PLANNING OF

ISLAMABAD

HUMAN SETTLEMENT
Location : North-eastern part of Pakistan in
Islamabad Capital Territory

Climate : Humid Sub-tropical

Geography :

 Part of the Potohar Plateau.

 Undulating terrain with small patches of alluvial

plains especially along the Soan and Korang rivers.

 The whole area is also dissected by local streams and drains that
originate from Margalla and Murree hills & are significant in drainage
system.

 The area slopes from north to south.

 Need Of A New Capital

 Karachi was located at one end of the country making it vulnerable

to attacks from the Arabian Sea.

H  Pakistan needed a capital that was easily

I accessible from all parts of the country.
S
T  Karachi, a business center, was also
O considered unsuitable partly because of
R intervention of business interests in
Y government affairs.

 Karachi started showing the sign of agglomeration with

consequences of unhygienic conditions seriously effecting
the health of the government servants.
Site selection :

The available site near Rawalpindi i.e present day Islamabad was
chosen owing to various advantages which were –

 Close proximity to the existing urban area of

Rawalpindi helped in the development of Islamabad by
providing the access to existing transport network(GT
road) & supplying labour for the development.

 Rawalpindi was already main military center & accommodated

initial government offices and personnel.

 Topographical conditions such as a foothill of Himalayas from

1600-1900 ft. above sea level & presence of river basins.
Doxiadis & the Concept of Dynapolis / Dynametropolis :

Greek architect-planner C. A. Doxiadis planned the city of

Islamabad on his concept of dynametropolis.

 It was proposed that Islamabad

and Rawalpindi will expand
dynamically towards southwest
along with their centre cores (blue
area- spine of central facilities)
benefitting from each other with
least possible adverse effects in
traffic.

 He regularized grid layout on which the city was to grow sector

by sector, with each sector and sub-sector having its own
residences, shops and parks.
Islamabad will serve mainly administrative and cultural
functions. Rawalpindi will remain the regional center serving
industrial and commercial functions.

It was proposed that all three component of Metropolitan area will

be connected by four major highways (1200 ft. wide), Muree
Highway (now Kashmir Highway), Islamabad Highway, Soan
Highway and Capital Highway, meeting at right angles of which
only two highways (Kashmir and Islamabad) have been built till
now.

Street have equal width and they cross each other at right angle.
Grid-Iron Pattern :

The city was conceived into grid-iron patterns developed into 2 km

x 2 km sectors segregated by the hierarchy of wide principal roads
(600 ft.) comprising Islamabad and Rawalpindi area.

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is divided into Islamabad City and
Islamabad Rural:

-Islamabad Urban Area (city proper) including institutional and

industrial area(505 km2)

-The rural area divided into 12 union councils which are

comprised of 133 villages .(401 km2)

Islamabad Capital Territory is divided into eight zones:

Administrative Zone, Commercial District, Educational Sector,

Industrial Sector, Diplomatic Enclave, Residential Areas, Rural Areas
and Green Area.
Islamabad city is divided into five major zones: Zone I, Zone II, Zone
III, Zone IV, and Zone V.

Zone I consists mainly of all the developed residential sectors while

Zone II consists of the under-developed residential .

The sectors are lettered from A to I, and each

sector is divided into four numbered sub-
sectors.

Housing is provided in grid-iron pattern sectors on disciplined

hierarchy of communities according to their income groups
with four communities clustered around an enlarged shopping
center at the centre.
Transport :
Transport Network :
The grid-iron pattern of sectors was served by a
hierarchically structured road network comprising a width of
1200, 600, 300 ft intersecting at right angles.

Local and collector low speed

roads, wide sidewalks, pedestrian
roads and bicycles lanes with
green belts are provided.

A speedy and free traffic can be maintained but with

disadvantage of no short- cuts provision.
Problems Faced :

The plan has focused on building hardware (physical

infrastructure) as compared to develop software (institutional
framework) necessary for implementing the plan.

Absence of institutional framework resulted in administrative fragmentation,

CDA managed Islamabad in a much better way as compared to RDA managed
Rawalpindi but since both these cities have many interdependent aspects, they
effect each other directly .
For instance Nala Lai, once a fresh water stream, connect the two in such a way
that the regular rains and floods have direct impacts upon both with one city is
seen impacting the other.

8% population of Islamabad city has been noted to be residing in

its 34 squatter settlements or Katchi Abadis with slum like
situation.
References :

www.cda.gov.pk
en. wikipedia.org

Sajida Iqbal Maria and Muhammad Imran,

planning of Islamabad and Rawalpindi: what
went wrong?

Abdul Shakoor Sindhu ,Rawalpindi and Islamabad: Multi

Hazard Risk Mapping , published by Rural Development
Policy Institute (RDPI).

THE END

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