UNDERSTANDING NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN GROWTH: A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED HOUSING SCHEMES OF LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The study discusses Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) as a key strategy used in solving a variety of problems faced by urban development in Pakistan housing. As the pace of migration to cities quickens, investment in infrastructure construction dislodges workers and livestock from their usual habitat, and mines strip away hillsides for construction fill rage, this study uses NBS role in promoting sustainable development, raising urban resilience levels, and facilitating harmonious ecological balance. By adopting a mixed-methods approach, including literature review, interviews with stakeholders and case studies, and this study synthesizes the quantitative data and qualitative insights gathered to garner a more detailed understanding of today's NBS status and prospects within Pakistan. It takes a critical view towards NBS's ability to solve urban environmental problems, focusing primarily on the coming crisis in housing. The thesis sets out a robust investigative methodological framework to examine NBS, both socioeconomically, environmental, and institutional conditions. Through this analysis we can then go on to identify the main barriers and opportunities for incorporating NBS into urban planning and development policy, giving a theoretical vision well as real time recommendations. The Likert scale evaluation has been used to evaluate different institutes. A statistical analysis based on reliability measures such as Cronbach's Alpha, along with qualitative feedback from stakeholders, underscores the cumulative perception and confidence that NBS is ripe for implementation. The thesis identifies NBS as a seminal concept for the sustainable evolution of Pakistan's urban environment. It calls for a concerted effort by policymakers as well as urban planners to make NBS an inherent part of the strategy for developing cities. Through that process, it says, Pakistan will be able to handle both the challenges arising from urbanization and environmental sustainability to start on a new journey leading a resilient, sustainable, and vibrant future in cities.