Pakistan is the world's sixth most populous country, with an estimated population of 169.9 million as at endâ€June 2009, and an annual growth rate (revised) of 2.05 per cent. Over the next 25 years, the urban population in Pakistan is likely to increase by 140% (Figure 1). This dramatic increase in urban populations will add another 80 million to the urban population in Pakistan, bringing the total urban population to a 130 million people. The year 2030 will be a major landmark in Pakistan's development as a nation. For the first time in 83 years, the urban population in Pakistan will constitute 50% of the total population. From nearly 50 million urbanites today, Pakistan will be home to a massive urban population of 130 million, with one of the largest urban centres in the world (Economic survey, 2009).
Rapid urbanisation is arguably the most complex and important socio-economic phenomenon of the 20th and 21st centuries. Generally understood as a shift from a predominantly rural to a predominantly urban society, it also represents major and irreversible changes in production and consumption and the way people interact with nature.
In Pakistan, the current state of towns and cities is at complete odds with the rich heritage of urban planning that flourished in the subcontinent for more than a millennium. Cities once known for manicured gardens and exquisite fountains today reek of unmanaged solid waste and sewage. Due to resource constraints, sanitation and water supply problems.
1.2 Rural-urban migration, population growth and rate of urbanization
The rapid growth of cities is a common and persisting demographic phenomenon in most of the developing countries including Pakistan. This growth has led to an increase in the degree of urbanization. Pakistan is the most urbanized nation in South Asia with city dwellers making up 36% of its population, (2008).While the urbanization rate is 3% (2005â€10). Both the natural increase (population growth) and net migration are the major contributory factors to urban growth (ADB, 2006).
According to a report titled 'Life in the City: Pakistan in Focus', released by the United Nations Population the proportion of females is lowest in rural to urban migration and highest in rural to rural migration. In the rural-urban stream, the share of females is 51 per cent in Pakistan. A relatively large fraction of rural-urban migrants crosses provincial boundaries.
At least one in every three city dwellers in Pakistan lives in a slum. Many migrants, who move to cities in order to find jobs and have a better life, may not find jobs in the formal sector or any kind of decent shelter with a minimum of basic amenities. The informal sector provides employment to most migrants and they gravitate to squatter colonies where they build some kind of shelter for themselves. As a result, slum and marginal human settlements have spread in most urban localities, particularly in urban agglomerations.
In Pakistan, the urban population living in katchi abadis varies between 35 and 50 percent. The growth of these informal settlements in the two mega cities, Karachi and Lahore, has particularly been massive.
According to the 1998 census (Figure 2), Sindh is the most urbanised province with 49 percent per cent of the population living in urban areas. The shares of urban population in Punjab and Baluchistan in 1998 were 31 and 23 percent respectively. NWFP is the least urbanised province with urban population share of only 17 per cent.
The trend over time shows that for both, 1972-81 and 1981-98 time periods, urban areas grew primarily because of natural increase (Figure 3). However, its role was more dominant in the 1970s than in the 1980s and 90s. It might be due to a decline in urban marital fertility rate, which declined substantially from 8.1 in the mid-1970s to 5.7 in the early 1990s. The share of internal migration in urban growth (20.1 percent) was similar for the two periods, 1972-81 and 1981-98.The dominance of natural increase as a factor of growth is also found across the provinces, although the contribution of internal migration was relatively higher in Sindh and Baluchistan.
