Geographical Review, Vol.70, No.2, December. 2015, PP 45-61

SPATIAL PATTERNS OF RESIDENTIAL MOBILITY IN - PAKISTAN

SAFDAR ALI SHIRAZI Department of Geography, University of the Punjab, Lahore

ABSTRACT

Today, more than half of the world’s total population is living in cities and urban settlements. In addition to many other problems prevalent in urban areas, residential mobility is one of the major issues associated with urban governance. That is why this phenomenon needs an urgent attention for researchers in order to analyze the residential mobility behavior of households and its spatial patterns. Residential mobility is when people change their native residences and move to some other locality within the same city under the influence of many factors. Unfortunately, very little is known about residential mobility and household behavior of the population of Lahore-Pakistan. In this paper, focused has been placed on some important aspects of residential mobility in Lahore, using a household survey of 375 householder collected form three selected union councils of Lahore in 2009.The results of the paper have been presented in the form of text and tables and subsequent recommendations have been made.

Key words: Spatial Patterns, Residential Mobility, CDGL, Lahories, (UC) Union Council

INTRODUCTION

Lahore, the capital of province of the Punjab is a metropolitan city. It is the second largest city after Karachi in Pakistan. It lies between 31°-15' and 31˚-43' north latitudes and 74˚-01' and 74˚-39' east longitude. The administrative jurisdiction of the CDGL is spread over an area of1, 772 sq. km. (GoP 1998). The total population of Lahore as counted during 1998 census was 5,143,495 persons. The population of the city grew at an average annual growth rate of 3.32 percent during the intercensal period 1981-98(17 years) and registered an increase of 74.20 percent over 1981 when its population was 2,952,689.The population of Lahore city grew at a faster rate i.e. 4.35 and 4.51 percent during the intercensal period 1951- 61 and 1961-72 respectively registering corresponding increase of 52.65 and 67.36 percent. This is due to influx of people mainly from rural areas of the Punjab. The average household

45 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

size of Lahore city according to 1998 Census was 7.1 persons which had marginally increased from 7.0 in 1981(IMPL-2021). The estimated population of in year 2011 is 8,800,000 persons with average annual growth rate of 2.84 percent (GoP, 2011). The urban population in 1998 was 5,209,088 or 82.4% of the total population which grew at an average rate of 3.3 percent annually. Presently, there are 9 town and 150 union councils in the Lahore City District.

For the last five Censuses held in Pakistan since 1951, the Census Organization of Pakistan as well as other governmental organizations has not focused on residential mobility-a phenomenon which is taking place in all the major cities of Pakistan. It is pertinent to mention that the history of migration in Lahore is as old as that of the independence of Pakistan in 1947.The district of Lahore was the first to receive the refugees from East Punjab-India. Soon after 1947 a large number of people also migrated to Lahore from the rural areas of Punjab in search of better livelihood.

Though the initial intensions were temporary or permanent, many migrants became permanent settlers and ultimately became Lahories (native residents of Lahore). At first most of the migrants settled in poor neighborhood of the city and later on moved to other parts of the city under the influence of push and pull factors in search of better socio-economic living conditions. Later on this gave rise to residential mobility within Lahore.

Figure 1: Location of Lahore and sample UCs in Punjab-Pakistan

46 Safdar Ali Shirazi

The notion of residential mobility has been extensively studied and researched within various fields of social sciences such as economics, sociology and geography all over the world however, literature in the field of residential mobility is rather scarce in Pakistan. For a comprehensive review of the relevant literature related to the present research one can refer to the pioneer work related to residential mobility which was carried out by Turner (1968).In this pioneer work he identified that in fast developing world people from rural areas migrate to cities in two-stage process. He hypothesizes that the migrants first occupy rental units in central city slums and after some time they moved to bordering fringe suburban neighborhood and thus create a self-help shanti town or housing units. After Turner, numerous researches have been carried out all over the world.

