Urban Pakistan ― Frames for Reading and Imagining Urbanism

There is a noticeable absence of compiled works on Pakistani Urbanism. Urban Pakistan not only seeks to fill this gap but also selectively attempts to update the state of the art and thus sets the platform for further works. It provides an essential resource for the fields of urban studies, sociology, anthropology, history, analysis, design, planning, management, and policy. This book epitomises the search for a valid position on Urbanism within the context of the enigmatic development of the cities of Pakistan, both big and small. It seeks to unravel the confusion emanating from unfulfilled planning ambitions for over six decades now. While it is an attempt to present urban environments as layered precipitates of civilisation, they are discussed as instrumentalities and support infrastructures of cultural practices. Urban Pakistan synthesises important but dispersed writings and their associated bibliographies, and identifies gaps that are patched by new works. It is a resource which will enable deeper investigations and will be of value to academics and researchers in these fields. The writings are arranged under four frames - 1: Enterprise and Invention, 2: Space and Everyday, 3: Image and Culture, 4: Identity and Politics - in order to demonstrate their overall significance and also outline the issues surrounding each frame.

Khalid W. Bajwa, Professor and Department Head, Department of Architecture and Design, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore,Ali Khan, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)


Dr Khalid W. Bajwa is Professor and Department Head at the Department of Architecture and Design, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore. Earlier, he served as Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. He teaches courses on architecture design, urban design, design research, and on urbanism and modernity in architecture.

Dr Ali Khan is presently Associate Professor of Anthropology and Department Chair at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). He teaches courses on the anthropology of development, qualitative research methods, child and bonded labour and on ritual and belief systems.