Development Plan Practices to Manage Spatial Growth in Major Cities of Pakistan

Abstract

The development plans for cities intend an important means of reaching physical, economical and social goals, through their effects on public and private development. In developed countries many researchers have confirmed that it has a powerful influence on the revitalization of existing city for livability, future spatial expansion, quality and pattern of the cities. However, many developing countries are facing impediments to implement such plans and Pakistan has no exception. The literature exemplifies various reasons for the failure; prominent among those are inadequate legal and regulatory support, incapacitated institutions, vicious political interference and the plans quality itself. This research proceeds to review the development plans of all major cities of Pakistan. This review assesses the plans’ quality, planning process, subsequent implementation and the legal support mechanism used for these plans. While various research works regarding these plans were analyzed to assess the real causes of their poor implementation. Peshawar city is selected for detailed study under this research. The reasons are manifolds: the foremost is its continuous attempts of Development Plan efforts since 1965; the researcher’s familiarity with the city; a provincial head quarter and the current trajectory of urban sprawl due to Afghan refugees and Internally Displace Persons (IDPs). Besides, the provincial headquarters cities have enjoyed preferential development initiatives (especially for mega projects) from central and provincial government. More over provincial headquarter cities are different from other cities in their economical potential to promote development and employment opportunities. Therefore, this research work is framed to find out actual cause of the consecutive failures of urban development plans in Peshawar city. The methodology developed for this task is to assess development plan in a comprehensive manner to incorporate all aspects which necessarily influenced the development plan. These aspects are spread in its Pre-Preparation stage, Preparation stage and at Adoption/Implementation stage. The relation of all these aspects is ascertained through various methodological approaches. The Pre-Preparation stage entails that every time huge expenses are made for the preparation of development plans for cities, but a lack of proper evaluation of the previous efforts or understanding of the actual process involved in the city’s growth, diverges the plan making spirit/goal into unintended results. This not only causes the wastage of public money but its consequences paralyze the livability of the cities for ever. The review of previous development plans to contain sprawl and to promote planned development as well as to analyze the development authority’s role during plans implementation is a necessary part of this stage to learn a lesson. It helps to sort out viable option and practices for development authorities, to effectively utilize city enclaves and to accommodate population growth in a planned manner. Efforts are also made to draw attention to strengthen/strategize good governance of the city district government for collective endeavor of the line agencies in public and private sectors to effectively achieve the goals and to avoid further failure of planned development efforts in the country. The preparation stage deals with the quality of the development plan, its goals setting, data analysis as well as projection and methods used for the development of proposals. Public participation and the plan approval are the other necessary aspects studied. While the implementation stage of the plan covers the appraisal of ground realities and that of the plan. Three different techniques are used to verify the plan implementation. These are the Development and Building Control aspects, the Annual Development Plan assessment and the identification and selection of the plan’s deviated areas. Finally recommendations are made on the basis of the finding being met through the process mentioned above.