Many have argued in the favor his model as that of Turner’s concept of residential mobility in which majority of newly migrants first rent or share small housing units and later are likely to switch over possession of self-help accommodation. Residential mobility patterns within an urban center may be affected by a number of individual level factors, key among are; proximity to work place, duration of residence, employment status, income level, gender and family status (Conway, 1985; Gilbert & Varley, 1990; Klak & Holtzclaw, 1993; Miraftab, 1997; Selier & Klare, 1991; Sudra, 1982; Turner, 1968; UNCHS, 1982). In many case studies researched around world regarding residential mobility, there seems a direct relationship between housing choices (e.g. rental versus owned) and economic status of migrants. Some researchers have also found a significant relationship with kinship and friendship ties in choice of housing decisions which lead to change one’s residence over the course of time (Banerjee, 1983; Conway, 1985).In LDC’s grant of land ownership rights, land market structure and housing markets are also important determinants in one’s decision making of residential mobility (Collier, 1976; Gilbert & Ward, 1985; Selier, 1991; UNCHS, 1982).

In order to understand why people move within a city, a number of factors such as family size, education, age, life course events and income have also been highlighted (Cadwallader, 1992; Clark & Dieleman, 1996; Li & Siu, 2001).Age, marital status, the presence of children, income, housing tenure and space, and the previous history of migration, all affect the likelihood of residential mobility. Marriage, childbirth and divorce are particularly important in decision making for the householder to move. However, opinions vary about the strength

47 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

of the relationship between intentions to move and residential mobility behavior (Cadwallader, 1992).With this background, a momentous increase in population as well as that of urban population proportion may be ascribed to the fact that rural to urban migration is taking place in the city since 1947.As a result an increase in urban population has been witnessed since then.

The establishments of new housing schemes contiguous to old Lahore were the aftermath of this phenomenon. The gradual household shift of families from the and also from the country side to new residential neighborhoods like Model Town, , Muslim Town, , , , etc.; and other public and private developer’s housing schemes and residential complexes have also been experienced by native people.

The migration of people under various circumstances from other cities of the country as well from abroad after the Gulf boom was over in the region in early 1990’s. Further after 9/11 the major thrust of expatriate Pakistani families from USA and European countries also helped increase in urban population of Lahore and its areal extent which results in residential mobility in Lahore

The research paper has the following objectives:

1) To explore the spatial patterns and determinants of residential mobility in Lahore.

2) To identify various pull and push factors which force a household to move from their native place of residence to a newer residential neighborhood.

3) To investigate the future intensions of the residents of Lahore to move from their present places of residence to other areas to appraise future growth corridors in Lahore.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The phenomenon of residential mobility is taking place all over Lahore, while it was not possible to study the whole district of Lahore. Therefore, this study has been carried out in THREE selected Union Councils of Lahore and the movement of the people from one UC to another has been taken into consideration. Thus the analysis has been carried on at the Union Council’s level. In the absence of relevant data pertaining to residential mobility, reliance is heavily placed on primary data collected through personal interviews and a well-structured

48 Safdar Ali Shirazi questionnaire. The major aim of this research was to collect the data on a variety of issue and concerns about the residential mobility in Lahore through a detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 22 closed ended questions. In addition to this a number of property dealers and real estate developers were also interviewed to understand the phenomena from their view point. A total of ten enumerators were employed to collect the data from house to house. The enumerators conducted a total of 375 interviews in the form of an informal 20 to 30 minutes meeting, asking people about their names, gender, marital status, age ,education, number of children, occupation, monthly household income, their residential status (own or rented), period of stay at present place, name of previous place, knowledge about this place, distance of present to previous residence, push and pull factors/reasons for moving, the process of moving itself and motivations, and then their intensions to still move from present residence to anywhere else in Lahore in order to sought out the future growth of Lahore itself as well the residential mobility. The choice of the household for questionnaire filling was done by using the “snowballing” technique by asking randomly selected households, their neighbors and connections to our enumerators, if they knew anyone who had recently or remotely moved or thinking to move to or from the sample areas. Further, the sample was limited to those householders who actually moved during the last five to twenty years or more. The sample was also geographically limited to three Union Councils (Fig.1) viz 1. Faisal Town (Gulberg Town), 2. Gulshan- e-Ravi ( Town) and 3. Johar Town (Iqbal Town) of the City belonging to three different towns of Lahore metropolitan areas.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The tables in the following section present information for each survey question pertaining to residential mobility collected from the sample Union Councils. The percentage in each cell represents the number of responses for corresponding question. The gender composition of the total sample of 375 respondents has been shown in Table-1.Out of total 87.5 % were males while remaining 12.5% were female respondents. According this table there are 84.0 % male as against 16.0% female in Faisal Town. This ratio is 88.0 % and 12.0 % in Gulshan-e-Ravi, 90.4 and 9.6% in Johar Town. The Faisal Town and Gulshan-e-Ravi are the two UCs where female respondents are more as compared to other UCs. Table 1 indicates the marital status of the respondents in the sample

