The focus globally is now on making cities more inclusive, bringing about social cohesion and, as a result, paving the way for community bonding and equitable urban growth. This is considered an integral cornerstone of a smart and resilient city.
To bring about this social cohesion, there is a need for cities to have a vibrant and expanded footprint of public spaces. Other than the more well-known types of public spaces such as parks, beaches, markets, there is now also an emphasis on finding new and more innovative ways of creating public spaces.
In this context, there is a movement growing globally to reclaim streets as public spaces where more physical space is reclaimed by removing encroachments, improving street connectivity, pedestrianising streets and revitalising the prosperity and environmental sustainability of neighborhoods and districts.
The area around the Aga Khan Jamat Khana is also being considered to be rejuvenated by developing architecturally relevant and appealing hotel spaces.
By Farhan Anwar for The Express Tribune. Published: August 24, 2015
Read more at The Express Tribune | A vision to reclaim the streets of Karachi
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