Master Planning - What is it and what it creates

All major cities in Pakistan are in the process of reviewing and updating their master plans. Our cities spend resources and time developing masterplans to lock themselves and their cities into a predetermined path of growth and lifestyles. When life does not adjust to these preordained plans for their life, cities and their residents end up in years of strife with encroachments happening involving lawsuits and law enforcement. Cities try to grow and modernize but planners go to the extent of destroying buildings with court injunctions only because they are a couple of feet taller or longer than allowed by stringent regulations. Yet the push for master-planning continues across Pakistan hoping to keep cities frozen for long periods of time from 15-30 years. Having seen a boom after the second world war, master plans are increasingly seen as a thing of the past.