Statement of Problem

Any megacity in the world plays an important role in the country’s economy development
and GDP growth. Then big cities or the capitals of the regions are often the main cities of the
country and they need to be developed and should have a sustainable urban growth. Vertical
growth is supposed to be the most sustainable and valid growth for the cities to grow better in
economy as well as other factors. Vertical growth prevents horizontal growth which causes the
use the agricultural land and encroachment of land. Vertical growth will decrease the distances
between the places in a city as city will cover less area as compared to the horizontal growth of
a city.

Vertical development in Lahore is a rare thing and can’t be achieved if some factors are not
taken in consideration. Lahore is the most populated city of Punjab province and the 2 nd most
of Pakistan after Karachi. It has a population of around 11 million and its increasing at the rate
of 3.4% a year. This increase in population is due to the increased business demand and
business opportunities in the sector. Education also plays an important role as a lot of famous
and big universities are in Lahore and students migrate here temporarily for education and then
stay here permanently for job. City is expanding horizontally due to increased demand of
housing and commercial activities. Developers are developing new housing societies on the
periphery of the city boundary and causing the haphazard and uncontrolled expansion of the
city.

Elite class is moving towards these peri-urban areas due to congestion in the main city. There
is no control over existing city’s condition as well as the new developed areas. Residential lands
are being converted into commercial due to increased business attraction in the capital. This
causes housing shortage in the center part of the city and people have to move towards
periphery. Land Speculation is also an important issue regarding vertical growth. People buy
land just to make their money safe in the form of land and do nothing on the land and allows
nobody to do anything. This “Jaidad” mentality of people causes serious damage to the
precious land and prevents development. Owning a land is now status symbol and the status of
a person is determined usually according to his house and cars. People having this mentality
can’t live in an apartment or flat where they have to share the land or floor with others. There
are some privacy issues as well regarding flats or apartments but they can be overcome by
taking precautions measures. In Lahore, there are very few areas where you’ll see vertical
development and this needs a change.

We are planning on providing more towers for residential purposes as well as commercial.
And this need to be happened in the existing localities of Lahore. Lahore Development
Authority (LDA) has given the extension in the vertical building laws depending upon the size of
the plot. The good thing is that LDA is now focusing on making Lahore develop vertical and they
are encouraging private developers as well as private owners to take part in this. Going vertical
is not easy as there will be consequences during the process and we have to predict those
consequences earlier to overcome them on time. As a horizontally scattered population and
newly migrated population will be shifted in a vertically developed area covering less land and
having more density, there will be congestion. (congestion of vehicles on road, congestion of
people in apartments or building or offices).

First of all, it would be very difficult to take people from land and make them live or work in
towers. This will be done through scientific analysis by knowing people’s requirements for living
and working, and then try to put all their comforts and wishes in a vertical building. A
sustainable development will be achieved when there’s no bad impact of development on
people’s life as well as the city. There will be a lot of distractions, problems, barriers and
drawbacks during the process but we need to overcome every aspect in sustainable manner.
Developing Lahore vertically is not a choice, It’s a necessity.