The current population of Karachi is anywhere between 20 and 24 million, by most estimates. Compare that to 14.5 million in 2007, nine million in 1998, and five million in 1981. Over-population is not only a problem for Karachi; if we look at the urbanisation of Pakistan, it has increased from 18 per cent in 1951 to over 37 per cent in 2012. All over Pakistan, cities face exploding growth, and a plethora of challenges resulting from it.

The fact is, global urbanisation just crossed 50 per cent, compared to 30 per cent in 1950. When you add to that the growth in the world’s population from a mere one billion in 1801 to over seven billion today, it is understandable why there is so much discussion about building sustainable cities.

What are the problems that most city governments and urban planners face? What services have to be managed to provide a reasonable quality of life to the citizens of a city?

A city government or administration has to ensure adequate supply of food, shelter (housing) and clean water to the people. In addition, it needs to give access to proper sanitation and health facilities. Hence, proper waste management is crucial. A city should be planned in a way to provide adequate job opportunities, otherwise its population will decrease over time (Detroit is one such example). In the short term, however, flow of income and availability of jobs can be impacted by factors such as energy shortage, political upheaval, etc.

To keep the city economy running, the city government also needs to provide a transport infrastructure that gets people to their jobs, schools, services, and loved ones in a fast and efficient way. Electricity is needed to run commercial activities, the industry and to provide basic services like lighting, heating and cooling, etc. Natural gas or electricity is needed for cooking and fuel is needed to run the vehicles that will transport people and goods.

Educational facilities are necessary to create a skilled labour force and keep the economy running. In addition, education is essential in building an informed and socially-conscious society. To top it all off, people need a secure environment with a low crime rate, where their life and possessions are not in danger. Hence, an incorruptible, efficient police force in adequate numbers is also required.

And finally, a city also needs playgrounds for children and entertainment facilities for adults, among other services.

Urban planning

Many studies have been written on the best way to design a sustainable city. There are many guides and books available to help urban planners. The biggest aid to a city planner is controlling population growth. While you do not want to stunt the economic progress of a city by restricting the flow of labour into it, there are certain steps that can be taken on a national policy level. Governments have to encourage the growth of opportunities in rural areas. When the rural areas have adequate jobs, and the people have a good quality of life with access to reliable health, educational and sanitation facilities, there is little motivation for them to move to the big cities and increase their burden.

Even if national policy is inadequate, city governments could encourage the growth of neighbouring rural areas through key investments. That may very well prove to be cheaper than the money spent on developing new infrastructure in the city. Even private citizens could step up to invest in the rural areas.

The second thing that brings a lot of control back to a chaotic city is a clean, efficient, secure, mass transit system. The system shouldn’t be used just by those who cannot afford a car or motorcycle. It has to be good enough to attract even the upper middle class and the rich. As a teenager, I was one of the very few girls in my O levels class to use the minibus regularly. When I compare that with my aunts, most of them were used to travelling by minibus and rickshaw. However, most of the parents I know today don’t even send their children to school by school-bus. This needs to change to reign in the growth of cars on our roads.

What can we do?

Most articles on sustainable cities focus on what governments need to do. However, we Pakistanis have never put too much faith in our governments. We are used to doing what needs to be done ourselves, as citizens. So what can we, as individuals, families and private companies, do to make our cities sustainable? What can we do to bring some order to the chaos, and to bring some control over our lives as our cities grow?

Let’s address the four main problems that we see in a big city. Trash disposal, electricity and CNG shortages, water shortage and traffic jams. I may be using Karachi as an example in this article, but the problems seen in Karachi are rampant in many cities around the world. So the solutions mentioned are equally applicable elsewhere.

Trash disposal and street cleaning

As I go on around the city, I am always ashamed to see people’s homes and shops from the outside. Yes, the area outside your boundary wall is technically public property and not private. But don’t you feel ashamed welcoming customers and guests into your homes and shops with all the trash lying around on your doorstep? Please take 10 extra minutes of your day, or your cleaner’s day, and clean the area in front of your homes, offices and shops. After cleaning the area, collect the garbage and dispose it correctly by giving it to the trash collector. Do NOT put it in front of your neighbouring shop or house, or throw it into the nearby playground, park or empty plot.