49 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

UCs collectively. It reveals that out of the total 375 respondents 98.1 % were married while 1.4 and 0.5 % were single and separated/divorced. Although the proportion of marital status is more or less similar to the total sample but in order to have a UCs level analysis one can refer to the corresponding table-1

Table 1: Distribution of Respondents by Gender, Marital Status, Age Groups, Education and No of children in sample UCs of Lahore

Respondents Faisal Town Gulshan-e- Johor Town Total Ravi

Gender No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age

Male 105 84 110 88 113 90.4 328 87.5

Female 20 16 15 12 12 9.6 47 12.5

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Marital Status

Single 2 1.6 1 0.8 2 1.6 5 1.4

Married 123 98.4 122 97.6 123 98.4 368 98.1

Separated/ 0 0.0 2 1.6 0 0.0 2 0.5 Divorced

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Age Groups

< 25 7 5.6 6 4.8 7 5.6 20 5.3

26-35 25 20.0 23 18.4 25 20.0 73 19.5

36-45 38 30.4 39 31.2 36 28.8 113 30.1

46-55 48 38.4 50 40.0 47 37.6 145 38.7

>55 7 5.6 7 5.6 10 8.0 24 6.4

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Education

Uneducated 1 0.8 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 0.2

Primary/Middle 5 4.0 4 3.2 7 5.6 16 4.2

Matriculation 21 16.8 19 15.2 21 16.8 61 16.3

Intermediate 30 24.0 28 22.4 30 24.0 88 23.5

Bachelor 34 27.2 37 29.6 38 30.4 109 29.1

50 Safdar Ali Shirazi

Master/Engineer/ 33 26.4 35 28.0 29 23.2 97 25.9 Doctors

Others 1 0.8 2 1.6 0 0.0 3 0.8

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

No of Children

1to 2 19 16.52 17 14.53 20 17.86 56 16.2

3 to 4 44 38.26 43 36.75 39 34.82 126 36.5

5 to 6 34 29.57 33 28.21 34 30.36 101 29.6

7+ 18 15.65 24 20.51 19 16.96 61 17.7

TOTAL 115 100 117 100 112 100 344 100

Source: Field Survey 2009

As far as age of the respondent in the area is concerned .Majority of them falls in the age group 46-55 years followed by 36-45 and 26-35 years age groups. Since we mostly interviewed the head of the household therefore the percentage is higher for age group 46-55 years. The same is true for all three selected UCs of Lahore. Table 1 indicates the respondents by broad age groups in the study area. It is crystal clear that most of the respondents fall into age groups 46-55 years. There are few who fall into 55 years age and above. Similarly people falling into age groups less than 25 year age category are also less as compared to other two major age cohorts.

Educational characteristics are of fundamental importance in any in depth study of the present nature. As far as educational characteristics of the sample population is concerned we found that most of the respondents were bachelors(29.9 %) followed by Masters/Engineers and Doctors etc.; with a percentage of 25.9.There were only 0.2 % respondents who are uneducated(Table-1). The level of education is an indicator of socio-economic development and prosperity in a society. All the categories of education have more or less the same patterns in study area.

