‘Karachi among Asia’s 12 extended metropolitans’

KARACHI: Karachi is among the 12 cities in Asia after Tokyo, Mumbai, Beijing, Metro Manila and Seoul, where development has sprawled into the surrounding countryside.

According to a study, these are greater than cities plus suburbs, for almost all development has sprawled into the surrounding countryside, enveloping villages, towns, and small and medium-size cities, creating “extended metropolitan regions”.

The Comparative Urban Studies Project and the Asia Programme have announced that they will hold a talk on the subject at the launch of ‘Beyond Metropolis- The Planning and Governance of Asia’s Mega-Urban Regions’ on May 31 at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The speakers are Aprodicio A. Laquian, University of British Columbia, and commentator Mats Andersson of the World Bank. Laquian directed the Centre for Human Settlements from 1991 to 2000 and is Professor Emeritus of the University of British Columbia while Andersson is a Senior Urban Management Specialist at the World Bank. These areas, argues Aprodicio A. Laquian, are the centers of development for their respective countries; they represent huge markets, large and varied labour pools and are centers of politics, education and culture.

‘Beyond Metropolis’ examines these mega-urban regions in terms of governance and sustainability, water, transportation, and housing, and the twin questions of inner-city redevelopment and satellite area development. The author embraces, on the one hand, unified regional planning, and on the other, cooperative efforts by urban residents for addressing their own problems. app

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