‘Urban Transformation’ was aimed at demonstrating how transformation can be addressed in an existing urban fabric. In doing so, the challenge was to bring a positive impact for a long-term sustained change. The project site was located in the densely populated old city of Karachi, where a large number of small-scale industries, wholesale markets, and various traditional retail markets were located adjacent to residential neighborhoods. The environmental quality had degraded over years in the mixed-use urban setting due to hazardous industrial pollution. After visiting the site, my concern grew strongly for the people living in the area. With poor land regulations in the city, it was a tough challenge to figure out what could be that ‘change’? Within the paradigm of design, I proposed small incremental changes like creating pockets of open green spaces, tree-lined screening along the open drain lines, aesthetically pleasing streetscape, the possible creation of buffer spaces between residential, and industrial areas and regulating building typologies. These small changes if introduced into the overall urban fabric could lead to reinforcing progressive changes over time in order to improve the quality of life.