Number of children per family/household is also one of the compelling factors for the householder to move from one house to another in order to cater the growing need of growing family. Out of the total respondents who have children 17.7% have children seven or more, in contrast to this the proportion of families with children 3- 4 and 5-6 accounts for 36.5 and 29.6 % respectively. Table 1 shows the respondents by number of children in study area. Majority of the

51 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

respondents in all three UCs are having children 3-4 followed by 5-6 children per family. There is sizeable proportion of the respondent who has number of children more than 7.Similarly families having children 1-2 are less as compared to all other categories.

The nature and type of occupation is also a determining factor in residential mobility. The data pertaining to this question reveals that most of the respondents belong to the category designated as Government employee (31.7%) followed by Businessmen (23.7%) Private employee (17.3%), Self-employed (12.3%) and Pensioner/ Retired (10.7%).Only 1.1 % respondents were unemployed. Table 7 indicates the distribution of the respondents according to their occupation. As far as the data is concerned we have come to know that majority of the respondents are Government employee followed by Private employees. Their detailed UCs level break up indicates that the ratios of these two major sectors are more or less the same in the entire sample Union Councils.

The question related to income of respondents is very important in order to assess the economic conditions of the respondents as well as that of the sample area. The table 2 reveals that most of the respondents of all the UCs of selected areas fall in the income category of Rs.Rs.60, 000 and above (34.9% of the total sample) per month. The remaining fall within the categories of 45001-60,000, (28.5%) 30001-45,000 (18.2 %)).Only 6.8 % fall in the income category of monthly income <15000.

The type of property ownership portrays the economic condition of the respondent as well his intensions for future residential mobility. Out of the total sample 75.7% possesses their own residence in the sample UCs followed by 22.9 % on rent while there were only 1.4 % respondent who used to live in rent free or other ways to live. Table 2 shows the distribution of respondents by living status in sample UCs of Lahore. It reveals that most of the respondents have their own living place. There were sizeable proportions of respondents who are living in rented houses. There percentage is greater in Johar Town (26.4%), Gulshan-e-Ravi (21.6%) and Faisal Town (20.8%). This may be because of the people living in posh localities thinks that to invest a huge amount of money in a house is not good as compared to invest the same amount in business.

52 Safdar Ali Shirazi

Table 2Distribution of Respondents by Types Of Occupation, Monthly Income, Living Status, Monthly Rent and No of Years living in sample UCs of Lahore Respondents Faisal Town Gulshan-e-Ravi Johor Town Total

Types Of No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age Occupation Govt. Employee 44 35.2 38 30.4 37 29.6 119 31.7

Pvt. Employee 23 18.4 22 17.6 20 16.0 65 17.3 Self-employed 13 10.4 11 8.8 22 17.6 46 12.3 Pensioner/Retired 12 9.6 13 10.4 15 12.0 40 10.7

Housewife 1 0.8 2 1.6 4 3.2 7 1.9 Businessman 30 24.0 32 25.6 27 21.6 89 23.7 Unemployed 0 0.0 4 3.2 0 0.0 4 1.1 Other 2 1.6 3 2.4 0 0.0 5 1.3 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 Monthly Income <15000 9 7.2 10 8.0 7 5.6 26 6.9 15001-30000 16 12.8 15 12.0 12 9.6 43 11.5

