Urban Sprawl in Karachi

Shamshad Akhtar¹ and M.R.Dhanani²

¹Department of Geography, University of Karachi, Karachi

²Department of Geography, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan

Corresponding Author’s Email: shamshadgeog@yahoo.com

Accepted 13 October, 2013

Abstract

In the period of 1981 to 1998 massive flight of population was recorded in Karachi City from the central city to the outskirts. As a result central population density sharply fell and population density gradient adopted a gentle slope. Similarly during the period 2002 to 2012, massive rural lands in Karachi had been converted into   urbanized lands. As a result first time overall population density of Karachi fell. These results indicate urban sprawl phenomenon in Karachi which was first identified in America in 1950s. This paper is an attempt i. to investigate urban sprawl phenomenon in Karachi ii.to evaluate how urban sprawl in Karachi is dissimilar to American cities iii. to probe out causes and impacts of sprawl in Karachi, and iv. to analyse opinions of the city dwellers about the policies of dispersal and counter dispersal.          

Keywords: Urban sprawl, counter dispersal, density gradient.