Sustainable Urban Housing Development in Pakistan Through Planning Mechanism: Challenges and Opportunities
Abstract
The issue of sustainable housing is significant in Pakistan’s cities due to population growth, scarcity of materials, and poor urban planning. This paper aims to explore the challenges of affordable sustainable housing and suggest solutions. Some of the challenges are an increase in informal settlements, environmental impacts from unplanned development, and social vices from poor housing delivery. The main conclusions of the study point to the importance of sound urban management and adaptive planning systems. The paper supports policies on affordable housing through subsidies, microfinance, and PPPs, with a focus on community involvement in planning. Eradicating bureaucracy and corruption is essential for policy enforcement. The study therefore suggests the need to consider the economic, environmental, and social factors to create sustainable urban shelter in Pakistan with the view of enhancing the quality of urban life and sustainability for generations to come. This nine-point strategy is in response to the challenges of rapid urbanization and is for sustainable urbanization.
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2. Balit, S., & Acunzo, M. (2020). A changing world: FAO efforts in communication for rural development. Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change, 133-156.
3. Bemelmans-Videc, M.-L., Rist, R. C., & Vedung, E. (2017). Policy instruments: Typologies and theories. In Carrots, sticks and sermons (pp. 21-58). Routledge.
4. Bennett, A. (2013). Sheller. Housing and Homes: A Social Right. In.
5. Bibri, S. E., Krogstie, J., & Kärrholm, M. (2020). Compact city planning and development: Emerging practices and strategies for achieving the goals of sustainability. Developments in the built environment, 4, 100021.
6. Botha, C. E. (2018). The role of the NGO in local government: the case of World Vision in Ubuhlebezwe Municipality Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University].
7. Chandler, M. R. (2023). Dwelling in the text: houses in American fiction. Univ of California Press.
8. Citaristi, I. (2022). United nations human settlements programme—UN-habitat. In The Europa Directory of International Organizations 2022 (pp. 240-243). Routledge.
9. Corburn, J., & Sverdlik, A. (2019). Informal settlements and human health. Integrating human health into urban and transport planning: A framework, 155-171.
10. De Guimarães, J. C. F., Severo, E. A., Júnior, L. A. F., Da Costa, W. P. L. B., & Salmoria, F. T. (2020). Governance and quality of life in smart cities: Towards sustainable development goals. Journal of Cleaner Production, 253, 119926.
11. de Souza Briggs, X. (1997). Moving up versus moving out: Neighborhood effects in housing mobility programs. Housing policy debate, 8(1), 195-234.
12. Dernbach, J. C. (1998). Sustainable development as a framework for national governance. Case W. Res. L. Rev., 49, 1.
13. Geekiyanage, D., Fernando, T., & Keraminiyage, K. (2020). Assessing the state of the art in community engagement for participatory decision-making in disaster risk-sensitive urban development. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 51, 101847.
14. Glaeser, E. L., & Kahn, M. E. (2010). The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development. Journal of urban economics, 67(3), 404-418.
15. Hays, R. A. (1985). The federal government and urban housing: Ideology and change in public policy. State University of New York Press.
16. Hood, C. (2005). Controlling modern government: Variety, commonality and change. Edward Elgar Publishing.
17. Karrar, H. H., & Qadeer, M. A. (2013). Urbanization of everybody and social sustainability. Retrieved from International Growth Centre website: http://www. theigc. org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Karrar-Qadeer-2013-Working-Paper. pdf.
18. Kühner, T. (2024). Development of indicator set for implementation of international urban agendas in cities of the global south.
19. Lange, F. E. (2010). Urban governance. An essential determinant of city decelopment.
20. Mallett, S. (2004). Understanding home: a critical review of the literature. The sociological review, 52(1), 62-89.
21. Ndou, V. (2004). E-government for developing countries: Opportunities and challenges. Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries., 18(1), 1-24.
22. Niu, J. (2004). Some significant environmental issues in high-rise residential building design in urban areas. Energy and buildings, 36(12), 1259-1263.
23. Nwaka, G. I. (2005). The urban informal sector in Nigeria: towards economic development, environmental health, and social harmony. Global Urban Development Magazine, 1(1), 1-11.
24. Rakodi, C. (2003). Politics and performance: the implications of emerging governance arrangements for urban management approaches and information systems. Habitat international, 27(4), 523-547.
25. Sindhu, A. J. (2019). Development of affordable housing framework for low-income households in Pakistan. Liverpool John Moores University (United Kingdom).
26. Soodan, V., Chakraborty, S., & Mitra, R. (2022). Urban Spaces and Smart City Development: Issues and Future Challenges. In Advances in Urbanism, Smart Cities, and Sustainability (pp. 173-187). CRC Press.
27. Tang, H.-T., & Lee, Y.-M. (2016). The making of sustainable urban development: A synthesis framework. Sustainability, 8(5), 492.
28. Tariq, F., Zafar, Z., Salman, M., Hasan, J., Nawaz, M., Gul, A.,…Sheikh, N. B. (2018). Developing countries perspective on housing affordability: Recommendations for Pakistan. Technical Journal, 23(02), 1-10.
29. WCED, S. W. S. (1987). World commission on environment and development. Our common future, 17(1), 1-91.
30. Yousaf, M., Ihsan, F., & Ellahi, A. (2016). Exploring the impact of good governance on citizens' trust in Pakistan. Government Information Quarterly, 33(1), 200-209.
Authors
Nabel Akram
Wen Chen
[1]
“Sustainable Urban Housing Development in Pakistan Through Planning Mechanism: Challenges and Opportunities”, Soc. sci. humanities j., vol. 8, no. 09, pp. 5134–5144, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.18535/sshj.v8i09.1356.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.