The dynamics of land-use in the Lahore Inner City: A case of Mochi Gate, Pakistan

The Lahore Inner City core comprises 11th century Walled City and areas immediately around it such as the expansion along Circular Road. Not only is this Lahore's historic but also its commercial centre, with Punjab's largest market of wholesale and a web of related activities and land-uses. Over the past three decades, the Walled city has seen a transformation of its urban and social fabric and a widespread dilapidation of its building stock. Today the greater Walled city- Circular road area is typified by the manifest symptoms of `decay' such as dilapidating infrastructure, deteriorating building stock, traffic congestion, noise and air pollution, visual clutter, and management-related issues. Paradoxically however, while there are `visible' gaps, there is an `invisible order' which enables the Walled City-Circular Road complex to play a central role in Lahore's daily functioning and contribute to it's economy in terms of trade and employment. Conventional upgrading approaches are not rooted in an understanding and appreciation of this existing `system' and its broader issues. Given the pool of multiple actors and stakeholders and the complexity of land-uses and activities, the specific orientation of any upgrading effort needs to be rationally determined Assuming there is a need for improvements, the objective of research has been to develop a conceptual framework for a `successful' upgrading of the area. Taking the Mochi Gate area as sample, the thesis explores the Walled City-Circular Road complex as an urban phenomenon with its overriding roles, needs, and functions, in order to understand this existing `order'. The problem definition hence leads to the main research question: What is successful upgrading in the context of the study area? In order to determine this, two subquestions explored the existing system, and the gaps within this system. The research is a qualitative exploratory case-study, based on the interviews of primary actors, rapid survey, and observation, and supported by photographic documentation. Research findings indicated that land-use is determined on the basis of need and locational advantages. Secondly, the needs of actors are being catered to through various `enabling' mechanisms, such as informal networks, social support, and the institution of collusion. Thirdly, the physical propinquity of different inter-related land uses is typical of the smallfirm economy; if these parts are separated in space, the system would not be able to function. Successful upgrading implies improvements in the existing conditions and uses of the area. Above all, this would require an actor-centred approach that is based on an understanding of the contribution of all actors and stakeholders to the `system', and incorporates the area's existing functions with both their inter-zonal and city-wide linkages. The research also determined that the current arrangement of land-uses is ad-hoc and results in physical and management-related gaps for the larger `system', and a re-organisation of land uses is needed to create greater efficiency in the system, and minimize conflict between residential and commercial uses.