“Lahore is the closest Pakistani city to the model of a smart city. However, planners need to overcome the economic disparity visible in various parts of the city,” Farhan Anwar, an expert in strategic planning, said on Saturday.
He was speaking at a two-day workshop on Understanding Sustainable Cities by Friedrich Neumann Foundation at a local hotel.
He said core sustainability values of a smart city were related to environment, economy and equity.
He said giving people many choices for an urban lifestyle in sustainable, convenient and enjoyable place was the ‘new urbanism.’
He said currently, no umbrella framework or legislation existed either at national or city-level to address the issue of urban resilience.
“There are serious inadequacies in research and documentation, particularly mapping and profiling of vulnerable communities and assets,” he said. He said by 2050, only two cities in the current top-10 mega cities will be in high income countries. He said the future model cities would emerge from developing countries. “Karachi will be among the 10 biggest cities by 2015. Communities and institutions like emergency response agencies, healthcare, fire services and civil defense are severely ill trained, ill equipped and financially constrained to effectively meet challenges,” he maintained.
Khadeeja Khan moderated the workshop which will conclude on Sunday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2014.