Exploring the Impact of Urban Transformation on Building Functions: A Case Study of Main Saddar Bazar Sialkot Cantt
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/ijbes.v12.n1.1359Keywords:
Urban Transformation, Bazaar, Sialkot, Urban management, Pakistan, commercialization, traditional.Abstract
Currently, almost half of the world's population lives in urban areas, and it is projected that by 2050, about one-third of the global population will reside in cities. This significant urbanization trend is particularly noticeable in towns in the Global South. One such town is Sialkot, known as the city of Iqbal, an important city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Sialkot has experienced significant physical expansion to accommodate its growing population. As land is a crucial resource for the city's expansion and residential development, Saddar Bazaar, located in the Sialkot Cantonment area, has become the central hub of this historic city. However, this rapid and uncontrolled urbanization has presented various challenges, including haphazard urban development, unregulated construction, and inappropriate changes in building function. This study examines the compatibility of traditional building functions, layouts, and components within Saddar Bazaar, Sialkot Cantt. It also investigates how changes in a building's function affect its components and, on a broader scale, how it impacts the residents. This study follows a qualitative research approach and employs a field survey as the primary data collection method. The survey combines a questionnaire and direct observation to achieve the research objective, highlighting the problems and challenges associated with urban development and tracking the transformation of a residential area into a commercial one. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires to a hundred residents who had lived in different parts of Sialkot for over two decades. Site observations were conducted at various times of the day from late 2021 to spring 2022. Statistical data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel, and thematic analysis was used to group the qualitative findings. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that features like Baraza exemplify the typical characteristics and layout of the transformation. Furthermore, this study proposes alternative solutions to address the challenges related to urbanization and commercialization, benefiting policymakers, academics, and citizens alike.
References
Alberti, M., Palkovacs, E. P., Roches, S. D., Meester, L. D., Brans, K. I., Govaert, L., ... & Verrelli, B. C. (2020). The complexity of urban eco-evolutionary dynamics. BioScience, 70(9), 772-793.
Al-Rashid, M. A., Nadeem, M., Aldosary, A. S., Harumain, Y. A. S., & Arshad, H. S. H. (2021). An integrated approach to analysing the urban growth patterns: The case of Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan. International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, 9(4), 116-138.
Anwar, N. H. (2010). Institutional actors, learning and agency: Some lessons on infrastructure provision for SME industrial districts in Sialkot, Pakistan. Journal of Infrastructure Development, 2(2), 153-171.
Bansal, B. S. (2015). Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan. Hay House, Inc.
Brennan, M., & Rondón-Sulbarán, J. (2019). Transdisciplinary research: Exploring impact, knowledge and quality in the early stages of a sustainable development project. World Development, 122, 481-491.
Butt, A. N., & Dimitrijević, B. (2023). Developing and testing a general framework for conducting transdisciplinary research. Sustainability, 15(5), 4596.
Chattha, I. (2022). The Punjab Borderland: Mobility, Materiality, and Militancy, 1947–1987. Cambridge University Press.
Caprotti, F., Cowley, R., Datta, A., Broto, V. C., Gao, E., Georgeson, L., ... & Joss, S. (2017). The New Urban Agenda: key opportunities and challenges for policy and practice. Urban research & practice, 10(3), 367-378.
Davis, H. (2009). The commercial-residential building and local urban form. Urban Morphology, 13(2), 89.
Elmqvist, T., Fragkias, M., Goodness, J., Güneralp, B., Marcotullio, P. J., McDonald, R. I., ... & Wilkinson, C. (2013). Urbanization, biodiversity and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities: a global assessment (p. 755). Springer Nature.
Ernst, L., de Graaf-Van Dinther, R. E., Peek, G. J., & Loorbach, D. A. (2016). Sustainable urban transformation and sustainability transitions; conceptual framework and case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, 2988-2999.
