Bazaars have always been a center of social, economic, and cultural exchange. Bazaars as public spaces were responsible for creating an ideal public setting to enhance social interactions for everyone. However, over a period of time, the concept of Bazaars has changed. Modern shopping centers seem to be an appropriate alternative to bazaars in terms of accessibility, quality of space, maintenance, sense of safety and security, and leisure activities. Karachi, being the commercial hub of Pakistan, hosts a load of business centers and marketplaces around the city. However, parts of the old bazaars in Karachi have been slowly destroyed to make room for wider streets and roads in Karachi, and new forms of shopping centers have been emerging across the city. This research will investigate the preference of people for traditional bazaars vs. shopping centers and the attribute of shopping centers that aided in their preference. This aim will be achieved by 1) understanding the evolving concepts of public spaces in Karachi and 2) investigating people’s preference for shopping centers vs. Bazaars and the impact of services offered by shopping centers on user satisfaction. A comparative case study technique is used. Data is collected through an online survey in relation to a traditional bazaar and a newly built shopping center in Karachi, Pakistan. The finding results show that the success of shopping centers is generally influenced by indicators like atmosphere, safety, accessibility, and leisure activities while people visit traditional open street bazaars in Karachi for the economical prices and accessibility to public transportation. On the other hand, the avoiding behavior of users towards traditional bazaars is reported due to narrow pathways, unmaintained environment, no parking and toilet facilities, and a large influx of people. Although these results are not the first ones in the literature, they are new in relying on findings from a cosmopolitan city in Pakistan. Finally, this study provides some recommendations that can serve urban planners and other practitioners to integrate these indicators at the earliest conceptual design phases when planning and managing open street bazaars in developing countries.

FRC (Fibre Reinforced Concrete) is fibrous material which increases its structural integrity, resists to explosive spalling in case of environmental affects, improves mix cohesion, improves ductility, reduces of steel reinforcement requirements and reduces the voids due to good stiffness. It contains short discrete fibres that are uniformly distributed. Mostly, natural fibers are the waste material which may have negative impact on environment. Synthetic fibres include steel fibres and glass fibres but natural fibres are coconut fibres and human hair fibres which tends to vary the properties to concrete. In addition, the character of FRC changes with varying concrete, fibre material, geometries, distribution, orientation and densities. Hair fibre concrete gives a practical, cost-effective and convenient method to avoid cracks and deficiencies regarding strength and proper mixing ratio which occurs at a longer period. Fibres have been used to reduce plastic shrinkage and drying shrinkage in concrete. In some structural elements, fibrous concrete can be used to reduce the cost of structure. Different fibres are used to improve the tensile strength of concrete. Human hair are strong in tension. Hair fibres can be utilized as a strengthening material. Hair fibre is a non-decay able matter and available at a cheap rate. Experiments have been performed on fibrous concrete cylinders containing various percentages of human hair which is 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5% by the weight of cement. A total of seventy-two cylinders have been prepared with FRC having different %ages of hair content. Workability, compressive strength and split tensile strength have been checked at three curing ages i.e. 7, 14 and 28 days. This research will open a new wicket in the horizon of reuse of waste material efficiently in construction industry. This innovation in construction industry will save our natural resources and use fibre in productive and an effective approach.

Traffic congestion is a major issue of Asian megacities which causes the irritation, anger and frustrations among drivers and owners of vehicles during driving in these cities. This paper aims at understanding traffic congestion issues from the perception and experiences of car drivers and owners and their satisfaction level concerning accessibility of circulation within urban roads of Karachi. The issues addressed in this respect are road construction, traffic flow, road crossing, shopping malls along roads, traffic blockage due to VIP movement, congestion during school timing, animal presence on roads, traffic police behavior, marriage halls along the roads, peak hour traffic jams, traffic jams during sociopolitical and religious rallies, road disputes, traffic congestion due to young inexperienced drivers, alternate road availability and pedestrian bridges. The method of investigating these issues is through 42 questionnaire surveys with car drivers and car owners from June to October 2018 on urban roads of Karachi. The analysis of feedback from respondents showed that, more than 90% respondents were satisfied with construction of pedestrian bridges and annoyed with sociopolitical and religious rallies on main urban roads. More than 80% respondents were satisfied with marriage halls along the roads, felt congestion during peak hours and preferred alternate routes to go home. More than 70% agreed that, young and inexperienced drivers cause traffic congestion and felt unsatisfied and displeased with disputes on the streets among residents, traffic police and drivers. More than 60% respondents were satisfied with the road construction but annoyed with VIP protocol and felt congestion during school timings and quite uncomfortable while crossing the road. More than 50% respondents were unsatisfied with shopping malls on both sides of the road, presence of animals on main roads and behavior of traffic police during traffic jams. Finally, concerning traffic flow the respondents were equally divided in their perception. Thus this research presents a detailed perspective of people regarding traffic congestion issues in Karachi for the appropriate response by decision makers of urban transport planning and urban traffic management institutions in city.

Shopping is an activity embedded in society and is done in different modes in different societies. The objective of this research is to present contemporary shopping as a modified activity, which is widely practiced in shopping malls. Furthermore, it intends to examine contemporary shopping behavior in light of the user's need-based facilities. It signifies the use of the shopping mall as a multi-fold activity encompassing the allied facilities. These include a washroom, a prayer area, an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), currency exchange, lost and found, a rest room, a child care area, a baby cart, a first aid room, and a bank, to name a few. These user-based facilities have emerged as distinct attributes of shopping malls, defining the peculiarity of a mall. This research focuses on some need-based facilities mainly and then narrows down to sub-categories of need-based facilities in a selected shopping mall named Emerald Mall. The research adopts the quantitative method for data collection and presents findings statistically while the standards are relevant to the shopping mall attributes collectively. The findings include the identification of inadequate facilities such as a lost and found counter, an ATM, a prayer area, currency exchange, and washrooms. Furthermore, a rest room, a child care area, a baby cart, a bank, and a first aid room for emergency care were missing. The research concluded that the selected shopping mall needs improvements in many areas, while some areas are already established, including design consideration for physically challenged users. The research establishes its contribution as the provision of framework and modular analysis of selected study for contextual approach for the development of the architectural design. Research also recommends design innovations in the selected mall in order to address the discrepancies identified.

The socioeconomic profile of the sub-urban areas in Pakistan is a matter of concern for the presumable developments in the future. The micro urban areas are the indicators of the prospective developments in the city. The role of the prevailing socioeconomic patterns in the city is important for the future developmental opportunities to be identified. These socioeconomic behaviours are depicted through several factors which indicate the behaviours of the inhabitants and the opportunities and discrepancies the particular area is facing. The objective of this research is to explore the socioeconomic behaviour of the inhabitants of the selected area in order to analyze the comprehensive socioeconomic profile of the area. It adopts the mixed methods approach to conduct the research surveys and necessary documentation. It also signifies the understanding of the socioeconomic profiles of the inhabitants in the area by analyzing their historic background, work profiles, expenditure distribution, educational aspects, commercial activities, transport facilities, and the provision of amenities. The findings are detailed out in a quantitative mode and further summarized in the SWOT analysis which also indicates the potential areas for the future developments. The current study takes into account the collective socioeconomic profiles and concludes the organic growth. Moreover, the findings are also helpful to establish that the socioeconomic profiles of the area which can be useful for suggesting the developmental patterns for the betterment of the area.