Regenerating cultural quarters in Pakistan: The case study of Lahore

2022-8-12
Riaz, Harmain
The cities across the world face a constant problem of depletion every passing day, often caused by several factors, including environmental degradation, migration and population rise, deteriorating infrastructure, lack of resources or economic and social changes, striking at different magnitudes. These problems, if addressed properly through planned schemes could result in saving tons of financial and building resources for the municipalities directing the cities. New and modern cities are now being critically planned to address these problems, however, historical cities that grew organically through time face a larger impact of these lifestyle-degrading factors. The field of Urban Regeneration (UR) sheds light on such cases and provides solutions for historically acclaimed neighborhoods of a city to be revitalized in a planned manner by establishing Cultural Quarters (CQs). Taking inspiration from John Montgomery’s work on CQs, studying the examples of Temple Bar in Dublin and Rasht Grand Bazaar in Iran, this study unfolds the international and regional prospects of CQs. Pouring the basis on literature, this thesis analyzes it over the historical city of Lahore, Pakistan. Lahore, described as the city of gardens and Paris of the East, holds an immense amount of significance when it comes to the cultural identity of Pakistan and the whole sub-continent region. However, the city has significantly lost its aura owing to urban sprawl, greater number of migrations, and poor urban planning. Focusing on the historical city center of Lahore, this research examines the potentials and problems regarding physical form, activities and meanings of the place through mapping exercises, interviews, and surveys for turning it into a planned Cultural Quarter before the potential truly depletes. Finally, it suggests the UR planning and design strategies for the historical center to become a cultural quarter of Lahore.

Suggestions

Finding sustainable mobility solutions for shrinking cities: the case of Toyama and Kanazawa
Balaban, Osman (2021-11-01)
Purpose Shrinking population can have significant negative impacts on the social and economic fabric of a city. This paper aims to understand different urban transportation policies to respond to population decline in shrinking cities by examining two case studies of urban interventions in mid-size cities in Japan. Design/methodology/approach The paper analyzes the implementation of sustainable mobility strategies in the urban transport sector in the Japanese cities of Toyama and Kanazawa, which risk having...
Seismic vulnerabilities and risks for urban mitigation planning in Turkey
Saner, Tugce Sonmez (2015-09-01)
Chronic seismic hazards and resulting secondary impacts as natural conditions of the country, and the loss of robust building and prudent settlement practices as aggravated by rapid population growth make cities the most vulnerable geographical and social entities in Turkey. For the development of risk reduction policies, an essential step is to prioritize settlements according to their vulnerability levels. This could be determined by hazard probabilities and attributes of the building stock of each settle...
Understanding the Links between Urban Regeneration and Climate Friendly Urban Development Lessons from Two Case Studies in Japan
Balaban, Osman (2014-01-01)
Urban regeneration policy and projects could facilitate the implementation of spatial policy responses to mitigate climate change and adapt to its consequences in cities. However, the potential role of urban regeneration in creating climate-friendly urban environments is not sufficiently evaluated and understood. Considering this gap, the paper aims to explore the potential linkage between urban regeneration and climate change. The case study analysis focuses on two urban regeneration projects, representing...
Challenges and conflicts in achieving sustainable communities in historic neighbourhoods of Istanbul
Akkar Ercan, Zübeyde Müge (2011-04-01)
Although urban regeneration has been widely seen as a panacea to resolve the multi-faceted problems of cities over the last two decades, a broad section of literature suggests the need for questioning the impacts of urban regeneration projects as an integral part of neo-liberal policies. In the context of Turkey, by focusing on Istanbul, this article aims to investigate the success of the regeneration initiatives in achieving sustainable communities in deprived historic housing neighbourhoods. After definin...
Local government green space policy : the cases of Kartal and Sariyer in İstanbul
Coşkun, Özlem; Ersoy, Melih; Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (2004)
Askew and unsystematic urbanization that occurred after rapid increase and migration in 1950̕s in Türkiye, caused destruction of green spaces. In this way, green spaces in urban pattern that are insufficient now are going to decrease day by day. As a result, human beings that are living in cities have to survive their life in a condition of less green and much building. Urban populace has physical and psychological problems caused by noise, pollution, stress together with not meeting their strolling, restin...
Citation Formats
H. Riaz, “Regenerating cultural quarters in Pakistan: The case study of Lahore,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022.