Well-planned cities drive productivity growth

LAHORE: Cities around the world are productivity engines. But cities that neglect the social needs of its inhabitants tend to grow painfully slower than the socially compliant ones.

Productivity in any city is bound to grow because larger numbers of people interact with each other. With increase in population density, the number and frequency of interactions also increases. It is through these interactions that people find out where their skills are required and where they do not fit in. This realisation is the first step towards specialisation. This not only increases productivity, but a large number of people become partners in growth.

The reason that some cities grow much faster than others is that they spread that interactive experience across their entire population better than others. Prudent planners realise migrants need a home near their work place; they need healthcare facilities to look after their near and dear ones. They need water and sanitation facilities.

It is this cost that a city should bear to excel over other urban centres. If these facilities are not provided the workers would not be able to work to their full potential.

Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad are the three main cities that attract workers from all corners of the country. Faisalabad in fact was more promising, but fizzled out as the city government failed to provide for the needs of the workers. Karachi excelled for a long time. The influx of migrants however was too high for the port city to absorb, which created a number of slums resulting in poor sanitation and health.

Infrastructure development was not coordinated, and the industrial estates completely neglected. Two former mayors of the city tried to make it more liveable, but possibly due to resource constraints, the infrastructure of industrial estates deteriorated further.

Lahore was slow to develop and the influx of workers from around was probably slower, which provided the planners time to develop the city in a systematic way. The industrial estates of the city and also the entire province were upgraded during the tenure of the last government.

Intra-city road network was improved, 1122 mobile health service was effectively launched. The PML-N government further improved the road network and industrial infrastructure of Lahore. The municipal waste management company made the city the cleanest and least polluted in the country.

Metro connected industrial Lahore with the places where labour is concentrated. This facilitated both workers and the industry. The tension free commuting time of workers was reduced by 3-4 hours per day. This improved their productivity. New investments were planned some of which are at commissioning stage. Orange train project when completed would further improve mobility around the city and further boost commercial and industrial activities.

City planners would have to adopt a holistic approach giving the same importance to infrastructure, water, transportation, energy, waste water, and social environment. Only then a responsible and future-proof design would come into being. A city without a regulator would not function as growth centre.

City governments should consider immigrants as assets. Cities will first have to invest for their socio economic needs before these assets start paying dividends. All the major cities that have excelled in growth are immigrant hubs. The natives are in minority in cities like New York or London or Los Angeles or Shanghai or Beijing. Even in Karachi the native Sindhis are in minority and those that migrated from India; and three Pakistani provinces are in majority. Internal migration is as important as cross-border migration.

There needs to be a better political mechanism to ride out the political cycle as they effectively kill the delivery of infrastructure. There is no PML-N or PTA way to pick up the garbage. Garbage impacts all human beings alike and it has to be constantly collected to make life easier.