ADDRESSING INFORMAL PROCESSES FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE CITY CENTRE Case of Saddar Bazaar, Karachi

Abstract

Karachi’s townscape has evolved through a process of responses to the changing needs and priorities of a population influx of the past 300 years. Over centuries, its port’s trading and defence potential has attracted merchants, colonials, feudal lords, intellectuals and political and economic migrants. These migrant groups in turn, have contributed towards the development and degradation of the city and its centre, ‘Saddar Bazaar’. In the past 50 years, due to an immense increase in the size of the population of Karachi and the expansion of its geographical boundaries, several centres have developed, serving their locale. However, the importance of ‘Saddar’ as a cultural and economic centre still remains, as none of the other have been able to develop the required commerce or culture related facilities which could serve the whole city. Saddar lies in the economic hub of the city and serves thousands of vehicles and transit commuters who pass through it. This has lead to the degradation of its facilities and fast disappearance of its cultural spaces. The absence of these in turn, is resulting in alienation amongst communities, ghettoisation of rich and poor areas and a cultural division of the city. This paper attempts to analyse the process of Saddar’s transformation, identifying the inherent processes and agents of change, and gives some suggestions for its future rehabilitation.