Assignment 1

Future of cities in Pakistan?

Rather than becoming promising urbanization has become problematic for Pakistan. With
urbanization becoming a trend in Pakistan, the cities of Pakistan have been flocked with
people. The two drivers of urbanization are:

 Increase in population of cities due to the natural growing rate of population.

 Migration of people from rural areas to urban areas/ cities.

Pakistan’s cities contribute much less to the economy compared to other developing
countries. Pakistani cities – inhabited by 38 percent of the population – make up around
55 percent of total GDP. India’s urban population is 30 percent, with 58 percent of its
GDP coming from cities. In Indonesia, urban population and urban share of GDP are 44
percent and 60 percent respectively. The cities of Pakistan already face so many
challenges, from the unhygienic housing spaces to load shedding of electricity and gas.
Shortage of water has also proved to be a major problem in these cities, and nobody
seems to be resolving these problems for the people already living in these cities. In most
Pakistani cities, water is supplied only four to 16 hours per day and to only 50 percent of
the population. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 90 percent of water
supply schemes are unsafe for drinking. Tight and congested houses with one toilet used
by multiple families has become very common in the poverty stricken areas in these big
cities. Rural areas today are estimated to make up to 60 percent of urban Pakistan If the
government does not take any action for the betterment of the cities, they will become
much more destroyed than they already are. The State Bank of Pakistan has estimated
that across all major cities, urban housing was approximately 4.4 million units short of
demand in 2015. If current trends continue, Pakistan’s five largest cities will account for
78 percent of the total housing shortage by 2035.The infrastructure of most of the big
cities of Pakistan was unplanned hence when the population grew, adding more houses
made living standards go downhill, and they will continue to worsen in the coming years.
The people come to these cities for better education, jobs and healthcare, however these
cities will not be able to accommodate more people in the coming years if the
government does not take the required measures to be taken. In 2015, an unanticipated
heat wave in Karachi led to almost 1,500 deaths. Karachi is the only megacity in the
world without a mass public transport system. Meanwhile, the cost of private
transportation is estimated to have increased by over 100 percent since 2000.If we
continue down this path, the streets of the cities will be filled with cars and other
automobiles, as the local transport system will not be accommodate the rapidly growing
population. Noise pollution, Air pollution and water-pollution will increase. More people
will be unemployed as the cities have failed to come up with financially rewarding and
productive jobs and crimes will increase to provide families with bread and butter.

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Providing public services will be much more challenging for the government. In
conclusion, the cities will become much messier and difficult to manage.

What measures/steps you think

should be taken to improve the
cities of future?
In my opinion, the following must be taken to improve the future of the cities:

 To avoid informal housing with unhygienic conditions, the government must

create housing societies for the incoming people and make it affordable as these
people that are coming in are from rural areas in the search of better living
standards. So, loans and funds must be given out to these people to make a home
for themselves in the designated housing societies.
 The government must create more jobs so that the people contribute to the
economy of Pakistan rather than increasing crimes in these big cities.
 Only creating jobs will not help, the government must come up with ways to
improve their education system as most people cannot afford the expensive
education that private sector provides. People who get better education will have
more chances of getting a financially rewarding job.
 Providing people with good healthcare should be the top priority of the
government. As the already unhygienic conditions keep most of the hospitals
busy. Government must take the initiative of constructing more healthcare
centers.
 Improving the infrastructure of the cities is very important, building new roads
and flyovers is a matter that must be highlighted as the increase in number of cars
have made it mandatory .
 With constructing better roads it is also of immense importance to improve the
local transport system and make it safer. If the local transport system improves,
people will be encouraged to use it and we will observe a more relaxed traffic.
 Crimes are a huge problem for the people living in these big cities of Pakistan.
Street crimes have increased in number as the government is seen to ignore the
cry of the people. Government must take strict actions against these crimes so that
people become more satisfied.
 The problem of load shedding of electricity and gas must be resolved.

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  Water supply should be improved and clean water must be made available for
everyone.
 As increase in population is a huge driver in urbanization, people of Pakistan must
be made aware of contraceptives in order to control the population.

How should your smart city look

like?
The smart city that I design will be built around its users keeping in mind their needs and
using technology to achieve what the people living in it would most desire. AN
information network will be created to understand the resources we have and to make the
best use of them. I will make sure that the city is people-friendly, fair, sustainable and
viable by encouraging the society to move towards a more environmental-friendly future.
Some of the features of my smart city are as follows:
 The city will a hub to try out new technologies and advancements.
 Data will be gathered on cloud of the people living in the smart city, the number
of vehicles that drive around and other useful information.
 The city will have sensors on every street and street light. These streetlights will
gather information and send it too. The sensors will sense the motion of a person
or vehicle and light up and the second they move forward it will send information
to the next street light to glow up. The rest will not light up in order to conserve
electricity and ultimately resources.
 The sensors in the parking areas will make it easier for the people to find parking
in real-time by suing an application on their cell phones so they won’t have to
drive around to find a parking spot.
 The sensors fitted in waste bins will help the waste collection companies know
how full containers are in real-time.
 Weather sensors will manage automatic watering systems in parks and lawns.
 Other sensors will provide information on noise pollution and air pollution.
 There will be sensors to detect the water level in rivers to prevent floods or in
order to prepare for them.
 If any accident occurs, the alert will be received immediately and acted upon as
soon as possible. Remote monitoring will provide real-time information. Other
people who take the same road will be update on their GPS systems.
 The intersections will be designed with the help of the data collected of the people
using the streets.
 Healthcare centers will be made in every sector of the city.

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 Buildings will be made of material that would resist earthquake. Any destruction
in it will be reported immediately by sensors.
 Remote monitoring will also help in keeping a check on crimes.
 Number of government services will be offered online.
 All data of budgets will be available online, in order to enhace transparency and
accountability.
 To develop a city that is smart, it is of immense importance that the public play a
role in politics, democracy will be the most important block of this city. Citizens
will be active participants in government, and would be able to provide feedback
on e-groups.
 More use of public transport will be encouraged in order to reduce traffic on
roads.
 More open spaces, parks and recreational centers.
 Also housing societies will be created for poor people.
 Use of technology and knowledge to generate energy from wastes and generate
re-usable energy to conserve fossil fueled energy.
 Provide people with 24/7 water supply, electricity and gas.
 Number of hospitals will be made keeping in mind the population of the city and
the future expected population so accommodation of patients does not become a
chaos.

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