30001-45000 24 19.2 21 16.8 23 18.4 68 18.2

45001-60000 34 27.2 37 29.6 36 28.8 107 28.5

>60000 42 33.6 42 33.6 47 37.6 131 34.9

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Living Status

Own 99 79.2 98 78.4 87 69.6 284 75.7

Rent 26 20.8 27 21.6 33 26.4 86 22.9

Rent Free 0 0.0 0 0.0 5 4.0 5 1.4

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Monthly Rent

<10000 0 0.0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0 0.0

10001-15000 0 0.0 4 14.81 5 15.15 9 10.5

15001-20000 12 46.15 17 62.96 12 36.36 41 47.7

20001-25000 11 42.31 4 14.81 11 33.33 26 30.2

>25000 3 11.54 2 7.41 5 15.15 10 11.6

TOTAL 26 100 27 100 33 100 86 100

No of Years living <5 28 22.4 14 11.2 23 18.4 65 17.3

6-10 50 40.0 34 27.2 44 35.2 128 34.1

11-15 34 27.2 45 36.0 46 36.8 125 33.4

16-20 7 5.6 20 16.0 8 6.4 35 9.3

>20 6 4.8 12 9.6 4 3.2 22 5.9

TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

Source: Field Survey 2009

53 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

Out of the total 86 respondents who are living on rent were asked to reveal the annual rent. Most of them pay rent between Rs.15001- 20000(47.7%); followed by 30.2% paying rent ranging Rs.20001-25000 per month. Only 11.6 % pay rent more than Rs.25, 000 per month (Table 2). These respondents were found mostly in newly developed residential schemes by LDA. It is crystal clear from the data that rents are higher in newly developed UCs of Lahore with ample civic amenities.

Each respondent was asked how long they have been living at their present place of living. The response to the total sample regarding the period of stay has been shown in table-2 above. The major proportion of the people living in sample locality was between 6-10 years(34.1%) followed by residents living 11-15 years (33.4 %).Only 5.9 % were living more than 20 years in the surveyed areas. This revealed that the people were living elsewhere before arriving to their present locality confirming the phenomenon of residential mobility in Lahore. Most of the people told us that they lived in their previous /old residential area for more than 20 to 30 years. Many of them remarked that they lived in older residences for many years, particularly householder movers from the walled city of Lahore. In many cases people told us that they have first migrated from some village of Punjab and then settled in some locality in Lahore where the value of property were low. Similarly the rents were also not out of the reach of the commons. These sorts of accommodations are widely available in slums and underdeveloped neighborhoods within Lahore.

One aspect can be infer from our research that first people from outside Lahore came and settled in areas with poor living conditions and later on with the increase of income, means of transportation, change in family size and intension to live in a an area with better environment they moved out in various UCs of Lahore . In total sample union councils, majority of the respondents (34.9%) told that they have come across their present location through property dealers, 28.6 % respondent came to know about the present resident through relatives and friends, 25.6 % by media (electronic/print) and 9.3% through some government agency, although this proportion varies from UC to UC (Table-3). There are a number of factors which are responsible for a householder to move from their previous place of living to the present one.

54 Safdar Ali Shirazi

Table 13 clearly reveals that the major reasons for the majority of the householder to move is poor living conditions in their native place of living (25.3%) followed by change i family size (19.7%), far from work place (17.9%), traffic noise (11.7%), filthy drain (9.1%), litter or garbage(5.6%) and areas of noisy workshop(5.3%), Least of all the reasons was insecurity which accounts for only 1.3 % of the total sample . More or less similar response was received from almost all selected UCs of Lahore. One very interesting aspect of the residential mobility within Lahore is to know which factor/conditions were responsible for the movers as compared to their previous place of living. The general response was about the change in family size(17.6%) flowed by pollution free environment/green environment (17.51%) by employment opportunity (21.69%) followed by living standard (16.0%), place of work closer (13.9%),good market nearby(13.3%),proximity of children’s school(12.5%),no traffic congestion(12.0%), and been asked by the landlord(4.0%). The detailed for each UC is presented in Table- 4. Table-4 shows the conditions found better by the movers to their present place of living as compared to previous one.

It revealed that most of the people found good schools nearby (20.5%); followed by sanitation (20.0%), better living standard (19.8%), pollution free environment (18.4%), employment opportunities account for 14.9 % of the total sample and better security (5.3%). UC to UC statistics have more or less the same figures. Since all three sample UCs are located in the developed and developing areas of Lahore therefore possess good schooling for children, good sanitation, pollution free environment therefore people prefer to live here and whenever someone thinks of moving from older parts of Lahore he try to get accommodation in any one of the sample UC.

