Saiban, a well-known Pakistan NGO, working for providing land and supporting incremental housing, has prepared a plan for its new project, Saiban City Lahore. The plan was to be redesigned on the basis of the guidelines developed by the prominent Architect, Mr. Arif Hassan, and his colleagues (Architects Asiya Sadiq and Suneela Ahmed) through an IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development) supported research project in 2009-2010. However, this simple objective turned into an exploration of looking at various planning alternatives for Saiban City. This exploration raised a number of issues related to designing housing for low income settlements. These issues are discussed in Section 4 of the Study.

In 2008-09, the author and his colleagues were involved in a study to understand density related issues in low and lower middle income settlements in Karachi. This study was supported by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), UK. For the study three settlements and one apartment complex were chosen. The settlements and the complex that were chosen were very different from each other both in physical and sociological terms.

Saiban is a Karachi based NGO that develops initially unserviced plot settlements. The residents make shacks and pay for the land in instalments over a five-year period. They get together to develop their own neighbourhood water and sewage infrastructure and build their homes incrementally. Meanwhile, Saiban with payment received from the plot owners develops the trunk infrastructure and gets NGOs to develop the social infrastructure such as schools, health clinics, parks and community centres. With its links with government organisations and transporters, it helps in establishing transport facilities for the settlement.

Saiban had also plan to develop a site in Lahore with the same objectives. Saiban had a concept plan for its project called “Saiban City Lahore”. The author offered to replan the settlement on the principles developed for the March 2010 Study IIED.