How urban planning can help Karachi tackle a growing heat crisis
Pakistani residents cool off during an hot summer day in Karachi. PHOTO: AFP
How urban planning can help Karachi tackle a growing heat crisis
Karachi is what experts call an urban heat island, a city that is warmer than its surrounding suburban and rural areas
Last Friday, the mercury climbed to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in Karachi. The Pakistan Meteorological Department had issued an advisory earlier in the week warning temperatures would rise after March 30, 2021. It’s hard to take a warning like that without a sense of impending dread. After all, it was only six years ago when a near apocalyptic heatwave claimed over 1,200 lives in the city. In the time since then officials have acted proactively to address future hot weather, with the Government of Sindh issuing a technical report in 2017 replete with actionable recommendations. But the question remains whether measures identified since then address the root causes of Karachi’s oven like atmosphere.