Vertical urban development has always been perceived as a sustainable approach in developing countries. Vertical growth has been the most sustainable and justifiable approach for the cities to grow with respect to economy as well as other critical factors.
Vertical growth indirectly prevents horizontal growth which causes the exploitation of agricultural land. It reduces the distances among the places in a city as vertical city covers less area compared to the horizontal city.
Lahore being the second most populous city of Pakistan is far behind in developing upward. The city is sprawling outward like a wild fire and consuming the agricultural land for housing purposes. Actual provocation behind this unplanned growth is “Urbanization”. Urbanization is referred to the process of making an area more urban.
This instigates congestion in cities in the form of migration and increased population density. This surge in population is due to the excessive business demand and job opportunities in the sector. Education also plays an important role as a huge chunk of renowned universities and colleges are in Lahore. Students relocate here temporarily for education purposes while ending up staying here permanently to earn living. Due to huge demand for business, residential land is also being converted into commercial.
What is the reason behind unacceptability of high-rise residence and what sort of attitudes individuals possess towards high-rise housing? For that purpose, we’ll be analyzing social perception, awareness and familiarity towards high-rise residential facilities and the institutional capacity for their effective management and provision.
We have a huge diaspora settled in Middle East to earn handsome living for themselves and their families at home. These individuals used to live in their houses in their homeland but somehow managed to adapt the living of high-rises.
A study was conducted by one of the authors on his trip to UAE for the purpose of finding out the justification behind acclimatization of our community. We nominated the expatriates who were previously, in their homeland, residing in houses while now residing in high-rise apartments. Most of the respondents were satisfied with their current habitation while fewer among them wished to permanently accommodate in a high-rise apartment when they return to their homeland.
Lives of these individuals were severely influenced by the migration as well as the change in residence type. Remember that these were the people previously living in their houses unaware of any facilities, comforts or troubles in high-rise apartment. These people were not living in high-rise apartments by their choice but they had no other place to live.
Similarly, our respondents were previously occupants of a house but now inhabit in high-rise. Most of them chose to live in high-rise due to its habitat, better facilities and sustainability. Surely, they were aware of the perks in high-rise residence beforehand. As expected, almost all of them are complacent with their decision of moving. Ultimately, they were satisfied with almost every aspect of high-rise residence including even privacy and ventilation. The term Jaidad means an asset in simple words while it is referred to “Land”in our society.
In the meantime, relevant authorities should confine the horizontal sprawl of the city by curbing horizontal development in Lahore and encouraging vertical development. The actual subsidies should be provided to the common people to settle in high-rises regardless of their statuses. Our population needs the awareness and assistance it deserves.
Muhammad Ahmad and Mahha Sadiq
The writers are graduates of City and Regional Planning from University of Engineering and Technology Lahore.
