Islamabad - Living with the plan 1

Looking at sheer numbers, Islamabad can be regarded as a successful model of urban development. Half a century after its inception and the implementation of the plan the city has grown to 1.2 million inhabitants, the ‘urban sprawl’ beyond the limits of the plan has occupied more space than assigned in the original plan. From 1972 until 2009 the residential areas have been expanded from less than one fifth of the agglomeration‘s space to an extent that has increased by half, mainly on the expense of mixed vegetated areas. Nevertheless, at the same time the space occupied by agricultural farm activities for the supply of the citizens with goods and products of daily necessities has remained bigger and is still covering approximately one third of Islamabad (Butt et al. 2012: 111). The distinction between rapid urban development and the need to supply its growing number of citizens with nutritional and dairy products could well be a founding principle for planning cities. Deficiencies and shortcomings are often embedded in a static perception of urban development that lacks vision and imagination when it comes to present and future demands of urban citizens and when unexpected growth occurs. Living with the plan Islamabad is presented as a case in point for myopia in designing original plans, for necessary adjustments to daily needs of residents and for vested interests of different stakeholders that need to be negotiated in the framework of power and forceful interventions. At the same time Islamabad functions within Pakistan as an exceptional city which has got a planning authority that other municipalities still grossly lack to have or fail to apply (Niaz Ahmad & Anjum 2012). Planning and designing urban space is embedded in socio-historical contexts and provides an expression of contemporary thinking, fashions, power structures and influences from inside and outside. Participation of future inhabitants is a rare exception while planned cities often replicate the aspirations and affluence of decision