{"id":1674,"date":"2019-07-08T21:54:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T12:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/cities\/2019\/jul\/08\/inspired-by-central-park-the-new-city-for-a-million-outside-karachi"},"modified":"2019-07-08T21:54:41","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T12:54:41","slug":"inspired-by-central-park-the-new-city-for-a-million-outside-karachi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=1674","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Inspired by Central Park&#8217;: the new city for a million outside Karachi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bahria Town promises Pakistan\u2019s middle classes respite from traffic, terror attacks and blackouts \u2013 local villagers are fighting to be heard by developers<\/p>\n<p>Fronted by a dramatic gated arch, its roads fringed with neatly trimmed hedges, palm trees and lush grass, Bahria Town bears little resemblance to the urban chaos of nearby Karachi.<\/p>\n<p>The economic heart of Pakistan is an overcrowded and often violent megacity with an official population of 15 million (closer to 20 million if the urban sprawl beyond the city perimeter is included). Infrastructure has not kept pace with its rapid expansion, and basic amenities such as water have become a commodity for <a href=\"https:\/\/tribune.com.pk\/story\/1535671\/lyari-gang-war-commander-killed-karachi-encounter\/\">criminal gangs<\/a>. The city is also an organisational centre for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-asia-21343397\">Pakistani Taliban<\/a>, who attacked the airport in 2014.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/cities\/2019\/jul\/08\/inspired-by-central-park-the-new-city-for-a-million-outside-karachi\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bahria Town promises Pakistan\u2019s middle classes respite from traffic, terror attacks and blackouts \u2013 local villagers are fighting to be heard by developersFronted by a dramatic gated arch, its roads fringed with neatly trimmed hedges, palm trees and lus&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[217,218,60,79,61,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cities","category-cities-and-development","category-pakistan","category-society","category-south-and-central-asia","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1674"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2281,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1674\/revisions\/2281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}