While Pakistan's metropolitan hubs are expanding rapidly and rural areas still get targeted development support, peri-urban areas – those transitional zones between city and countryside – are becoming increasingly vital but gruesomely underappreciated.

Often referred to as the ‘in-between’, these areas today house millions of Pakistanis who live with the consequences of poor planning, disorganised growth and absent governance.

In theory, peri-urban areas should offer metropolitan opportunities and rural stability. However, they are locations of unchecked real-estate growth, poor infrastructure, dispersed administrative power and increasing environmental degradation. They lie outside the scope of most rural development projects and are not included in official urban planning, therefore creating a vacuum where mismanagement finds expression.

Prime examples are peri-urban areas around major cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Faisalabad. Initially, a quiet rural neighbourhood near Islamabad, Bara Kahu, today suffers from traffic congestion, untreated trash, unlawful construction and unsafe drinking water. However, no apparent authority takes control. Islamabad's Capital Development Authority (CDA) does not entirely cover it, and local government agencies lack money and autonomy.

Along Ferozepur Road, Shahdara and the suburbs of Lahore also experience unfettered industrial growth, with informal housing communities not sufficiently supported by municipal amenities.

All this highlights the fundamental issue: the governance vacuum over peri-urban areas. In most of Pakistan, urban or rural administrative categories are still binary. This simple........

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