Interview with Arif Hasan

PIDE: Do we have any good cities in Pakistan? Why do we have strong fascination with homes as we see our Schools, shops, warehouses are all developed in houses, largely. What has gone wrong? A part of it largely is because of our colonial inheritance. Bungalows were the unit showing enrichment and affluence, and became important for elite. We never thought of planning in terms of essen-tial services. We didn’t develop cargo terminals etc. We are bound to have city master plans every 10 years which are not researched. These plans are designed around land speculations. Cities are empty with announced schemes. No regional plan to protect ecology or share resources. Urban land reforms essential. What you want our cities.