Overview

The book is divided into six sections, representing the different ecological regions of Pakistan. These sections are the Mountains, Indus Plains and Western Islands, The Desert, the River (Indus), the Coast and the City. The social, economic, physical and governance related changes that have taken place in these regions are described through extracts from reports, field notes for different development related work and media articles prepared by the author and through extracts from his personal dairies. The writings identify past socio-economic conditions as viewed by the communities the author worked or interacted with, present conditions and emerging trends. It also identifies the actors of change, their relationships with each other and with the largr physical and political context on the other. The section on the city deals with the informal sector in the provision of land and services, the impact of globalisation on culture and development and contains geographies of resistance by communities to insensitive development projects.

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9780195476699

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Arif Hasan is an architect/planner in private practice in Karachi. He studied architecture at the Oxford Polytechnic and on his return to Karachi in 1968, established an independent practice which slowly evolved into dealing with urban planning and development issues in general and of Asia and Pakistan in particular. He has been a consultant and advisor to many local and foreign CBOs, national and international NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral donor agencies. Since 1982, he has been involved with the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) and is the founder Chairman of the Urban Resource Centre (URC), Karachi, since its inception in 1989. Both institutions have received international recognition and are being replicated both nationally and in a number of other countries. The OPP is an informal settlement upgrading project whose development is managed and funded by local communities. The URC is a research and advocacy organization supporting communities against eviction and against gentrification and/or degradation of Karachi's inner city. Arif Hasan has taught at Pakistani and European universities, served on juries of international architectural and development competitions, and is the author of a number of books on development and planning dealing with Asian cities in general and Karachi in particular. He was a celebrity speaker at the Union of International Architects Congress in Brighton in 1987 and has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for two cycles and a member of its Master Jury. He is currently on the board of several international journals and research organizations including the Bangkok based Asian Coalition for Housing Rights. He has received a number of awards for his work (which spans many countries) including the UN Year for the Shelterless Memorial Award of the Japanese Government (1990), the Prince Claus Award of the Netherlands Government (2000), and the Hilal-i-Imtiaz of the Government of Pakistan (2001). Recently, he has been given a Life Time Achievement Award by the Institute of Architects, Pakistan (2003). The Orangi Project-Research and Training Institute, of which Arif Hasan is Chairman, received the British Housing Foundation's World Habitat Award in 2002.

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