A four case studies of Karachi’s low income settlements. These are: Khuda Ki Basti, Nawalane, Paposh Nagar and Fahad Square. In many large Asian cities, planners have begun to clear informal inner-city settlements and replace them with commercial and middle-class neighbourhoods, seeking to project an image of modernity and prosperity to foreign investors. Low-income residents of these settlements are often relocated to high-rise apartments on city peripheries. Evidence suggests that households in low-income apartment blocks experience more social problems than their counterparts in informal settlements and have more difficulty buying homes or running home businesses. Thus, low-income communities may grow poorer when relocated to apartments.