Cities should be the places that spark off development, create new ideas, and open the doors. But the metropolises of Pakistan, from Karachi to Lahore to Rawalpindi, are suffocating due to uncontrolled sprawl, traffic congestion, clumsy plans, and ineffective governance. Unless there is an underlying transformation in the way these cities are run, the economic future of Pakistan will remain trapped in a low-growth trap, and Pakistan’s urban failure shall evermore remain a stain on the state.

The metropolis of Pakistan has ceased to push the economy but has become the one that slows it down. It is easy to reside, work, travel, and relate in a well-organized city. Nowadays, Karachi or Lahore is like walking through molasses. Commuters spend hours in traffic jams, and delivery riders lose time and fuel going through traffic congestion. The unpredictability of logistics and the increase in transport costs affect businesses negatively. The annual cost of mobility failures in developing countries is 2–3 per cent of GDP. The actual price must be even greater with the congestion in Pakistan, the low quality of public transportation, and the lack of proper care on the streets. Cities are supposed to agglomerate talent and increase productivity, but they have become productivity traps.

The dysfunction is most evident through the housing model. Pakistan continues to grow by building low-density, gated communities that propagate the cities far beyond the capacity of the infrastructure. Such developments are beneficial to land developers but weaken the economic existence of cities as they force their populace to drive long distances to work, study, and other services. An employee taking two hours to get to work is not only wasting time, he/she is also wasting chances. The families who are not able to afford the formal........

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