What are the basic requirements that enable a city to become ‘desirable’ for the general public?
Well-equipped residential units, highly-accredited educational institutions, well-known hospitals, and most importantly, ample job opportunities! A city that ensures the provision of these aforementioned facilities and amenities allows citizens to happily flock into its premises to try to secure a better living standard. As the country faces a large housing shortage, which has been prevailing for quite some time now, going vertical could be the best thing that may have happened to the ongoing urbanisation efforts within Pakistan.
Pakistan has seen the majority of its housing sector’s expansion on horizontal grounds, however, recently there has been a visible spike in vertical developments in and around many major cities, allowing a change of acceptability in the mindset of the general population at large. People of Pakistan have generally preferred to live in secluded houses on the land that they usually own. Needless to say, the practical implications of this shift from horizontal to vertical allows the space for relief to kick in — owing to the ease-of-management of the latter.
What are the problems with the concept of horizontal development?
As seen all around the world, the global phenomenon of people moving from less developed areas into more urban-centric places causes a sudden influx of population which burdens almost all the facilities and amenities in a city, causing more and more havoc for the government institutions to reduce the pressure by the ‘population overload’. To counter the impacts of this factor, urban planners and developers are looking extensively for newer ways into enabling vertical constructions to grow and expand. In this blog, we will discuss the importance and benefits of vertical constructions in Pakistan.
What are the benefits of having vertical constructions in Pakistan?
The ongoing traditional construction practices in the country have been mostly bent towards horizontal expansion by building private residential units on any piece of land. The problem with this is ‘management solutions’. The challenges brought forward by horizontal expansions are directly proportional to the extent of the provision of infrastructural development — meaning you can easily construct a house even in the outskirts of a city, but you will then be facing problems like supply of water, improper sewage disposal, and irregular supply of electricity. This is because the spread of infrastructural development does not efficiently cater to places that are located in far flung places, or even those which are right on the limitation boundaries.
To counter these issues, those incharge of developmental practices have realised that going vertical is the best solution to these management problems. Moreover, going vertical means constructions of more apartments, high-rise residential buildings, and skyscrapers constructed on a smaller piece of land. This blog compiles the benefits of going vertical with constructions in the following pointers:
Community living
The construction of vertical housing solutions enables a community living unlike any other. The community lifestyle Pakistani people are familiar with is a gated housing society. However, when a population of some 50-100 people establish their abode within a single vertical building, they get to know each other — watching the same people going in and out of the building you stay within allows a reason to contact each other or even exchange pleasantries.
Accessible neighbourhoods
You don’t have to walk several blocks to see someone anymore, going vertical allows you to easily access a lot of facilities and amenities located in and nearby your housing structure. Imagine getting your daily groceries or necessities within a timeframe which is much smaller than the one that you’ll be facing when living in a separate and private house. The point of going vertical is that it allows you to easily access different floors of your building than actually go out of your residential abode.
Environmental benefits
Forget taking your car or bike out for every little thing you may need to live a comfortable lifestyle. Move on with your life in a healthier environment as the harmful gases released by traditional combustion engines are eradicated, as going vertical with your residential lifestyle encourages the use of walking and the easy availability of everyday necessities.
More affordability — Accommodating more people
If we compare the costs of the infrastructural development to accommodate 50 people in the ongoing traditional housing trend with vertical developments, the latter wins — by a very large margin. The reason being for this is because the land on which the traditional housing trend will use to accommodate 50 people is much more than the land needed to accommodate the same number of people in vertical constructions. Moreover, if the costs and upkeep are evaluated over time, the maintenance cost would exceed many times over.
