Creating a Sense of Place: A Proposal for Shopping Street of MM Alam Road, Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Streets play an important role in Cities especially shopping streets as they determine the urban pattern, but Lahore still lags behind in this aspect of urbanization. Formerly, making a good street where people wanted to be was easier than it is today, because people didn`t have to compete with its own machines for a piece of space. Lahore has fallen victim to the same ideology. The motor cars have taken over all open spaces and sense of place is disrupted affecting people feelings and perception of a shopping street. This paper analyzes the street shopping and leisure activities associated to it in the city of Lahore. Primary focus is on the MM Alam Road, one of the most attractive shopping areas of the city. Although for many of the city dwellers, motorized transport is the primary mode of travelling from one place to another but every sensible and aware citizen realizes that it is taking us away from nature thus away from happiness. MM Alam Road is facing the same issue which is hampering it to become the best place of city for shopping, dining and leisure activities for the people. Detailed study was carried out of the existing conditions, local bye-laws and surveys were conducted regarding traffic flow, parking duration and origin/destination. It was found that MM Alam Road of Lahore had all the potential and physical characteristics that can provide livable place not only to local visitors but international tourists as well. Pedestrian’s facilities, street furniture, motorized traffic and mainly the parking issue needed to be resolved in befitting manner.  The objective of the paper was to identify the lack of physical attributes hampering the sense of place and propose recommendations accordingly.