The Urban Resource Centre (URC) was set up in early 1989 at the Department of Architecture and Planning of the Dawood College in Karachi. The objective of the Centre was to collect all available material on Karachi and update it through newspaper clipping and analysis. After a few months of its setting up, the URC became an independent registered organization and its governing body expanded to include urban planning related professionals, representatives of NGOs and community organizations from low and lower income areas, and activists from the Orangi Pilot Project-Research & Training Institute (OPP-RTI). The direction of the Centre also changed. The new members felt that Karachi’s official development plans ignored the larger socio-economic reality of the city and as such were unworkable and environmentally disastrous. They further felt that workable alternatives were required and these were possible only with the involvement of informed communities and interest groups. To promote its objectives the URC identifies the actors and factors that are involved in shaping Karachi’s development along with their relationships with each other and with relevant state agencies. In addition, it carries out research on all proposed major urban development projects and analyses them from the point of view of communities and interest groups. This research and its documentation is developed through case studies, profiles of formal and informal organizations and individuals, and by holding forums on different subjects in which the various interest groups (communities, informal service providers, government agencies, political parties) participate. URC arranges lectures by eminent professionals and experts on national and international development related issues, which are attended by grass root activists, NGOs, Govt officials, academia and representatives of interest groups. This helps organizations and individuals to relate their work to larger national and international issue.