Elmqvist, T., Andersson, E., Frantzeskaki, N., McPhearson, T., Olsson, P., Gaffney, O., ... & Folke, C. (2019). Sustainability and resilience for transformation in the urban century. Nature sustainability, 2(4), 267-273.
Gillott, C. (2022). Potential for the vertical extension of existing buildings (Doctoral dissertation, University of Sheffield).
Jahangir, A. (2017). COlONIAl TOWN AS AN IMPErIAl CENTEr IN ThE brITISh PuNJAb. Cidades Criativas.
Jamil, F., & Gulzar, S. (2022). Impact of Land Use Change on Built Environment of Planned Neighborhoods of Lahore: A Case Study of Wapda Town. Pakistan Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Javaid, K., Ghafoor, G. Z., Sharif, F., Shahid, M. G., Shahzad, L., Ghafoor, N., ... & Farhan, M. (2023). Spatio-temporal analysis of land use land cover change and its impact on land surface temperature of Sialkot City, Pakistan. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 22166.
Kabisch, N., Haase, D., & Haase, A. (2019). Reurbanisation: A long‐term process or a short‐term stage?. Population, Space and Place, 25(8), e2266.
Karvonen, A., Cvetkovic, V., Herman, P., Johansson, K., Kjellström, H., Molinari, M., & Skoglund, M. (2021). The ‘New Urban Science’: towards the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary pursuit of sustainable transformations. Urban transformations, 3, 1-13.
Koch, F., Kabisch, S., & Krellenberg, K. (2017). A transformative turn towards sustainability in the context of urban-related studies? A systematic review from 1957 to 2016. Sustainability, 10(1), 58.
Kropf, K. (1996). Urban tissue and the character of towns. Urban Design International, 1, 247-263.
Lynch, K. (1960). The image of the city MIT Press. Cambridge MA, 208.
Mandeli, K. (2019). Public space and the challenge of urban transformation in cities of emerging economies: Jeddah case study. Cities, 95, 102409.
Oliveira, V., & Oliveira, V. (2016). The elements of urban form. Urban Morphology: An Introduction to the Study of the Physical Form of Cities, 7-30.
Ombeni, S., & Deguchi, A. (2009). Transformation of residential units into commercial spaces in the Central Business District of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 8(1), 159-166.
Mehmood, A. S. I. F. (2014). Urban Pakistan. State of Pakistani Cities Report, 2015.
Pallagst, K. (2009). The future of shrinking cities: problems, patterns and strategies of urban transformation in a global context.
Romero-Lankao, P., Wilson, A., Sperling, J., Miller, C., Zimny-Schmitt, D., Sovacool, B., ... & Arent, D. (2021). Of actors, cities and energy systems: advancing the transformative potential of urban electrification. Progress in Energy, 3(3), 032002.
Seto, K. C., Golden, J. S., Alberti, M., & Turner, B. L. (2017). Sustainability in an urbanizing planet. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(34), 8935-8938.
Stein, S. (2019). Capital city: Gentrification and the real estate state. Verso Books.
Tye, R., & Williams, G. (1994). Urban regeneration and central-local government relations: the case of east Manchester. Progress in Planning, 42, 1-97.
Vojnovic, I. (2014). Urban sustainability: Research, politics, policy and practice. Cities, 41, S30-S44.
von Wirth, T., Hayek, U. W., Kunze, A., Neuenschwander, N., Stauffacher, M., & Scholz, R. W. (2014). Identifying urban transformation dynamics: Functional use of scenario techniques to integrate knowledge from science and practice. Technological forecasting and social change, 89, 115-130.
Wolfram, M., Borgström, S., & Farrelly, M. (2019). Urban transformative capacity: From concept to practice. Ambio, 48, 437-448.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright of articles that appear in International Journal of Built Environment and Sustainability belongs exclusively to Penerbit Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Penerbit UTM Press). This copyright covers the rights to reproduce the article, including reprints, electronic reproductions or any other reproductions of similar nature.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- This Journal applies Creative Commons Licenses of CC-BY-NC-SA
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
