Mapping The Evolving Peripheries Of Lahore Through Urban Trajectories

Year 2022, Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 101 - 114, 31.03.2023

Hafsa Imtiaz Mehreen Mustafa

Abstract

Lahore presents a unique case regarding its urban evolution and transformation. Various factors have influenced the expansion and growth of the city. A city with population explosion through rural to urban migration and economic growth resulted in a morphological metamorphosis of its urban form and trajectory in its development towards a specific direction. The research aims to investigate the urban transformation and evolution of Lahore city by mapping the itinerary with the help of road networks identified as peripheries developed during different eras. The paper aims to broadly comprehend, document, and map the urban transformation of Lahore city and the role each identified edge has played in its evolution. The report explores and establishes its case with the help of maps, pictures, and other relevant documents. The research cuts a temporal cross-section of the city. Each era marking a significant tangible peripheral change determines the urban discourse to understand the city's peripheral growth pattern, trajectory, and scale. The cross-section will primarily start with the first boundary of the walled city of Lahore, studying various forms of edges shaped due to city expansion and ending at the latest border of the city. The research aims to look at roads and their development with a critical approach, i.e., where there are often viewed as mere modes of transportation and communication but as significant factors contributing to the growth, transformation, and expansion of cities in the global south. The research aims to compare and contrast the various boundaries created/visible over time. The study is essential as the rapidly evolving city has not been documented from this perspective; also, the research aims to become the foundation for future planning, further study, and visual analysis of the boundaries of the city of Lahore.

Keywords

Urban development, Urban Transformation, ; Urban Trajectory, Urban Periphery, Urban Boundaries, Roads as Itineraries

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