n August 27, 2022, there was a social media announcement that the ban on photographing Shahi Qila, officially known as The Lahore Fort, had been lifted. This change in policy allowed professional cameras to be used in and around the main entrance of the fort.

Photography has been restricted in many parts of the Walled City of Lahore for many years. This restriction significantly impacted the work of those who document cities and ethnographically experience urban spaces. Such prohibitive measures contradict the political rhetoric supporting tourism promotion and the state’s emphasis on capitalising on heritage tourism, aiming to present a ‘soft’ image of the country. Recently, the concept of Photo Walks has become a popular way to explore and appreciate the city on foot. However, the notion of safe walkability has been limited to specific areas. There is potential to extend this concept to more urban areas. Doing so will allow exploration and documentation of social worlds, marginalised histories, navigating past communities and an extensive urban experience.

The restrictions on photography were not limited to historical areas or tourist attractions in Lahore. Sites like Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi and many prominent historical and public spaces in other parts of Pakistan too did not allow professional cameras for photography and videography. Street photography, particularly urban photography, is associated with walkability in congested spaces, aiming to document urban problems and chronicle historical understanding and forgotten past. Walkability and photography are the emerging trends in heritage tours in Pakistan. The urban areas, often referred to as downtowns due to their social organisation, serve as the nucleus of cultural activities and offer important insights into the cities. In the South Asian context, they can be likened to urban villages due to their social organisation, renowned for their vibrance in communal celebrations and historical significance.

The concept of heritage trails has become a central theme in urban heritage preservation, serving as a prototype for conservation efforts. Examples of this include the Shahi GuzarGah or The Royal Trail from Delhi Gate to Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore’s Walled City area, the Denso Hall area in Karachi’s downtown, and the Gor Khatri surroundings in Peshawar. These approaches aim to revive the old glory and forgotten traditions of these cities. In areas where commuting is challenging due to congestion, walking and cycling provide the most viable modes of mobility and transportation for local workers, business owners and people running their daily errands.

However, these opportunities extend beyond daily commuters or local residents to attract tourists and visitors who wish to experience the city’s cultural life. Historic urban landscapes in Pakistan often feature narrow streets, inadequate infrastructure for sewage and electricity poles, tangled wires, wall graffiti and poor management of solid waste. Improving infrastructure and walkability in these urban areas increases accessibility for residents as well as tourists. Today, walkability plays a central role in urban planning, relieving tensions between individual and public interests, such as car ownership and designated parking areas.

Environmentalism, urbanisation and public health discourses that examine physical activity often cite walking and cycling as measures that facilitate physical rehabilitation and reduce the chances of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and mental health issues. Urban physical environments can be redesigned to create walkable spaces. Developing pedestrian infrastructure that features finer, small-scale and shaded sidewalks, along with safe, accessible and connected pathways, represents a multidisciplinary study that links urban design and planning to larger issues concerning law and order, public health, climate change, economic productivity and social equality.

However, in many cases, walkability has been difficult to operationalise. Descriptions and subsequent execution of plans to enable walkability have often lacked elements of local culture, stability and social engagement. Basic facilities such as drinking water, drainage and sewage systems, electricity and communication have been lacking when addressing walkability—first addressing the basic necessities later in the process.

While Pakistan struggles with growing polarisation, adopting walkability in cities and expanding mass transit systems like the metro, which can enhance social interactions between various cultural, religious and political beliefs, is vital to strengthen the social fabric.

Walkability is linked to factors like street crime and the safety of children and women. It creates social space that fosters interactions among members of society, promoting connections conducive to civil coherence.

Although walkability can be a contributing factor, historical racial and gender discrimination and economic disparities cannot be resolved solely by improving walkability; resolution may require political representation and social and economic justice. The increase in car ownership in Pakistan, especially over the last two decades, is attributable to sociocultural reasons. As a petroleum product importer, reducing car use to favour walking could result in fuel savings at both the national and consumer levels. This reduction can not only diminishes carbon emissions but also contribute to economic growth. Mass transit systems are replacing car-centred mobility in many large cites and feature in discussions on urbanisation. However, sociologists have not extensively studied mass transit systems like metro bus services and the Orange Line Train in terms of how they enhance interactions and social cohesion in the Pakistani society.

Walking tours and photo walks are a popular way to experience historic urban areas. In her paper titled The Trail Not Taken: Analysing Formal and Informal Tours in Lahore, Mahnoor Fatima highlights how the national myth-making process overlooks vital moments, figures, and themes that can help reconcile the trauma of colonialism and nationhood. This thesis investigates how informal, citizen-led heritage tours featuring flexible programming highlighting the history of marginalised communities can create spaces for inclusion and dialogue in a post-colonial context. The study attempts to explain how walking tours and tourism are linked to historic preservation in cities like Lahore, where layers of history are marred by traumatic and silenced narratives. In attempting to uncover those narratives, the occupation of neglected spaces and interaction with marginalised groups, such as local craftsmen, is integral to a citizen-led preservation movement that could lead to new solidarities and increased awareness in the future.

A collective of Walled City residents and civil society members is engaging with conventional heritage processes, preserving and fostering various expressions of cultural heritage, such as music, paintings and crafts, etc. They play a significant role in creating citizen-led heritage significance.

In discourses about creating safe walking environments for women, children and the differently abled person, urban planners have not been concerned about how hyper-local cultures limit walkability. For instance, in Rawalpindi, the term Pindi Boy emerged from a hyper-local culture. The label gained mainstream traction through social media. Numerous global and local media organisations have not only produced content around this term but also associate this word with well-known figures in art and literature who hail from Rawalpindi, often without understanding its context and meaning. However, its use has been blamed for unhealthy behaviours like violations of traffic rules and bullying.

Renaming of urban public spaces in the post-colonial period has been a part of the project for nation-building based on Islam and celebration of Muslim heroes. This has resulted in altering the sense of belonging to these places. Conversions such as Elphinstone Street in Karachi to Zeb-un Nisa Street and the placement of Islamic symbols and texts has changed the physiognomy of cities. The name-changing did not always stem from a decolonisation movement. The removal of many statues has resulted in an erosion of visual history. Walking heritage tours help reclaim these sites by uncovering their histories and sharing tales of yesteryears with the public. Informal walking heritage tours, particularly managed by locals, share marginalised histories. However, some heritage tours, including those managed by government departments, provide selective/ coloured accounts of the past. Still, the tourists get a broad view of the past in downtown areas. There’s a growing trend in tourism to traditionalise downtowns to create an old look. Gopal MS in Mumbai adopted a creative approach to photograph cities, developing E-zine, an online source that documents the complexities of urban life and shares diverse groups’ daily experiences in Mumbai.

While Pakistan struggles with growing polarisation, adopting walkability in cities and expanding mass transit systems like the metro that can enhance social interactions between various cultural, religious and political beliefs, is vital to strengthen the social fabric.

The writer is a historian, travel writer and translator. He has extensively written on the non-Muslim history and Pakistan’s heritage.