We have seen how the lack of a local government has played havoc with trash collection and street cleaning in Karachi. If every citizen of Karachi takes these 10 minutes out of their day, Karachi will be much cleaner than it is now.

Now how about reducing the amount of trash we generate? In Europe, it is very common to collect organic trash in separate green trash bags, and then use it as compost. We can very easily do the same. From now on, put two separate trash boxes under your sink. To make it easier to differentiate, use a green box for your compost collection, and your regular trash box to collect everything else. In your green compost box, collect organic waste like vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells, tea and tea bags, coffee grounds, and other waste, leftover food from lunch and dinner plates and non-recyclable paper like used paper tissues, paper kitchen towels and toilet rolls, or shredded paper waste. Paper that can be recycled, like old newspapers and books should still be given to the Raddiwala. You should also add waste from your gardens, like dried leaves and any waste from carpentry, like sawdust. Even the general trash that is collected after cleaning a room, like fallen hair, lint, dust bunnies, etc. can be used in composting. Or in other words, the main things you should NOT put in this pile are egg yolk, meat and bones, dairy, plastics, glass, oils, grease, pesticides and metals. These materials should be collected in your main trash box and given to the trash collector.

How can you compost? If you have a garden, dig a big pit, at least a foot deep. Put in all your collected composting material and mix it with soil, to speed decomposition. Try to alternate layers of kitchen/home and garden waste. Then cover with at least eight inches of soil to close the pit. The last step is to discourage pets and rodents from digging up the organic waste.

If you live in a flat or a house with no garden, you can still compost by throwing waste from your compost box into a large closed community compost bin. Maybe your apartment complex can set one up. The material in the large compost bin should be mixed every few days to speed decomposition. You may want to have several bins to create batches of compost. The compost can then be used in the apartment lawn, flowerbeds, and in the flower pots in the apartments.

It is shown that the average household could reduce trash by 30 per cent if they start to compost. If we can reduce the amount of trash that leaves our homes, we can reduce the unseemly garbage dumps all over the city. Using compost in gardening will also decrease the amount of water needed to keep your lawn and plants healthy.

How can we reduce the millions of plastic bags we see floating around our streets and filling up our garbage dumps? We can start bringing a cloth bag with us every time we go shopping and refusing the plastic and paper bags that shopkeepers give us. Some famous hypermarkets have done us a favour by making us pay for plastic and paper bags. This has prompted most consumers to cut down on the paper and plastic bags they use.

What other ways do you know to reduce trash? Email your ideas to letters@spider.tm.

Energy efficiency

While it will take our government years to build up the electricity capacity to match our demand, we can solve most of the problem by cutting our demand through energy efficiency. The main thing to remember is that we do not need electricity or energy. We need services like lighting, cooling, heating, food, entertainment, mobility etc. Electricity, gas or petrol are just forms of energy that power the instruments that give us that service. We can get that service in an energy-consuming way, or we can get it in an energy-efficient way.

Energy efficiency allows us to get the same amount of service for a lower amount of electricity, gas or petrol through technology advancements. Energy saver bulbs (CFL or T5 tubelights) save 80 per cent electricity compared to old incandescent bulbs. An 11W CFL bulb gives the same amount of light as a 60W incandescent bulb.

Similarly, a new energy efficient fridge uses 75 per cent less electricity than a 15-year-old fridge of the same brand to cool the same amount of food. However, all brands are not created equal. Some companies have spent millions of dollars to be efficient. Others have not. That is why a new energy efficient fridge can use 50 per cent or even 70 per cent less electricity than a generic new fridge. Similarly, new energy efficient ACs on the market consume 30 per cent less electricity than other new ACs to provide the same amount of cooling.

Here is a website that helps you choose the correct appliance by size, as well as energy efficiency. Best of all, it focuses on the brands and models available in Pakistan.

Energy efficiency also means to correctly calculate the amount of service you need. Does your room really need a 1.5 ton AC, or does it actually need a 1 ton AC? By taking the right decision, you can cut your electricity usage for air conditioning by 30 per cent.

Similarly, shops and businesses can decrease their use of lighting by being open during day time and closing at night. In any energy crisis, it is criminal that shops do not open till noon. Those same shops are then open till 8pm and even after that, consuming precious electricity for lighting at night.