55 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

Table 3: Distribution of Respondents by Problem Faced In Residence, Factor For Shifting and Condition at better residence in sample UCs of Lahore Respondents Faisal Town Gulshan-e- Johor Town Total Ravi Problem Faced In No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age Residence Traffic Noise 21 16.8 11 8.8 12 9.6 44 11.7 Far from workplace 19 15.2 20 16.0 28 22.4 67 17.9 Poor living conditions 32 25.6 33 26.4 30 24.0 95 25.3 Area of noisy 5 4.0 7 5.6 8 6.4 20 5.3 workshops Filthy drains 11 8.8 12 9.6 11 8.8 34 9.1 Establishment of 4 3.2 5 4.0 6 4.8 15 4.0 industries Litter or garbage 6 4.8 7 5.6 8 6.4 21 5.6 Change in family size 27 21.6 27 21.6 20 16.0 74 19.7 Insecurity 0 0.0 3 2.4 2 1.6 5 1.3 Any other 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 Factor For Shifting Place of work is closer 11 8.8 20 16.0 21 16.8 52 13.9 Proximity to 22 17.6 12 9.6 13 10.4 47 12.5 children's Good market nearby 16 12.8 23 18.4 11 8.8 50 13.3 Pollution free 21 16.8 15 12.0 24 19.2 60 16.0 environment No traffic congestion 14 11.2 13 10.4 18 14.4 45 12.0 Change in family size 20 16.0 27 21.6 19 15.2 66 17.6 New neighborhood 7 5.6 5 4.0 7 5.6 19 5.1 Marriage 4 3.2 4 3.2 5 4.0 13 3.5 Health concern 3 2.4 2 1.6 3 2.4 8 2.1 Been leave by 7 5.6 4 3.2 4 3.2 15 4.0 landlord TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 Condition at better residence Sanitation 24 19.2 25 20.0 26 20.8 75 20.0 Employment 19 15.2 20 16.0 17 13.6 56 14.9 opportunity Educational institutes 23 18.4 26 20.8 28 22.4 77 20.5 Living standard 26 20.8 22 17.6 26 20.8 74 19.8 Pollution free environment /green environment 27 21.6 23 18.4 19 15.2 69 18.4 Better security Any other 0 0.0 4 3.2 0 0.0 4 1.1 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 Source: Field Survey 2009

56 Safdar Ali Shirazi

Man is a mobile creature and newer satisfied under any circumstances. It is perhaps the instinct of man not to stay in the same locality for long and soon start thinking to move again. Table 16 is about the intension or desire of the people who moved from other areas to newer one and asked whether they still have the urge or intension to move again from this to somewhere else in future. The response was amazing i.e., 84.8 % said that they wish to move again while 9.1% said not to move under any circumstances while 6.1% replied that they do not know.

After knowing the intensions of the people that they still wish to move if they found a better opportunity in future. We suggested to them a number of option areas/settlements where they would like to move in future. The purpose of this question was to know in which direction people will move in future so that the CDGL and city planner shall be ready to accommodate the moving population. This can also suggest us the growth corridors of Lahore in future. Majority of the intenders wish to move along the road (33.1%), followed by Multan road (24.0%), Ferozepur road (15.7%) DHA schemes (13.9%), GT road (5.8%).Only 5.1 % of the total respondents wish to live along Canal toward Wagha boarder in future. This could be because of its proximity to border between India and Pakistan.

