A seminar titled ‘Sustainable Growth in Karachi: Visions & Plans by the Future Planners’ was organised on Saturday by Shehri-CBE in collaboration with the NED University and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation at a local hotel to highlight some innovative academic projects of the students of NED’s Architecture & Planning Department and the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture (IVSAA) that focus on improving the living environment in the metropolitan.
The context of the seminar was that limited efforts have been made to engage the academia and the youth in developing a sustainable development vision for the city. The future of a nation lies in the investments made for its youth around whom the vision of a future has to revolve. It is also important to assess how they envision the future, and what are their concerns, hopes, desires and suggestions.
With this idea in mind, they said, and to counter the gloom and doom that has unfortunately befallen the city, Shehri decided to organise the seminar to provide a platform for discussing some fresh ideas, proposals and projects that have been developed by the youth of the metropolis for making it a more viable and happy city. NED University’s presentations dealt with land use assessment and sustainable growth recommendations for the Clifton and Lines Area localities, whereas IVSAA’s presentations focused on use of interstitial spaces and street children.
The seminar participants appreciated the efforts of the faculty and students in coming up with quality research and innovative plans to facilitate sustainable and people-friendly growth of the city. The presentations were supported by visual displays of the projects and the participants interacted with the students and faculty while viewing the project displays.
An interactive panel discussion was also held, during which the participants posed questions on the projects and also provided valuable assessments on the feasibility of implementing the vision outlined in the projects as well as suggested certain amendments. It was agreed that there is a need of greater and more meaningful interaction between the government and the academia for solving the challenges facing the metropolitan.
Some participants felt that students should be made more aware of the political context within which planning and development is taking place so that the projects they develop are more in tune with the realities on ground. It was also agreed that there is an urgent need of developing a pressure group within the civil society that works on developing a vision for the city’s future that has the consensus of all the key stakeholders.
The participants felt that more similar events should be initiated to actively engage the youth and academic institutions in seeking solutions to the problems and challenges facing the city.