KARACHI: Many architects, planners, academics, researchers and students of diverse backgrounds enriched discussions through their respective insights during the two-day fifth international Conference on Urban and Regional Planning (CURP) on ‘Perspectives on Pandemic: Impact on Urban Pedagogies, Research and Practices’.

The event was organised by the Department of Architecture and Planning (DAP) at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, which concluded here on Saturday.

Senior researcher and director of collective for social science and research Haris Gazdar in his speech said knowledge can be atomised in its known, unknown and knowable forms. “By the same token, knowledge and its agency need to be understood through the lens of the pandemic,” he said.

He mentioned that there is broad data about mortality and recovery available now but certain contextual data and the methods of interpretation need to be improved.

He emphasised there is a need for epidemiological data along with geospatial data to invest in the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic.

Chief Executive of the Hands NGO Dr Sheikh Tanveer said that we cannot deal with future pandemics without strengthening the health system.

The dean of NED University, Dr Noman Ahmad, shared his observations that how education was managed during the pandemic days.

“The education system was transformed but to the advantage of affluent. Meanwhile, low-income groups got excluded,” he said, adding that there is also a need to study how spaces were modified to cope with the pandemic. He appreciated the fact about how the three tiers of the government — the federal, provincial and local government — united to fight the pandemic. “The same unity needs to be demonstrated on other issues of national interest,” he said.

American scholar of architectural history and urban development Dr Jonathan Calame talked about how architects could be essential to health care workers.

A technical session was marked by the paper titled ‘Pandemic as an opportunity to re-prioritise equitable urban design planning and policy’ by architect Aamina Shahid, who is development planner and academic at Comsats. The researcher was of the opinion that the Covid-19 pandemic has had damaging repercussions on marginalised communities and neighbourhoods the world over.

Another paper by Adam Abdullah, Soha Macktoom and Aqdus Fatima focused on the ‘Intersection of heat and densities in the post-pandemic urbans of the global south’.

Another paper titled ‘Pre-requisites, opportunities and pitfalls of online studios’, by Fazal Noor an architect, urban planner and academic at Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, spoke about online studios started in the wake of the spread of the pandemic.

A paper titled ‘An evaluation of online design studios, strength and weakness of architectural education in Bangladesh during Covid 19’ by Dr Mohmmad Faruk and Shayeeka Binte Alam, academics from the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), threw light on the challenges of architectural education in the days of the pandemic as interaction is the prime method of students of architecture.

The conference ended with a concluding note by Dr Masooma of NED University. DAP chairperson Dr Anila Naeem also spoke.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021