- Growing Needs of Planners in Pakistan: A Case Study of Punjab Province    256 kb by    Ahmad, Ijaz | ijaz47@wol.net.pk    Short Outline Pakistan is a developing country. Its population is increasing tremendously and it demands more planners to cope with the problems arising due to an increase in population which is increasing the size of the region, too. Abstract GROWING NEED OF DISTRICT PLANNERS IN PAKISTAN ABSTRACT The urban population in the Asian and Pacific region between 1991 and 2020 is expected to rise from 991 million to 2.44 billions. This means an additional 1.4 billion people will be living in the urban centers of Asia. Cities already feel this increase tangibly, as they strain to properly service the physical and social needs of their populations. The urban poor feel the pinch as they struggle to feed, cloths and house themselves and to improvise other basic services and amenities like water supply and sanitation. This lack of adequate shelter and services is one of the most pressing challenges confronting most Asian cities on the threshold of the 21st century. Pakistan like other Asian countries is facing severe difficulties in fulfilling the growing needs of inhabitants. Development planning and management has been rapidly changing in Pakistan following the implementation of decentralization policy in the country. Deep rooted centralized approach of development planning and management system is being replaced by decentralized one. The decentralization process has increased the demands of professionals as to meet the challenges of development. The Local Government Ordinance focus on the devolution and decentralization of powers, responsibility and resources to local bodies. However, most of the provisions that are articulated in the act are not implemented effectively yet. There are several reasons for limiting the effective implementation of the act. Limited capacity of districts, unavailability of appropriate local planning and management professionals are the major reasons among others. Successful implementation requires significant resources and commitment to enhance capacities of local bodies so that they are effective and capable enough for the implementation of the act in a comprehensive manner. This will require strengthening of local bodies to enable them to discharge their responsibilities and better respond to the demand of their constituency for better services. All this phenomena needs the services of professional specially District Planners as to cope with problems of emerging new settlements in urban as well as rural areas of Pakistan. Keywords Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2004: Management of Urban Regions   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper