Planning for High Density in Low-income Settlements. Four Case Studies from Karachi

In many large Asian cities, planners have begun to clear informal inner-city settlements and replace them with commercial and middle-class neighbourhoods, seeking to project an image of modernity and prosperity to foreign investors. Low-income residents of these settlements are often relocated to high-rise apartments on city peripheries. Evidence suggests that households in low-income apartment blocks experience more social problems than their counterparts in informal settlements, and have more difficulty buying homes or running home businesses. Thus, low-income communities may grow poorer when relocated to apartments.

Governments justify the construction of high-rise apartments on the grounds that it is the only way to achieve high densities while adhering to building bylaws. Here, the authors show that on the contrary, planned settlements of individual houses could meet – and in some cases considerably exceed – the density requirements for low-income apartments in Karachi, Pakistan, while improving the physical and social environment.

This paper presents case studies of four low- to lower-middle income housing sites in Karachi, including three settlements of small plots and one apartment complex. It then presents an hypothetical re-design exercise to explore how high-density settlements could be constructed on these sites without compromising on living conditions. Although settlements of small plots can grow to high densities as residents expand their houses, apartment blocks are more lucrative for developers because there is more housing for sale immediately after construction (i.e. more value is added per unit of land). This issue was discussed with developers, and two small-plot settlements were designed where houses could grow incrementally, based on their proposals, which would represent profitable alternatives to apartments.