Table 4: Distribution of Respondents by intend to move , Source of knowledge and New Residential Areas To Move in sample UCs of Lahore Respondents Faisal Town Gulshan-e- Johor Town Total Ravi Intend to move No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age No. % Age Yes 107 85.6 105 84.0 106 84.8 318 84.8 No 10 8.0 12 9.6 12 9.6 34 9.1 Don’t know 8 6.4 8 6.4 7 5.6 23 6.1 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 New Residential Areas To Move Raiwind road 47 36.8 32 25.6 45 35.2 124 33.1 Multan road 28 22.4 38 30.4 24 19.2 90 24.0 Ferozepur road 18 14.4 21 16.8 20 16.0 59 15.7 GT road 6 4.8 8 6.4 8 6.4 22 5.8 DHA schemes 20 16.0 11 8.8 21 16.8 52 13.9 Along Canal toward Wagha boarder 4 3.2 9 7.2 6 4.8 19 5.1 Any other 3 2.4 6 4.8 2 1.6 9 2.4 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100

57 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

Source of Knowledge Media(Electronic 36 28.8 28 22.4 32 25.6 96 25.6 /Print) Property dealers 47 37.6 43 34.4 Through 32 25.6 38 30.4 37 29.6 107 28.6 relatives/Friends Through some 10 8.0 12 9.6 13 10.4 35 9.3 Govt.agency Any other 0 0.0 4 3.2 2 1.6 6 1.6 TOTAL 125 100 125 100 125 100 375 100 Source: Field Survey 2009

RECOMMENDATIONS

Pakistan ranked first in terms of urban proportion of population in SAARC countries. Due to this situation growth of urban population in st the country is likely to get momentum in the 21 century. Planners and policy makers in Pakistan has generally ignored the problems associated with urbanization, particularly the residential mobility. In most cases little or no attention has so far been paid to it and associated problems, e.g. lack of housing units, inferior or sometime no civic amenities etc. Residential mobility for the last four decades has been an unparalleled experience within Lahore and situation is far more serious than it seems. Since no record is being kept in any of the government office regarding residential mobility, therefore it is recommended that:

1. Each Union Council office should keep the data of people approaching to reside and people who have moved out to some other UC in the City. The residential mobility should be treated as part of the vital statistics like births and deaths.

The head of the household shall be held responsible to intimate the UC administration for his decision to leave the areas and also report to UC office where he shifts for residence.

2. Questions related to residential mobility in the census schedules/questionnaires are to be added to collect the data of the people who migrate within the same city during their life cycle. This will help in better understanding of this phenomenon and to carry out research in future.

3. The property dealers and real estate agents shall also be held responsible for any selling, buying and rental of property through their

58 Safdar Ali Shirazi office to the UCs administration under intimation to concerned police station. This should be taken as most serious when people with domicile or National Identity Card other than Lahore are their clients. This is particularly important and true in this time when terrorism has haunted over lives and crime rate has increased.

4. All planned housing schemes need to be developed comprehensively to avoid the haphazard growth. All basic civic requirements to be provided at the door steps so that the residents must not think to move from there to anywhere else, public facilities are to be provided for the convenience of the household where they are residing at the moment to stop the outward movement causing residential moves of household.

5. Yearly plans should be prepared at UC as well Town level for each residential neighborhood, to scrutinize the civic amenities situation and propose measures for future development. This will create a sense of realization among the residents that local administration is making all out efforts to make their locality at par with the other developed residential neighborhood.

6. The human, cultural, natural, environmental and social problems and non-availability of public facilities are the known core cause of residential mobility all over the world as well as in Lahore-Pakistan. This compels the household to move out in search of better living environment. Since in Lahore planned housing schemes are the main recipients of potential movers therefore need to readdress the problem by maintaining better living standards in older areas of the City.

The land acquired in recent past by public and private entrepreneur for the development of new residential schemes to reduce the housing shortage in the city is actually an indication of residential mobility. This process in the absence of any marked legal, political and physical barrier will cause a haphazard development in the suburban areas of Lahore. This clearly indicates a future expansion of the city towards Kasur along Ferozepur road, Raiwind road, Multan road, G.T road and with some reservation towards border.

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59 Spatial Patterns of Residential mobility in Lahore-Pakistan

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Acknowledgement

This research paper is an excerpt of a research project carried by the author and supported by the Office of the Director, PU Research and Development. The project was awarded on the recommendations of the Research Project Evaluation Committee made at its meeting held nd on 2 Feb.2009 vide No.D/762/Est.I Dated 30-3-2009.

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