CITIES: WHO MAKES PLANNING DECISIONS FOR US ?

Lahore has transformed rapidly over the previous two decades with more and more land on its peri-urban fringes being converted for new housing developments. Many of these new developments boast of expansive boulevards, 'aesthetic living', new commercial centres and modern facilities.

Much of the physical development we see around us is dictated by various building codes and standards. For instance, the width of the street outside a house, the availability and share of public buildings, commercial areas, green areas, footpaths in a scheme, are all shaped by such standards and rules.

Some housing schemes also offer a smaller number of 'low-cost' plots as part of the requirements laid out in such rules. In many cities, changes in such codes and regulations are the result of extensive debate and discussions. According to Eran Ben-Joseph, a professor of landscape architecture and planning at MIT, these changes aim to 'reflect societal learning from deficiencies associated with conventional planning and design standards.'

In this spirit, in this piece, we share recent changes to housing bylaws in the city of Lahore.

Last year, in June 2020, 18 amendments were made to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Private Housing Scheme Rules 2014, and there has been, unsurprisingly, very little debate about the implications of these changes.

Private Housing Scheme Rules, as the name suggests, broadly lay out the rules for the planning and development of private housing and farm housing schemes. They describe the criteria for obtaining planning permissions, outline approval processes, list minimum planning standards for any new development, explain marketing rules and restrictions, outline appeals processes, and include provisions for monitoring of development work.

Infographic by Hala Bashir Malik

To offer some background, in December 2018, the Government of Punjab's Housing and Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department (HUD and PHED) formed a committee to offer recommendations to 'revise and update' the LDA Act 1975, LDA Private Housing Scheme Rules 2014, LDA Land Use Rules 2014 and LDA Building and Zoning regulations, with a view to facilitate the public and private housing sector.

The recent amendments to Lahore Development Authority's private housing scheme rules appear to be supporting segregation of housing by class rather than encouraging mixed-income housing

The committee comprised LDA's chief town planner, two representatives from HUD and PHED, the chairman of...