Noted town planner and architect Arif Hassan has underlined the need to protect agriculture fields and fruit farms around the Karachi city, particularly in rural areas of Malir and Gadap, to create a green shield against heatwaves as well as making the rural areas economically viable.
Speaking at a consultation, titled ‘Exploring Strategies to Respond to Heatwave in Karachi’, organszed by a group of concerned citizens at the office of Urban Resource Centre, he said that earlier Malir and Gadap areas in Karachi rural were green because of agriculture and fruit farms.
Due to unplanned development in the city, he said the rural areas had become barren now, and there was obstruction on natural flow of the rainy rivers so wells were not charging and agriculture was affected. Water problem was very severe in Malir area, he added.
“By making rural Karachi economically viable we can make Karachi city cooler,” Hassan said, adding that earlier, guavas of Malir were exported, so were eggs and chickens, but those products had declined now.
The Malir area had become so vulnerable that people associated with agriculture profession did not take interest in their lands, thus production had been affected, he said. He said heatwave in Karach was not an unusual phenomenon as in the past the city’s temperature went as high as 47 to 48 degrees Centigrade. In fact, Karachi’s greenery was destroyed by a devastating cyclone in 1906, he added.
Hassan said about 60 per cent of Karachi’s population lived in slums and old areas and without their involvement in development, the city’s problems would not be solved.
He suggested making the residential buildings insulated and use of material which absorbed less heat. He said buildings were designed in a way that there was no cross-ventilation of the air, which increased the temperature inside homes.
Dr Noman Ahmed, dean faculty of Architecture and Management Sciences, said that many factors were involved in causing severe hot weather in Karachi, including development and environmental pollution. Our luxurious lifestyle had not only increased the cost of living, but had posed threats to the environment, he added.