Cities are remarkable organisms. At the heart of urbanization are these cities. Over the last few decades, cities in both developing and developed countries have emerged as the major form of human settlement. Some cities are growing much more rapidly because of rural-to-urban migration than others. Cities in Pakistan vary considerably in size, and there is a concentration of urban population in large cities. More than half of the total urban population of the country lived in 2005 in eight urban agglomerations: Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Hyderabad, Gujranwala, and Peshawar. Between 2000 and 2005, these cities grew at the rate around 3 percent per annum, and it is projected that this growth rate will continue for next eight to nine years. By 2015 the population of Karachi will exceed 15 million while Lahore and Faisalabad will cross eight million and three million respectively. (United Nations, 2005)
1.3 Urban planning initiatives for sustainable urban development
Urban planning is a fundamental tool for urban development and management. It is understood to refer to the planning of the physical structure of the development or land-use planning through the implementation of different types of plans: structure plan, local strategic plan, action or informal plans and masters' plans. Nevertheless, in recent years it has been much less effective than it could be. While, sustainable development is truly about achieving a balance between several objectives (environmental, economic and social) over dynamic time and spatial horizons. Sustainable urban development means different things to different people. While there is a general consensus that "sustainable urban development" is a good and desirable state of development that countries should commit to, considerable confusion remains on how to translate this broad objective into national and local strategies or plans of actions for achieving it. (UN, 2001)
This high population growth, combined with difficulties in governance and inadequate investment in urban development, has resulted in uncontrolled and unplanned development of the cities and towns, a deterioration in urban environment, and deficiencies in all forms of urban services, including water supply, sewerage, roads, drainage, and solid waste management. Absence of effective urban planning, land use control, and building regulations, coupled with limited financial capacities and inappropriate human skill resources has constrained the ability of the government to meet the overall needs of the urban communities. The result has been a decreasing level of urban social infrastructural service, an increase in the shortfall of housing stock, and the multiplication of urban slums. This situation will only worsen unless drastic measures are adopted and implemented as a matter of urgency.
All urban planning, development and operation and maintenance falls under the provincial and the local government except for Islamabad and Cantonment areas, which report directly to Federal government. Electricity, gas and telecommunications are the direct responsibility of federally controlled companies and / or corporations. The planning functions of these various organisations are carried out independently, egotistically, with minimum co-ordination, reflecting the lack of any strategic planning. Provincial governments, through their departments concerned, have been carrying out the statutory task of preparing regional development plans, master plans and outline development plans.
Although some of the available plans may be well conceived yet all of them lack the guidance of a national urban development policy. Over the last two decades many valuable studies at federal level have been carried out for policy formation. Nevertheless they have become victims of ever changing political priorities and interests. Studies commissioned by the Environment and Urban Affairs Division (EUAD) GOP include:
The National Human Settlements Policy Study
The Management of Cities Policy Study
The National Building Code Study
The National Housing Policy Study
At provincial level there has been a complete absence of mid-term [5 year] development plans. This in turn leaves all local level planning and development efforts without the support of a co-ordinating framework. Generally, the planning process has been too pre-occupied with land use designation and control rather than serving as a spatial framework.
Industrialization , deforestation and the environment
Urbanisation is a natural consequence of the process of industrialization and rapid population growth, while the latter acts as a push factor for sending people out, to ease pressure on land, the former pulls them, by providing better job opportunities and infrastructure and service facilities in cities
Industries not only create jobs but they also contribute to environmental degradation. In Pakistan, like other developing nations, industries are located in the major urban centres and much of the industrial waste is disposed off untreated in rivers and canals (Sahibzada, 1993)
For instance, Karachi is the biggest industrial site in Pakistan, is contributing significantly to pollution with highly toxic wastes being disposed off in the environment. The huge quantities of industrial waste water containing almost all types of pollutants, even those with lethal toxicity are discharged into the coastal waters, thus putting the marine life to great pollution stress.
Industries in Faisalabad discharge high levels of solids, heavy metals, aromatic dyes, inorganic salts and organic materials directly into municipal sewers without any treatment, polluting agricultural lands and contribute to environmental degradation.
The rapid growth of urbanisation, coupled with ineffective planning and land use controls and inadequate funding for the operation and maintenance of urban infrastructure services contribute to deteriorating environmental conditions and another major source is the extensive cutting of trees and deforestation. Pakistan belongs to the group of countries with the lowest per capita forest area in the world (0.05 hectares per capita). Because of such low area under forest, the country can ill afford the unplanned rapid cutting of trees, as this "extensive deforestation" is a major threat to the nation as a whole.