The current electricity shortage in Pakistan is about 30 per cent. All the methods I have mentioned above will cut your electricity usage by 30-80 per cent.

For more details about how to cut your electricity bill through energy efficiency and lifecycle costs, please refer to my article published in the November 2013 issue of Spider magazine:

Solar energy

Commercial tariffs of electricity were increased in August 2013 to 19 rupees per kWh, including taxes, for those shops, offices, banks etc. with an electric load higher than five kW. Industrial customers also pay the same amount, with B-2 customers paying about 17.5 rupees/kWh including taxes. This makes solar electricity an attractive option now for commercial and industrial entities. With the price of solar panels at an all-time low due to global oversupply, utility scale solar power is now as cheap as 1.5 dollars/W to install with free fuel (the sun). This means that solar power can now produce electricity at under 10c/kWh in many places in the world. Compare that to coal plants that cost about the same to install but also need fuel (coal) to run.

For small scale solar PV, like in offices and homes, solar power will still cost up to two dollars/W to install. However, the resulting price of 10-15c/kWh is still significantly cheaper than the price business owners are paying for electricity right now. In addition, solar PV will remove the risk of power outages. Business owners can then run their businesses in an efficient way, instead of planning their workday based on when electricity is available. And since most businesses are operated during daylight, the power generated can be used instantaneously instead of being stored in batteries for later use. In this way, the size of batteries can also be drastically reduced, resulting in a lower cost solar solution. In terms of money saved on electricity bills, the payback period of your solar system will be between 5-10 years. Compare that with the average life of a solar system of 25 years.

Solar energy can also be used to save on natural gas. Solar geysers are now commonly available all over Pakistan. Cooking uses a very small fraction of natural gas in a household. Up to 75 per cent of domestic natural gas usage goes towards heating water for showers, washing dishes, etc. By adopting solar geysers, we can drastically cut down on the usage of natural gas for domestic purposes, easing the shortage all over the country.

Water conservation

Did you know that Pakistan is a water-stressed country ?In fact, latest estimates show that Pakistan has less than 1000m3 of renewable water resources per capita per year. Pakistan has recently been listed in the 10 countries most at risk for conflict due to water scarcity. We are now in company with Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Niger, Mauritania, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as they face similar water scarcity issues.

The problem partially is, of course, our high population growth. The other part of it is that nearly 80 per cent of our renewable water comes from across borders, mainly through India. What can we do to ease the water shortage in our cities, and across our country?

The UN estimates that a human being needs 50 litres of water every day for cooking, drinking and personal hygiene. In Germany, each resident uses an average of 122 litres of water daily. Africans, however, get less than 20 litres on average. How much water do you think Pakistanis use? In urban areas, about 200 litres of water is consumed by a person in a day! What are we doing with that water?

Did you know that for bungalow residents, 50 per cent of water is consumed for watering the lawn and washing the driveway? We need to water our lawns in an efficient way. Water them in the early morning, between 6 and 9 am. Watering when it is hot outside will lead to more evaporation, which means you will need to water the lawn more often. You can purchase pistol grip nozzles for your hose. They will allow you to start/stop the flow of water when you need to put the hose down for a few minutes. This reduces wasted water. The nozzle will also allow you to better direct water. Water plants with a watering can, instead of a hose, to drastically reduce water usage.

Also, do you really need to wash your driveway every day? Limit it to once a week, and just sweep it on other days. In fact, why can’t we mop it just like we mop the rest of our house? Why do we have to wash it down with a hose or buckets of water?

Do you know that our water companies are heavily subsidised by municipal bodies? That means we are paying a pittance for the water that is being sent to us. The water utilities charge people based on the size of the house or apartment they live in. That means that you can use as much water as you want, but your bill will stay constant every month. On average this works out to a tariff between 6-9 rupees/m3 of water used. Compare this to the global average tariff of 200 rupees/m3 of water, or the European rates of 700-900 rupees/m3. No wonder Pakistanis do not think about curtailing water usage, when it is almost free.

It is really important that we get charged for the water we use. That is the only way people will start taking it seriously. Otherwise water shortages in our cities will keep on getting worse with time. As tube well installations grow by over six per cent per year, our water tables are rapidly sinking deeper into the ground. In Lahore, the water table has receded 60 feet into the ground in 20 years. The Government needs to charge a tax on every tube well installation, as well as start metering the water usage for monthly bills.

