Scaling the Potential of Compact City Development: The Case of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

With increasing urban populations, high vehicle miles have made the concept of a compact city imperative. A compact city is characterized by high-density development and mixed land use with no urban sprawl. City managers are trying hard to make their cities compact and livable. The potential conformance to a compact city development requires scaling before any significant intervention. Several studies have been conducted on the different aspects of the compact city in the developed world, but there is limited understanding in the South Asian context. This study aimed to fill this research gap and proposes a theoretical matrix to gauge the potential compactness of Lahore, Pakistan. It comprises some key attributes, such as landscape ecology, measurement of density, density distribution, transportation network, accessibility, dispersion index, and mixed-use land consumption, which were analyzed in this research. The data were analyzed using Geographical Information System (GIS) and ERDAS IMAGINE software to make a scaling matrix. The research findings show that Lahore is a semi-compact city, with high potential to become a true compact city. The paper recommends that the urban extent should not be extended until targeted colonization is achieved, and the spatial growth of the city should be managed by encouraging infilled development, high-density living, and public transport provision. This research will help policymakers, urban planners, and transport planners devising policies for compact city development.

Research on Urban Expansion and Population Density Change of an Urban Agglomeration in the Central-Southern Region of Liaoning Province, China

“…City expansion rate is one important attribute characterizing city expansion while city compactness determines urban sustainable development and growth [44]. City compactness is highly related to rising urban populations [45,46]. To characterize the relationship between city expansion compactness and population density changes in the areas of this study, the value K p was used to characterize the urban form at a certain time across an entire city radius and calculated as ( 4).…”

�We need ground space�: urban densification and transitional housing in Ethiopia

“…Such trajectories have led to selforganised sustainability within the hyper-dense environment. Studies on the relevance of the compact city model for high-density cities of the developing nations reinforce that, although the compact city model is achievable in these cities, most of it is operationalised through urban densification with little adherence to the attributes of the compact city model (Biderman et al 2018, Nadeem et al 2021. The critical fallacy in achieving sustainability through the compact city model is that economic sustainability stills remain intrinsically central to the model.…”

Exploring the Relationship between Urban Street Spatial Patterns and Street Vitality: A Case Study of Guiyang, China

“…In this context, a large number of studies on the vitality and spatial patterns of urban streets have emerged, but the assessment of street vitality and the classification of street spatial patterns are largely based on manual survey methods, such as questionnaires, field statistics, and measurements [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. In recent years, new perspectives emerging from big-data-based computer analytics and geographic information science and technology are facilitating space analysis of urban streets [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Compared with the traditional manual collection of information and data, urban big data that promise fast and free-of-charge access show a huge advantage in that big data do not only carry objective physical information but also preferences and characteristics regarding peoples’ activities, making it highly applicable and effective in the analysis of the vitality and spatial patterns of urban streets.…”