How unregulated real estate expansion, regulatory capture, and horizontal urban development are commercializing basic public goods while accelerating social division and ecological collapse across Pakistan When you drive down any major highway in Pakistan, you can see many billboards advertising modern housing societies, gated communities and cantonment land development projects. These projects promise modern infrastructure, security, 24-hour electricity, better roads, and an overall elite lifestyle. It is sold to the public as progress and economic growth, but when you look closely, you realize what is actually happening to our land, environment, and communities, it is clear that this not real progress. This real estate business and its uncontrolled expansion are actually driving ecological and social collapse. I will call this “Destruction in the name of development.” Power and Social DivisionTo understand this issue, we must look at who controls power and development in Pakistan.In recent years, real estate has not been about building homes for people who need them; instead, it has become a way to achieve quick financial return and political power. Political leaders and powerful developers are directly involved in construction contracts, land acquisition, and state resource distribution. The most severely affected land is agricultural, land acquired cheaply,........

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