Planning for resilience in Peshawar: Assessing urban growth infrastructure stress and governance reforms

Abstract

Urbanization is reshaping cities across the Global South. Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, illustrates how rapid demographic growth, economic restructuring and regional conflicts have stimulated uncontrolled urban sprawl and transformed a historic city into a nascent megalopolis. This article offers a multidimensional analysis of the drivers and consequences of Peshawar’s urbanization. Drawing on recent peer‑reviewed literature, municipal master plans, environmental studies and policy reports, the article examines how population growth, internal migration, informal housing and infrastructural deficits interact with environmental degradation, public health risks and socio‑economic inequality. A mixed‑methods approach integrates geospatial data on land‑use change, air and noise pollution measurements, and solid‑waste management assessments evaluate the sustainability of urban growth. The analysis reveals that Peshawar’s built‑up area more than doubled between 1990 and 2020 while farmland and green belts shrank, that vehicle numbers and industrial activity escalated far more rapidly than population growth, and that air and noise pollution levels routinely exceed national and World Health Organization guidelines. The article argues that Peshawar’s leap toward megalopolis status has generated environmental, health and governance challenges that threaten the city’s livability. It concludes with recommendations for integrated urban planning, strict land‑use regulation, environmental governance and participatory climate‑resilient infrastructure.