Bazaars have always been a center of social, economic, and cultural exchange. Bazaars as public spaces were responsible for creating an ideal public setting to enhance social interactions for everyone. However, over a period of time, the concept of Bazaars has changed. Modern shopping centers seem to be an appropriate alternative to bazaars in terms of accessibility, quality of space, maintenance, sense of safety and security, and leisure activities. Karachi, being the commercial hub of Pakistan, hosts a load of business centers and marketplaces around the city. However, parts of the old bazaars in Karachi have been slowly destroyed to make room for wider streets and roads in Karachi, and new forms of shopping centers have been emerging across the city. This research will investigate the preference of people for traditional bazaars vs. shopping centers and the attribute of shopping centers that aided in their preference. This aim will be achieved by 1) understanding the evolving concepts of public spaces in Karachi and 2) investigating people’s preference for shopping centers vs. Bazaars and the impact of services offered by shopping centers on user satisfaction. A comparative case study technique is used. Data is collected through an online survey in relation to a traditional bazaar and a newly built shopping center in Karachi, Pakistan. The finding results show that the success of shopping centers is generally influenced by indicators like atmosphere, safety, accessibility, and leisure activities while people visit traditional open street bazaars in Karachi for the economical prices and accessibility to public transportation. On the other hand, the avoiding behavior of users towards traditional bazaars is reported due to narrow pathways, unmaintained environment, no parking and toilet facilities, and a large influx of people. Although these results are not the first ones in the literature, they are new in relying on findings from a cosmopolitan city in Pakistan. Finally, this study provides some recommendations that can serve urban planners and other practitioners to integrate these indicators at the earliest conceptual design phases when planning and managing open street bazaars in developing countries.
Public spaces are an important part of human life. These spaces account for the intellectual growth of individuals and invoke a spirit of their own. Everybody can access these places any time of the day. Sidewalks, streets, markets, parks, recreational spaces, public squares and bus stops come under the category of public spaces. Most bus stops in a city remain vibrant throughout the day. All sorts of people and activities can be observed at bus stops. Despite the need and importance of bus stops, they are often poorly integrated or neglected and are not given the attention that makes them successful public and active social gathering space. The purpose of this study is to explore how to improve the present condition of public bus stops so that the use increases, and they become welcoming places, in the context of Karachi. This study investigates the kind of amenities required at bus stops to provide comfort to public. Moreover, it is researched as to how to make bus stops active places that foster community engagement and enhance rider experience. Using qualitative analysis approach (observation, interviews), the research was carried out at two inner-city local bus stops of Karachi. The main focus of the research was the University Road, because of personal travelling and daily observation on this road by public transport. The stops selected for research were NIPA and Hassan Square, because these are most used locations on this main road. The findings suggested that local bus stops of the city support interaction between people and are perfect incubators of life on streets. Through improvements to the existing condition of bus stops, they can contribute to the development of social ties and increase the use of local transport in the inner-city neighborhoods. The study concludes that public bus stops are not only an important part of transport infrastructure but also serve as social nexus for people, where people gather, wait for buses, converse with their fellow riders and discuss different activities of their lives. If equipped with all necessary amenities, the bus stops can decrease the traffic load of the city because more people will be encouraged to use public transport and can fulfill much more than transportation needs; they can provide opportunity to different ethnic groups to mingle and stimulate social cohesion. Keywords: Bus stops, community engagement, social ties, social nexus, social cohesion.
Ecotourism has the strongest pro-poor effect on people living around wetlands, as the visitors come to the site they create room for direct marketing, thereby incentivizing the development of an economic fiscal multiplier effect. Because of unsustainable incentives, the pattern of "trying livelihoods" in the Chotiari Wetland Complex, which is in Sindh-District Sanghar, has been dwindling. Furthermore, some evolving development actors, as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Sindh Tourism Development Corporation (STDC), and WWF- Pakistan have attempted to take control of the local community's destiny by recognizing tourism development as a way of enhancing their livelihoods. The objective of the research is to find and explain the current status of tourism development and its impact on the local communities and environment of Chotiari Wetland Complex another objective is to establish the architectural ethics in planning and developing tourist’s facilities that bridge the gap between ecotourism and its architecture and is beneficial for the community and genral environment. A review of some of the contemporary literature indicates that the primary factors that connect ecotourism to architecture and contribute to the upliftment of the local community and highlighting the lack of literature that focuses on the architecture of ecotourism in wetlands with a hot arid climate. An analytical study of the hot arid area of the Chotiari Wetlands' Vernacular Architecture is addressed in this research, outlining the factors influencing its significance. This is accompanied by a discussion of the potential of the Chotiari Wetlands’ vernacular architecture as a basis for the development of eco-tourism architecture. The methodology adopted for the study was a case study with a combined technique of qualitative research. Data was collected through private walks, surveys, observations, photographs, videos, sketches, focused gathering discussions, on-site meetings with involved stakeholders, and study of existing literature. Considering the findings of the study, along with the observed natural resources in the area traditional mud straw, and reed houses have been proven to have potential regarding eco-tourism and to be best suited for the area, both for the dwelling of residents and the accommodation of tourists with the elimination of deficiencies. It is also revealed that the current tourism architecture is not user-friendly and does not adapt to the local context and the environment. Moreover, the local community is interested in tourism-related income generation activities. The paper concludes that architects and resource planners must take the concept of vernacular architecture as a key principle for future development and construction of ecotourism architecture with the involvement of local communities.
Background: Safety of front-line health care workers dealing with critically ill patients is of prime importance during COVID-19 pandemic. We have limited skilled workforce and intensive care units (ICU). Aim: To determine the frequency of COVID 19 among ICU staff and find association with contact time and procedure performed. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 subjects working in ICU settings of tertiary care hospitals of Lahore. Data was collected about COVID-19 infection, prevention practices, contact time & procedures performed through google forms. Data was entered & analyzed by SPSS v23 while performing descriptive statistics, T Test, Chi square test & binary logistic regression. Results: Among 95(100%) subjects 25(26.31%) had covid-19 infection whereas 70(73.68%) did not had infection. Age> 30(p=.041), female gender (p=.022), use of re-useable personal protective equipment PPE(p=.009), contact time (p=.020), performing procedures: Nebulization(p=.023) & non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (p=.011) were significantly associated with COVID-19 infection among ICU staff. Conclusion: There was high frequency of COVID-19 infection among ICU staff. Age> 30, female gender, re-useable PPE, contact time, performing procedures: Nebulization & non-invasive positive pressure ventilation were significantly associated with COVID-19 infection among ICU staff. Keywords: COVID-19, Contact time, Intensive care unit, Infection, Procedures
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