Transportation sector growth and sustainability of environment
Vehicle emissions in urban areas of Pakistan are the major source of air pollution, particularly because of the use of leaded fuel. Motor vehicles account for 90 per cent of the total emissions of hydrocarbons, aldehydes and carbon monoxide in cities and for three-fourths of the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emission. Studies in many countries (World Bank, 1992) have quantitatively lined air pollution with respiratory diseases including lung cancer, and with mental retardation.
The uncontrolled growth in urbanization and motorization generally contributes to an urban land use and transportation system that is socially, economically, and environmentally unsustainable. Urban transportation is a pressing concern in mega cities around the world. The rapid urbanization and motorization in these cities have a direct impact on sustainable development. The transport sector's energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions will likely be doubled by the year 2025 ( (Intikhab Ahmed Qureshi, 2007).
The increased urbanization and economic growth in the cities put a tremendous pressure on travel demands. The increased demand has quickly filled the roadway infrastructure as about 33% of all motorized vehicles in the country throng on its roads and expressways (Intikhab Ahmed Qureshi, 2007). Urbanization and motorization proceed with inadequate government and technological support for sustainable development plans. The negative externalities of the transport sector have gradually harmed the environmental conditions in urban areas and are continuing to exacerbate the quality of life in Pakistan. The unchecked growth in the vehicle fleet combined with an aging and ill maintained vehicle stock has degraded the road environment which has resulted in severe congestion on the roads along with serious levels of air and noise pollution in our country.
Automation, choice of technology in environment sustainability
The past two decades witnessed a heightened concern over environmental degradation. Of the various options open to society to reduce the environmental burden, technology is widely considered as the most attractive option. Whether technology alone will be sufficient to achieve an environmentally sustainable future is unclear.
Certainly, the installation of pollution control devices and re-use systems, the introduction of environmental care systems, and the modification of existing technologies are necessary if we are to achieve a sustainable economy. However, such changes alone will be largely insufficient for achieving the ultimate goal of sustainable development. To achieve that, more fundamental changes in technology are needed such as a switch away from hydrocarbon-based energy supply, conversion and end-use technologies (towards the use of renewables or electric vehicles powered by batteries or fuel cells) or the replacement of car commuter traffic by interactive telecommunication systems allowing for activities like telework and teleshopping (Kemp, 2008).
The problem of inducing such shifts in complex technological systems poses a formidable task for policy makers, as it involves not only a change in technology, but also quite fundamental changes in production, organisation and the way in which people live their lives.
Intergenerational equity and justice regarding sustainable urban development : issues and risk factors
Sustainable development has been defined as development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987).Sustainability must be guaranteed in all dimensions of urban development. It demands that urban stakeholders balance the social, economic and environmental needs of the present and future generations. This intergenerational equity should take into account resources utilization, urban poverty reduction and environmental concerns through long-term, strategic vision of sustainable human development and the ability to reconcile divergent interests for the common good(UN-HABITAT, 2009)
When resources are depleted and species extinct, the options available to future generations are narrowed. The depletion of natural capital can lead to irreversible losses such as species and habitats, which once lost cannot be recreated through man-made capital. Other losses are not irreversible but repair may take centuries-for example, the ozone layer and soil degradation. Losses of species and ecosystem types also reduce diversity. Diverse ecological and economic systems are more resilient to shocks and stress (Beder, 2000). Hence, it is important to incorporate and integrate economy and the environment. In the narrowest terms it means that there should be a minimum level of income and environmental quality below which nobody falls. Everyone should have equal access to community resources and opportunities, and that no individuals or groups of people should be asked to carry a greater environmental burden than the rest of the community as a result of government actions.
