Islamabad and the Politics of International Development in Pakistan

Transcription

1 Islamabad and the Politics of International Development in Pakistan This is a highly original account of the design and development of Pakistan s capital city: one of the most iconic and ambitious urban reconstruction projects of the twentieth century. Balancing archival research with fresh, theoretical insights, surveys the successes and failures of Greek urbanist Constantinos A. Doxiadis s most ambitious endeavour, Islamabad, analysing how the project not only changed the international order, but also the way in which the Pakistani state operated in the 1950s and 1960s. In dissecting Doxiadis s fraught relationship with Pakistani policy makers, bureaucrats and ordinary citizens, the book offers an unprecedented account of Islamabad s place in post-war international development. Daechsel provides new insights into this period and explores the history of development as a charged, transnational encounter between foreign consultants and donors on the one side, and the post-colonial nation state on the other. markus daechsel is Senior Lecturer in Modern South Asian History at Royal Holloway, University of London.

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3 Islamabad and the Politics of International Development in Pakistan

4 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Daechsel, Markus. Islamabad and the politics of international development in Pakistan / Markus Daechsel. pages cm. (Studies in international planning history) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN (Hardback) 1. City planning Political aspects Pakistan Islamabad. 2. Economic development Political aspects Pakistan. 3. Economic assistance Political aspects Pakistan. 4. Islamabad (Pakistan) History 20th century.- I. Title. HT169.P32I dc ISBN Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents List of figures Acknowledgements page vi viii Introduction 1 1 Architect of development 31 2 The consultant s gaze 67 3 From great plan to great project On the road to Islamabad Planning the Muslim city of the future The consultant under attack 243 Conclusion 289 Bibliography 300 Index 313 v

6 Figures 1 Iraq housing program. page 43 2 Doxiadis at his desk in his office at DA headquarters, Athens Aerial topography sketched and interpreted by Doxiadis Aerial surveying photograph taken on a commercial flight over East Pakistan Doxiadis captures the crowds awaiting his arrival by amphibious biplane in Rajshahi, East Pakistan Street view of the Walled City of Lahore, West Pakistan, autumn Photograph taken during one of Doxiadis s surveys of vernacular building styles in Rajshahi, East Pakistan Rapid surveying snapshot of mud houses in south-western Punjab Minister for Refugee Rehabilitation (and later Governor of East Pakistan), General Azam Khan, meets Doxiadis at DA headquarters in Athens in June Doxiadis presents aspects of his master plan for Islamabad to the Capital Development Authority, Rawalpindi, in May Doxiadis with the chairman of the Federal Capital Commission (and Pakistan s future president), General Yahya Khan. Rawalpindi, February & 13 The drama of development exemplified DA publicity material depicting chaotic housing conditions in the Karachi slums cleared by the Ayub Khan regime in late 1958 and 1959 and the new township of Korangi designed by Doxiadis to resettle their inhabitants Doxiadis s survey party inspects a mud construction in central Punjab DA publicity material representing the historical inspirations for Doxiadis s new Punjab University campus, Lahore. 212 vi

7 List of figures vii 16 Model projection of the Islamabad Master Plan based on Doxiadis s dynapolis concept Doxiadis s distinctive model of a hierarchy of communities A residential street in one of the subsectors with some surviving low-cost housing designed by Doxiadis during the first phase of Islamabad s creation Doxiadis s design for the cheapest housing units in Korangi Doxiadis s sketch explaining the dynapolis principle Designs for culturally sensitive cooking facilities for ordinary Pakistanis, as DA engineers saw them Sketch of Doxiadis s cherished tea house design for Korangi The Korangi tea house Islamabad s covered market awaiting final demolition after years of neglect DA field engineer and Karachi Improvement Trust official in conversation with a local resident of Korangi Doxiadis s design for a Korangi neighbourhood mosque based on scientific principles. 283 All figures with the exception of 18 and 24 are copyright Constantinos and Emma Doxiadis Foundation. I am deeply grateful for their kind permission to use them in this book.

8 Acknowledgements This book has been long in the making, and it is impossible to mention everybody who has helped to make it possible either in a professional or personal capacity. However, I would like to record my specific thanks to the following: Alexandros Kyrtsis, who started it all when out of the blue he invited me to speak at the C. A. Doxiadis conference in Athens in December 2006, and opened my way into the Doxiadis Archive, not to mention offering me his hospitality and expert advice on numerous matters relating to this book. A very big thank you also to Giota Pavlidou, librarian and archivist at the Doxiadis Archive, who in her capacity has quite simply been the best professional help any historian could ever hope for. In Pakistan, Fatima Kaniz Yusuf, Rafay Alam, Sayid Qazi and family, Kamil Khan Mumtaz (and many others) for sharing their expertise with me. Likewise the staff of the National Documentation Centre and CDA Library, Islamabad, for their unfailing professionalism. Everyone who was available for an oral history interview (see list in Bibliography). Gustav Papanek, Doxiadis s contemporary in Pakistan in the 1950s, for responding to an enquiry about Doxiadis. Academic colleagues past and present: Crispin Bates, Paul Nugent, Gajendra Singh, Ashok Malhotra in Edinburgh; Sarah and Humayun Ansari, Dan Haines, Elisabeth Leake, Ali Usman Qasmi, Sandra Halperin at Royal Holloway; elsewhere and through many workshops and conferences: Stephen Legg, Matthew Hull, Stephan Miescher, Will Gould, Ravi Ahuja, Henrike Donner, David Arnold, David Hardiman, Prashant Kidambi, Projit Mukherjee, Jahnavi Phalkey and many others for comments and inspiration along the way. Francis Robinson, Florian Schui and Julia Gallagher for reading parts of the draft. The Carnegie Endowment for Scottish Universities and the British Academy for awarding me for this project funding as part of the Small Research Grant scheme. The anonymous readers of the manuscript (as well as of the associated articles listed in the Bibliography). Marigold Acland, Lucy Rhymer and viii

9 Acknowledgements ix Amanda George at Cambridge University Press who kept their faith in me despite long delays. Finally, three children have accompanied this book: Adam born almost simultaneously with the start of the project and veteran companion on research travels around the world at a very young age, Leo keeping me company during the writing-up phase, and Amira recent reminder that it was now really time to finish. To them and to Yasmin for her never failing patience and love throughout those years do I dedicate this book. Note on spelling: In order to avoid anachronisms, the spelling of place names used in the book reflects the usage of the 1950s and 1960s and ignores recent indigenization, e.g. Calcutta instead of Kolkata, Bombay instead of Mumbai, Dacca instead of Dhaka.