Monuments and buildings reflect the maturity, aesthetic taste and creative capacity of a society. Every age has its own character, values, norms and a sense of utility. By observing historical buildings, one can easily trace the past hidden in its architecture. New buildings either carry historical tradition or may deviate from the past and express modern day innovation.

There are different types of buildings; those which represent the political domination of the ruling classes, which include forts, palaces, mausoleums and gardens. There are religious monuments such as temples, mosques, churches and shrines. The third type belongs to the common people — for instance their houses that cannot be preserved for a long time. Only buildings and monuments built on solid foundations can survive and these carry the past within their structure.

Since it is the task of historians to unravel the mysteries of the past, some buildings become historical symbols which people feel proud of. Being reminders of past heritage, these monuments are preserved, conserved and restored to their original condition.

Is our architecture and town-planning reflective of our chaotic thought and dying aesthetics?

After partition, Pakistan inherited two types of cities; those which belonged to the medieval period and others which were built during colonial rule. The differences between these two types of cities are quite obvious. The old cities are surrounded by walls with a number of gates. The streets are narrow and houses are congested. On the other hand, the colonial cities are built on the basis of modern town planning with wide and open thoroughfares along with footpaths and trees on both sides. In the centre of the city, there is a clock tower around which are markets and shops. After independence, the structure of the town started to change, which lead to their distortion. Take the example of Lahore, which is the only city that we have inherited with buildings and monuments of the Mughal period as well as colonial buildings. The latter are mostly public buildings, each representing their individual character.

We have failed to maintain the original structure of Lahore and distorted it by constructing buildings which have no relation with the past. An example is the Minar-i-Pakistan which is built as a carbon copy of the Eiffel Tower. In its disappointingly shabby and grotesque surroundings lie the Badshahi Mosque and the Lahore Fort. There was a time when Lahore was known as the city of gardens but slowly and gradually most of the gardens have disappeared and only the names remind us of their glorious existence in the past.

The city of Lahore further deteriorated with increase in population and consequent increase in transport issues. In the absence of adequate public transport, people are forced to own cars, bikes, scooters and bicycles while commercial transports like auto-rickshaws are noisy and cause pollution. Consequently, the flow of traffic increased manifold and to facilitate that, the administrative authorities of the city have widened the roads by demolishing footpaths and cutting down trees. Instead of constructing an underground metro system, a network of flyovers and underpasses has been built which does little to solve transport problems. In addition, these flyovers have distorted the beauty of the city further disfigured by builders who have constructed commercial plazas for financial gains without any civic thought and planning.

In the new settlements, there are roads without footpaths and it appears that there are no pedestrians in the city that need to be catered to. These localities seem to be reserved only for those who rely solely on their own private transport.

This is the case in every large city where the landscape has been distorted by constructing high rise buildings which reflect our immaturity, intellectual bankruptcy and lack of aesthetic sense.

In Islamabad, which is a relatively new and modern capital city, buildings such as the parliament house, supreme court, president and prime minister houses and the secretariat represent political power. One expects these new buildings to reflect the ambitions of a new nation but unfortunately, neither do they bear the past tradition of the Mughal era nor the designs of the colonial period. There is no creativity in the architecture and no sense of beauty in the design.

It indicates not only the destruction of populated cities but the devastation of our society and its culture. If we continue to build our cities following the same trend, our historical consciousness and national identity will be truly lost.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 12th, 2014