Vision

          According to the LDA’s Terms of Reference (TOR) for the preparation of the Integrated Strategic Development Plan for Lahore Region (ISDP- 35) “Urbanization presents one of the key challenges and, at the same time, opportunities in the new millennium” And says that “Those cities that fail to plan ahead and execute the plans will not be competitive in the globalized world. Urban economies are contributing significantly more to national exchequer and at the same time have become key employment markets. Cities indeed are important engines of economic growth and provide significant economies of scale in the provision of jobs, housing and services.” (our italics)

Our Vision

          We do not share this hopeful, corporate vision of rapid urbanization as an investment opportunity, and cities as employment markets, whose expanding size provides economies of scale for profiteers who are valorized for their contribution to the national exchequer.

          In our view the rapid pace of urbanization is a symptom of the present global ecological crisis of which the principal cause is the modern development paradigm. It is the pursuit of never-ending economic growth that has resulted in over-production, depletion of resources, waste, environmental degradation, social disintegration, dehumanization.

          In our view, among the greatest challenges of the new millennium is the conservation of our humanity and our environment.

          Our campaigns and activities for conservation have repeatedly brought us into conflict with the demands of ‘development’. Our deliberations on issues of ‘sustainable urban development’ have led us to the conclusion that the modernist paradigm, that equates development with economic growth and the development of the means of production, is not sustainable. The prerequisite of human development is conservation of our humanity and our environment. The goal of human development is to realize our highest human potential.

          Our humanity is defined by the universal set of qualities and values that define what it means to be “human” – qualities such as Love, Compassion, Justice and Beauty – not by quantities such as gross national product, monetary wealth and material possessions

          Our strategy is a sustainable economy based on need rather than greed; an economy in which extraction from resources does not exceed their rates of renewal and re-generation; in which all that is consumed is fully recycled; in which toxic and non-recyclable waste is eliminated.

          We decided to use the LDA’s ISDP as an organizing framework for the Lahore Project, we had a critical review of their Terms of Refernce (TOR) and made a revised ISDP TOR for The Lahore Project. (Click Here to Download)

The City and its Region

          Cities are typically processors of primary raw materials, manufacturers of secondary products and providers of services. Economically they are integrated with the region or regions that produce the primary products, and the region or regions to which they provide goods and services.

          A subsistence (hunting and gathering) economy that produces no surplus is necessarily relatively egalitarian. In an economy that produces more than its requirements for subsistence, (with organic farming and artisanal manufacture) the surplus can be, and usually is, appropriated by those who have the power to do so. The surplus wealth can, and often is, used to support production the non-essential goods and services – luxuries, extravagances, refinements, the arts – cultures associated with urbanity and civilization.

          Development of production capabilities (with industrial manufacture), to levels exceeding the local supply of resources and local capacity to consume the products, requires the expansion of the economic region to the extents possible with the available means of transportation and communication.

          Further development of production capabilities (with industrial agriculture and fishing), to levels exceeding the global supply of renewable resources and global consumption capacity, requires the creation of newer and newer demands, through aggressive marketing and ‘creative destruction’, resulting in monumental waste, the depletion of non-renewable resources, income disparities, and rising social crimes.

          In a symbiotic relationship between the city and its region, the value of what each takes from the other is more or less equivalent to what it gives.

          In a parasitic relationship the city extracts resources in excess of their rates of renewal and re-generation, and produces toxic and non-recyclable waste. This is self-destructing and unsustainable.

Our vision for Lahore is a center of urbanity and civilization, a city that thrives in a symbiotic relationship with its region.

Tasks Ahead:

Analysis
History
Present conditions, issues: assets, deficiencies
Proposals
Objectives/Goals
Policies
Strategies
Plans
Base Map
Web Site

Click Here to Download Our Vision