ASSIGNMENT: BASELINE STUDY OF UNION COUNCILS

AR- 309: Architecture & Town Planning (B)

BASELINE STUDY OF UNION COUNCILS

By

Ravindar Kumar
B. Arch, M. Urban Design
Assistant Professor, DAP-NED

1. Introduction:

It is a grave reality that Karachi is the largest mega city of Pakistan. The city of such magnitude requires immense efforts for its physical, social economic development. Similarly it is also quite difficult to manage such city with mega problems & issues. However if one like to work for the planning of Karachi it would be a huge task to plan for the city because it requires immense efforts of various disciplines & departments to plan for Karachi. However for the students of Town Planning it is quite possible to look at the city from micro scale and establish its realities & work for its physical, social & economic development.

Thus the method for understanding the city like Karachi needs to be looked at from the smallest unit of the city. In this regard it is evident that Karachi is divided in 18 towns an each town is further subdivided into union councils. Thus the smallest basic unit of city is the boundary of a union council which can be easily documented by a group of students to understand its dynamics, identify problems & issues in it and devise solutions.

2. Details of Union Council:

For understanding the basics of a union council following data is necessary to be complied through physical survey.

i) Karachi Map with boundaries of different towns & other Administrative units.
ii) Town Map identifying the boundaries of the union councils.
iii) Union Council map identified with streets & different neighborhoods in it.
iv) Factual data shown on maps as well as in a report form with visuals.
v) Total number of neighborhoods & settlements.
vi) Existing conditions of water & sewerage lines with their diameter & slopes.
vii) Existing system of solid waste management.
viii) Existing system of education, health & other community facilities.
ix) Total number of lanes & streets & problems in it.
x) Total number of housing units its types & details of problems in it.
xi) Total population & ethnic composition.
xii) Contribution of people / NGOs / CBOs in above mentioned developments.
xiii) Contribution of Government in above mentioned developments.

3. Conclusion:

Conclusively it must be clearly spelled out that aforementioned information of union council shall be quite useful & basic for the understanding of the dynamics of a union council. However; it is also a question of quite significance that why such exercise shall be carried out by students? Basically there are two major reasons for that matter.

The first reason is clearly evident that this exercise shall be beneficial for students in understanding the subject of town planning with actual hands on with practical situations. This will enable the students with this understanding that what they can do & can not do as a Professional Civil Engineer.

The second reason of this exercise is an assumption or hypothesis that, the current elected people in union councils are technically unequipped with the know-how about physical & socio-economic ground realities in their union councils. And as a Civil Engineer when one document and analyze the physical, social & economic conditions of union council & deliver the same information to decision makers it would be easier for them to understand the problems & issues from an engineer’s point of view and they will take right decisions for the physical development of their union councils and as a repercussion jobs shall be generated for Civil Engineers.

Thus students are advised to start this assignment as soon as possible because the groups are already made by them. The deadlines for the assignment are as follows:

Data Collection: 27th February 2010
Data Analysis: 20th March 2010
Maps Making and Report Writing: 24th April 2010
Submission: 1st May 2010