THE federal cabinet’s zoning directive has the potential to be the most consequential decision in the redefinition of urban housing in Pakistan, provided the provinces also implement it. For decades, our haphazard urban expansion has followed a costly pattern. Housing societies have spread across farmland on the edges of cities more as investment opportunities than to meet actual housing demand. The result: an uncontrolled sprawl without a corresponding reduction in the housing deficit. This model has diverted capital into........

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