KARACHI: Urban governance, water, health, education, transport and youth were perspective taken into account while looking at issues related to big and busy cities of the world with a particular focus on Karachi on the inaugural day of the three-day International Conference on ‘Managing Megacities-2016’.

The conference was organised by the department of public administration, University of Karachi, and Schar School of Public Policy and Government, George Mason University USA at the HEJ Auditorium on the university campus on Tuesday.

Architect and town planner Arif Hasan said that the future of Karachi lay in the region’s geopolitical situation and also Karachi’s relations with its province: Sindh. “For agriculture, Karachi now depends on the rural areas in Sindh though there was a time when it had its own agriculture lands in Malir, Lyari and Gadap. But then the rural areas of Karachi were colonised. And the rural people did not have the skills to integrate into the urban fabric,” he said.

“Further destruction to our city has come through the lowering levels of the water table and the depletion of rainwater and this process is continuing. In the name of greenery we have also brought in a variety of trees not suitable for the city such as the Cornicarpus. There is also an influx of vehicles as opposed to the systems of transport. The transport systems we had, we couldn’t maintain. We don’t know how to maintain or conserve, that has and is robbing from our city’s socio-economic aspects,” he explained.

‘Rural people did not have the skills to integrate into the urban fabric’

Dr Rashmi Sadana of George Mason University, while talking about Delhi through the prism of transport, mobility and the Metro, said that the underground, at grade and elevated rail network has made a big difference for women in the city. “The gendered aspect of the Metro in Delhi sees female college and university students, or women in many different professions commuting by train. It has changed their visibility in public as they also see it as a safe means of transport for women to even travel alone,” she said.

Dr Tuzin Baycan of Istanbul Technical University spoke about Istanbul’s vision for 2050 and transition and roadmap towards a post-carbon city. “Istanbul is unique as it the city where Asia and Europe meet giving it a blend of East and West. Many direct flights go to and from Istanbul, also to Karachi. We are constructing the world’s biggest airport, too. In 2014, it had a population of 14.4 million with 11.8 million international visitors,” she said.

“But due to political turmoil including the coup, visitors have somewhat decreased. Still the situation is expected to improve as is international trade involving 70,000 local companies is remarkable. Investors see Turkey as a good opportunity. They compare it to China,” she said, adding that they had 53 universities in which 663,000 students were enrolled making the future for young people bright there.

“Real estate is also booming in Istanbul as it is cheaper to Moscow, Paris and London, though very expensive when compared to real estate in Karachi,” she said.

“To see Istanbul thrive in the future, we need to raise its resilience. Looking to make it a post-carbon city is to decrease its vulnerability to carbon emission, public transport and waste generation all of which are on the increase, data tells us,” she said.

Dr Eduardo Marques of University of Sao Paulo said that academia all over the world needed to sit together and hold dialogues over the subject of megacities while sharing their research.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi Dr Mohammad Qaiser said that he has observed that researchers and scientists are unable to conduct result-oriented research on the problems of Karachi since the latest and authentic data is unavailable due to no census being held since 1998. He added that megacities of the world also faced with serious modern-day challenges.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2016