Urban Governance in Pakistan: Global Lessons for Local Problems

Large metropolitan areas across the world have become junctions for forces like globalization, international migration, increasing urban population, and sprawling urban landscape; all the while struggling with inadequate governance mechanisms, insufficient resource mobilization, and overburdened public infrastructure.

According to Robert D. Kaplan, a renowned author of “The Coming Anarchy,” the 21st century is expected to witness more than half of humanity living in cities. The trend is on the rise in developing regions, as is evident from the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, where 50 percent of the population is already urban. 

South Asia mimics a similar pattern of urbanization, with Pakistan having the highest rate of rural-to-urban migration. The urban population in Pakistan has crossed 93.8 million, amounting to 38.82 percent of the total population as per the National Consensus of 2023.

In Pakistan, technological innovation and development infrastructure have spurred rural-to-urban migration as more people seek better employment opportunities and finer living standards in the cities. Consequently, metropolitan centers have undergone undue expansion without proper planning. These expanded cities are now facing increasing challenges of inadequate resources, pollution, insufficient health and education facilities, infrastructural deficit, and urban poverty.

With the urban population increasing by such leaps and bounds, governing institutions are unable to match the pace of growing needs and demands. While there are myriad of challenges facing urban governance in Pakistan, those requiring immediate remedial policies include climate threats, lack of healthcare facilities, control of the elite over local bodies, and poor civic participation. As urban governance is a grave challenge across the world, Pakistan can learn lessons from the countries that have implemented successful models of urban governance.

Firstly, the pollution index is on an alarming rise in Pakistan’s metropolitan areas where greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are produced by households, businesses, and immense traffic on the roads. 

Facing a similar problem, South Korea established the Carbon Bank Programme under which the governing authority of the Gwangju metropolitan region worked together with private entities like utility providers, local banks, and NGOs to reduce GHG emissions. While the companies provided consumption data, the governing authority formulated a framework that would grant carbon points to households and businesses in exchange for reducing their GHG emissions. Together, through extensive awareness and education campaigns, the urban governance of Gwangju helped the area transition towards good climate practices and sustainability.

Pakistan can adopt a similar framework to eradicate the menace of pollution and mitigate climate change by making carbon points transferrable to bank loans or any such budget-friendly incentives. Such a framework would also encourage public-private partnerships at the local governance level.

Secondly, Abidjan—a city of Cote d’Ivoire remains a shining example of improved healthcare provisions. Adopting the model of community health centers from Mali—Abidjan successfully established the Urban Community Health Clinics system. Under this system, neighborhood associations came together to form community health centers in areas facing life-threatening diseases or lack of healthcare facilities. These community health centers in Abidjan serve more than 800,000 people. Pakistan, having a significant number of fully trained healthcare professionals and an adequate pharmaceutical supply, can establish such health centers on the outskirts of metropolitan cities to ease the pressure on public infrastructure.

Thirdly, India already has numerous “million-plus” cities with Mumbai being one of the largest metropolitan agglomerate. This metropolitan region consists of several municipalities and is mainly governed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), which is responsible for water supply, sanitation, public transport, primary education, and electricity services. Under constitutional amendments, the elected council of the MCGM must have a diverse body including women, lower classes, and minority castes/tribes, ensuring that those holding legislative powers take into account the interests and needs of the diverse population and not just that of the political and social elite. Thus, legislative diversity in governance institutions incumbent under the constitution is a significant step Pakistan can adopt to mobilize its local bodies and enable bottom-top governance.

The new governance in Pakistan is keen on accelerating socio-economic development, especially by fast-paced CPEC projects. A huge number of rural population is likely to migrate towards cities where these projects are concentrated. It is the need of the hour to realize that the successful completion and profitable results of CPEC projects and other development initiatives largely depend on proper urban governance mechanisms.

All in all, Pakistan needs to take some immediate steps including public-private partnerships, improving the healthcare system through establishing community health centers, diversity in municipal governance bodies through constitutional reforms and development agendas, ensuring civic participation in governance mechanisms, and adopting best practices of equality and sustainable urban development which transcend the traditional rich-poor divide. It will largely reform the urban governance and urban planning in Pakistan and pave the way towards a better, inclusive, and sustainable future.