- Role of Land Use Policy for Preservation of Rural Lands in Islamabad    click here to open paper content705 kb
by    Adeel, Muhammad | townplanneradeel@yahoo.com   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
In 1960, Islamabad urban area was given a strict land use plan but the rural land was left alone with policy guidelines. It resulted in unauthorized spatial expansion. Land use policy has proven to be impractical due to many reasons discussed.
Abstract
In countries like Pakistan, where population is continuously increasing with time, spatial growth is becoming an inevitable phenomenon. The housing shortage has triggered the conversion of fertile agricultural land into low density scattered development. Islamabad holds the distinction of being purposefully planned national capital of Pakistan.
Islamabad Capital Territory was planned in 906 sq km land, comprising 220 sq. km municipal area, 220 sq. km with strict land use and traffic network pattern and 440 sq. km of rural landscape having general recommendations for future development. Capital Development Authority (CDA) was established to acquire the land from local residents and to develop it as per master plan guidelines. But the rural area especially Islamabad Park could not get proper implementation of the master plan. Rapid access and relatively cheaper land price also favored this phenomenon of expansion. As a result, villages expanded freely, without the provision of infrastructural services and land use planning. The study aims identifying policy reasons behind the unauthorized expansion of villages into Zone IV. It finds evidences from previous studies undertaken to analyze the unauthorized spatial growth in the national capital. Focused discussions have been made with concerned officials of CDA, through questionnaire design and unstructured interviews, and results have been described regarding reasons to expansion of villages into National Park Area. The study suggests a sub zoning land use plan for streamlining and implementation of Zone IV Master Plan.
Keywords
Islamabad Zone IV, Unauthorized expansion, policy reasons
Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2010: Sustainable City - Developing World
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