Karachi being the first born city of the colonial architecture in Sindh Pakistan has the honor of housing very important and diverse ornamental architectural master pieces. Along with the commercial nucleus; Karachi emerged as a regional educational hub after the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 with several hostel structures and studio apartments. These structures are among the better examples of the pre-colonial and post-colonial architectural influence in the region. Few of them (still surviving) are incorporated in the national list of protected heritage under Sindh Cultural Heritage Preservation Act 1994. This research paper is focused on “the lost importance of the three different hostel (boys’ hostels only) premises in the historic core of the city of Karachi”. Despite possessing similar functions in the past and having the same status of the declared protected heritage at present, each of them has different use and conservation status at present. None of the buildings have endured the original function. This research focuses the reasons of the non-continuation of the original function and the impairments caused to the buildings due to this reason. Methodology followed for the research includes analysis of available archives, physical observation, photographic documentation and interviews with the local inhabitants of the neighborhood. The results and the findings of this research portray that eroding hostel culture has subjected those structures to slow and painful death of their original purpose. These buildings, once popular in the area, are now fading fast and perhaps will cease to exist in the near future unless the immediate precautionary measures are taken. The main conclusion drawn in this paper is that “it is important to preserve those historic premises as they are of significant historic character that remained associated with a number of key political and social personalities of the region. Moreover, they play a vital role in the general architectural value of the region”.

ABSTRACT

Modern Karachi has a fragmented and multifaceted social formation, while its historic core presents a diverse range of historical attributes of its built heritage. The increasing urban population of Karachi contributes heavily to its degradation including the degradation of its historical attributes. There is no effective heritage legislation and there are conflicts between what people do and what the government institutions do. Consequently, there is chaos and deterioration in the inner city. The city has been developing rapidly and the government has proposed many projects for the revival of the historic core of the city. However, most of them have not been successful. The objective of this research is to examine the situation in which heritage buildings face a serious threat. The current research focused on one such project, that is, the Empress Market ̶ the restoration and redevelopment of its historic precinct. It adopted physical observations, archival analysis, and site surveys along with photographic documentation and interviews of the local shop dwellers (especially to focus on the historical evolution of the building) as research techniques. The findings showed that the state of deprivation of the historic core of Karachi is the reflection of a collective devastation of the precinct in terms of social and historic values, which is further supported by the non-prevailing heritage legislative system. The research also investigates the present condition of the Empress Market in connection with its glorious past and urban decay befallen to it over time due to vandalism and the numerous restoration plans proposed for it over the years. The study can be beneficial to comprehend the ground realities concerning the survival of heritage properties within the cumulative urbanization process. The results can be used also to propose the rejuvenation of the lost splendor of the historic urban core of Karachi as a prototype for parallel development schemes.

In 1839 British East India Company captured the town of Karachi. After an effortless resistance from the locals the fort was conquered by the British commander sir Charles Napier. The village of Kolachi then was annexed to British India and the city was labeled as Karachi. With the British occupation a phase of new sophisticated architecture and development started. Before that the city was based upon the vernacular mud architecture. These developments resulted in an influx of economic migrants who helped in making Karachi as a multinational and a multicultural city. This paper investigates the architectural attributes that the historic core of the city offers. It also discusses the side by side development of the native and British towns. The paper also researches about the existing state of the architecture precedent of the British colonial past of the city and the urban blight occurred to them over time in various forms like vandalism, encroachments, illegal repairs, etc.

This study analyzes the response of various hydrological parameters and future water availability against anticipated climate variations in snow dominated alpine catchment in Austria. The parameters assessed are base flow, environmental flow, total flow, evapotranspiration, and snow cover duration. The distributed hydrological modeling system PREVAH is developed to assess the impacts through the combination of various climate change scenarios produced under the framework of the European project PRUDENCE. The model results clearly indicate an apparent shift from observed trends in monthly, seasonal and annual values. The mean annual changes observed by all model scenarios range between 45% to 60% decrease in snow cover duration, 15% to 20% increase in evapotranspiration, 5% to 15% decrease in base flow, and 15% to 25% decrease in total runoff values. However, mean annual changes observed in available water are marginal, just ranging from -3% to +2%. All regional model projections show more or less the same identical pattern of changes in analyzed parameters.