Naeem Afzal
First, our cities are not planned cities; they are sprawls, with low-density populations spreading across vast areas of land. People have to travel 30-40 Km daily for work. Zoning and urban planning have been ignored for decades. We developed motorbike workshops where offices, malls, and workspaces could be built. The prime land in all cities is owned by government offices. Because officials are obsessed with houses spreading across kanals. They hate high-rise apartments. Culturally, we love single-family homes. We dislike living in apartments.
Second, public transport is not widely available except in two or three cities. Our local businessmen invest in bakeries and pharmacies, not in productive sectors such as transport, entertainment, etc. Low-quality means of transportation such as rickshaws pollute the cities with both noise and burning fuel.
Third, walkability in our cities is zero. According to Economics 101, pricing changes behavior. As you make driving expensive and encourage cycling by introducing parking fees, congestion fees, etc. People prefer walking over driving. In our cities, parking is free. You can drive all day, burn the fuel, pollute the city, and park anywhere at nearly negligible cost.
Globally, cities are the engines of growth and development. But our cities are choked. Zoning laws are still stuck in the colonial-era mindset. Why don’t we see large buildings, multi-storied apartments, and dense high-rises? Imagine a young entrepreneur who has just graduated and wants to live in a city with constrained resources. He or she could own an apartment for just 20-30 lakh rupees. A family could rent an apartment for the long term to avoid inefficient real estate brokers. Council houses in London exist side by side with expensive houses.
But it can’t happen here because babus hate high rises; they don’t want people to look in their houses spanning on kanals over the prime land of the cities. They want golf courses, giant parks to jog in, and nice big lawns for their parties. They can’t allow high rises so they can drive their cars easily. Unless we modernize our cities, growth will remain just a distant dream.
