GIS FOR ELECTRICAL UTILITY AND RESOURCE ANALYSIS IN AN URBAN PERSPECTIVE: A CASE STUDY OF NORTH NAZIMABAD, KARACHI

Abstract

The roots of modern urban planning and urbanization originate from late 19th century. The term sustainable development emerged as a desirable outcome for achieving planning goals Karachi has become a megalopolis and ranks 7th among highly populist cities of the world. North Nazimabad is one of the best planned areas of Karachi. It was designed in the late 50’s by Italian planners Carlo Scarpa & Aldo Rossi, but overpopulation and over exploitation has overburdened its service distribution capacity. This study has been conducted to exploit geospatial technologies to perform functional land-use classification, develop address-based geodatabase of North Nazimabad and to examine the actual design vs. implementation strategies for some basic utilities and to propose reconsideration and reallocation factors. GIS based Electricity load analysis model has been developed for energy load optimization and for proposing resource reallocation factors. GIS maps prepared during this research may serve as a potent analytical and planning tool for policy makers for taxation, emergency response and utility management.