How Might We encourage citizens to co-create desirable futures ?
Challenge
The Government of Sindh is working on preparing the Greater Karachi Regional Plan (GKRP) 2047, where very importantly, there was a provision of defining a vision and broad strategies at regional and local levels. This project had to provide critical markers to support the larger visioning exercise.
Client & Timeline
The Government of Sindh & The World Bank
2022 - 2023
Team & Role
Urban Planning Consultant, Farhan Anwer
Innovation Consultant, Hira Zuberi
As a lead design and urban futures consultant for The World Bank, I was responsible for collaborating with a small team to conceptualise the project. I was leading the qualitative research and it’s methodology and was responsible for all participatory sessions of co-creation with all stakeholders. After this I played an integral part in synthesis of the gathered data for insights and recommendations and writing the final report.
Methodologies
Foresight, Futures Thinking, Co-Design
Outcomes
Report with recommendations for the Mayor
Co-Creating Desirable & Inclusive Urban Futures for Karachi
Impact
A consistent message design process, increasing efficiency and speeding up time to market.
Teams confident in creating messages, which has reduced pressure on experts.
Customers get relevant messages on relevant channels which has established a coherent relationship with the brand.
Alignment & Discovery
-
Foresight methodology has been used to capture voices of citizens that provides the government with a set of practical tools to make their decision-making more inclusive and future-facing. It involves exercises to uncover new ideas, challenge existing assumptions and explore interactions between future trends and the forces driving change.
-
This involved engaging and co-creating with a broad spectrum of stakeholders and navigating with their complex relationships. There was a special focus on the more marginalized, for charting some critical transition pathways strategically interfacing the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable urban growth.
Engaged stakeholders included government representatives including, policy makers, service providers, development authorities, and regulatory bodies.Additionally non-governmental organisations and the broader community of citizens included ; people with disabilities, religious minorities, low income communities, specialists in trade & finance, performing arts and sectors (e.g. education, tech-industry etc.)These stakeholders were identified, prioritised, and then a suitable engagement strategy was designed for each group.
Co-Designing and Imagining Futures with Citizens
-
Considerations of the future of Karachi were informed by historical influences and it’s present state. Highlighting trends and sequences of events that characterize the current state and context of Karachi provided a helpful point of departure for thinking about its future.
-
The foresight journey was initiated by considering the very distant future. Stakeholders found it challenging to rapidly launch themselves into future-oriented mind-sets, yet engaging with the most distant and least familiar-feeling future was very helpful. Exploring visions and aspirational values was a great starting point for conversations about the future of Karachi.
-
Exploring possible change offers a familiar way to embark on a journey into the future from the ‘now’. Projection of existing trends may feel increasingly problematic to participants and they will often feel more comfortable moving onto more creative approaches.
Globally, there is a focus on creating a diversity of public spaces. However, open green spaces as a share of total urban footprint in Karachi declined from 4.6 percent in 2001 to 3.7 percent in 2013 (World Bank 2018). Not just parks and green spaces are on the decline, but there has been a failure to invest in a variety of public space capital in the city. Karachi has everything. A street culture that still survives, an extended and diverse waterfront, sulfur springs of Manghopir to the rugged terrains of the Kirthar National Park. However, there has been a failure to leverage this potential.
City of Parks and Recreation
-
Public spaces are not just spaces for providing some respite from the high speed urban life but if properly invested in, public spaces contribute to overall improved urban livability – with positive implications for greater financial prosperity, social well-being and environmental improvement
-
Cities are trying to diversify uses of their waterfronts, with a focus on optimizing public rather than private uses.
-
Investing in diverse public spaces by creating innovative partnership models
Cities, globally, are moving towards becoming pedestrian and cycling friendly cities, reducing dependence on the automobile. This shift has implications that are economic, social and environmental. Participants in the Karachi visioning discussions, across the board indicated mobility challenges as the most pressing concern facing them on a day to day basis that include increased congestion, pollution, and loss of time. Lack of viable public transport options and non-friendly urban infrastructure for facilitating non-motorized transport hits more the urban poor adding to the profile of urban inequity.
Pedestrian and Cycling Friendly City
-
cities with compact growth patterns, accessible destinations and having a greater variety of diverse public spaces
-
Reduction in carbon emissions with reduced dependence on the automobile has positive implications for improved climate change resilience
Karachi, housing so many ethnicities, linguistic, religious and cultural identities, instead of celebrating its diversity has become a fragmented city with fragmentation happening across multiple layers. A divided city cannot become a sustainable city. Sustainability is not just about cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions or using smart energy. A sustainable city has to be a socially just city where diversities are respected and celebrated.
City of Culture and Diversity
-
They promote greater community bonding and cohesion and attract foreign visitors becoming a critical driver for a tourist friendly city .
-
with constant focus on fairs, festivals, food, music, arts, food, clothing and craftsmanship that become catalyst for generating new businesses and trades. Such products and spaces attract visitation – both local and foreign.
-
Religious minorities and people with special needs would become more mainstreamed with their talents, music, food, arts and crafts being celebrated and promoted.
We are presently experiencing the 4th age of the industrial revolution. Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and the increasing digitalization of all aspects of living are creating new kinds of urban spaces. Sustainable, smart and green cities where technology is enabling smarter, more climate friendly forms of built environment, modes of mobility, security and energy use.
Green Tech City
-
with a surge in start-ups, entrepreneurship, creating more opportunities for gainful employment and businesses, and establishing of green economies.
-
we design our spaces, the way we move and remain mobile, the way we produce and use energy to the way we consume food and manage our waste.
-
where instead of producing, consuming and disposing, we create feedback loops of reduce, reuse, recycle, re-purpose etc.