Planet of slums
“Instead of cities of light soaring toward heaven, much of the 21st-century urban world squats in squalor, surrounded by pollution, excrement, and decay.” — Mike Davis IN the shadows of…
Transforming slums
IT is the slum that earned Hollywood millions of dollars. Dharavi, the slum pictured in the 2008 blockbuster movie Slumdog Millionaire, is estimated to be just around 2.8 square kilometres;…
Power of narratives
NARRATIVES have, for millennia, shaped the way societies and nations create identities, forge empires, develop breakthrough technologies, and overcome challenges. The story of the Iron Age transformation in the Biblical-Quranic…
Letters and leadership
Among the many new academies, institutions and organisations that Z A Bhutto established within just five years, from 1972 to 1977, the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) stands out as…
Our peri-urban crisis
While Pakistan's metropolitan hubs are expanding rapidly and rural areas still get targeted development support, peri-urban areas – those transitional zones between city and countryside – are becoming increasingly vital…
All’s not well
IN a recent setting in the US, a lively group of university students — from Pakistan, India, France, and Colombia — came together in conversation. The interaction was fascinating. While…
Smart futures
THERE is a dominant consensus among practitioners and academics alike that the world’s most pressing environmental, resource-related, and economic challenges assume global dependencies and demand global collaboration. Yet, time and…
Alternative to new varsity
IT is indeed a matter of great satisfaction that the government has decided to allocate a sum of £190 million, released by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, for investment in…
GB: undermined by ‘governance’
THE government of Pakistan has promoted Gilgit-Baltistan as a premier adventure tourism destination, showcasing its breathtaking landscapes and towering peaks. Ironically, GB is constitutionally not part of the country. Liberated by its…
An economic miracle
Consider a country where utter poverty led to people starving to death. With limited natural resources and more than 7,000 individuals per square kilometres of population, as against Pakistan's around…
