Among other things, pedestrianisation will boost the street economy, creating jobs for the youth and local people
No city in Pakistan is free of the burden of chronic
vehicle-driven and male-dominated urban spaces. While Karachi is no exception
to this, as the centre of the country’s financial hustle-bustle, the city is
unable to meet the mobility needs of its residents — car drivers, non-motorised
and public transport users alike.
Like other South Asian
megacities, Karachi allows motorised vehicles to dominate its landscape.
Pedestrianisation is generally ignored as an effective strategy to cure the
ailing vehicle-based congestion in cities and improving mobility and access for
a vast majority of urban dwellers.
This article analyses the
ongoing efforts towards pedestrianisation of the Burns Road and suggests the
way forward to make city planning more people-centric.
Thriving in the heart of
old Saddar Town, near Regal Trade Centre, Bahadur Shah Market and Urdu Bazaar
stretching right up to Pakistan Chowk, Burns Road is situated in the city’s
commercial and historical hotspot. Karachi’s oldest food street still
identifies itself as the herald of pre-partition culinary heritage. Delhi Rabri
and Bhashani Sweets, for example, lend an Indian and Bengali identity to their
desserts, respectively. Most other food vendors also trace their history back
to pre-partition days and early migrant communities. They have been here ever
since.
Given the history of
Burns Road and its unrivalled reputation for some of the country’s best
gastronomical delights, it wouldn’t be wrong to see it as both a commercial
market and a heritage sight. The question that begs attention is: how have the
citizens been interacting with the road? Unfortunately, Karachi Municipal
Corporation (KMC) has long maintained a bias for motorised vehicles.
Overlooking history and heritage, in 2019, KMC razed many restaurants on
account of alleged encroachment on public space.
Street hawkers were
pushed into a cat-and-mouse game with the KMC officials and the local police
who would visit periodically and threaten to destroy the vendors’ carts if they
didn’t move on. As soon as the officials left, the vendors would re-appear. Burns
Road has been a lucrative stretch for them and they have occupied it for
decades.
With restaurants and
vendors lining both sides of the road, the two-way road has functioned mainly
as a thoroughfare for cars and motorbikes resulting in frequent traffic jams.
This has caused physical congestion and pollution in the area, making it
unhygienic and unsanitary for food businesses and hindered its evolution into
an accessible food street. This could have been a place where people might
freely walk, mingle and interact with the environment.
Recently, however, the
city authorities finally undertook a downtown restoration project. Accordingly,
Burns Road was pedestrianised. Since January 10, the 200-metre road is closed
for motor vehicles after 7pm.
The pedestrianisation of
Burns Road, meant chiefly to facilitate its business community, has already
elicited positive feedback. Food vendors are reporting that the enhanced
accessibility has resulted in increased traffic. Apparently, restricting car
access to dedicated urban spaces is beneficial to both businesses and residents
of the area.
While pedestrianising a
historically significant heritage and public site like Burns Road was
necessary, there needs to be a sustained effort on the city government’s part
to reimagine and redesign Karachi as an inclusive and people-friendly city.
For a long
time, authorities in Karachi have been focusing on suburban housing societies
and the provision of signal-free corridors for cars. In this process, we have
neglected the inner and historic part of the city.
The way
forward
It is important that
pedestrianisation of public spaces does not remain limited to food streets but
is also included in its urban planning in a way that aids everyday life.
Sustainable change in urban policy can only be brought about if
pedestrianisation does not simply make for optics or remain limited to a select
few streets.
For a long time,
authorities in Karachi have been focusing on suburban housing societies and the
provision of highways and signal-free corridors for cars. In the process, the
dense inner parts of the city have been neglected. Most of the urban planning
and traffic management initiatives have focused on resolving barriers to the
free flow of cars.
What else explains
congestion at heritage sites and other neighbourhoods? Karachi’s lack of
investment in a public transport system has made its residents buy or lease
private vehicles. This, coupled with the city’s poor public
infrastructure, e.g. roads, footpaths, has led to an increase
in road congestion and pollution.
Dependence on privately-owned
vehicles has also limited the mobility of the large working class. The urban
poor barely earn the minimum legal wage to sustain themselves and their
families. Restricted mobility not only slows down economic activity but
actively disincentivises private sector from investing in the city. Burns
Road’s redeeming asset perhaps was its location that kept sustained its
businesses afloat for so long despite the car-and-road centric development.
It is important that city
authorities, in collaboration with social science scholars, urban planners and
city residents work towards creating a culture of pedestrianisation. The street
and the sidewalk have lost their significance as public spaces. A new
perspective recognising streets as public spaces to be shared by everyone is
needed.
Moreover, mobility plans
should be developed with both motorised and non-motorised modes of transport.
Thus, the interventions should be to build and maintain footpaths, develop
pedestrian tracks on roads and invest in public spaces for work and leisure.
While investment in a public transport system is essential for Karachi in the
long-run, pedestrianisation can pave the way for an environmentally sustainable
and socially inclusive city.
In order to achieve this
goal, there is a need to pursue neighbourhood-level planning. Every
neighbourhood and street in a city like Karachi presents a different social,
economic and ethnic context that needs to be considered. For a long time, the
government has been relying on master plans and associated land-use planning at
the city level. Such city-level planning should focus on the strategic front
while the neighbourhood planning needs to be carried out at the grassroots
level. The absence of functioning and empowered local governments certainly makes
it difficult.
However, Karachi has a
long history of urban activism inspired by the Orangi Pilot Project, Shehri,
and Urban Resource Centre. Many local and neighbourhood level social
organisations have been playing an important role in urban management. The city
administration and political leadership should engage civil society
organisations to pursue people-centric development beyond food streets,
facelifts and highways.
Pedestrianisation can
also boost the street economy, creating jobs for the youth and local people. As
in other cities, women, children and senior citizens are the most marginalised
groups in Karachi. The involvement of local civil society organisations can
make urban planning more people and gender-centric.
Published In Political Economy By Fatima Laraib & Naveed Iftikhar & Uswah E Fatima February 14, 2021