Do you know that 96 per cent of the water consumed in Pakistan is used for agriculture? As a nation, we also need to start charging our farmers for the amount of water they use. That is the only way they will be motivated to reduce their water consumption by overhauling irrigation systems, using better fertilisers, and adopting other productivity boosting methods. French farmers use 591 m3 of water per ton of wheat produced. Pakistani farmers use 2548 m3/ton. In some places in Pakistan, the usage is as high as 5000 m3/ton! That is inexcusable, especially in a water scarce country like ours.

Food supply

We have subsidised our agriculture for too long. Landowners are not taxed on their earnings or sales. They do not pay for inputs like water, and pay heavily subsidised rates for electricity. And the results are dismal! Whereas the US produces seven tons of wheat per hectare of land, Pakistani farmers only manage 0.3 tons/ha. They have to face the expenses that the rest of the world does, so that they will fight to stay competitive by increasing their productivity in terms of land, water and labour. That is the only way we will have a sustainable food supply to feed our growing population.

As bungalow owners, many of us plant fruit trees and vegetables in our gardens. We can reduce the burden of food supply on our city and national governments by creating informal bartering systems in our streets. For instance, the bananas and figs that grow in our garden are distributed to our neighbours, relatives and household help. It is the only way our maid and driver’s children get access to fruit during the year. Fruit, after all, is a luxury for those who can barely afford wheat and lentils. Our neighbours also come to our house to get curry leaves and limes. In return, we get raw mangoes from one neighbour and fresh spinach, coriander and lettuce from another. We also grow fresh mint that is used in cooking and for mint tea. If all bungalow owners start growing more fruits and vegetables, we can reduce the demand for them in the market. This reduces the transport of food around the country, saving precious dollars that would be spent on petroleum imports. It also reduces food prices and makes it more affordable for everyone, including the poor.

Traffic management

As I travel through the big cities of Pakistan, like Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, I must admit that the traffic department has done an excellent job setting up infrastructure to take us from point A to point B in a fast way. Then why do we still have traffic jams, and why does traffic not flow faster than 30 or 40 km/h on our roads? The reality is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.

When I was a kid, it would take an hour to go from Gulshan to Sea View. Now it takes 30 minutes, thanks to the signal free routes available through most of the city. This cut in commuting time has come at the cost of closing many U-turn opportunities to ensure smoothly- flowing fast traffic. However, on every road as we drive, we will see motorcyclists, rickshaw walas and car owners flouting the rule of law and going against the intended direction of traffic to take a short cut to their destination. Just to save a few rupees of petrol, they slow traffic for the entire city, and increase accidents.

The irony is that they don’t even save any money on fuel. In fact, they have increased their fuel consumption. Optimum mileage for a car is achieved when driving between 50 and 80 km/h. By reducing the average speed of the traffic from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, drivers are increasing fuel usage by 25 per cent. So to save a few rupees, they are willing to spend thousands every month. What kind of twisted sense of economy is that?

Please, please do NOT drive on the wrong side of the road. It doesn’t help anyone. Do pass on the instructions to your drivers, as well.

Start carpooling. It was much more common when I was a kid, but seems to have become non-existent now. By carpooling, not only will you reduce your petrol bills by 50 per cent or more, you will also reduce the traffic, pollution and chaos on the road.

With the growth of internet infrastructure, telecommuting has become a viable option. As a business owner, consider allowing employees to work from home at least part of the week. Start to grade their performance based on output and productivity rather than the hours put in. That will allow you to maintain control on your business. You will lower overheads significantly, and have higher employee satisfaction. After all, employees who telecommute 50 per cent of the time get an extra two weeks of their life back per year as they avoid the hassle of travelling to work. They will save about 40,000 rupees per year on petrol, and much more on food and clothes. Since workplace distractions are many, most employees see productivity gains by working from home. These productivity gains translate to more revenues for you.

Sustainable cities are as much a citizen’s problem as it is the government’s. I have mentioned some ways that we, as citizens, can make a difference. What other ideas do you have? Share them with us on our Facebook page or email us at letters@spider.tm.

The writer is an aerospace engineer and renewable energy consultant.