Future of Islamabad Urbanization in Asia

Nusrat Azeema
In the film Field of Dreams, a voice is heard saying, ‘If you create it, they will come.’ Although the singer was discussing the construction of a baseball field, the same is true for cities. Cities act as magnets. They entice individuals. Throughout history, people have flocked to the town. There is nothing to suggest that this will not continue to be the case in the future. It was established as a federal entity in 1960 when Punjab province was dissolved, and Islamabad became the capital of Pakistan. Islamabad has a population of 1,095,0649 people, according to World Population Review. According to the city’s population growth trend research, its people will be over 1.7 million by 2020, and it is predicted to approach 2.2 million by 2030. Further examination of Islamabad’s demographic trends reveals that the city comprises people between the ages of 15 and 64, accounting for up to 59 percent of the population. According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics, Islamabad’s population density is 888.8 people per square kilometer, with urban dwellers accounting for 67% of the total. When it comes to administrative structure, the capital city is divided into five zones, two of which are devoted to metropolitan areas. At the same time, the other three are dedicated to developing rural regions. Rural Islamabad has 23 UCs and 133 villages, while urban Islamabad has 21 UCs and 21 UCs in rural areas. One of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, the capital, continues to see an increase in its ethnically varied population. There are 65 percent Punjabis, 10.51 percent Pashtuns, 14 percent Urdu-speaking, and 7 percent Sindhis, Kashmiris, and Balochis in the city’s total population. Moreover, a third of the people of Islamabad are educated, with more than 10 percent of the people holding a bachelor’s degree and just over 5 percent holding an advanced degree. Sixteen recognised universities are located in the city, with a literacy rate more significant than the national average. Islamabad has a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index of 0.0136. Islamabad is attractive to investors because they possess a stable employment base, a large middle class, and a healthy economy. Urban challenges and infrastructure advances are fueling suburbanization trends in developing countries, even while the trend for central cities in these countries tends to get ever denser. Urbanization is frequently considered a negative trend. However, there are advantages, such as lower commute and transit costs and increased options for jobs, education, housing, and transportation. Individuals and families that live in cities can take advantage of proximity and diversity. While cities offer a wider variety of marketplaces and goods than rural locations, infrastructure congestion, monopolization, high overhead expenses, and the inconvenience of cross-town travel frequently combine to make city marketplace competition harsher than rural marketplace competition. Stable conditions mean that a city can do well by simply tending to routine functions of capital investment (development policies) and physical or social maintenance (allocation and redistributive policies). The number of people living in slums has increased steadily since 1990, going from over 650 million to an estimated 863 million by 2012. According to the United Nations, more than half of all urban residents in Sub-Saharan Africa lived in slums in 2010. Urbanization is not the same as the expansion of slums. The majority of evidence points to global urbanization as an inevitable trend. At the same time, slum growth results from decisions to restrict poor people’s access to cities, whether through limited service provision to informal settlements or forced evictions and resettlement of the urban poor to peripheral or under-serviced areas—slum growth. Instead of developing existing cities, he (PBUH) called for their creation from scratch. Wisdom’s words have all economic and environmental rationale. As we previously covered, people migrate from rural areas to metropolitan areas because of financial, job, and service opportunities. The government cannot control migration by focusing on economic and employment prospects. As a result, the government will need to establish new financial centers that can give adequate employment opportunities for individuals to limit the growth of cities. The decreased human density will also contribute to preserving a healthy ecosystem. Islamabad would benefit, but Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar, and other places. The country must either create new urban areas or change its approach to urbanization. With China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan has a way out. With the help of CPEC, Pakistan has the opportunity to carry out this vision. The ML-1 railway and Special Economic Zones can be used to develop new cities and economic centers. Creating new financial centers and cities or strengthening small towns in remote areas will be all Pakistan needs to do regarding SEZ planning. Pakistan has already planned a few SEZs like Rashakia SEZ, which is good to keep in mind. However, more special economic zones must be established. Consequently, Pakistan should collaborate with China to find new SEZs that can assist build new economic centers in backward areas, such as southern Punjab, interior Sindh, Balochistan, and the recently combined districts.There is historical evidence that transportation infrastructure, particularly railroads and the areas around them, has contributed to the development of new economic hubs and cities. ML-1 can benefit from this approach. It would be a win-win situation for everyone. ML-1’s performance, the railway’s prosperity, and the development of new economic hubs are all dependent on it. The spatially Hybrid Urbanization Model, a novel urbanization idea based on sustainable development principles, is also an option for Pakistan. Creating new economic hubs is the only way to deal with the problem of unplanned urbanization and the expansion of cities beyond their capacity. If Pakistan does not take the necessary steps, disasters, pollution, and crime will continue to plague the country’s cities, and Islamabad will not be an exception.