‘Unplanned growth affects Lahore’s beauty’

LAHORE : The beauty and grandeur of this city of Lahore has been affected by the ruthless and unplanned growth; had we been planning accordingly Lahore could have been a thriving metropolitan in many domains.

“In 1901, the population of Lahore was 200k which doubled in 1930 and again doubled in 1950 making it 800k. The alarms rang when it rose to 10 million and more in 2018 and is projected to touch 13 million mark in year 2030 – making it almost impossible to meet even the basic needs of the population in this city,” said Fakir Syed Ijaz-ud-Din during his session of City Dialogue in Library organised by the Urban Unit on Saturday.

The session was 14th of the series that brings multidimensional audience together under Quaid-e-Azam Library roof from Lahore as well as many other cities. In his well-knitted presentation, Fakir Syed Ijaz-ud-Din shared some 100-year old images of important buildings in Lahore discussing how the deterioration took place having a negative impact on Lahore’s history too. Fakir Ijaz-ud-Din is an internationally recognised art historian and author of 18 books. Having served as Minister for Culture, Tourism and Environment, he is also a member of faculty at LUMS and FCC University and a feature writer for an English Daily.

Fakir compared modern architecture and style with the contemporary one while focusing on the buildings in old Lahore that used to offer much public space for the residents than as contrary to recent times when congestion has become a permanent feature of the city.

Earlier, at the 13th City Dialogue, former Chief Census Commissioner Asif Bajwa presented on the Population Census in Pakistan-2017 telling province-wise facts and data from the census also focusing on the rural and urban stats.

Students from NCA and Punjab University, urban planners, architects, researchers, doctors, writers and academia took part in the dialogue.