Governance and Urban Design of Gwadar City

By Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar, Misha Shahid & Maira Khan

Abstract

Gwadar, a small fishing town, is situated in the southwest of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Gwadar city and its port are being developed by Pakistan and Chinese counterparts respectively as one of the hubs of the Belt and Road Initiative and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This policy paper proposes measures to improve city governance, urban design and preservation of local culture and heritage of Gwadar city. The paper draws on field work, review of international cases of success and failure of new economic cities and interviews of key policymakers undertaken for a recent study titled “The Institutional and Urban Design of Gwadar City”. Immediate action is required to improve the governance of Gwadar city in order to realize the potential of the new port and economic activities underway in Gwadar.

Key words: New Economic City, Port City, Urban Governance, Urban Design, Urban Culture

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