Any city that has high population, infrastructure and built environment is considered as an urban city and in these cities, we can see urban areas. Decay in urban areas is due to time which has certain factors that can be;
- Over-crowding
- Poor condition of infrastructure
- People are jobless
- Services are not in proper condition for example; water supply, sewerage system, open drains and poor infrastructure in the area.
The area starts to decay when people don’t own the space, they live in that area with poor conditions and they have no issues because the facilitates are not present at the communal level. For example, in walled city of Lahore, lives a mixed community from historic period and the services, transportation, infrastructure all were good enough for their survival in that area. But with the passage of time when motorization got common in the area the entire area got effected.
Firstly, streets were used by the pedestrians but then vehicles got access to those streets. It not only effected the area but it also effected the people living in the area as they started to move from there. Because they bring their vehicles into the streets so they moved to more planned colonies. There comes the shift in the planning, from old to new due to narrow streets, closely placed buildings, minimum and less openings. People who can afford the living standards left for the better living and this causes the decay in walled city.
Reasons of Decay In Urban Areas
Growing Urban Population & Increased Density
In Lahore, Mughals made the city so dense that they can protect the city at the time of war. Hence it got fortified by walls as it was near the war zones. They developed such city for local people because they had a democratic and kingship approach. Also, they developed large gardens and mosques for the king’s families just like Badshahi mosque or Shalimar bagh. This shows that when urban population grows it increases the density and creates burden on land and services and people started to settle near hazardous zones.
Concentration of Resources & Capacities
In countries like Pakistan the focus of government is just on the mega cities. For example Lahore, Islamabad or Karachi. Due to which resources are only provided to the people living in these cities. There should be a balance in between the distribution of resources and government should focus on the deprived areas in cities more.
Moreover, it also includes the policy of government that how much funds should be spend on a certain area. As it can be reason of improvement or of decay. For example; Faisalabad was known as the Manchester of Pakistan because of its textile. However, now because of economy degradation textile industry has moved to Bangladesh which caused increased in unemployment and economy.
Weak Governance & Lack of Participation
Government plays an important role of a community who has decay in urban areas because they have lack of participation and decision-making quality. Due to which decisions are made on one level. They don’t let people participate. As it is just for the betterment of the stakeholders in the regeneration program due to which it fails.
Inadequate Water Resource Management
Pakistan is going to face water scarcity in coming years because we waste water a lot. In rainy season we have no resources to save water and poor drainage systems due to which water stays on the streets and causes a lot of health issues among the people. Not on the city level but it can be seen on commercial and individual level that water is being wasted in our houses.
Solid Waste System
We cannot manage the solid wastes as these areas are made open dumping spots. Thus, it makes the environment poor and the infrastructure is also damaged. In countries like Pakistan, we have hired Turkish companies to manage our solid wastes rather than improving are management.
You may also read: HOW TO MAKE STREET VENDORS A PART OF URBAN DESIGN?
Decline Towards Ecosystem
Natural threats like floods and land slides have caused major damage to the cities which caused decay in urban areas. Whereas pollution is the second reason towards the damage of ecosystem now a days.
Decaying of Infrastructure
When infrastructure starts to decay in urban areas it makes the building stocks unsafe and leads to the collapse of structures. In Pakistan, there is lack of awareness and because of that we see many deaths under buildings degradation.
Adverse Effects on Climate Change
There should be an awareness program for the people that how they should keep the environment. Besides, there is lack of communication. We see increase in death rate in our country due to natural hazards. Therefore, Government as well as people are also responsible for the bad climatic conditions in the country.
Strategies For The Renewal and Revitalization of Urban Area
- Government should adopt a bottom-up approach for the regeneration of such areas as there should be balance in planning of the upper and lower class.
- If they plan the area according to the needs of the residents then they will never leave that area as they belong to that spaces.
- Politian’s should be in this faith that they want to develop the city in a better way for every individual.
- Civil society also plays an equal role because they should give equal opportunities and balance infrastructure to the people living in poor conditions.
- Land should be legal and properly planned if it falls under that government area.
- Ngo’s and private stakeholders should invest for such communities.
- Cross-subsidy is very important so people who will live in those areas can afford that and could earn from those commercial zones.
- Rather than establishing a high-rise there should be same living standards that those people are use to off.
- Community participation of local residents in planning process.
- Economic redevelopment by providing employment.
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